Late nights of fruitless internet searches were starting to take their toll. Her mother had insisted that Jessa go to bed early, if for no other reason than to work on getting rid of the dark circles that were beginning to settle under her eyes.

She was tired but not sleepy, so she pulled a book up from the pile on the floor next to her bed and opened it into the pale lamplight, hoping that a little scholastic bedtime reading might bore her into a restful lull.

A few sentences in and her quiet thought was interrupted by Audrey knocking at the door.

“Can I come in?” she said, widening the crack in the door and stepping inside the room almost silently as her fluffy slippers cushioned every step on the carpet. “What are you up to? Homework?”

Jessa nodded.

“All right, then I won’t keep you long. I just have something I want to tell you.”

“What is it?” Jessa said, finally looking up at her sister.

“I’m moving in with Hugo!”

Jessa paused, unsure of how to react. “Isn’t it a bit soon? You’ve only been together for a few months.”

“I know, but it’s going great, and we’re getting serious. We both think it feels right. So I’ll be moving out, probably by the end of February.”

“Okay,” said Jessa. “Congratulations, then.”

“What, that’s it? You can’t be more excited for me?”

“It’s not like you’re getting married or anything, you’re just moving in together,” Jessa shrugged.

“It’s a step, though, Jess,” Audrey said, exasperated. “It’s a big step, and we’re really happy about it.”

“Well good, as long as you’re happy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Why wouldn’t I be happy?” Audrey didn’t often get angry, but when she did, she looked older.

Jessa knew Audrey wouldn’t like her answer, so she stayed quiet, wondering if her sister would give up and leave the room. She didn’t.

“What is it, Jessa? What’s the problem here?”

“There’s no problem!” the younger sister snapped.

“Clearly, you have something you want to say, so please just say it.”

Jessa sighed. “Fine,” she whined. “I like Hugo. I swear I do. But do you ever get the feeling that he’s hiding something?”

Audrey looked like she might cry. “Why is it that you and I can never connect?” she sighed sadly. “Of course I don’t feel like he’s hiding anything, because he’s not. And quite frankly, he’s your teacher, so it’s quite disrespectful of you to say that that about him. So fine, Jessa, you don’t have to be happy for me. But maybe one day when you grow up and stop living in your weirdo imagination, then we’ll finally be able to have a real conversation.” She held her hands up in surrender. “Goodnight.”

Audrey closed the door quietly behind herself.

Jessa listened closely to the sound outside her room. There were a few seconds of silence before she heard the sound of the floorboards creaking as Audrey walked the landing and back downstairs.

She settled in for another restless night.

#

Jessa, Maggie and Flynn sat at their table and shared some mini macaroons that Maggie’s mum had made.

“I just keep thinking about it,” said Jessa. “The intuition and the whole business with Silas Lynch.”

“What in particular are you thinking about, though? I don’t understand,” Maggie replied, rummaging through the tupperware box to find one of the few remaining macaroons that were coated in chocolate.

“I feel like there’s something there, that I have to find.”

“What could there possibly be for you to find?” Maggie asked. “We saw it all at the museum. There’s no question about Lynch.”

“I have questions, though,” Jessa urged. “They came to me. The feeling gave me these questions. I feel like I need to find out more about Lynch.”

Flynn took a break from the box of treats and enjoyed a swig from his water bottle. “But Jessa—and please don’t take this the wrong way—but what’s the point of trying to find out more?” he asked her honestly. “You don’t even know what you’re looking for. You’re just making yourself crazy.”

There it is. They think I’m losing my mind.

“I’m not trying to be mean or anything, but you look exhausted, and it’s upsetting for us to see you get so worked up over this.”

They don’t understand.

“Then help me figure out what’s going on!”

“With what?” Maggie’s voice rose slightly.

“Silas Lynch!” Jessa threw back.

“I don’t get what there is to figure out!”

Jessa pressed her palms into her eye sockets and took a breath.

“I honestly don’t know what I’m expecting to find. But I need to look for something, and whatever it is… I’ll know it when I see it. The truth is, since that day at the museum, I haven’t been able to get rid of this feeling that there’s something more about Silas Lynch that I need to find out. You know that gut feeling you get sometimes, the kind that helps you make decisions like who to make friends with or when to say the right thing. It’s like that, but even stronger. It’s in my whole body. It keeps me awake at night. And it’s telling me something. I’m not asking you to help me, but please don’t try and put me off.”

They waited. Maggie’s lips pursed in thought. Flynn’s eyes searched Jessa’s.

“Of course we’ll help you,” said Flynn. “Right, Mags?”

She nodded her agreement but the frown lines remained firmly planted in her forehead.

“Really?” said Jessa.

“If it’s that important to you, then yes,” said Maggie. “We could use the school computers; there are some excellent resources in the library.”

“Thanks,” Jessa smiled. “But please don’t tell anyone. It has to be our secret.”

“Like a secret club?” Maggie suddenly looked a little excited.

