28. Linden
Linden
Idon’t think Cass or I slept all night. We stayed holed up in my room, sitting side by side on the bed, mostly in silence. When the morning light finally began to creep through the dorm window, the dawn fell on a world I didn’t recognize.
Widdershins Academy was almost completely abandoned.
The vast majority of the student body was gone along with more than a few of the professors.
In fact, the only people I could see outside were the astounding number of security personnel patrolling the wards.
And judging by the silence throughout the dorm, it was a very real possibility that Cass and I were completely alone.
I wasn’t sure if that was a comfort or a terrifying prospect.
Part of me wanted to believe that everyone had just gone home, that things would eventually settle down and we could go back to our normal lives.
Like this was nothing more than a spring break of sorts.
But the rational part of me knew better.
The Purity Front had attacked the Elder Council itself.
They’d killed at least one Council member that I knew of, possibly more.
And they’d done it with what seemed like inside help.
Nothing was going back to normal.
“We should try to contact Elder Briar Hall,” Cass said quietly, breaking the silence that had settled between us sometime around three in the morning.
His voice was hoarse from disuse, and his green eyes were fixed on some distant point outside the window.
“Or Elias. Someone who can tell us what’s happening. ”
“I don’t know how,” I admitted, running a hand through my hair.
It was matted and disgusting, still covered in dust from the Elder Council chamber.
We’d both been too emotionally wrung out to shower, too afraid to let each other out of sight for even that long.
“My magic doesn’t work that way. I can’t just summon people through telepathy like Elias can. ”
“Right,” Cass said, and I heard the frustration in his voice. “And I don’t know how either. So I guess we just sit here and wait for someone to tell us what’s happening?”
Before I could respond, there was a knock at the door.
We both tensed immediately, Cass’s hand finding mine while my magic flared instinctively beneath my skin. After everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, any unexpected visitors felt like a threat.
“Who is it?” I called out, not bothering to move toward the door.
“It’s Dean Thornfield,” came the reply, and I felt some of the tension drain from my shoulders. Not all of it, but enough. “Professor Paulson said you were still here. I need to speak with both of you. It’s important.”
I exchanged a glance with Cass before getting to my feet.
My legs were stiff from sitting all night, and I had to stretch briefly before crossing the room to unlock the door.
Dean Thornfield stood in the hallway looking like he hadn’t slept either.
His usual impeccable appearance was disheveled, his gray hair mussed, and there was a weariness in his dark eyes that spoke of a long and difficult night.
“Come in,” I said, stepping aside to let him enter.
He did, closing the door quietly behind him. He didn’t sit, just stood there for a moment, seeming to gather his thoughts. When he finally spoke, his voice was heavy and slow.
“I received word from Elias and Elder Briar Hall,” he said.
“They’re alive?” I asked, my eyes going wide.
“Yes. But only just,” he nodded, shaking his head.
“The Elder Council is in tatters. They said they couldn’t give me any details yet, but they wanted to make sure the pair of you made it out alright.
I told them you did.” Dean Thornfield took a breath, his shoulders sagging slightly.
“They also wanted me to inform you that the hearing regarding your grove has been postponed indefinitely. Given the circumstances, the Elder Council has more pressing matters to attend to.”
I felt my stomach clench. Part of me had been holding onto the hope that I’d still have a home to go home to, that I’d get confirmation it was still mine. But of course they had bigger problems now. The entire infrastructure of our world had just been attacked.
“What about the Purity Front?” Cass asked, his voice sharp. “Did they say anything about what happened? About who helped them get in?”
“No,” Dean Thornfield replied. “But I can tell you that the rest of the semester here at Widdershins Academy has been cancelled. Campus needs to be completely vacated within the next twenty-four hours, staff included. If there’s anything you need to take with you, gather it up now and go.”
“Go?” I repeated, the word feeling hollow in my mouth. “Go where? My grove is under dispute, and Cass...” I trailed off, looking at him. His parents had come and gone.
