Waysider (The Voyants Book 1)

Chapter 17

Cass could see the roof of Old Main, the sloped edges outlined in moonlight. As she hurried across the lawn, she felt a rush of déjà vu—it had only been a few hours ago that she’d practically run into the dining hall, pale and shaken from an encounter with this dead girl who just wouldn’t leave Cass the fuck alone. She neared the edge of a crowd that had gathered in front of the building. Cass realized she was still trembling, but she couldn’t tell if it was from terror or rage.

God, she wanted to go home. Longing struck Cass like a palm against her chest, and suddenly her heart was aching. She wanted to go home, and she wanted Cal. She didn’t want to be here, in the dark, surrounded by strangers and angry souls.

“Cass! Cass, over here!”

Cass’s head jerked toward the sound of her name. It was Bradley, her roommate. He waved at her enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear as if they were old friends. He and Finch really would be a match made in heaven, Cass thought as she approached reluctantly, her hands fisted in her jacket pockets. Bradley’s smile dimmed as she drew closer, and he searched her expression. His brown eyes darkened with concern. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a… well, you know.”

“I’m fine,” Cass muttered, keeping her face turned away. Nothing had happened so far, but the crowd seemed to be turned in one direction.

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.

The next stairwell was so swollen with shadows, the high walls on either side blocking out any possible light, that Cass had to feel her way up. She skimmed her fingertips along the hard surfaces on either side of her, struggling to hear past the sound of her thunderous heartbeat. An open doorway awaited at the top, but all Cass could see was soft moonbeams.

It felt like an hour had passed by the time she reached the attic.

The huge room, with its slanted ceilings and wooden floors, was completely empty except for one thing—a chalkboard. Written across the board was a single sentence, the handwriting done in elegant, white lines.

What is my name?

Cass frowned again, casting another glance around the moonlit space, but nothing moved. She also didn’t hear anything. Either her abilities were weakening, like Crane had said they would, or there were no revenants in this room.

The silence crawled beneath her skin like beetles under the floorboards. After another moment, Cass swung away and started toward the stairwell, fighting not to run. She couldn’t deny the sense of relief rushing through her. Maybe the next riddle would be a dead end, too. And if she finished the scavenger hunt without interacting with a single revenant, no one could say she hadn’t tried, right?

A sound made Cass halt so abruptly that her sneaker squeaked.

It was a soft… clicking. Or scraping. For an instant, Cass didn’t want to turn around and find out. Then she had to, because not knowing was worse. Cass spun toward the sound, her hands rising defensively, ready for a revenant to be coming right at her.

Letters were appearing on the chalkboard.

But there was still no one else in the room.

Seconds later, the chalk landed back on the narrow ledge along the bottom of the board, and it didn’t move again. It felt like Cass’s heart rammed up into her throat, and her muscles locked into place. She didn’t breathe as she read the words. Do you always give up so easily?

Cass’s entire body was screaming. Give up? What did that mean?

The scavenger hunt, she remembered in a rush. The revenant was talking about the scavenger hunt. But right now, she could barely think past the roaring terror, much less even remember the damn riddle. Trying to scrape her mind back together, Cass looked down. The paper in her hand was quivering, and she had to scan it twice to make sense of the letters. A place of the discarded and the unclaimed, here you will find a chalkboard and a name.

Cass raised her gaze back to the sentence still written at the top of the board. Understanding raced through her. This was the “item” she was supposed to get. The revenant’s name. Could it really be that simple? Was she just supposed to… ask for it? It seemed to go against the school’s rule about acknowledging revenants, but maybe this was an exception.

Okay, then. Here went nothing. Cass gathered breath into her lungs, trying to suck in some courage along with it.

“What… what is your name?” she asked, wincing at the waver in her voice. You sound like an idiot, she thought.

Apparently the revenant agreed, because the chalk didn’t move. Several seconds passed. Then a minute.

What if it hadn’t heard her? Cass wondered suddenly. Her eyes flicked down at the chalk. Maybe that was the only way this revenant could communicate.

A furious curse rose in her throat and lodged there. Cass would have a word or two for Tammy the next time they saw each other—this was not easy, in any shape or form, and Cass was officially dreading the other eleven riddles if this was supposed to be the best one.

