Chapter 28
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.
The chalkboard was right where she’d found it last time.
It stood in a patch of faded moonlight. For a moment, Cass could only hover at the other end of the room and stare. A whisper of trepidation crept through her bones. It had been so long since she’d come up here for the scavenger hunt. What if the revenant didn’t remember her? What if it tried to demand something in return for its help tonight?
No one had erased the things she and Louis had written. Cass reread their conversation, starting with the first question she’d asked. What is your name? Finch had mentioned that professors were studying it, and graduated voyants were even making special trips to campus for proof that the infamous chalkboard revenant had given up his name.
Cass slowly crossed the room. She walked toe to heel, instinctively distributing her weight to make as little sound as possible. Cass wasn’t afraid, exactly, but knowing a revenant was nearby made her entire body feel like an electric current. She could hear her heartbeat and feel the goosebumps prickling over her skin. Once she was close enough, Cass picked up the eraser and ran it over the chalkboard without hesitation, swiping again and again until there was nothing left but white streaks. The professors would have a field day, no doubt, but Cass didn’t really care. She had bigger fish to fry. She grasped a piece of chalk and set the tip near the top. She took a steadying breath, then forced herself to write.
Are you there? she asked.As an afterthought she added, This is Cass.
She stood back and waited, her eyes glued to the other pieces of chalk on the ledge. But none of them moved.Cass waited another beat, hesitating. She raised her gaze to the chalkboard and said, “Louis, I need to talk to you. Please answer.”
Another handful of seconds passed. Cass’s pulse leaped when one of the pieces of chalk moved, and Louis’s elegant handwriting began to appear. What do you want?
Cass’s hand trembled as she wrote, To help Karen Watkins.
You mean you want to untether her, Louis corrected. There was no way to hear his tone of voice, but Cass couldn’t help feeling there was an edge of tension in it.
She didn’t want to argue, so she kept her response simple. Yes.
Are you sure that’s what she wants? the revenant countered.
Cass’s lips pursed. She rolled the piece of chalk between her fingers and considered his question. Louis waited patiently. After a moment, Cass scrawled her answer across the dusty surface.
I think she wants peace. Cass paused, staring at those words. For once, it felt like she had found the right ones. It felt like the truth. She readjusted her grip on the chalk and kept writing. Do you know anything about her death?
As if I’d make it that easy for you, Louis said.
It was exactly what he’d told her last time. Right, Cass thought, fighting a surge of annoyance. This revenant liked riddles and games. She stepped forward again. Okay, fine. What do you want?
Louis’s answer came within seconds, and afterward, his chalk landed back on the ledge with a click. A single word stared back at her. Sundays.
Cass frowned, rereading what the revenant had just written. She was still drawing a blank, and she was so confused that she finally said out loud, “What?”
The chalk rose again. I want your Sundays. Every week. Seven a.m.
Cass stared at his response. Out of everything he could have asked her for, she never would’ve guessed this. Cass’s brow furrowed. Maybe Louis was a lonely ghost, she mused. He had a strange way of making new friends, but who was she to talk? Back in grade school, Cass’s idea of befriending Teresa was tying her hair ribbon around the back of her desk chair, so she was stuck when everyone else stood. Luckily for her, Teresa thought it was funny.
Cass gave a mental shrug and started to agree to Louis’s stipulation, the tip of her chalk poised on the board. But she stood there for several seconds, unable to bring herself to do it. Cass realized that, before she made any kind of deal with this guy, there was something she needed to know. Her arm moved across the smooth, green surface as she wrote a new question.
Why did you tell me your name?
Cass moved back and searched the chalkboard as if it were his face. She murmured out loud, “Out of all the voyants who have tried talking to you, why am I the one you chose? I’m a nobody. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a good time, but still a nobody.”
The silence returned, and Louis’s chalk rested there, untouched. Maybe he hadn’t heard her—Cass still wasn’t totally clear on whether or not he could. Or maybe listening to her real voice forced him to expend more energy. She was just guessing at this point, really. Cass gave him a few more seconds, and she was about to raise her hand when Louis finally started writing again.
Ask me next Sunday, the revenant replied.
“Okay. Fine.” Cass ignored a flutter of unease. “Now it’s your turn. Do you know anything about Karen Watkins? Something that might help her? She’s been trying to communicate with me, but it’s so… jumbled. I’m only getting bits and pieces.”
You need to See.
“See what?” Cass asked sharply, frowning as she reread the words. Why had Louis capitalized it? Her mind turned it over like a Rubik’s Cube.
He was talking about the vials, she realized in a rush. That was how she was going to reach Karen again, and get the clear answers she needed. Honestly, Cass should’ve thought of it herself. But her excitement was immediately followed by the slow sink of realization. She had no way of actually obtaining any See.
“Great idea, but there’s just one problem,” Cass said with a frown. “That stuff is kept under lock and key, and no one but a professor or a TA has access.”
