Page 82 of Waysider
Unease crept through her. Cal was right, she did like them. And the more you liked someone, the more it hurt when you lost them.
Cass hid a rush of fear, and prayed Cal couldn’t sense it. She didn’t feel like getting into her issues right now. She pretended to watch a game of hacky sack happening on the lawn of House Pennyseeker. Their dormitory was different from House Wayside. Bigger, newer. Cass found she preferred the aged, ivy-covered house she’d left behind. The house that she’d go back to, once she failed this stupid test.
A minute later, they reached the point where they always separated. The path ended in a T, and from here there were fewer hedges and palm trees. Fewer hiding spots and shadows for revenants. Cass made sure there was no one else around before she faced her brother. “Well, I’ll let you know how it goes,” she said.
“Cassie.” Cal gave her a look. It was the one he always gave her when she hadn’t fooled him. But his voice was unexpectedly gentle when he said, “Even if you pass the test, and you have to move into a new house, you won’t lose them. You won’t lose this.”
If it had been anyone else saying it, Cass would’ve rolled her eyes or walked away. It was no use doing that with Cal, though. Her mouth tightened, and she pulled one hand out of her pocket to muss her bangs. “It’s not just that. It’s…” Cass trailed off.
“What?”
She couldn’t talk about it. Not even to Cal. Cass couldn’t admit how frightened she was of the power inside her, or how worried she was that it might change if she kept using it. If she kept drinking See. And every time Cass thought about the test, she got a bad feeling.
Cal wouldn’t understand.
“Never mind,” Cass said, giving him a tight-lipped smile. “I’m going to be late. I’ll see you soon, okay? This probably won’t take long.”
Cal grinned back, and the sight of it made something in Cass lighten. It was his old grin, before all the bad things happened. Back when their biggest problems were who got the TV remote or who got to use the car on Friday night. “Break a leg,” Cal told her.
They parted ways, and Cass felt a little less afraid now. Warmer. A minute later, she arrived at the gardens. Cass hurried into a hedge maze and followed the signs that led to the test. She could hear voices nearby, and the sound was comforting. She wasn’t alone out here.
Within a minute, the path opened into a clearing, and a sculpture rose in the center of it—a man. He had noble features, thick hair, and an elegant suit, all made of stone. The plaque beneath his feet was too small to read from this distance, and Cass started toward it curiously. Torches lit the space, sending shadows and light over the flagstones.
“Good evening, Miss Ryan,” someone said.
Cass jerked toward Headmistress Crane. She stood near the entrance to the clearing, and tonight, her usual stylish clothes had been replaced by dark robes that seemed like they were from another time. Like she was about to bend over a cauldron and start mumbling in Latin.
“Hi,” Cass managed. “That’s an… interesting look.”
Crane smiled. “The robes are strange, I know. But this school is rampant with traditions, and honoring them feels like I’m honoring my grandfather, too.”
Unbidden, Cass’s thoughts went back to the revenant in Crane’s office. She remembered the devastated look on the old man’s face as his finger pressed down on the trigger. Cass suppressed a shudder and refocused on his granddaughter.
“You never told anyone about my brother,” she blurted.
She’d surprised both of them, Cass thought. But it was something that had been bothering her for weeks. Crane studied her, and in that moment, she looked so much like Teddy that Cass stared.
“When the time comes for him to depart, it should be your choice, Miss Ryan,” the headmistress said gently.
That time will never come. Cass swallowed the words and pasted on a small, polite smile. “Well. Thanks.”
She walked away from Crane and joined her classmates, who were all clustered on one side of the sculpture. Cass drew up alongside her roommate. Finch’s expression was strange, and Cass nudged her with her elbow. “Hey. Are you okay?”
Finch stared at the sculpture as if it were speaking to her. “Did you read the paper today?”
Cass’s forehead wrinkled. “Uh, no. Why?” she asked.
“Joe Kittinger crossed the Atlantic in a hot air balloon. All by himself.”
Headmistress Crane was making her way toward the sculpture now, but Cass watched Finch with a nonplussed frown. “That’s… cool. Right? Isn’t it?”
The other girl’s voice was dull. “There are people out there, breaking records and changing the world. And I’m about to attend my thirty-sixth aptitude test,” she added bleakly.
The look in Finch’s eye reminded Cass of the night they’d sat on the kitchen floor. Most of the people around them had gone quiet, so she lowered her voice, making sure only Finch could hear as she said, “Hey. Remember what I told you in the kitchen? The night of the Shadowripper party?”
Finch swallowed. “We make our own legacies.”
“Hell yes, we do. So who cares if we fail some silly little test?” Cass cocked her head and grinned. “You’ll get your hot air balloon, don’t worry.”
