Page 74 of Waysider
“Stay away,” she ordered. Cal knew she wasn’t talking to him.
“Laura, what can I do?” he asked sharply, his grip on her fingers tightening.
In the next breath, a sound exploded through the small apartment—the glass in the windows was rattling, Cal realized, keeping his focus on their surroundings now, assessing every shadow, every flicker of movement. The air felt thicker, somehow. Cal couldn’t shake the sense that something was about to appear. Something that felt powerful, and intended to harm the girl in front of him.
He couldn’t sit there and do nothing. Fury shot through Cal’s veins, and the same cold determination he felt every time he looked across the field at his opponent. Cal launched to his feet and crossed the room in an instant. He grabbed hold of the wardrobe and shoved it. The legs screeched on the floor as he put it in front of the window, blocking the glass from whatever was trying to come in. Then Cal spun and grabbed the baseball bat Laura kept propped against the wall. He positioned himself in front of her and glared into the darkest part of the apartment. “I dare you,” he said quietly.
The rattling glass slowed. A minute later, it went completely still. But Cal didn’t move, not for several minutes. His bright eyes scanned the room, over and over, his body tensed and ready for any threat.
A sound from behind finally pulled him from his sharp focus. Laura. Cal turned and knelt beside her, curling his fingers around the armrest to stop himself from touching Laura’s arm, like he wanted to. “Are you all right?” he asked.
But she wasn’t paying attention to him—Laura was frowning at the wardrobe Cal had pushed in front of the window. After a moment, her eyes went to the bat he was still holding, and her frown deepened. “You shouldn’t be able to do that,” Laura said.
Cal knew from the way she said it that she was mostly talking to herself. He straightened and moved back to the chair across from hers, giving Laura a confused frown of his own. “What do you mean? You’re the one who just told me that I was capable of it.”
“Yes, but it takes an extraordinary amount of energy to do anything. I’ve known a spirit to fade for weeks after it opened a cupboard. And I’ve never seen one able to move a wardrobe.”
As if on cue, the baseball bat slipped through Cal’s fingers. It hit the floor with a clatter. He looked down at it, thinking about Laura’s revelation. Cal knew it probably had something to do with his sister. They’d always been connected, and not even death had changed that. Cass was the strength to his steadiness. If Cal had more capabilities than most spirits, it didn’t take a genius to guess it was because of her.
“What just happened?” he asked finally, raising his gaze to Laura’s. He wasn’t talking about the wardrobe, and she knew it.
Laura looked back at him, those blue eyes of hers wary and resigned. “I told you it was dangerous. If you go wandering through the dark, you’re going to find things you don’t like.”
With that, she rose from the table. She moved more slowly than usual, and Cal could clearly see how exhausted Laura was. How much she’d given to help him tonight. But he couldn’t let it go. Even though the windows had gone silent, he could still hear the way they’d rattled in the frames. He could feel that cold, black presence drawing closer and closer.
“What did the spirit say to you, Laura?” Cal asked.
She reacted to the question. It was subtle, but he saw it—a soft, fleeting jolt. Laura wrapped her arms around herself and turned slightly, looking down at the floor. Her voice was quiet. “It said it could see me.”
Cal knew there was more. “What else?” he pressed.
As she met his gaze, Cal realized how scared Laura was. How much she’d been hiding. But now he could see it, shining nakedly from her eyes.
“And then it said your name.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
She waited until Cal snuck out.
He thought he was so slick about it, leaving after he heard Cass’s breathing deepen. Any other night, she would’ve resented him, or maybe even followed him. Cass knew her brother was up to something, and she had a bad feeling about it. But tonight Cass just cracked one eye open to make sure he was really gone, and then she hurried out of bed to get dressed.
Minutes later, she was on the street, walking beneath a black, smog-filled sky. Campus was quiet, just as she’d hoped. Cass knew it would be inevitable to run into someone, since there were parties happening in the houses and people always coming and going from the bars. But the fewer witnesses to see her slip into Old Main, the better. Cass didn’t want anyone to observe her conversation with Louis.
If he even showed up.
But when Cass reached the front doors of Old Main, she tried the handle and found it locked. “Shit,” she swore softly.
Time for Plan B. Cass cast a furtive glance around and hurried back down the steps, taking the path that circled the side of the building. A few seconds later, she discovered there was a back door, just as she’d hoped. Cass knelt down in front of it and pulled off her backpack, drawing the zipper across. Inside, she’d stored her trusty lock picking supplies. Since every lock was different, and each one required its own nuance, she carried more than one type of tool. Safety pins, bobby pins, and a small tension wrench for the especially stubborn locks. Cass took them out and got to work.
As the soft clicks drifted through the quiet, she felt a pique of guilt. If Cal were here, he’d say something like, I thought you were turning over a new leaf, Cass.
And she’d reassure him that this was a one-time thing. It’s for the greater good, okay?
It was weird that she was having an argument with Cal in her head, Cass thought. She exhaled and refocused, holding the pins more firmly.
As luck would have it, this door was old and tired. It only fought with Cass for a few seconds before it gave way with a final click and a sigh, cracking slightly open. Cass looked around again, making sure no one saw her as she went in.
The hallway reminded her of the night she’d come here for the Haunting. Shadows and shapes from the campus streetlights slanted over the floor. Cass kept to the dark and hurried over to the door that would take her upstairs. She made the climb to the attic, the old floor creaking with every step.