She thought of Teddy Crane and immediately dismissed the idea. He was the golden boy, and golden boys didn’t break rules. Cass didn’t even trust him not to narc if she asked him.
Louis was writing again, his chalk clicking into the stillness. You know someone else who has a key, he said.
Her eyebrows rose. “I do? Who?”
Victoria Chen.
Cass swore.
Hours later, the sound of banging pulled Cass awake.
She cracked her eyes open, and her dark dreams began to fade. Cass absorbed the sight of sunlight streaming through the white, lace-edged curtains over the window before her focus shifted to Cal, who sat in his usual place at the desk. The banging was still going. She gave her brother a questioning look, and he shrugged. Cass reluctantly left the warmth of her bed, the springs creaking with every movement, and reached for a sweatshirt she’d abandoned on the floor. She pulled it on over her tank top and slipped into the hallway, leaving the door open for Cal.
Cass followed the sound all the way to the first floor. She found Justin standing outside the bathroom, his muscular frame towering over Candice. The redhead wore nothing but a towel, and her freckled skin was bright pink. Water dripped off the ends of her hair and pooled on the floor.
“I warned you. I said ten minutes,” Justin said.
“Hey, guys,” Cass said casually, glancing between them with raised brows. “What’s going on?”
“She uses all the hot water,” Justin snapped. “Every morning, she gets up at the crack of dawn and takes the longest shower I’ve ever seen. By the time anyone else gets to use it, the water is ice cold, man. What do you even do in there?”
Candice tilted her head back, her eyes flashing. Even though she couldn’t speak and didn’t have her chalkboard, she had no difficulty communicating. Justin glared back, and it was the most animated Cass had ever seen him. Not even Bradley could get him this riled. She was half-tempted to linger in the hallway and see which of them won the battle.
But she had somewhere to be.
“Good luck with that,” Cass said, nodding at Candice. She moved past them and padded into the laundry room. She’d put her things in the dryer before going to bed last night—it had been a decent distraction from the interaction with Louis and the fact that Cal was still gone.
To Cass’s surprise, someone had folded all her clothes and left them for her to find. Finch, she thought, taking a pair of jeans from the pile. Cass put them on, remembering the conversation they’d had while she was doing her laundry. Finch was an encyclopedia of knowledge when it came to their classmates. Luckily, she also didn’t ask many questions. She hadn’t batted an eye when Cass expressed some curiosity about Victoria Chen.
It was from Finch that Cass found out Victoria worked in the science building, and was a TA for one of the professors. Add her prestigious family to the mix, and it was no wonder Victoria had been entrusted with a key.
After the talk with her roommate, Cass had gotten an idea. A horrible idea. One that might leave a stain on her soul, if it actually existed. She’d spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, wrestling with her decision. Then the dreams started. Every time Cass jolted awake, she’d glance at the clock, knowing it would end once the devil’s hour was past.
When Cass finally fell asleep for the last time, she’d made her choice.
Once she was dressed, Cass claimed the bathroom, making doubly certain to lock it behind her. Justin was still on the warpath about everyone having a time limit.
Ten minutes later, Cass was in the science building, on the second floor, standing outside one of the labs. It smelled different from the other halls she’d been in. Newer, maybe. Cass found Victoria right where Finch said she would be—she could see the Timekeeper through a narrow window in the door. The moment she laid eyes on her, Cass felt a flutter of apprehension, and she regretted the banana she’d eaten on the way over here. For the hundredth time since last night, she wondered if what she was about to do would be a huge mistake. Then she heard Sinister’s matter-of-fact voice again, forcing her to confront the truth she’d been dodging for weeks. What’s the alternative? Do nothing and let her torment you for the rest of the semester?
Cass took a deep, slow breath before she tapped lightly on the glass. Victoria lifted her head and looked over. When she saw who stood in the hallway, her dark eyes narrowed. They were already off to a fantastic start, Cass thought as the other girl approached and opened the door.
“I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Cass Ryan,” she said as the hinges squeaked into the stillness.
Victoria’s voice was flat. “I know who you are.”
Of course she did. Else Bellows was a small school, and Cass’s presence here hadn’t exactly been subtle. Then there had been that super fun moment at the Shadowripper party. Webster had definitely told Victoria who Cass was then.
Thinking about Webster was a mistake. Cass’s mind flashed back to the night of the Haunting, and she remembered the fear Webster had been trying so hard to hide. You said you owe me, right? I’d consider us even if you kept what you saw to yourself.
It’s none of my business. No one is going to hear anything from me, Cass had told her.
And now here she was, using what she’d seen that night as a means to get something she wanted. Self-loathing crept through Cass’s veins like poison. Once again, she considered backing down. Finding another way. But Cass had already gone over all her options. If she went to Headmistress Crane or a professor, they probably wouldn’t be able to untether Karen. On the off chance they were actually successful, everything Karen knew would go with her. There would be no justice, no answers. The man who murdered her got off scot-free, just like the guy who had been responsible for Cal’s death.
This was the best way. The only way.
