poisoned food. I half wished our father cared so much. Instead he’d just said, “Off you go then, see you soon,” and waved us towards the front entrance.
Ivy and I picked up some of Ariadne’s suitcases (she had a little convoy of them, as usual) and together we headed inside for the first day of our new year at Rookwood.
Mrs Knight was waiting in the foyer, greeting everyone. She was the head of our house – Richmond – and as of last year had become the headmistress as well, sort of by default. She was thankfully a lot less murderous than previous occupants of the position, and had a tendency towards being annoyingly cheerful.
“Welcome, welcome!” she was saying. “Everyone head to the hall, please! Carry your bags with you!”
I looked around the foyer, taking in the faces: there were some familiar ones – Nadia and Meena standing beside their very expensive luggage, even … ugh, our worst enemy, Penny, was there, chatting to some of her gang. But there were plenty of unfamiliar ones too. New girls. Mostly they looked like first years, with pristine uniforms. But there were some older girls among them, as well. Mrs Knight’s efforts to restore the school’s reputation had clearly had an effect.
We headed for the hall where the noise was deafening. Everyone was talking at once, greeting friends who they hadn’t seen all summer. We managed to find a seat, just.
“I got you these!” Ariadne said. She pulled one of her suitcases open a crack and took out two envelopes, then handed one to each of us. I tore mine open eagerly.
It was a birthday card showing a girl striding happily along while she held hands with a cat, a dog and a bird. It said, May you have a string of smiles for your birthday. I laughed. “Thanks, Ariadne.”
Ivy grinned, and waved hers at me. It was completely identical.
I tucked mine away in my bag. At least our stepmother couldn’t take these from us.
When everyone had filtered into the hall, the sound of chatter was broken by an ear-splitting whistle from the stage. The talking died away as all of the girls stared up at the swimming instructor and games teacher, Miss Bowler. She had the loudest voice in probably the entire world; she also seemed to have been given the job of ordering everyone about. “SIT DOWN, ALL OF YOU!” she boomed.
When we had all done as she said, she stepped aside, leaving Mrs Knight in full view.
“Welcome, girls!” she said, her expression as bright and cheery as ever. “Welcome to a brand-new year at Rookwood! We will be having a completely fresh start. I’m sure if we all work together, this will be the best year yet.”
She did a sort of fist-pump, clearly expecting people to cheer. Nobody did. Except Ariadne.
“First things first,” she shuffled all of the papers in front of her. “I want to announce that as I am officially the headmistress of the school, I am stepping down as the head of Richmond House. Your new house mistress will be Madame Zelda.”
Well, that was an odd choice, considering that Madame Zelda hadn’t been at the school very long and she wasn’t exactly normal. Everyone looked around to see the silver-haired ballet teacher, who was tapping her long fingernails against her arm and smiling. She gave a small nod, and a flurry of whispers began.
“So now,” Mrs Knight continued, “the first thing we need to do is get everyone lined up in alphabetical order in their house groups, then your teachers will give out room assignments and make sure that everyone knows where they’re going. Then we will give out the lesson timetables, and the lists of rules and maps of the school for the new pupils.” She took a deep breath, “And then—”
She was interrupted by the doors at the back of the hall flying open.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” came a voice.
Everyone turned in their seats to look.
It was a girl, about our age, with incredibly long jet-black hair. She was dressed in Rookwood uniform, but instead of the regulation shoes, she was wearing a pair of black pointed boots. There was a suitcase in her hand (black too, and very battered). She stood there, chin raised, as if the fact that she had just walked in late in front of the entire school was nothing at all.
Miss Bowler strode towards her. “Who are you?” she demanded.
“I’m Ebony McCloud,” said the girl. “Who are you?”
Everyone gasped and Miss Bowler spluttered. “I am your games teacher, Miss Bowler,” she said, “and you are in trouble unless you sit down right this minute!”
“All right, then,” said Ebony with a twitch of a smile, wandering over to a seat and sitting down.
She had a Scottish accent, and a voice that made me think of mist and mountains. There was a strange darkness to it.
“Ahem,” said Mrs Knight from the stage. “Everyone! Back to me, please!”
We all turned round again, but Ebony stayed stuck in my mind. She was … interesting. She reminded me a little of Violet, my former arch-nemesis. Speaking of which, I wondered if Violet had returned. I scanned the hall, but I couldn’t see her. But I did see her friend Rose – now our friend Rose – who had proved herself to be truly magnificent in the summer when she’d overcome her shyness to stand up to her evil relatives. I gave her an enthusiastic wave, and she grinned back at me.
“Now for a few notices,” Mrs Knight was saying, “and then we’ll all line up. Firstly, the library is up and running again and will be open from nine o’clock each morning for anyone who wants to read …”
I tuned out, and my mind wandered to the room assignments. Would Ivy and I get our old room back, my lucky number thirteen? I wasn’t sure how it worked. First years always had bigger dorms, but everyone else was in twos. Hopefully we’d get to keep the same one. If we didn’t, well … I hoped the new occupants wouldn’t notice the hole in the mattress where I’d hidden my diary.
“Right then,” Mrs Knight said when she’d finished reading her seemingly endless list. She waved her hands about in the air. “I repeat – line up in your houses, everyone! Richmond down the left, Mayhew in the middle, Evergreen on the right! You should have been assigned your house in your welcome letter! Alphabetical by surname, please!”
I don’t think our headmistress quite anticipated the chaos that ensued. There was a huge amount of scrambling as everyone tried to pick up their luggage and head in the right direction, climbing over seats and in some cases the other students!
“Carefully!” I heard Mrs Knight call out.
“Calm down, the lot of you!” Miss Bowler yelled. “It’s not a race!”
I picked up my bag (though we left Ariadne’s in a heap), and tried to head for the Richmond line. It wasn’t easy, given that a large amount of people were trying to head the other way.
“Watch it!” I called out to one girl who nearly swung her bag into my face. She stuck her tongue out at me as she passed.
Finally, after a lot of jostling, the three of us made it to the other side of the room and into the line. Then there was yet more jostling as we tried to figure out the order we were
