Ruby needn’t have worried about Effie. At least, it seemed as though she needn’t have worried about Effie. She hoped she needn’t have.

She hadn’t yet gone so far as to pray.

Effie was almost in tears, and she all but flung herself onto Ruby’s bed. “Are you all right?” she asked. “You’re not dying, are you?”

What had Dr. Lorimer told her? “Of course not,” Ruby said. “It’s only insomnia. I’ve dealt with it before.” More importantly, Effie had seen her deal with it before. She’d seen insomnia and somnambulism both, and while they had alarmed her, she knew full well what they were and that they caused no harm.

“This wasn’t insomnia,” Effie said, her voice low and grave. Ruby felt like she was going to faint just from hearing it.

“What was it, then?” she asked. “Did Dr. Lorimer tell you?”

Effie shook her head. “He didn’t tell me anything at all. He only came out and said he had to give something to Mrs. Pendleton, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was.” She bit her lip. “I didn’t ask. I didn’t think it was my place.”

It hadn’t been, but Ruby wouldn’t have minded if Effie had done something for her, even if it meant stepping out of line. “Did he say anything to Mlle. Bellerose?”

“Not that I heard.” Effie bit her lip. “What did he tell you?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

Effie bit her lip in dismay. “I would have thought he would at least tell you something,” she said. “This is your health he’s concerned about, after all. Your health we’re all concerned about, really. I’d hope --”

“But I’m just a girl and he wouldn’t want to trouble my delicate sensibilities.” Ruby hoped Effie understood who the bitterness was meant for, and that it wasn’t for her. It never could be for her. “I heard plenty from what he didn’t say. That told me more than enough.”

“And what didn’t he say?”

“That he thinks I’m mad.”

“Oh, surely he wouldn’t --”

“I told him about Mina.”

Effie fell silent, staring at her a long while. This was the sort of serious reaction she had hoped for and the sort that Dr. Lorimer could never give. After all, how could he possibly understand what Mina meant to girls living here? He had likely never lived with a ghost, and if he ever found himself in the company of one, he should simply lecture it until it decided there were better places to be. He could never understand, but Effie did.

“Why?” she asked finally.

“Because I thought it would make a difference. Maybe I really have gone mad.” Ruby had sat up, but now she fell back onto her pillows with a sigh. “You oughtn’t stay friends with me, Effie. There are better girls to keep you company.”

“Oh, no,” Effie began, grabbing Ruby’s hand, and Ruby had to sit up again and pull Effie close for an embrace to reassure her.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, rocking back and forth slightly. It was a little irritating -- surely she ought to be the one being comforted -- but she couldn’t be angry for too long. She had already spent all her anger on Dr. Lorimer and hadn’t the energy to come up with any more, especially not with a friend. “You know that, don’t you? Effie? Effie, are you crying?”

“No,” Effie said, her muffled voice thick with tears.

Ruby didn’t feel remotely inclined to laugh. She did manage a faint chuckle in the midst of a sigh as she continued rocking Effie back and forth. “You goose. You know I don’t mind if you cry as long as there’s a reason for it. Insomnia --”

“It wasn’t insomnia.” Effie pulled back, wiping her eyes, though she wasn’t quite quick enough to rid herself entirely of the evidence of her tears. “I’ve seen you when you can’t sleep, and last night was the exact opposite. You wouldn’t wake, Ruby. I thought you were dead. Mlle. Bellerose thought you were dead. She sat above you, shaking you and calling your name, and she sent me to send for a doctor. When I got back, you were already awake, but you couldn’t stop shaking.” She hiccuped faintly. “Ruby, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Ruby murmured. “I don’t remember it.”

“Not a thing?”

“Nothing at all.” She could barely remember the specifics of waking to find Mlle. Bellerose next to her. She knew it had happened, but if anyone were to press her for details on exactly how it had happened, she would have been forced to shrug in place of giving a proper answer.

“That’s a shame,” Effie said. “I’d thought… but it doesn’t much matter now.”

“Tell me anyway,” Ruby said. “What did you think?” When Effie turned away, Ruby grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close again. “Effie, tell me!”

When Effie looked up, it was with a smile. Ruby hadn’t expected that. “I’d thought you might be glad to see how Mlle. Bellerose cared for you. You’re so gone on her, after all, that it might lift your spirits to see she’s a little gone on you as well.”

Ruby’s cheeks grew hot. “She’s not,” she mumbled.

“What?”

“Gone on me. She’s…” Ruby took a deep breath. She would not give in to any great displays of emotion now. Even if her affection -- dare she call it love? -- was unrequited, she still ought to act like the sort of young woman Mlle. Bellerose believed she could be. Even if she couldn’t have her love, she could still have her respect, and that was something which would last considerably longer than any love. “She thinks of me as a student and nothing more.”

Effie said something in response to that, but Ruby didn’t hear it. She only heard a faint whispering, a soft voice that was somehow capable of drowning out everything else around her.

You will not last.

The voice didn’t sound angry. If anything, it sounded sad, almost heartbroken. Ruby had never heard Mina like that before. She doubted anyone had, at least if the stories everyone told about her were to be believed. She tilted her head, waiting for something more, but the next voice she heard was Effie’s.

“Ruby? Did you hear me?”

“No.” Ruby swung her legs out of bed and tried to stand. She felt a little shakier than she had earlier, but within the space of a few heartbeats, she was firmly on her feet. “I heard Mina.”

Effie frowned. “Are you certain? I didn’t hear anything.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.” There was no time to get dressed. There was no time to do anything at all. She barely even had time to grab a coat and wrap it around herself before hurrying toward the door. In the back of her mind, she knew she ought to get shoes, but that would involve putting them on and doing up the buttons, and she had to move. “I’m not mad.”

“I never said you were either.”

“Then come with me.” Ruby turned on her heel to look at Effie. “Come with me, and I’ll show you everything.”