Cass squared her shoulders and wiped all the feeling from her expression. “I need a vial of See,” she said.
Victoria answered promptly, “Students are only permitted to use See on official Hauntings or within a supervised, academic setting.”
“I know.” Cass paused. “I also know you have a key.”
This time, Victoria heard it—the unspoken threat. Cass could tell from the way she stiffened. If Victoria’s tone had been cool before, it was practically glacial now. “Look, there’s a good reason it’s so forbidden,” she said. “The compound has addictive properties, and too much of it can change you or affect your abilities.”
Cass knew all that. She didn’t want to argue; she’d already made up her mind. “I need it for something important, okay?” Cass snapped.
Victoria frowned. “Like what?”
Cass didn’t see any way around it. She couldn’t think of a lie, and maybe the truth would mean something to Victoria. She was a voyant, after all. “I’m… I’m trying to help a revenant,” she said.
Relief flashed across Victoria’s face. “There are standard procedures to follow. You submit a report, and the school sends a team—”
“No.” Cass slowly raised her gaze, and she let Victoria see the hardness in her eyes. Slowly she said, “If I wanted to follow procedure, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”
The Timekeeper’s jaw clenched, and Cass could see the debate raging in her eyes. Don’t make me say it, she thought. Cass really didn’t want to say the words. Just the thought made her feel dirty. There was also the risk that Victoria might call her bluff.
She waited a few more seconds, praying the other girl would just give in. Apparently Victoria Chen was as stubborn as she was, though. She raised her chin, and her mouth curled in silent defiance. Cass fought the urge to swallow, knowing Victoria would see it. She willed her insides to turn to stone. Fine. She’d be the bad guy. She’d do whatever it took, even if that meant losing a tiny piece of her soul.
“If you don’t get me the See, I’ll tell people about what I saw at the party,” Cass said.
The moment the words left her mouth, Cass wished she could unsay them. But there was no turning back now. She tamped down her guilt and shame. There was an awful, bloated pause as Cass waited for Victoria’s answer. She made sure nothing showed on her face.
“I need a few days,” Victoria said.
Without giving Cass a chance to respond, she stepped back and pulled the door shut, probably a tad harder than necessary. The sound echoed up and down the hallway. Cass turned away with a tightness in her gut—she got the feeling that she’d made her first enemy at Else Bellows. But there was a small, terrible part of her that liked it. That thrilled at the chaos. God, what was wrong with her? Cass shook her head and hurried down the stairs, then down the hall, eager to leave the building.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The sound of Cal’s voice made her shriek. Cass spun to face him, and when she confirmed it was her brother standing there, she exhaled so hard that her chest deflated. Her alarm was instantly replaced by annoyance.
“This is starting to get creepy,” Cass snapped. “You can’t just follow me around and listen in on all my conversations.”
His nostrils flared. “Yeah, well, if I hadn’t followed you, I wouldn’t know about the See you just blackmailed that girl for. You’ve been doing so well, Cass. What have the drugs ever done for you, besides get you into trouble? Is this who you really want to be?”
A rush of understanding went through her—Cal thought she was addicted to See. He didn’t believe what Cass had said about helping someone. Why would he? As far as Cal knew, she still hated revenants. Was terrified by them. If Cass had just told him about Karen, maybe he would trust her now.
There was nothing stopping her from trying to rectify that now, she thought. Cass fought against a surge of anxiety she didn’t fully understand, but she met her twin’s gaze and said bluntly, “It’s for Karen Watkins. Her revenant has been trying to communicate with me, but everything she says is too jumbled. I need the See to establish a clearer link with her, then I’m going to find out who killed her and turn him over to the police. That’s it, I swear.”
Cal frowned. “Since when do you care about one of them?”
Cass faltered again. She didn’t know how to explain her strange connection with a dead girl, or the fact that it had gotten personal. “I don’t,” Cass lied. “But this girl keeps showing me awful things and fucking with my sleep. It’s getting exhausting. Maybe if I expose her murderer, Karen will… move on.”
Now Cal was silent for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he asked, “Since when do you care about that, either?”
His voice was soft, but there was something sharp about the way he said it. Cass heard it and felt a quake of fear. They had to end this argument. Right now, before one of them said something they couldn’t take back.
“I’m not lying, okay?” Cass said. She turned away, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets. “We’ll have to talk about this later. I need to go. My first class is starting in a few minutes.”
She started to walk toward the exit. She’d only taken a few steps when Cal’s voice stopped her. “I’m not letting you drink that See.”
Cass stopped in the center of the hallway, her shadow slanting over the sun-drenched tiles. Silence swelled between them like an infected wound. Cass looked from the doors, then back to Cal. Why did it feel as if she were making a choice? Why couldn’t she just let this go?
Because letting go was just a pretty story people told themselves.
Something hard and painful lodged in Cass’s heart. She looked at Cal and remembered their last argument. Remembered the words he’d spoken to her like hard punches.
“You can’t stop me,” Cass said.
She didn’t wait to hear his reply.