Incubus (7 page)

It took almost 20 minutes, but I finally found Cassie sitting on the bleachers overlooking the school’s

soccer field. Royal was perched next to her. As soon as I saw them I texted Lucas, then ran across the

field to join them.

Cassie looked up as I arrived, winded from my sprint. She held a long blade of grass in her hands,

carefully shredding it into tiny fragments.

“I’m okay,” she said. I glanced at Royal behind her, and he shrugged helplessly. Cassie sensed the

motion and smiled wearily. “Guys, I’m okay. I mean, this isn’t going down in my diary as one of the

best days ever.” She studied the mutilated blade of grass in her hand then sighed, letting the pieces fall

to the earth at her feet. “But I’ve already wasted too much of my life thinking about—” she bit her lip,

betraying exactly how close she was to breaking. “Besides,” she whispered, “everyone knew already.”

She reached up to wipe away a tear as it slid down one cheek.

“Oh, Cass.” I sat on the bench next to Cassie, fully aware that I was helpless to ease her pain.

“Cassie sandwich,” Royal said. He reached his arms toward me and we pulled each other close in a

group hug, squashing Cassie between us.

She struggled between us, but she was laughing. “Okay, okay. I need to breathe.”

As we released her, Lucas appeared at the edge of the field. Cassie saw him and waved. Lucas

waved back, jogging over to join us.

“No meltdown pending,” Cassie said as Lucas scooted next to me on the bench. “Pinky swear.”

She looked up into the wide, blue sky. A few brilliant white cumulus clouds edged one horizon, fat and

lazy and comforting. Cassie watched them for a moment. When she next spoke, her voice was wistful.

“I just wish I knew why.”

It was like a knife turning in my gut. Maybe I should have told them the truth right then; Cassie

had been punished for my crimes, and Amber was threatening to hurt the rest of them, too. And I had

the power to stop it, I just had to give up the one normal thing in my life: high school.

Instead of speaking, I squeezed Cassie’s hand and vowed to myself to do everything I could to stop

Amber from hurting anyone else I loved. Even in my head, the promise sounded hollow.

Cassie refused to leave school, and so when lunch rolled around we took our seats at our usual table.

Cassie sat with her back to the wall, facing out into the dining room.

“Let them all get it out of their system,” she murmured, facing the gawking student body

fearlessly. But I saw her hand shaking as she reached for a roll, and she couldn’t keep herself from

jumping a little each time someone laughed in the dining hall. “Butter?” She said, forcing a cheerful

note into her voice.

I grabbed the butter dish and handed it to Cassie, leaning past Lucas. I’d overestimated my reach,

and had to brush against him to pass the dish to Cassie. I felt his intake of breath as I pressed against

him. I sat back quickly. Lucas’s fingers twitched on the table, and I could practically feel his desire to

touch me. In the dream we might spend an entire night entwined. But the sensations of the most

intimate embrace in a dream were dwarfed by the sensations of the simplest touch in reality.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

“Don’t be,” Lucas answered, forcing a smile. “I knew what I was getting into. Besides, as hard as

this is right now, think how great it’s going to be when we can be together for real.” He reached under

the table to give my hand the briefest squeeze. I squeezed back.

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Parker’s voice cut across the din of the dining hall.

Lucas and I turned to see Parker standing beside Amber’s table, furious. Ally said something to

Parker that we couldn’t hear, but Amber and her friends snickered. Parker brushed Ally’s arm off his

shoulder and strode away from her. Ally stared after him, pissed. Parker shot an agonized look at

Cassie.

I looked back at Cassie, but she was steadfastly ignoring Parker. Devastated, Parker walked out of

the dining hall. Lucas looked at me again, worried. I shook my head. There’d be time to talk about

Parker—and how he might be resisting the power of
the call
—later.

Royal cleared his throat as though nothing had happened. “So,” he said. “Chuck Norris marathon at

my house this weekend. Who’s in?”

“Depends. Who’s Chuck Norris?” I asked.

“Chuck Norris,” Lucas said, looking at me like I was an alien. “Chuck Norris.”

“Repeating his name isn’t actually helping,” I said.

“Cassie? Chuck Norris.” Lucas turned to Cassie for backup.

She shook her head. “Sorry. I’m with Braedyn on this one.”

“How do you not know—?” Lucas turned back to Royal.

“I find it’s best not to ask that question,” Royal sighed. “The gaps in their education are really

quite shocking.” Royal turned to us, steepling his hands like a professor addressing two errant school

kids. “Ladies, prepare yourselves. After this weekend, Chuck Norris will be a permanent fixture in

your minds. You’re welcome in advance.”

Cassie and I traded a smile, and I felt a wave of relief wash through me. Maybe she really was

going to be okay.

Suddenly, a rich, masculine voice cut through the dining hall chatter.

“Hello, Coronado Prep!” We turned, along with the rest of the school, to see a handsome man

stepping up onto a chair at the front of the dining room. “For those of you who don’t yet know me, my

name is Mr. Hart, and I’m the new drama teacher for this august institution.” Someone whistled and

the room filled with giggles. Mr. Hart waved in the direction of the whistle, unperturbed. “Listen up,

you talented masses. If any tiny particle of you yearns for the spotlight, come audition for our fall

production of
Camelot.
I can guarantee passion, heartbreak, and everlasting love. Maybe even a little

hero-worship. Will it be corny? Yeah, maybe, but in that fuzzy-no-one-gets-hurt kind of way that

reaffirms your faith in humanity.”