She stood there for another full minute, maybe longer, before Cass finally mustered the guts to move. She forced herself to walk toward the board, and every muscle in her body was rigid, as if she’d turned to ice. Some of the floorboards creaked beneath her, and Cass could hear her ragged breath in her ears. Her eyes kept darting around, half-expecting to see a shimmer of movement or a dark, hulking shape in the dim corners of the attic. But she reached the board without incident, untouched. Cass’s breathing was still shallow as she picked up the piece of chalk, petrified that she’d feel ghostly fingers. What if the revenant wanted to hurt her? It could be standing right next to her, wearing a hideous leer. Maybe it would snap her neck, or bite her, or—

Cass’s grip tightened on the chalk so hard that she felt her fingers shake. She took another long, steadying breath, then stretched her arm upward. She felt the scrape of the chalk in her fingertips as she wrote.

What is your name?

The second she was done, Cass hastily set the chalk down and stepped back. Compared to the graceful loops of the revenant’s letters, her handwriting looked like a child’s. As she waited, everything inside Cass kept urging her to run. She hated being this close to a revenant, even if she couldn’t see it. Especially if she couldn’t see it. But Cass stayed where she was. She watched the chalk scratch and click across the dusty green surface of the board, and there was no one to hold it, no one to write the words appearing in front of her.

As if I’d make it that easy for you.

A whisper of irritation slid through her veins. After the revenant was finished, Cass picked the piece of chalk back up. She had a riddle to solve and a cash prize to collect, she reminded herself. Beneath the two sentences they’d written, Cass added a third. Were you a student here?

The response came in seconds. Yes. Who are you?

“Oh, you get to ask for my name, but I don’t get to know yours?” Cass muttered. She picked the chalk back up.

You first, she wrote.

Nice try, came the reply.

Cass huffed. This ghost was starting to piss her off. She snatched the chalk off the thin ledge again, and her handwriting became even sloppier. Eat shit and die. Again.

With that, she set the chalk down and swung toward the door. Fuck this. She was done dealing with psychotic revenants tonight.

Cass had gotten halfway across the room when a wave of defeat crashed over her. She slowed, and a telltale prickle filled her eyes. God, she was useless. Tammy said the attic riddle was the easiest, and she’d already failed. Cass paused at the top of the stairs and pressed her arm against her eyes, trying to dry them. If she ran into anyone on the way out, she didn’t want it to be obvious that she’d been upset. Stop crying, Cass thought.

She failed at that, too—the room was so silent that Cass heard the wet plop of a tear dripping onto the wooden floor. She swore softly and took a soundless, shuddering breath. Then she opened her eyes, squared her shoulders, and lifted her head. Cass knew she probably couldn’t win the scavenger hunt at this point, but she could figure out at least one of the damn riddles. Cass pulled the list of riddles out of her pocket and skimmed them again. Fuck it, she’d go for the one with the highest point value.

If all the world’s a stage,

does it matter what rests in death’s cold page?

The first line was obviously referring to the auditorium. She’d figure out the next part after she’d had a chance to take a look around. Just as Cass was about to go down the stairs, she heard the chalk scraping over the board again, the hard tip softly tapping at the start of each new letter. Once the sound stopped, Cass took one more breath and turned, steeling herself to see some kind of insult or taunt.

Louis.

“Louis?” Cass read out loud, her forehead scrunching. “Is that your name?”

When no response came, she crossed the room again, going back the way she’d come. Cass stopped in front of the board again and waited for the revenant to say something else. She wasn’t sure why, since she’d gotten the answer to the riddle. She should keep going with the scavenger hunt, and seek out the next one. She’d need more than one point to win this thing.

But Cass reached for the chalk.

She was about to write her own name when a new sound clanged through the attic—a bell. The scavenger hunt was over. Cass must’ve been here longer than she realized.

Shit. She’d definitely lost.

With an exhale of relief, Cass turned toward the door. A startled jolt went through her when she realized she wasn’t alone.

“Jesus,” Cass breathed, pressing a hand against her thundering chest. She stared at the figure in the doorway. “You need a bell. Hey, I actually know where you can find one.”

Sinister Gray stood in the shadows. He didn’t speak. Part of his face was cast in shadow, but something about his silence felt weighted. After another beat, Cass realized he wasn’t looking at her—his eyes were fixed on the chalkboard. Shifting nervously, she glanced at the conversation written behind her. “Took me the entire time to get him to fess up, so I guess that’s it for me. What are you doing here, anyway? I thought the hunt was only for freshmen,” she added.

Silence. Sinister just kept staring at the board.

“Okay, well, I’m going to bed. Louis here gave me a headache.” Cass jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll see you around.”

