“And that brings us to our assignment,” he went on. “You will get into groups of two or three and research a building that was affected by the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Did the clergy resist? What kinds of artifacts did the building hold? What happened to them? What has happened to that building since? Extra credit will be given to those who put in extra effort, so this isn’t a good assignment to skive off on.”
Everyone started gathering into groups, and Emmy bit her lip. Being the new kid usually meant being the last to get picked.
“So, where do we start?” Jack asked.
Emmy held her breath. Was Jack just talking to Lola, or did he want Emmy to join them?
“The architectural section, obviously,” Lola said. She grabbed her bag and started marching toward one of the long spiral staircases that led to the upper floors. Jack trailed behind her, but Emmy hung back.
Lola started clattering up the staircase and looked over her shoulder. “Aren’t you coming, Emmy?”
Emmy smiled and grabbed her bag. She raced up the iron stairs. “Does your library really have an architecture section?”
“Of course,” Lola said. “Didn’t yours?”
Emmy laughed. “The last school I went to barely even had a library. We just looked everything up online.”
“I bet that’s what most people are doing,” Jack whispered to Emmy, “and they’ll probably be done before we’ve even chosen our building.”
Lola stomped up the stairs. “I heard that!” She led them through the maze of stacks and shelves. The library was massive. Its strange octagon shape made it nearly impossible to navigate, but Lola seemed to know it like the back of her hand. Finally, she stopped in the middle of a row. “Here, medieval architecture.”
“How do you know where everything is in here?” Emmy asked.
Lola scowled, but didn’t say anything.
“After she slugged Brynn in first year she had to do a little ‘community service,’” Jack said.
“I spent three months restocking shelves,” Lola muttered. “I don’t see why Brynn should’ve complained. His nose looks much better since I broke it.”
“Why don’t you guys get along?” Emmy asked.
“Because he’s a prat,” Lola said. “He thinks his side of the family is so much better than ours because they have more money.”
Emmy blinked. She knew there were people who thought having money made you better than other people. After all, she’d gone to elite private schools all over New England, and she’d seen plenty of snobs. But it was jarring to hear Lola say it so matter-of-factly.
Lola pulled an enormous book off the shelf and heaved it onto a nearby table. “Gothic Architecture in Britain—there ought to be something in here.” She flipped the book open and started running her finger over the index. “Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, York Minster… I don’t know, they’re all the same to me.”
Emmy sat down in a nearby window seat. “We need something unique, something no one else is doing. I need those extra effort points.” She tapped her fingers against the heavy window pane. The stone passageway was right underneath her, making a bridge to the old Hall, which had stood for so many centuries, with its aging stonework and crumbling statuaries. The Hall… So many centuries…
She jumped out of her seat. “The Hall!”
“What about it?” Jack asked.
“We should do the Hall! It used to be a cathedral, right? I bet it was here before the Dissolution of the Monasteries.”
“I remember reading that it used to be called Blacehol Abbey,” Lola said. “Let’s see if we can find it in one of these books.”
They searched the shelves, pulling off every book they thought might be relevant. After half an hour, Emmy slumped down in her chair and leaned her head against her hand. “Has anyone found anything?”
“Nope,” Lola said. “Seems like there’s something about every church in the country except this one.”
“Maybe it just wasn’t important enough to make it into any books,” Jack said.
Lola shook her head. “But that doesn’t make sense. Abbeys were always important. We read about them last year, remember?”
“Not everyone remembers every page of every book they’ve ever read, Lola.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Emmy asked. “Should we just pick something else?”
“I think the mezzanine has a section with local history books,” Lola said. “It’s a bit of a long shot, but we could try.”
The mezzanine was at the top of a set of rickety steps, and it felt more like an attic than a library. Emmy wrinkled her nose. The air stunk of moldy leather and some kind of toxic dung. “Are there bats up here?”
Lola ignored her and walked to the far side of the loft. “This is the local history section, but I haven’t got a clue if we’ll find anything. Most of these books are so old they don’t even have titles on the covers.”
Emmy ran her fingers along the dusty leather spines. “If they don’t even have titles, how are we supposed to…” She stopped. One of the books had a strange symbol, a symbol she had seen before: a skull with a cross on the right and a dagger on the left.
“I’ve seen this symbol before.” She pulled the book off the shelf. “It’s on a stone outside the Latin Society.”
Jack took the book from Emmy and looked at the spine. “Oh, that just means the book will be in Latin.” He put it back on the shelf. “I don’t think there’s anything up here, we should just choose another church.”
“I’ve never seen that symbol before, and I’ve been taking Latin for years.” Lola said. “Is that a skull?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Emmy grabbed the book and opened the cracked leather cover. “It’s not in Latin, and it’s called Wellsworth School for Boys: An Early History. This is exactly what we need!” She looked at Jack. “Why did you think it would be in Latin?”
He chewed his bottom lip. “I guess I got the symbol mixed up with something else.”
Emmy flipped the pages until she found a table of contents. “Looks like there are three whole chapters about Blacehol Abbey. That should be enough for our report.”
“I could read them,” Jack said, “and tell you guys what they say.”
“No, that’s okay,” Emmy said, “we can each take a chapter.”
“Seriously, I don’t mind, I’ll just—”