she meant and smiled. Rose had had to hide her identity for a long time when she’d first arrived, but now she could tell the world that she was from the wealthy Fitzwarren family.
Ivy and I slotted in next to a first year who informed us she was named Abigail Greenwich. I peered to the front and saw that Madame Zelda was up by the stage handing out sheaves of paper and clipboards, and that she was talking to Miss Finch. It made me smile to see my favourite teacher, Miss Finch, again, and to see that she and Madame Zelda were getting on all right. Or at least, passably. That was really something, considering that Madame Zelda had admitted to pushing Miss Finch off the stage when they were at ballet school, leaving her with an injured leg for life.
I was less pleased to see Penny at the head of the line, still wearing her shiny prefect badge. Would we ever get rid of her?
The teachers started at different parts of the very long line that went all the way to the end of the hall, walking along with clipboards. It wasn’t long before one of them reached us – Miss Pepper, the slightly eccentric art teacher.
“Name?” she asked.
“Ivy Grey,” my twin replied.
She nodded and ticked off the name on her register. “Of course, I taught you last year. Here’s your timetable and some forms to fill out for elective lessons and such.” She leant forward. “I hear art is very popular,” she said with a wink at the first year behind us.
Ivy took the papers and rifled through them.
“All right …” Miss Pepper ran her finger down the register. “You are assigned room thirteen on the second floor. Aaaand …”
“Scarlet Grey,” I said.
“You too, Little Miss Twin!” she said. “Room thirteen. Unlucky for some.” She handed me the same bits of paper she’d just handed Ivy, and then moved on to the next person.
“Phew!” Ivy said. “Same room again. And together.”
“Yes!” I cheered. Everything was going to plan. “I’ll just see who Ariadne got. Maybe she’ll be sharing with Rose?”
I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to leave the line, but considering I had everything I needed, I didn’t think it mattered. I stepped out and wandered forward to find …
“Ariadne?”
She was leaning against the window, holding her papers. But her face was white and her hands were shaking.
“Ariadne?” I asked again, waving my hand in front of her face. “What’s wrong? Who did you get?”
My friend turned to me, her eyes glazed and distant. “I can’t … I can’t …” she said.
And then she fainted.
Everyone was staring now.
“SOMEONE GET THE SMELLING SALTS!” Miss Bowler boomed.
Ariadne’s eyelids fluttered. “I’m f-fine,” she mumbled. “Isn’t it hot in here?”
It wasn’t particularly hot at all, but I fanned Ariadne anyway. “Are you all right?” I took her arm. She didn’t feel that warm.
“I’m fine,” she said again, standing upright and brushing herself down, but her face looked drawn and she was breathing a bit too heavily for my liking. “Perfectly fine.”
Suddenly, I got the feeling that whatever the matter was, it was something she didn’t want to talk about in front of the staring eyes of the whole school.
“She’s all right,” I called.
“Nothing to see here!” Scarlet yelled, waving people away.
“Crisis averted!” Miss Bowler shouted. Her voice drowned out everyone else’s. “Carry on!”
There was the usual low mumbling of gossip, but slowly everyone went back to what they’d been doing.
Scarlet and I went into a huddle with Ariadne. “What is it?” Scarlet hissed. “What’s really the matter?”
Ariadne gulped. “It’s my room assignment,” she said.
“Not Violet again?” Scarlet asked. I didn’t think that was likely. Violet had left last term. I wasn’t sure if she was ever coming back.
“Worse,” Ariadne replied. “It’s … it’s Muriel Witherspoon.”
Scarlet and I looked at each other, and then asked in unison, “Who?”
“Muriel Witherspoon,” she repeated.
Whoever this person was, Ariadne seemed terrified of her.
“She was the bully from my old school,” Ariadne explained. “The really awful one. The one who ran the secret club in the shed that I burned down.”
“Oh …” I looked around, remembering the story of Ariadne’s past and how she had happened to come to Rookwood. I wondered if this girl was someone I’d already seen. “Are you sure it’s the same person? Why would she be here?”
“I heard the name,” Ariadne said desperately. “How many Muriel Witherspoons can there be? Oh, this is a disaster!”
“It’ll be all right,” I said. “We’ll protect you. We won’t let her pick on you again.”
But Ariadne didn’t look reassured. She shuffled her feet about on the hall floor. “But we’re sharing a room! You won’t be there at night. What if she’s nasty to me then?”
“I’ll give her a good punching the next morning,” Scarlet offered.
I shot my twin a look. “No punching, Scarlet. We’ll just … we’ll tell her not to. We’ll tell the teachers. We’ll do something.”
“I’ll go and look for her,” my twin said suddenly.
“Scarlet, don’t!” Ariadne tried to hold her back, but Scarlet was already striding down the line towards the Ws. Ariadne gave me a panicked look, and then we both set off after her.
Madame
