She knew some people were superstitious about the birds, or considered them to be bad luck, but she’d never seen anyone react like Zoe. As she considered this, Allie glanced absently towards the football players – but the lawn was empty. They’d gone.
‘Oh balls, Zoe, we’ve lost sodding Philip.’
But it didn’t matter that they lost him and got marked down for it, or that Jerry looked at them with disappointment. Because somehow that afternoon changed everything.
From that day on Zoe accepted Allie completely.
The spate of warm weather didn’t last and the sound of rain lashing against the windows accompanied Allie a few days later as she walked with Carter down the stone stairs to the basement training room talking about what had happened the night before. The weather had been fierce then, too. So instead of going for a run they’d been given a word problem to work out. Written in Eloise’s neat, square handwriting on a white board, it had confounded them all.
A runaway train, packed with passengers is about to crash. You can save all the passengers by switching the train to another track, but if you do that, one innocent person will die. Is it right to sacrifice one to save the lives of many?
As usual, all they’d been told was that this was the sort of decision they might have to make some day, and that there was no right answer and no wrong answer. Instead, they were to make their own decisions.
It drove Allie crazy.
‘It’s horrible. I mean, what kind of question is that?’ she said now, as they walked under the flickering fluorescent lights of the basement hallway. The air smelled musty; it felt cool and damp against her skin. ‘And how can they not tell us what right is?’ She shook her fist at the ceiling. ‘I need to know what right is!’
‘You’ll get used to it,’ Carter said. ‘They’re always asking us things like that.’
‘What are they trying to teach us?’ Allie asked. ‘How to be evil?’
‘Maybe.’
Allie watched him out of the corner of her eye as his expression clouded. She didn’t say anything but she was glad he wasn’t always OK with the things Night School demanded of them. That he could look at it all and wonder, as she did, Is this fine? Or is this really not fine at all?
‘Well, it won’t work. We’re too nice for them. They will never succeed.’ She pushed open the door to Training Room One. ‘They’ll learn …’ But as she looked inside she lost her train of thought. The blue mats were gone. A table stood at one end of the room, faced by metal folding chairs arranged in rows.
Looking over her shoulder, Carter murmured, ‘What the hell …?’
Exchanging a worried look, they walked in together, slipping into two free seats.
‘What’s going on?’ Allie whispered, but Carter shook his head. He didn’t know either. Worry chilled Allie like a cool breeze. The room had the ambience of a church sanctuary before the sermon began – everyone sat in poses of subdued reverence. She got the feeling nobody knew what was happening, but they all knew it wouldn’t be good.
By the time the doors swung open ten minutes later the air fairly crackled with tension. The Night School leaders walked in together like they were heading into battle – Eloise, Isabelle, Zelazny, Jerry and Raj, all dressed in black and matching each other stride for stride. They didn’t look at the students until they’d taken their seats at the front of the room, then their eyes swept the room impassively.
Allie twisted the edge of her shirt around one finger so tightly it cut off the blood flow.
Raj spoke first. ‘What you’re going to do this week isn’t easy, but it is critical. Each of you will be assigned one person to interview. You are to ask your subject about every aspect of their life and produce a written report. In that report you will decide whether or not the person you investigate is telling the truth. Throughout the week you will each receive one-to-one training in lie detection. By the end of the week we expect you to be able to identify all the signs of falseness – vocal tics, mannerisms, tells. You will use those to determine the truth.’
He leaned back, and Eloise took over. ‘Assigned subjects will, in many cases, be someone you already know – in fact, somebody you know well.’ A dismayed murmur crept through the room. ‘Through this you will learn how to separate your emotions from your work. However, you should know that your subject will never see the report you write for us. This will be completely confidential and should, therefore, be the unvarnished truth.’
Placing her palms flat on the table, she emphasised the next words. ‘Lying to your interviewer is grounds for expulsion from Night School and Cimmeria Academy.’
As Zelazny took over, Allie felt herself move back in her chair, as if to get further away from them all.
‘Subject assignments are secret – only you and your subject should know you are investigating them. Do not reveal these to anybody else.’ His icy eyes surveyed them. ‘Anyone found to have revealed this information will be punished.’ Reaching into a briefcase on the floor beside him, he pulled out a stack of thin black folders. ‘When your name is called, please come forward to collect your assignment. Anderson …’
As a tall, slim girl walked to the front of the room for her folder, Allie and Carter exchanged a quick despairing look.
While the stack of folders dwindled in front of Zelazny, Allie watched as first Lucas then Jules collected their assignments.