“Your parents have arranged for you to stay with them temporarily,” Dean Thornfield said, addressing Cass directly. “They called again this morning. They were quite insistent about it, actually. Said they’d already prepared a room for you and Linden.”
Cass’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. I could see the internal conflict playing out across his features. It was a safe place to go and his parents were welcoming us both in with open arms. But he was still furious with them, still hurt from how they’d treated him.
“We… we’ll figure it out,” Cass replied at last.
Dean Thornfield nodded. “Take care of yourselves. And hopefully, if the entire world doesn’t go to shit, I’ll see you both next semester.”
After he left, Cass and I sat in stunned silence for a long moment.
The semester was over. Campus was being evacuated.
And we were supposed to just... go somewhere and wait for the world to stabilize itself.
The whole thing felt surreal, like I was watching it happen to someone else rather than living through it.
“Your parents’ place,” I said finally, testing the words out. “That’s not so bad, right?”
Cass let out a hollow laugh. “Twenty-four hours ago, I thought they’d never speak to me again once they found out about you. Now we have no choice but to move in with them.” He rubbed his face with both hands. “This is insane.”
“Yeah,” I agreed quietly. “But it’s better than the alternative.”
I thought about what would happen if we refused to leave campus.
Where would we go? My grove was in limbo, and even if it weren’t, it was still partially destroyed.
We couldn’t exactly camp out in the ruins while the Purity Front was probably making attacks across the country. And we couldn’t stay on campus.
“Okay,” Cass said, dropping his hands and looking at me with determined eyes. “Okay. We pack. We go to my parents’ place. We figure this out as we go. I’m not sure what else we can do.”
I nodded, grateful for his decisiveness. “We should probably clean up first. Shower, change clothes. We look like we’ve been through a war.”
“We basically have,” Cass pointed out, but he was already moving toward the bathroom. “Come on. We can shower together. It’ll save time.”
Under normal circumstances, that would have felt like an invitation laden with promise.
Now it just felt practical, necessary. We stripped out of our filthy clothes and stepped into the shower, letting hot water cascade over us.
I watched as the dust and ash swirled down the drain, taking with it the physical remnants of yesterday’s chaos.
If only it were that easy to wash away the mental and emotional weight of it all.
Cass leaned against me under the spray, and I wrapped my arms around him from behind, resting my chin on his shoulder.
His body was tense, coiled tight with stress and uncertainty.
I wanted to tell him everything would be fine, that we’d get through this together, that the world would somehow right itself.
But I’d never been good at lying, and he deserved better than empty reassurances anyway.
We dried off and dressed in clean clothes, then started the process of packing.
I didn’t have much, just a few books, some clothes, and a few of my favorite plants.
Once I was done, we made a stop at Cass’s room to gather his things too.
Within an hour, we had everything we absolutely needed stuffed into two duffel bags.
As I looked back at the quad one last time, I felt a strange sense of finality.
This college had been my sanctuary for almost four years.
I was supposed to start the next phase of my life here.
I’d met Cass, shared my first kiss with him, lost my virginity…
so much had happened. And now we had to leave without warning and without the promise of return.
It made me feel hollow inside.
“One last stop,” I said, turning toward the conservatory. “I need the heartwood cutting. If something happens to the grove, it’ll be all I have left of my lineage.”
Cass nodded. “Let’s go get it then.”
The conservatory was eerily quiet as we pushed through the glass doors.
The humid air hit me immediately, that familiar warmth comforting after the night we’d had.
Everywhere the plants Cass and I had nurtured were sprouting, growing, and putting out new leaves.
It seemed almost wrong that they should thrive given the current situation.
I half expected them to wither under all the anxious energy filling the air.
I moved through the rows with purpose, heading toward a large clay pot that I’d been babying for months now.
Inside was the heartwood cutting, now green and alive once more.
Just a few weeks ago it had been a charcoal stub.
But now I could feel the magic flowing from it, the same that I felt back in the grove.
It was a small light in the darkness that now surrounded us.
“Linden! Cass!”
I turned around to see both Nerion and Teddy rushing through the entrance of the conservatory, relief painted across their features. They both stopped short, breathless and puffing.
