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"She and Mrs. Nightwing went into the East Wing,"I say."I overheard them talking about securing something in London. They were making plans together."
Felicity narrows her eyes."You didn't tell us this!"
"It happened the night before last. I was the only one there. They caught me outside the doors and were angry with me. And Miss McCleethy brought me warm milk with peppermint."
"Peppermint?" Miss Moore says, furrowing her brow.
"She said it would help me sleep."
"It is an herb known to soothe. Curious that she should know it."
"She has a strange ring, with two snakes intertwined."
"Snakes, you say? Odd."
"She asked about my amulet, too!" I say. "And about my mother."
"And what did you tell her?" Miss Moore asks.
"Nothing," I reply.
Miss Moore sips her tea."I see."
"She is an old friend of Mrs. Nightwing's, though she looks to be several years younger," Felicity muses.
Ann shudders."Perhaps she's not. Perhaps she's made a pact with the devil!"
"Not a very good one if she's still teaching at a finishing school in England," Miss Moore notes wryly.
"Or perhaps she's Circe," I say at last. Miss Moore's teacup halts halfway to her lips."You've lost me."
"Circe. Sarah Rees-Toome? She was the one from Spence who caused the fire and destroyed the Order, or at least that's what we
read in the diary of Mary Dowd. Do you remember?" Ann says breathlessly.
"Remember? How could I forget? That little book was instrumental in my dismissal."
An uncomfortable silence descends. Had Miss Moore not discovered us reading that diary, had she not read aloud to us from its pages, she might never have been dismissed from Spence. But she did, and that sealed her fate with Nightwing.
"We are so sorry, Miss Moore," Ann says, staring at the Turkish rug.
Felicity adds,"It was mostly Pippa's doing, you know."
"Was it?" Miss Moore asks. We sip our tea guiltily. "Careful with blame. It's a boomerang. Anyway, it's done now. But this Sarah Rees-Toome--Circe--if she did exist . . ."
"Oh, she did!" I insist. I know it for a fact.
". . . didn't she die in the fire at Spence?"
"No," Felicity adds, wide-eyed. "She only wanted people to think she'd died. She's still running about."
My heart's hammering away in my chest."Miss Moore? We were wondering, that is, we rather hoped you might tell us more stories of the Order?"
Her glare is stony."We've been down that road, haven't we?"
"Yes, but it can't possibly lead to trouble now that you've already been let go from Spence," Felicity says bluntly.
Miss Moore gives a half laugh."Miss Worthington, your gall astounds me."