Laughter swelled throughout the dining hall again. Mr. Hart evidently knew how to make an

impression.

“Recap: Audition! You know you want to! Go Wildcats!” He raised his fist in the air, eliciting a

roar from the crowd, then bowed dramatically from the waist. The roar swelled into another round of

laughter as Mr. Hart stepped back off the chair. As conversation returned to the dining hall, I saw

several girls straining to catch another glimpse of Mr. Hart while giggling with their friends.

Whether he was aware of it or not, Mr. Hart had done us a huge favor. No one was staring at Cassie

anymore. The subject had been officially changed.

The final bell couldn’t come fast enough. It had been a trying day, and I just wanted to meet up with

my friends and escape from campus. I stopped by my locker to drop off some books and pick up a few

others I’d need for homework. Lucas leaned against the locker bay next to me.

“What a messed up day,” he said.

“You can say that again.”

“I don’t know how she kept it together today.” Lucas shook his head in wonder. “When I heard that

tape this morning, man, I wanted to find Parker and grind his face into the ground.”

“It wasn’t Parker,” I said grimly. Lucas’s eyebrows jerked up in surprise. “It was Amber.”

“What?” He looked genuinely bewildered. “What does she have against Cassie?”

“Nothing,” I answered. “It’s me she’s trying to hurt. She couldn’t go after me directly. So she went

after my friend.”

Lucas’s jaw clenched in anger. “Wow, that’s low. Even for the ice queen.”

“She wants me gone. Out of Coronado Prep.” I closed my locker, keeping my eyes focused on the

lock while I turned the dial. “Do you think... do you think I should leave?”

“No.”

“She’s threatened to make all my friends suffer.” I shrugged miserably. “Before today I just kind

of wrote her off, but if she’d do that to Cassie—?”

“She’s sick, Braedyn,” Lucas said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but it’s—you can’t give

in to her.”

“And if my friends get hurt?” I asked quietly. “Royal? You?”

“I can take care of myself,” Lucas said. “And we can watch out for Royal and Cassie together.”

Lucas offered me his hand and I took it. We walked outside together, huddling closer as a cold

breeze rustled the leaves of the aspens soaring above us.

Cassie was sitting on the stone retaining wall at one edge of the parking lot, hunched over a

notebook. As we drew closer I saw what she was working on. It was a long, elegant gown with a

swirling, full skirt that gathered loosely around the feet. Sleeves hugged the upper arms tightly, then

opened like trumpet flowers from the elbow to the wrist.

“Cass, that’s amazing,” I said, awestruck.

Cassie looked up, slipping another paper on top of the drawing.

“Wait,” I protested. “Let me see.”

Reluctantly, Cassie handed the drawing over. I noticed that the dress was just one of the designs

she’d sketched on this sheet. Next to the gown was a rich tunic, trimmed in faux fur with a sweeping

cloak to match it.

“What is this?” I asked, awe-struck.

“Just doodles,” she said, embarrassed. “I guess I got inspired.”

“Mr. Hart?” I guessed. Cassie blushed but nodded, flashing me a small smile.

“Cassie,” Lucas said. “These are awesome.”

“And when are you going to show them to him?” Royal asked, gliding up beside us and plucking

the drawing out of my hands.

“What?” Cassie squeaked. “No, this is just—doodling.” Cassie quickly snatched the drawing back

from Royal. He crossed his arms.

“Uh huh,” Royal said flatly.

“I didn’t even know we had a new drama teacher,” I said, throwing Cassie a lifeline.

“Yeah,” she said, eager for the change of subject. “Ms. Stevenson had some kind of accident this

summer, she’s going to be out the rest of the semester. I think they said she had a broken collarbone or

something.”

“Yikes,” I said.

“And on that cheerful note,” Royal said, “SAT tutor at my place this afternoon. Who’s in?”

A skinny boy bounded up to us. Rick had been one of Derek’s best friends. I felt a wave of emotion

and struggled to force my thoughts back onto happier ground. Derek had died in my home, killed by

the Guard because he’d been turned into a Thrall. It was yet another reminder of how I put the people

around me in danger. “Yo, Braedyn.”

I forced myself to smile. “Rick, what can I do for you?”

“You see today’s paper?” he asked, beaming. “I took that picture. Pretty kick-ass, huh? You looked

like, I don’t know. Like some kind of super-chick. Like Catwoman or Black Widow.”

“Yeah, it’s a nice shot,” I said, trying to keep the irony out of my voice. It was hard enough

keeping the Lilitu powers in check without an army of teenage boys identifying me with comic-book

heroines.

“Wonder what that lady was looking for,” Rick said. “So weird, right?”

“What?” Lucas and I said at the same moment.

“Yeah, I was watching her. She kept staring at the ground, walking around in circles right in the

middle of the sanctuary. Then you came down and she just lost it. Well, you know the rest of that

story. Am I right?” Rick raised his fist up, clearly expecting me to reciprocate. I bumped my fist

against his with a strained smile. “Awesome.”