She gave Sinister another chance to respond, but even now, he didn’t speak. Cass felt a surge of annoyance, even stronger than the one she’d felt toward the asshole with the chalk. What was this guy’s problem? And why was he here? She didn’t bother asking again, since he clearly didn’t want to chitchat. Without a word, Cass brushed past the tall Shadowripper and hurried down the first flight of stairs, then the next.

On the ground floor, Cass sped walked toward the exit. After a few seconds, she sensed Sinister beside her. Cass hid her surprise, darting a glance toward his stoic face. Was the guy trying to protect her, or something? Maybe he just happened to be leaving at the same time as her. Sinister’s long legs kept pace with her short ones effortlessly, and she could smell his shampoo, or maybe it was cologne. The scent was subtle, masculine. It made Cass think of sandalwood, leather, and some kind of dark spice. She didn’t speak, and neither did he. No surprise there. Cass’s annoyance had dimmed, though.

Shit, she thought suddenly. Cass’s arousal faded into exasperation. Michael, Teddy, Sinister—one of them was fucking dead, and the others were ghost hunters, but Cass’s body didn’t seem to care. She really needed to leave campus and get laid. Soon.

Within moments, they reached the double doors at the end of the hall. Sinister startled Cass by opening one for her, standing to the side so she could pass. She paused on the steps, waiting for him, and they started down the sidewalk together. They neared the spot where everyone had regathered.

“I’m surprised no one else came upstairs,” Cass remarked, scanning the crowd for Bradley and Tammy. “Especially since it was the first riddle.”

She felt a soft touch on her arm, there and gone before she could automatically jerk away. Cass whirled toward Sinister just as he said, speaking to her for the first time, “Cass.”

His voice was huskier than she thought it would be. Cass searched Sinister’s dark eyes, hearing a note of tension that made her instincts come alive. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

“No one has ever gotten the chalkboard revenant. Ever,” Sinister added, keeping his voice low, but he shouldn’t have bothered—everyone was listening to them, anyway. Staring at Cass. She watched the graceful movements of Sinister’s hands as he continued, “It’s been there since 1926. That’s why there’s no point value beside it. You get the attic riddle, you win the hunt.”

Confusion gripped Cass’s stomach like curled fingers, long fingernails digging deep. She gazed up at the Shadowripper with a furrowed brow. She could hear Sinister speaking again, but it felt like his voice came from far away. Only the last three words he said got through the fog around her brain.

“You won, Cass.”

Fuck, she thought, realization sinking in. Figuring out what all of this meant.

She was going on a Haunting.

Maybe she’d just pretend to get sick whenever that slip arrived.

Word must have reached Professor Green about Cass—the woman left her place by the fountain, walking toward where Cass and Sinister stood. The other students parted to let her through. A wide-eyed Bradley was close behind, and he halted beside Cass as their teacher asked, “I was just informed that you answered the first riddle, Miss Ryan. Were there any witnesses to your interaction with the revenant?”

“I witnessed it.”

Cass jumped at the sound of Sinister’s voice, clear and strong. Shock rippled through the crowd, and the night once again filled with murmurs and whispers. Cass couldn’t tell if they were surprised because of what he’d said, or the fact that Sinister had spoken at all. She looked back at him, but the Shadowripper kept his eyes on Professor Green, his profile sharp and solemn.

“Extraordinary,” Professor Green said, shaking her head. Her dark eyes shone with wonder. “Congratulations, Miss Ryan. Well, I suppose this concludes the annual Else Bellows scavenger hunt! Back to your houses, everyone! Thank you for participating.”

While the crowd scattered, Professor Green clasped Cass’s cold hands between her own small, warm palms. “The student who wins the scavenger hunt usually goes on to do great things, and no one has ever managed it with the attic riddle. I’ve got my eye on you, Miss Ryan,” she finished with a wink.

“Thanks.” Cass paused, trying to think of something else to say—she knew she should’ve had a thousand questions—but her mind felt slow and dim. A stilted silence fell.

After another moment, Professor Green just gave Cass another kind smile. “I’ll notify the office in the morning. Your prize will be available to pick up once you’ve concluded your Haunting. Congratulations again, Miss Ryan.”

Professor Green nodded at the boys and walked away. Cass stared after her, mentally rewinding what the professor had just said. Wait. Cass would get the prize money after she went on a Haunting? Her stomach sank, and Cass cursed silently in her head. There went her plan of pretending to be sick…

A rush of anxiety hit her like a bright, roaring semi truck. Suddenly Cass wanted to run. She wanted to go back to House Wayside, with its wooden walls and the low, soft sounds of her roommates, all the corners glowing with buttery light. She wanted to trade in the dark sky above for the ceiling of her bedroom, with thick blankets wrapped around her as tightly as Cass’s father used to do when she was a child.

