14 The Haunting of Thackery School by Various Authors

Author:Various Authors
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2019-10-06T05:00:00+00:00

16

SONGS ABOUT JANE

“What do you mean?” asked Haley, a look of concern on her round features.

“Jane was a powerful, enigmatic figure in our lives who used her ability to influence others to control us,” Frances explained. “There’s currently another girl at Thackeray, not unlike Jane—highly intelligent, controlling, dictatorial—with two girls under her influence. They have the same book Jane did, with the same ritual marked. I have every reason to believe that she’s going to attempt to do the same thing that Jane did. And now that I’ve seen the book—"

“You saw the book?” Elizabeth used elaborate air quotes to denote how sacred Jane had always treated it, never allowing any of the others to catch so much as a glimpse of its contents.

“Now that I’ve seen it,” continued Frances. “I have every reason to believe this girl might believe she needs to harm one of her classmates for this ‘ritual’ to be fulfilled. I believe that’s what Jane thought.”

Haley paled. “You mean she really did set the fire on purpose?”

“And killed Bethany?” Elizabeth asked.

“Are either of you that surprised?” asked Frances.

They shook their heads. They were all rebellious, straining against the seams of their brocade and velvet prison in a relentless attempt to claw their way out. But it was Jane who was truly serious about it, in a way the others never could seem to touch. It was Jane who pushed hardest to break one more rule, to stay out after curfew one more night. The others were motivated by boredom or stress or some combination of the two, but it was like Jane needed to do bad things in order to feel whole. She was like a reverse-girl, thriving on breaking the rules rather than following them out of fear of being caught and facing serious repercussions, disappointing everyone.

“I need your help,” said Frances. “I need to protect these girls now, in a way that we didn’t back then. I need you to remember everything you can about Jane.”

She was lonely. Or at least alone. That much Frances knew. Even when they were together, Jane was always somehow apart. Sometimes Frances glimpsed her in the hallways or crossing campus from the athletic field back to the dorm, and there was always something so solitary about her, like a shark gliding through the water. Jane was a lone wolf, even when she was surrounded by people. There was something very take-no-prisoners about her.

“It’s weird,” said Haley, ruminating over her coffee refill. “Because throughout high school, no matter what sport I played, I was always the captain. What’s weird is that I didn’t resent having to share it with her, even though I was the better player. She just seemed like more a leader somehow, you know? She made me doubt myself.”

“Well, I never wanted to be friends with her,” said Elizabeth snippily, stealing a sip of Haley’s coffee. Her macchiato had been drained to the dregs and Frances’s tiny espresso cup was long empty. “The two of you dragged me into it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.