Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
IRIS
I crept down the silent halls, my heart in my throat.
My skin still tingled from his lingering touch.
My hair had come loose from its ponytail, and I ran my fingers through the strands in a futile attempt to tame them.
I knew I wouldn’t run into anyone at this time of night, but I was still wary of how wild I must have looked.
A small smile still hovered at the corner of my lips.
He wanted to meet again… off campus. A place where we could actually be seen together without arousing suspicion. My heart jumped at the thought.
He spoke about a pub off the island but still in Stonewall – close, but far enough that we wouldn’t be seen by anyone from the university. He said we could go there in a few days, but only if I wanted to…
Do I want to?
Meeting him off campus would be stepping into something potentially bigger than us. We would be entering a place so forbidden that both of us could get in serious trouble if we were found out.
But I couldn’t deny the feelings that were stirring within me anymore, no matter how much I wanted to fight them. I was falling for my professor – a man I didn’t even know…
The realisation hit me like a blow.
This is so risky.
Archer had left the greenhouse first while apologising profusely – but not before helping me dress and kissing me gently.
I tried to ask him more about his strange, middle-of-the-night meeting, but he simply told me it was nothing. He’d just explained that Headmaster Draven was his boss, and that when he called, he had to go – He didn’t really have a choice.
I’d seen them together before, usually in some form of deep, tense conversation, but what could possibly warrant them meeting at this time?
I peered out of the tall windows lining the hall to see the large clocktower in the courtyard.
It was almost one o’clock in the morning.
Large raindrops pelted the cobblestones and assaulted the grounds.
‘God, does it ever stop raining in this place?’ I mumbled quietly to myself as I turned the corner, heading down another long tunnel-like hallway.
As I walked, the moon crept behind a dark cloud and plunged the world into darkness. Using only the dim, flickering lights from the sconces, I snuck along the corridors.
The journey back felt so much longer than it did to get here… I passed turns and hallways that I swore weren't there before. The silence seemed to grow even heavier as I moved. I began thinking I’d taken a wrong turn somewhere – it all looked so similar in the darkness.
The skin on the back of my neck prickled, and my breath became heavy. A sharp crack sounded and my head whipped towards the noise.A pale branch was tapping against the window, and I sighed heavily. ‘Get it together, Iris.’
A shadow crossed the space just ahead of me.
I froze.
The air turned thick and heavy, and my breathing grew faster. It was the middle of the night… no students should be out loitering in the halls at this time – including me – so what the hell was that?
‘Hello?’ My voice was rough. I forced a swallow.
Only the groan of the storm responded, but as I crept further, I began to hear a faint shuffle echoing from around the bend up ahead.
My fingers trembled as I took another slow, single step.
Another shadow flashed, and this time it paused…
as if waiting. I could see it lingering ahead. Just hidden around the bend.
For the first time while walking these halls tonight, I knew I wasn’t alone.
I forced my feet forwards, one silent step at a time. Every inch I moved had my heart rate accelerating – as if every instinct was telling me to turn the fuck around and run.
The temperature felt as though it had plummeted a million degrees – my breath fogged in front of me and my skin tingled all over. Goosebumps erupted on my arms and at the back of my neck.
I edged around the corner. So slowly. My whole body felt like it turned to stone.
A figure waited around the bend.
White, still and translucent.
Isobella…
Her face looked as though it had been carved out of smoke. Her hair hung limply over her shoulders, the wet strands clinging to her sickly, pale skin. She wore a thin, long dress, ripped and torn in places.
I’d seen the photos of her when she was alive – the beautiful, golden haired girl – and my heart shattered at this version of her.
I couldn’t fully make out her eyes – they were depthless and swirling – but I could feel that she was staring right at me. As if she’d been waiting for me.
Her mouth parted, a tiny movement, as though she were about to speak – but no sound came out. It was like she was underwater, her misty presence eerily still, yet moving. She tried again, but again there was no sound. I don’t know how I could tell, but I knew she was trying to speak to me.
A cold breeze swept through the hall and straight through me. My breathing was so rapid I felt dizzy. I took another step towards the apparition.
The… ghost.
But then she vanished.
She didn’t just blink out of existence, though… it was more like a slow flickering… like a candle blown out in the wind. It was almost as if she were trying to fight it – as if whatever was beyond was trying to swallow her back up and she was giving it hell for it.
I ran forwards to the empty space where she had been only seconds before, all fear melting away and reforging into a desperation for answers.
‘Isobella!’ I called. I was adamant she was trying to tell me something. ‘Isobella!’
No response.
Through the open window, I saw a figure cross the courtyard.
Without thinking, I ran through the arched doorway and out into the downpour. My legs shook and threatened to buckle as I sprinted across the slick cobblestones and up the grassy bank.
Realisation hit me – Isobella knew that I could see her, and she wanted to talk.
I kept running, further and further, and it was as if the farther I ran, the more I knew she needed me. I neared the cliff and the edge of the treeline.