She wanted to talk to Cal.

Working to control her expression, Cass turned to Sinister. With the tips of her fingers, she touched her chin, then moved her hand toward him. It was the only sign language Cass knew, but the movement was as familiar to her as breathing. She used to sign it every day to the bus driver, before her and Cal got their licenses.

“Thank you,” Cass said, raising her gaze to Sinister’s. She shoved her hands in her pockets and shrugged. “For… sticking up for me, or whatever.”

Sinister echoed her gesture, and as usual, his face revealed nothing. A breeze stirred the dark hair at the nape of his neck. You’re welcome.

He didn’t say anything else, but their conversation felt… unfinished, somehow. They looked at each other for another beat, and something passed between them. It was the same feeling Cass had gotten in the chapel when she first spotted Sinister, and again in the dining hall when he’d walked past. Attraction, maybe, and curiosity. A sense of beginnings. The possibility of more.

Sinister turned away first. Heat rushed to Cass’s cheeks, and she hurried to turn away, too. Her shoulders hunched as she returned to one of the walking paths and started in the direction of House Wayside. Her thoughts went back to everything that had happened tonight, and the Haunting she wouldn’t be able to get out of. She ignored the stares coming from a cluster of Pennyseekers. Once they thought she was out of earshot, the whispers started.

Any other day, Cass probably would’ve marched up to them and said something. But not tonight.

She was dimly aware of Bradley walking beside her. He’d been silent this entire time, but his eyes still hadn’t gone back to their normal size. Cass could still see the whites around his dark irises when she finally looked over at him.

“When?” she managed to say.

Somehow, Bradley understood what she was trying to ask. “The Haunting? They happen randomly. You’ll get a slip in your room a day or two before you’re supposed to report for duty.”

“Super,” Cass chirped. The flyer hadn’t mentioned emotional torture. They really should’ve put that in the fine print. Cass scowled and quickened her pace. Bradley was gangly, but his legs were long. He kept pace with her easily.

In her peripheral vision, Cass saw the boy tilt his head. He studied her for a moment. She kept her focus on the path, eager for a familiar mailbox to appear in a tangle of ivy. “What made you do the attic one? For the scavenger hunt, I mean,” Bradley said.

Cass laughed, the sound harsh and abrupt. Her fists tightened in her pockets. “Tammy told me it was the easiest.”

Bradley frowned. “She said that?”

“Yeah.” Cass finally registered what Sinister had told her. She looked at Bradley again, and now she was frowning, too. “Has that chalkboard really been there since 1926?”

He nodded. “It’s infamous at EB. The school policy is to free every revenant that’s reported, so the riddles in the scavenger hunt are different every year, seeing as there aren’t many objects or places that we allow revenants to stay attached to. But no one has been able to untether the chalkboard revenant, or even learn its name. Famous voyants from around the world have tried—it’s like our version of Excalibur. So the revenant stays up there, year after year. No one tells the freshmen that the riddle is impossible to solve, because they think it’s funny to watch us try. One year, a student got so pissed at the chalkboard that he broke his hand trying to punch it.”

Cass processed this silently. There was a lot about the events of the day that she didn’t fully understand, but one thing was clear—Tammy had been trying to sabotage her with the oh-so-helpful “tip.” Cass doubted it was personal. Her roommate had probably just wanted to win. That didn’t mean Cass would let this slide, though. She’d be having a little chat with Tammy next time their paths crossed.

“Hey, wait up.”

Cass and Bradley stopped at the same time. Bradley’s eyes widened again, but Cass’s face was carefully blank as she turned and watched Sinister close the distance between them. Now that her mind wasn’t clouded by shock or terror, she’d realized that the Shadowripper never answered her when she asked what he’d been doing in the attic. Had he been following her? Trying to get her alone? But why?

Once again, Sinister signed as he spoke. “My house is throwing a party on Friday night. You should come. Bring a friend, or a few, if you want.”

He nodded at Bradley, who made a strange sound that Cass thought was supposed to mean, “Me?”

Anyone else at this school would’ve accepted instantly, no doubt. Cass saw the way women looked at Sinister, and she couldn’t deny that stir of intrigue she felt again as she met his gaze. But she barely knew this guy, and he planned to hunt demons for a living once they graduated. Cass was trying to turn over a new leaf, which meant she needed to make smarter decisions. Decisions that kept her away from Sinister Gray.

“Thanks for the invite. I’ll try to make it,” was all she said.