“I suppose so, yeah,” Jessa shrugged.

“Well, I do like the idea of that! And considering we’ll be researching things from the past, can we call it our secret history club?”

“Actually, Mags, that’s not a bad idea,” said Jessa, reminded that she hadn’t yet committed to her required extracurricular. “What if we combined it with some regular school stuff, and made it an actual club? Winsbury doesn’t have a history club, does it?”

“Nope. I would be up for founding a history club,” said Maggie, pulling out her notebook.

“Sounds good to me, too,” Flynn agreed.

“If nothing else, starting an extracurricular society looks excellent on university applications,” Maggie added. “Let’s come up with some ideas for research topics. We should definitely look into World World One—it would be brilliant to get a head start on that for second-year.”

“Uh, Mags,” said Jessa, “we do have a topic already. Silas Lynch, remember?”

“Yes, yes, I’m just thinking about additional possibilities. There are so many options…”

“Oh boy,” Jessa chortled.

#

“What a great idea!” Hugo Fletcher beamed. “To run a legitimate club you need to have regular meetings, be that weekly or fortnightly. You would also need to submit a proposal to Dr Mortlock detailing a plan for your club, for example where you want to hold your meetings and what kind of activities you’d want to do. And I’m sure she’d want a member of staff to oversee the club.”

“Could you do it?” Jessa asked.

“I’d be happy to. Can you tell me more about it?”

“Oh. Hmm.” Jessa thought for a moment. “It’d be like… umm.”

Flynn stepped up. “It would be mostly research based,” he said. “We were all quite inspired by the trip to the museum, so we’d like the opportunity to use the school facilities to find out more about parapsych history.”

“Would we be allowed to use the time to research for our parapsych history class projects?” Maggie asked.

“Well, you can’t use it explicitly for that, because that’s a school project, and the whole point of an extracurricular activity is to do something different or that expands upon your school work. So you could use the time partially for additional research within the field of your project, as long as it’s outside of the taught curriculum.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ll be researching outside of the curriculum,” Flynn said.

Mr Fletcher looked at each of the three students. “You three had better not be up to anything. I’m happy to sign off on a history club, but keep in mind that it has to be serious. Extracurricular activities are held on school property and a teacher has to be involved. And as it’s not a sport or a performance-based group, you’d probably have to submit a report at the end of the school year explaining what you’ve learned. Do you understand?”

He looked at Jessa and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, trying to look casual.

When she’d first found out that Hugo Fletcher was dating her older sister, Jessa had worried that it would affect how they could interact at school. But as time went on she was increasingly able to differentiate between Mr Fletcher The Parapsych History Teacher and Audrey’s Boyfriend Hugo.

At home, he was goofy and down-to-earth, and fortunately, his presence made Audrey more laid-back too. Jessa was convinced she and Audrey argued less when he was around, as his humour and playful attitude acted as a buffer between the two girls. Jessa’s father was often vocal about how “nice it is to have another man in the house,” and her mother continued to gush about what a “fine fellow” he was. In short, he was a welcome and warming presence in the Baxter household.

On the other hand, at school he was nothing but professional. He was always impartial in marking Jessa’s homework, and whether or not they were in the presence of other students or teachers, he spoke to her with an authoritative respect that was anything but brotherly. Within the school walls, he was practically a different person.

“We’ll be good,” said Jessa, “I promise.”

“Great,” he replied. “Then, pending Dr Mortlock’s approval, you have yourself a History Club.”

Behind them, a small voice materialised from the doorway.

“Did you say you’re making a History Club?” the voice said timidly. “Could I join?”

Jessa, Maggie, Flynn, and Mr Fletcher all looked toward the door to see Annora Huff and Tonia Pitts standing there, having arrived early for the first-year Parapsych History lesson.

“Me too, please,” Tonia added.

“Yeah of course!” Flynn answered quickly and welcomingly. Jessa thought she even saw him blush as he answered directly to Tonia.

Jessa shot Flynn a wide-eyed glance. He didn’t notice, and remained distracted by the two additions to the room.

#

Jessa slumped toward the flame of the bunsen burner. When Flynn left the room to go to the toilet, Jessa seized her chance.

“Why did he invite them to join?” she whispered angrily.

“What?” Maggie barely looked up from the litmus paper she was dunking into a test tube.

“The whole point of the club was so we could research Silas Lynch. It was a secret, and it was just the three of us. It’ll be ruined if there are other people there. And Flynn only let them join because he fancies Tonia. It’s so obvious.” She leaned on her hand, smooshing the flesh of her cheek under her fingers.

“Jessa, as soon as you suggested making it a real club, you should have known there was a possibility of other people joining. It was your idea.”

“Yeah, well, I wish we’d kept it secret, now.”

“Look. At best, we have other people who can help you. At worst, you can choose not to tell Annora and Tonia anything about the secret stuff, and you’re just a member of a regular old club.”

Maggie was right, even though Jessa hated to admit it. Either way, she decided to sulk a little while longer.