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Mrs. Nightwing whips her head around suddenly and blinks. The effect is of an owl spotting prey. "Yours, Miss Doyle?"
My stomach goes fluttery. "Yes." Fine, let them expel me. Let this all be over. "And where, pray tell, did you come upon such filth?"
"I found it."
"You found it?" She repeats my words slowly, showing just how much she believes me. "Where?"
"In the woods."
Mrs. Nightwing glares at me but I'm too numb to be afraid. "It seems a great many things have been going on in the woods. Pippa has confessed to me."
Beside me I can hear Ann starting to cry, Felicity squirming in her chair. But I'm hollowed out, waiting for the inevitable.
"She told me that Miss Moore gave you the book."
It's not what I expected. I'm pulled back into the room by it.
"Is this true?"
My mouth opens, ready to say no, it's all my fault, but Felicity is quicker.
"Yes," she says so calmly that I can scarcely believe it. "It was Miss Moore."
"I'm sorry to hear it. But you'll need to tell me everything, Miss Worthington."
"No. That's not true," I say, finding my voice at last.
"You said yourself that you got it at the library." Felicity has a hard, desperate look in her eyes. "And Miss Moore did tell us that if we wanted to know more about the Order, we should go to the library."
"The Order? Why on earth was Miss Moore filling your heads with such poppycock?"
"She took us to the caves to see their drawings."
"Some of them are in blood," Ann adds. They're joined in this.
"I never gave Miss Moore leave to take you to any caves," Mrs. Nightwing says.
"She took us all the same, Mrs. Nightwing." Felicity widens her eyes, trying for an innocent look.
"That's not the way it happened. I found the diary"
Felicity puts her hand on my arm. It looks as if it's just resting there, but she's giving it a sharp squeeze. "Mrs. Nightwing already knows what happened, Gemma. We've got to tell the truth now." To Mrs. Nightwing, she says, "She even read part of it to us in my sitting area." I'm on my feet. "Because we asked her!"
"Miss Doyle, sit down at once!"
I drop into my seat. I can't look at Felicity.
"These are very serious charges against Miss Moore." Mrs. Nightwing has already taken the idea and shaped it into exoneration for us, for Spence, and for herself. She needs someone to blame. She needs to believe anything but the truththat we are capable of all of it, all on our own. And that we did it all right under her very nose. "Is this true, Ann?"
"Yes," Ann says, without stammering once.
"Mrs. Nightwing," I plead. "It's all my fault. You can punish me as you see fit, but please don't blame Miss Moore."
"Miss Doyle. I know your heart is in the right place, but there is nothing to be gained by protecting Miss Moore."
"But I'm not protecting her!"
Mrs. Nightwing softens. "Did Miss Moore read to you from this book?"
