Ravensborough

Ravensborough by Christine Murray Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: Ravensborough by Christine Murray Read Free Book Online
Authors: Christine Murray
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic, Novels
with no excuse to not help my Mum clean the entire house. It’s slave labour. Just because my dad’s parents are visiting from Spain. She doesn’t even like my dad’s parents. My weekend is going to be terrible.’
    Mei put her head on one side. ‘Cat you are a total drama queen. You should be an actress.’
    Will started to laugh, ‘They don’t employ actresses who overact’. Ben chuckled.
    ‘You guys are sooo mean,’ she complained. If you just met Abuela and Abuelo you would understand. They are a complete nightmare.’
    ‘Well, Cat,’ Ben drawled, ‘I guess you take after your father’s side of the family.’
    ‘With friends like this, who needs enemies?’ Cat grumbled. ‘Scarlett, enjoy your shopping trip. And call me over the weekend, ok? I’ll need some distraction.’
    ‘Bye guys’, I said as they started to head off.
    ‘See ya Scarlett’.
    ‘Bye.’
    I was relieved when they walked away. We had a light homework load for the weekend, and I had been afraid that one of them would volunteer to come with me.
    I enjoyed the bus journey into the city. Without anyone to distract me, I could take in the scenery. Ravensborough was quite beautiful in a wild, rugged way. The area around the lake was particularly lovely. As the bus crossed the bridge the sun sank further and further below the horizon, turning the sky blue, yellow and purple. Then it finally dropped out of view, spilling cool shadows on the surrounding landscape.
    It took me longer than I’d planned to get to the Willow-Tree. I knew roughly where it was, but I still managed to get lost, and was ten minutes late when I finally walked through the door. The inside of the café was hot and welcoming after the iciness of outside. The noise of the milk steamers and the smell of ground coffee beans made me feel I could be back home, it reminded me of a coffee shop on my old street. Then I remembered why I was there. I looked around and spotted Aradia sitting at a table near the back of the cafe.
    I walked over. Her inky hair was worn loose and messy. She was reading a book, I squinted at it but it wasn’t a title I recognised. She, like me, was still in her uniform from school. Hers was miles nicer than mine though, a dark navy blue that was the exact colour of the night-time sky.
    ‘Hi!’ I said, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
    Aradia looked up and smiled. She closed her book, marking her page with a bus ticket. Her eyes were the same green as they had been last week in Rupert’s dining room. Maybe I had imagined the whole eye thing.
    ‘Hey, how are you?’ she asked, smiling. Her face was as pale as milk, small and neat. Her uniform was messy, though: probably a tendency that she had inherited from her dad.
    The crest on her school jumper was beautiful. It was an owl in full flight against the background of a silver thread moon. Above the image was written the name of her school, Ravensborough Minervan Academy for Girls. Underneath was a motto, small and stitched in Latin.
    ‘What’s the motto of your school’, I asked as I shrugged out of my coat and scarf.
    Aradia smiled. ‘ Condemnant quod non intellegunt .’ It’s Latin for ‘they condemn because they do not understand.’’
    ‘Who doesn’t understand?’
    Aradia sighed. ‘People like my uncle. What are you going to order?’
    A waitress had come over to our table. We both asked for hot chocolate.
    ‘I’m really sorry about the other day,’ I said awkwardly. ‘I was really embarrassed when Rupert started coming out with all that rubbish.’
    Aradia shook her head. ‘Don’t be. It has nothing to do with you. He’s always been like that. He treats me and Mum like we’re the personification of evil. We don’t see him very often, thank God. Dad goes to see him on his own, mostly.’
    ‘Why does your Dad go to see Rupert at all if he treats you and your Mum like that?’
    ‘Because Dad feels bad that his parents died when there was bad feeling between them. I was

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