Page 53 of Waysider
Cass frowned. “Who, Teddy?”
Before Cal could answer, someone else walked past. The sight of Finch made Cass forget the Teddy and Victoria drama. She went after her roommate with a concerned frown.
“Hey,” she said.
Finch turned to face Cass, her forehead scrunched with worry. “Oh, hey, there you are. The office called after you left. Headmistress Crane would like to see you after classes today. It seemed… important.”
As Cass absorbed this news, Cal appeared beside her, and she was too distracted to shoot him a glare. Thankfully, Finch gave no indication that she’d seen him. It felt like there was a stone in Cass’s middle, sinking slowly through her insides. What were the odds this meeting was a good thing? Low, Cass thought grimly. Extremely low. Maybe Professor Harkens had already squealed about the photograph, or Tammy told someone about their friendly chat the other night. Or it could be about Cass’s weird meltdown in Basics of Untethering. Really, it could be any number of things.
A warning bell rang nearby, the sound cutting through the crisp air. Three minutes until their next class started. Cass refocused on Finch.
“Did Crane say why?” she asked. Cass already knew the answer, but she had to ask anyway. Finch shook her head, and Cass let out a long breath. “Okay. Thanks.”
“Good luck,” Finch said as she turned away. Cass gave her a backwards wave of acknowledgement and continued in the direction of Fastly Hall, her mind still whirling about the meeting with Headmistress Crane.
“I’m going with you,” Cal said the instant they were alone. “The headmistress can’t see me.”
Cass kept her attention on the ivy-covered building that loomed in the distance. They were already taking too many risks, Cass thought, and she had a bad feeling in her stomach. Her voice was flat. “No.”
Cal stopped and spoke to Cass’s retreating back. “You can’t stop me.”
She halted. Slowly, Cass looked over her shoulder and stared at him. Cal’s expression was unreadable. They’d fought before, and he’d been pissed at her before. But he had never sounded like that before. Cass couldn’t describe it. She wasn’t sure she wanted to.
You’re tired, Cass thought hurriedly. She was just so fucking tired.
“Fine. I’ll see you later, then,” she said.
“Later,” Cal said, and he sounded normal again. Like himself.
But as Cass turned away, she felt cold. She continued the walk to her next class and replayed their conversation. Cal had been different since they’d gotten here, she thought. Her brother had never kept so many secrets from her, or spoken to her like she was a stranger. Just a few seconds ago, Cass was worried that talking to Professor Harkens was a mistake.
Now she wondered if the mistake had been coming to Else & Bellows at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Cass had never been in the headmistress’s office.
Under normal circumstances, it would be a soothing room. The lower half of the walls was covered in wood paneling, and the rest was striped wallpaper, the green as deep as a forest after a thunderstorm. All the furniture was dark, polished wood, and the air smelled like books, which lined three of the walls on floor-to-ceiling shelves. A brick fireplace nestled in the middle of all those books, covered by a black grate.
The headmistress had stepped out for something, and Cass waited in one of the chairs before Crane’s huge desk. Her heel tapped against the rug restlessly. Cal sat in the chair beside her, still infuriatingly calm.
“You really shouldn’t be here,” Cass said under her breath. She was starting to feel like a broken record.
Cal kept looking around. His expression was bored. “We’ve already established that Crane can’t see me, sis. She’s been to our house, for god’s sake.”
She started to demand how he could be so calm, but then Cass remembered that her brother had never learned to dread visits to an office like this. When Cal got called in to see the principal, it was to be congratulated on something. Cass exhaled loudly and slumped in her chair. “Yeah, well, better safe than—”
The words stuck in her throat. She stared toward the window, at what stood in front of it, and terror crashed over her. Swearing, Cal shot to his feet.
“Don’t worry, it’s not a revenant. Not one that can hurt you, at least.”
Cass hadn’t even heard the headmistress come in. Neither had Cal, apparently, because he went still. His hand was on Cass’s arm, and she had half-risen from her chair. Slowly, Cass lowered herself back down, and Cal followed suit. He didn’t look calm anymore. Cass glanced at Crane, but she quickly refocused on the old man in front of the window. “Why haven’t you… untethered it?” she asked.
Crane paused next to Cass. She looked at the old man, too, and shadow passed over her face. “Because it’s just an imprint… and he’s also my great-grandfather,” the headmistress said softly.
Cass didn’t answer; she couldn’t. All her focus was on the scene playing out in front of them. The old man was still standing there, staring out the fogged glass. As they all watched, his hand rose. He was holding a small gun, Cass realized with horror. She made a strangled sound. She started to rise again so she could bolt, get out of this room—
Too late. The old man’s finger closed on the trigger, and Cass’s mouth started to open in a scream.
