The Haunting of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman

Author:Kim Newman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan

V: Secrets

AFTER SUPPER THE Moth Club convened an extraordinary meeting. Only one item was on the agenda: Miss Kratides’ Game of Secrets. Amy’s envelope was snug in her inside front blazer pocket. Light Fingers was last to sit at the baize-topped folding table that barely fit into the square between their cots. She’d nipped around the dorms double-fast, to see how others in the Remove were faring.

Knowles, ash-faced, peeped into the cell and asked casually if anyone had seen Devlin. No one had. Desdemona Fifths seldom had reason to visit the Fourth corridor. The visitor lingered on their threshold a moment longer than necessary, but didn’t volunteer any secrets or boldly ask after theirs. The Moth Club didn’t ask Knowles in or shoo her off, just waited. Unsatisfied, she drifted away, muttering as she did when crammed facts poured out of her mind like flour through a sieve.

Kali got up and firmly shut the door, then returned to her place.

‘Devlin’s on the sick list, by the way,’ said Frecks. ‘She’s had a relapse and come over all floppy again.’

‘I’m surprised Knowles doesn’t know that,’ said Amy.

‘She does,’ said Frecks. ‘That was a fishing expedition.’

‘So was my night patrol,’ said Light Fingers. ‘Miss Kratides said espionage was allowed. We live in a glass house now.’

In only one lesson, their new teacher had turned all the Remove into twitching snoops.

Light Fingers reported that Frost and Thorn were on the outs. Amy supposed they’d been given each other’s secrets and whatever was written on their cards was shocking enough to blot their friendship. Conversely, De’Ath and Light were in a huddle, negotiating on terms of new intimacy. If they’d exchanged secrets, the swap brought them closer together rather than drove them apart.

‘Psychological warfare,’ said Light Fingers. ‘To set us against each another. Miss Kratides’ secrets don’t even have to be the truth to hurt.’

‘Though they sting more if they are,’ said Frecks.

‘Yes,’ said Light Fingers. ‘In my case, it is and it does.’

‘It could be that telling the truth in the first secret is a way of getting you to believe the second,’ suggested Amy.

‘That’s too clever by half,’ said Kali.

‘Which wouldn’t be half as clever as Moria Kratides thinks she is,’ said Frecks. ‘The woman can hum, I’ll give her that. But who’s to say about the rest of it? Wasn’t she a duffer as a girl?’

Frecks, for once, didn’t sound convincing.

‘She didn’t knuckle under,’ said Light Fingers, ‘but that doesn’t mean she was a Dim.’

‘I’m not sure I even understand my secret,’ said Amy.

‘But is it true?’ Frecks asked.

Amy thought about it. ‘The wording is odd. It’s not something concrete, like water is wet or lollipops are sweet…’

‘You don’t say,’ put in Kali, pantomiming astonishment.

‘I’m told I’m right about something… No, I’m told I’m right to feel something about something. It’s not a clear-cut true-or-false secret like “the diamonds are hidden in the chandelier” or “Uncle Frewin already has a wife in Canada”.’

‘For example,’ prompted Frecks.

‘Yes, for example,’ said Amy. ‘On top of that, my second secret is a double conundrum.

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.