Page 36 of Waysider
Bradley turned, too, and his tone was matter-of-fact. “My sister says that a woman never means it when she says she’s fine.”
Cass felt the corners of her mouth deepen. But she couldn’t smile yet, not so soon after her body had been overtaken by someone else. Something else. “You’re smart to listen to her,” Cass said.
“Oh, I’m just smart in general. Can’t figure out everything, though.” Bradley scratched his temple. “Finch, for example. That one is a puzzler.”
This time, Cass did smile, just a little—Bradley seemed to have that effect on her. Just as she opened her mouth to reply, Professor Green moved to stand in front of the gathered students, drawing Cass’s focus frontward again. Their teacher beamed as she waited for everyone to go quiet. Her white teeth shone in the moonlight, a stark contrast against her dark skin. A few moments later, her voice rose into the silence, and Cass was startled by the ring of command in the cheery woman’s tone.
“Welcome to the Else & Bellows annual scavenger hunt,” Professor Green declared, folding her small hands in front of her. “I know we’re all eager to begin, so I won’t take up too much of your time. This event doesn’t have many rules, but please respect the ones we do have. The first is that no one leaves campus grounds. All of the items in the hunt can be found here, and there is no reason for you to venture into the city. The second rule is that there will be no interfering with each other’s progress. We want a fun and safe evening. Anyone who is found disregarding these mandates will be immediately disqualified, which would be a real tragedy. As you may have heard, the freshman with the most points will get to tag along on an official Haunting, and that looks pretty darn good on a résumé.”
Tension rippled through the crowd, and Cass’s veins burned with the urge to run. Fighting it, she reminded herself of the money, and Cass held onto that thought as the professor handed a small stack of paper to the student standing closest to her. The stack made its way amongst them, and slowly, the air filled with voices again. Their urgency and excitement was palpable.
When the stack reached Cass, she took one of the papers and saw it contained twelve lines, neatly typed. Each one had a point value. Cass scanned the first riddle, and the hum of her classmates faded into the background.
A place of the discarded and the unclaimed,
here you will find a chalkboard and a name.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Cass muttered, rereading the riddle. A frown hovered at the corners of her mouth.
“It’s the attic in Old Main. Everyone knows that.”
It wasn’t Bradley who had answered her. Startled, Cass turned to the left. Tammy stood there, fiddling with the small, handheld machine. She didn’t look up to acknowledge her roommates.
“Hey, that’s cheating!” a freshman protested nearby. She wore a blue peasant dress, and there was an upturned tilt to the end of her nose, as if she was permanently looking down at everyone.
At first, Cass thought Blue Dress was glaring at her, but then Tammy made a sound of disdain and said, “It’s science.”
Blue Dress whirled to face Professor Green. “Isn’t that cheating?”
“Participants may use whatever tools they wish, as long as they don’t impact anyone else’s experience. When the hunt is over, you will hear this sound.” The teacher rang a bell in her hand. It vibrated through the warm night, high and clear. “Happy hunting, my fellow voyants! Go, go!”
The crowd of freshmen immediately began to disperse. Their excitement felt like an electric current in the air. Professor Green went with a group of girls, her lilting voice rising toward the stars as she told them about the history of the scavenger hunt. Cass lingered near the fountain, though. She watched Tammy make another adjustment with the machine. “What is that?” Cass asked.
She knew she was stalling—wasting precious time—but Cass couldn’t bring herself to move. Not yet.
Tammy didn’t look up as she answered, her voice still monotone. “It’s an EMF meter. Some paranormal investigators believe revenants disrupt electromagnetic fields or emit electromagnetic waves themselves. This can be used to detect such energy. It’s how we determine the level of a Haunting before a team is assembled.”
Cass’s eyebrows rose. “That’s really cool. You’re kind of a badass, huh?”
Off in the distance, students called to each other. Their voices echoed through the night. Tammy was silent for a few seconds, her dark head bent. Then she muttered, “You should start with the first one. It’s the easiest.”
Cass glanced at her paper again. The riddle Tammy was talking about didn’t have a point value next to it. It probably meant the attic was only worth one, since it was the easiest. Still, a point was a point. Cass looked back up at Tammy. “Thanks for the tip,” she said.
But Tammy had completely forgotten about Cass. She reached up to turn a knob, her thick eyebrows knitted together. Conversation over, then. No more procrastinating. Cass took a deep breath and looked around for Bradley, but he must’ve run off the second Professor Green was done speaking.
She was on her own.
Before Cass could say anything else to Tammy, her roommate turned and hastened in the other direction, the EMF reader emitting a high-pitched whine. Cass watched her go for a moment, tempted to run after Tammy or just go back to House Wayside. She could still vividly remember the feeling of that revenant inside her. Feeding on her like a bloated tick.
Instead, Cass walked toward the entrance for Old Main.
She thought about her parents as she pulled the door open. She remembered the expressions on their faces at Gavin’s birthday party. And then, because that still wasn’t enough, she remembered their faces the night Cal died.
For them. She’d do this for them. And Cal, too.
Inside, the hallway was gleaming and deserted—strange. Cass frowned. Where was everyone? Had they all decided to skip the attic riddle because it wasn’t worth the effort?
She crept inside as though she were a revenant herself. Every light was dim, and some had been turned off completely, casting parts of the building into darkness. Somewhere, Cass could hear a clock ticking. As she made her way down an eerie hall, she read the plaque beside each door, eager to get upstairs so she could get out of here. Eventually Cass found one for the stairwell, and it opened without any resistance. She slipped through the crack and closed the door behind her. She went up to the second floor, discovering a hall of offices, and continued on.