“Fuck dude,” Nerion barked. “I… I was worried about you. You weren’t in your room… or Cass’s room… or some other fucking room…”
“We’re here,” I said, relieved to see them both. “We’re okay. We were just packing to leave.”
“Leave?” Teddy demanded, his hazel eyes going wide. “The Dean told us campus was being evacuated, but I hoped you two would still be here. That’s we’d be able to catch you before you went… wherever you’re going to go.”
“My parents have offered us a place to stay,” Cass said, his voice tight. “We can’t go to the grove.”
Nerion’s blue eyes darted between us. “I thought you hated your parents.”
“I do,” Cass huffed. “But apparently they aren’t the assholes I thought they were. But it’s not like we have any other options. We can’t stay here.”
“You have another option,” he said, looking at us both like we were crazy. “Come to Greece. Stay with Teddy and me.”
I blinked, processing what Nerion had just said. Greece. The word felt impossibly far away, like something from a fantasy rather than a real possibility.
“Greece?” Cass repeated, echoing my thoughts. “You’re serious?”
“Completely serious,” Teddy said, stepping forward.
His blonde hair was disheveled, and I could see the same exhaustion in his hazel eyes that I felt in my own bones.
“We renovated our little cottage. It’s secure, warded, and completely isolated from all of this chaos.
We were already planning to go there after graduation before everything went to shit.
There’s plenty of room for both of you.”
I felt my chest fill with warmth. This was a way out. A real place to stay. Not just a temporary refuge with Cass’s parents, but an actual escape. A chance to breathe and figure out what came next without the weight of the Purity Front attack hanging over our heads.
“Why would you do that?” I asked, my voice coming out smaller than I intended.
Nerion rolled his eyes, a gesture that was so perfectly him that it almost made me smile despite everything. “You’re my best fucking friend you moron. Who the hell else would I do that for if not you?”
I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes, which was ridiculous given everything that had happened. But somehow, in that moment, the weight of Nerion’s words hit me harder than I anticipated. It was good to know that despite everything wrong in the world, this part of it was still right.
“Greece sounds nice,” I heard myself say, my voice thick. “But what about Cass’s parents? They’re expecting us.”
“Then we call them when we get to Greece,” Teddy said pragmatically. “We explain the situation. They seem like reasonable people from what you’ve said. I’m sure they’ll understand that a secure, isolated location is probably safer than anywhere in the country right now.”
Cass was quiet beside me, and I could feel him processing this new development. His hand found mine, squeezing gently.
“Greece,” he said finally, testing the word out like I had. “That’s really far away.”
“It is,” Nerion confirmed. “Far enough that the Purity Front probably won’t think to look for us there. Not that they would anyway. None of us are important enough for that. And it’s far enough that we can breathe for a minute without worrying about another attack.”
“But the grove,” I said, even as hope bloomed in my chest. “I need to maintain my connection to it. Monthly trips, remember? If I don’t go back—”
“You’ll fade,” Nerion finished, nodding. “I know. That’s why Teddy and I have already been thinking about this. Teddy is very capable of teleportation magic. He’s already installed a permanent circle at the cottage. Trips will be easy to make.”
I looked at Cass, seeing the resolve already forming in his eyes. “Okay,” I heard myself say. “Let’s go to Greece then.”
Cass nodded. “Yeah. I like the sound of that.”
“Well?” Nerion scoffed. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Let’s go!”
Teddy and Nerion headed for the exit. But Cass and I didn’t move. Not yet anyway.
“I love you, big guy,” Cass said, looking up at me. “We’re gonna get through this and we’re gonna get your grove back, okay?”
“You don’t have to promise me anything—”
“No,” he retorted. “I fucking mean it. I’m getting your grove back one way or another. I don’t care if I have to bring Jackson Rose back from the dead and kill him again to do it. I will.”
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I love you too, Sparks.”
“Good,” he smiled. “Now let’s get out of here.”
I squeezed his hand, knowing that there was only one thing in this entire world I needed, and it was him. “Okay.”