‘Isobella!’ I pleaded. ‘If you're here… please! What is it that you want to tell me? I’m here! I’m listening!’ Nothing answered. ‘I’m here!’ I screamed again, louder this time, my voice breaking as it echoed out across the grounds.
For a moment, the whole world was just noise and rain. The wind tore at my hair, stinging my skin. Then, a huge bolt of lightning forked across the sky.
And I saw it.
A figure stood at the tree line to the forest, just beyond the courtyard. Motionless and half obscured by the dark forest.
All I knew at that moment was that it was not Isobella.
It was too far away to make out details, except for the long black robes it wore.
And the mask.
It was black, with a long protruding beak. Like a plague doctor mask from the seventeenth century.
The figure didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch when another lightning strike illuminated the world.
It just watched me.
And then it vanished into the trees.
My blood froze, and a huge wave of nausea threatened to overwhelm me. The adrenaline slowly began wearing off and my fear finally caught up with me…
And I ran.
‘Adora!’ I yelled as I barrelled through the door, stumbling over my own feet. ‘Adora!’
‘Iris?’ She emerged from the duvet covers, rubbing sleep from her eyes. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Oh, thank God you’re here.’ I wept. ‘I—’ I couldn’t breathe.
‘Oh, shit,’ Adora said, eyes widening with realisation. She flung the covers off her bed and was beside me in an instant. My vision blurred, and suddenly it was an effort to stand, as though I’d used every last ounce of energy running back here.
‘What’s wrong?’ she demanded.
‘I was—’ I shook my head. ‘I can’t—’ My skin grew clammy and hot, my body shaking. There was something so frightening about that figure… so wrong.
Adora sat me down on the edge of my bed. She ran over to our shared desk and grabbed the plastic bin.
‘Lean forwards and put your head between your legs,’ she said firmly. ‘Do it now.’
I nodded.
She rubbed smooth circles on my back and held my hair while I threw up the entire contents of my stomach into the bin. I didn’t realise I’d started crying until the vomiting slowed and she wiped my eyes.
‘Iris?’ she whispered gently. ‘What happened?’
‘I—’ Nausea still lingered within me. ‘I was out and…’
‘Iris, you are safe. Just breathe,’ she said slowly, enunciating every syllable. ‘You. Are. Safe.’ She repeated, brushing the hair from my damp eyes with her fingers.
I sat up carefully and took at least ten deep breaths before speaking.
‘I was out…’ I hesitated. ‘Walking.’ Fuck. I couldn’t even tell her where I truly was. ‘And I saw…’ My breaths came in fast, choking me.
‘Iris.’ She reached out and took my hand, her fingers entwining with mine. ‘Safe. Remember?’ I nodded.
‘I saw Isobella,’ I whispered.
‘Fuck.’
‘Yeah, and… something else.’
‘Something else?’ she repeated.
‘There was a figure… a man, I think? I don’t know.’
‘On the grounds? Where were they?’
‘Yeah, they were by the cliffs… by the forest. They disappeared into the trees. I didn’t see them properly, but they looked…’
‘They looked what?’ she prodded when I didn’t respond.
‘It was… terrifying, Adora. The figure – it looked terrifying. They had these black robes on, and this mask… it was awful.’
‘Shit, Iris, I’m sorry.’ She squeezed my hand. ‘And Isobella?’
I shook my head.
‘Hold on, I’ll get you water,’ she said, quickly getting up and opening the door. ‘Are you okay for a minute?’
‘Yes, just… be quick, please.’
The sun was beginning to edge over the cliff by the time I’d fully calmed down, and Adora and I had finished talking.
‘I don’t understand what just happened,’ I breathed.
‘I think you had a panic attack,’ Adora whispered. ‘But you’re okay now.’ Her calming tone had me breathing properly again.
I sat on the edge of my bed, sipping the glass of water she’d given me.
‘And you’re sure it wasn’t a ghost?’ she asked me.
‘I really don’t know,’ I said. ‘I mean, usually there’s the white flash that helps me know. But with this figure… nothing.’
‘There’s usually a flash? Or always?’
‘Well…’ I considered it. ‘Before, yes – always. But now… well, I suppose there’s one other occasion I’ve seen a ghost without the flash.
’ I looked over to that very occasion, now curled up at the foot of my bed, purring away contentedly.
‘But don’t worry about that right now.’ I smiled subtly.
If Adora noticed my odd expression, she didn’t mention it.
‘Do you think it’s connected?’ she asked.
‘Do I think what is connected?’
‘Well, you told me that you thought Isobella was trying to communicate with you… to tell you something? Do you think she was trying to warn you? To warn you about this creepy doctor, maybe?’
The thought had crossed my mind.
‘Yeah, maybe,’ I sighed, covering my face with my palms. ‘I really don’t know what to think anymore.’
‘I do,’ Adora said.
‘What?’ I asked, taken aback.
‘I do,’ she repeated matter-of-factly. ‘Isobella wants to talk? Then fine.’ She looked at me, eyes full of resolve. ‘I think we should host a séance.’