Bradley made another shocked noise. This time, Cass was the one to leave first. Nodding at Sinister, she lurched into motion again, and Bradley hurried to catch up.

“No way,” he blurted, his eyes so wide Cass could see the whites around his irises. “You got invited to a Shadowripper party your first week at EB? And you told Sinister Gray you might try to make it?”

A party was the last thing on Cass’s mind. She continued down the path that would lead them to House Wayside. “I guess so.”

Apparently Bradley had recovered from his shock, too, because he talked the rest of the walk back, just like Finch did. Cass found that she didn’t mind it. The sound of his deepening, creaky voice made her think of a rocking chair, and with the moon high above, so round and bright, that roiling, restless feeling inside of her quieted.

Within a few minutes, they arrived at the hedge-lined walkway of House Wayside. Light shone through several of the windows, lending the yard and the path a soft look, instead of the ominous one haunted houses usually had—and this house was most definitely haunted. Cass raised her gaze, searching for the window to her bedroom. A whisper of surprise went through her when she saw a familiar silhouette standing there.

Michael.

They went inside. “See you tomorrow, man,” Cass said to Bradley.

“See you tomorrow!” he said back, grinning. He darted up the stairs ahead of her, taking them two at a time. Cass moved to follow Bradley, passing the doorway that led into the dining room. She paused when she noticed that the light was on, and there was a small figure sitting in one of the chairs.

Tammy had beaten them back. As usual, she was working on the EMF meter. Her bangs hid her eyes. Tammy’s thin arm shifted as she twisted a wrench, unscrewing something from the small machine. Half of the table was covered in parts and tools.

“You were right. The attic riddle was the easiest one,” Cass said suddenly, her hard voice ringing through the stillness.

She could see from the way Tammy went still that she’d gotten the message, loud and clear. After a few seconds, Tammy finally lifted her head and looked back at Cass. Hearing the words she didn’t say.

Don’t fuck with me again.

One second passed. Then two. Cass didn’t break her stare.

Tammy nodded, and even now, her face was expressionless. Her eyes immediately shifted back to the EMF meter. Cass stayed where she was for another moment, making sure her point had been made. Then she thought of the silhouette she’d seen through the window.

Trying not to seem eager, Cass turned away and went up the stairs. Music floated through the bright crack beneath Candice’s door. A rhythmic thumping came from Justin’s. Cass hurried down the hall and up the next flight of stairs, her footsteps barely making a sound on the thick rugs. Then she finally arrived a familiar wooden door, the surface lined with deep grooves and a thousand memories she’d never know about. But Cass didn’t mind not knowing—she was already surrounded by too many ghosts.

Holding her breath, she turned the knob and pushed it open. The hinges squeaked. Cass’s eyes immediately went to the window, and her heart sank when Michael wasn’t there.

Neither was Cal.

Cass frowned at the empty room. Unease crept through her stomach like fingertips gently skimming her insides. Cass ignored it and moved toward the dresser, where she took out the oversized Van Halen T-shirt she always slept in, along with a pair of boxer shorts she’d stolen from one of her exes. Then she grabbed her towel off the back of the desk chair and left again, padding downstairs to shower off the awful day.

Minutes later, with damp hair and the taste of mint lingering in her mouth, Cass once again returned to an empty room. She shoved down her anxiety a second time, but it was a little harder to do. Desperate to fill the ringing silence and drown out her own thoughts, Cass turned on the radio. “Total Eclipse of the Heart” followed her across the room as she turned off the light and crawled into bed.

Even with the radio playing, the stillness closed in on Cass. She stared into the dark and remembered the library. She relived the moment when those cold hands clamped down on her skin, and then something was inside her, controlling her.

Panic swelled in Cass’s chest. Her body went rigid as she prepared to swing upright and do something. Anything. There had to be others on campus who were awake. If not, she could always take the bus into the city. She could find a bar, a party, a place with noise and chaos and drinks—

A hand found hers in the dark.

Cass would’ve jerked away, shrieking in terror, but a scent had reached her at the same moment she felt his fingers. The familiar smell of her childhood and everything warm, happy. Like magic, the tension seeped out of Cass’s body. She let out a soft breath, and her eyes felt heavy now. She had so much to tell him—her brother should know about the revenant that had possessed her tonight, the scavenger hunt, the Haunting. All of it. Tomorrow, Cass told herself. She was so, so tired.

“Night, Cal,” she whispered.

His voice floated to her, saying the words that always brought them together, no matter how much had separated them. “I’m here.”

Within seconds, Cass fell asleep.