Page 18 of Waysider
“Yes. Didn’t your welcome packet mention it?” Finch asked. Another rhetorical question, because she was already going on. “It’s easy to get a revenant attached to you, especially when you’re new. All you have to do is pay attention to them, or acknowledge them in some way, and bam. You’ve got a shadow.
“Here we are,” Finch declared. “Your room. For now, at least.”
She opened a door and stepped back, smiling so wide that Cass caught herself wondering if Finch had smoked something before this little tour. And whether she’d be willing to share.
Then she saw her room, and Cass’s mind went quiet.
She liked it. The walls were covered in a pattern that reminded her of the admissions office, and it made Cass imagine gardens or forests. Most of the furniture was more old, solid wood—the dresser, the night stand, the desk and chair. The bed frame was black. The size was narrow, but it looked firm. The school had supplied sheets and blankets, neatly-made. There were two wide windows, and the one closest to the bed was open. A breeze stirred the long curtains. Through them, Cass saw a brick wall that must’ve been another part of the house. She turned, curious what the view would be through the other window.
A jolt of terror wracked her when she realized there was someone standing next to the glass.
It was the ghost from Cass’s hospital room.
CHAPTER TEN
Not ghost, Cass corrected herself. Revenant.
It was obvious from Finch’s expression that she didn’t see him. She was still waiting for a reaction about the room, Cass realized, staring at the other girl’s beaming expression. Now that she had recovered from her initial shock, Cass fought not to glare in the revenant’s direction.
This wasn’t the first time they’d crossed paths—she had caught several glimpses of him since that day. That awful, dark day she didn’t like to think about. But it was always at a distance, and always so fast that she’d wondered if she imagined the dark figure. Standing across the road from her house, walking past the window at the doctor’s office, watching from a street corner as she bought her weed.
Something stopped Cass from revealing the dead guy to Finch. The irony of this wasn’t lost on her, considering Finch would be the first person to actually believe her when she cried ghost. But Cass forced herself to enter the room as if it were empty. It felt like every cell in her body was aware of the revenant’s presence as she set her bags down on a big trunk at the foot of the bed. There was something else on it. Feeling Finch and Dead Guy’s eyes on her, Cass peered down more closely. The items were a pair of dice and a stack of cards.
“The cards are for the Down Through Technique,” Finch explained from the doorway.
Her voice came from a long distance—Cass was still completely focused on Dead Guy. It was the same thing she had experienced in her psychiatrist’s office, while she’d been staring at the bleeding tree. Or at her little brother’s party, when she’d been flying at that dead pervert. Everything else faded in the background, as if Cass had stepped over some kind of invisible divide, and she stood in two places at once. Hoping to ground herself, or pull her mind back to the world of the living, Cass touched the deck of cards.
“What is the Down Through Technique?” she asked. To her ears, she sounded normal.
Finch seemed to buy it. “A test for clairvoyance,” she answered. “You’re supposed to guess the order of a stacked series of target symbols—or the cards, in this case—from top to bottom. Usually it’s an indication that you belong with the Pennyseekers or Timekeepers.”
“Clairvoyance,” Cass repeated, eyebrows raised. What kind of school was this? She should’ve read the welcome packet more closely. Cass pulled away from the cards and added, “What about the dice?”
“For exploring psychokinesis. You try to influence how they fall.”
Cass felt a little more normal now, but she still wasn’t quite ready to face the spirit in the corner. She tossed the dice onto the desk and watched them clatter across its smooth surface. Give me a double, she thought.
The dice landed on a six and a three.
“Guess that answers that question,” Cass remarked.
“You’ll figure it out, don’t you worry. Every voyant does eventually.” Finch’s smile dimmed, but there was nothing different about her voice as she cheerfully added, “Oh, and the first aptitude test is next week—maybe you’ll find out then. If you don’t learn anything at the first one, there are always more.”
“Test?” Cass echoed, her eyebrows raised. “Sounds ominous.”
Finch flapped her hand. “Gosh, no, nothing like that. In order to declare a specialty at Else & Bellows, a professor has to witness you, or a student needs a signed affidavit from a legal guardian confirming it. The test is to determine your specialty or see if you’ve developed any secondary abilities. There are five houses on campus, and once you pass the test, you go to live in one of them. In some rare cases, a voyant shows an affinity for multiple specialties, and they have to choose. I’m sure Headmistress Crane explained that part. But Wayside is exactly what it sounds like—an in-between place. Most students discover their focus straightaway, so there aren’t many of us. Some voyants take a bit longer, though.”
Finch’s posture was stiff as she said the last part, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was the latter. Cass caught herself wondering how long the other girl had been living at this “in-between place.”
As if Finch knew what she was thinking, she said quickly, “I’ll let you get some rest. Holler if you need anything. Your house keys are in the nightstand, if you decide to step outside for a cigarette, or something like that. We lock the doors at eleven. Sweet dreams, Cass. I’m… I’m really glad you’re here.”
There was a change in Finch’s voice that made Cass forget about the revenant for an instant. She frowned as Finch retreated, but the other girl’s face just emanated kindness. She must’ve imagined it, Cass decided. She wasn’t exactly thinking straight right now. With one last smile, Finch backed out, closing the door as she went.
The second the latch clicked into place, Cass spun toward her dead stalker.
“Get the fuck out of my room,” she snarled.
“No,” the ghost said, sending yet another wave of shock through Cass. His dark eyes stayed on hers, and there was a faint accent in his voice as he added, “We need to talk.”
