by Megan Linski
“Look, Cassia, it’s not that I don’t want to be friends. I like you. Really,” he says. “But it’s just too dangerous.”
My stomach flip flops. “Dangerous?” I repeat. “You’re the school’s star quarterback! You’re everyone’s golden boy! How in the world could you possibly be dangerous?”
“There’s things you don’t know about me that I can’t explain,” he insists. “It’s for the best. Thames is right, you don’t want to be around someone like me. Just trust me on this, okay?
“You’re always asking me to trust you, but you never give me a reason why,” I whisper. He flinches. Cairo shrugs my hold off, then continues back to the truck with his shoulders hunched. Thames gives a wave to me out the window as they drive away.
I don’t get any sleep that night. I lie awake, thinking of all the things that Cairo could’ve done that would make him, a seventeen-year-old boy in the middle of a small nowhere town, dangerous. Did he kill somebody? Does he owe somebody money for drugs or something? Did he get involved in some gang? Do they even have gangs up here?
Isolde notices I’m quiet the next morning. She gives me a bowl of oatmeal and says, “Boy troubles, Cassia?”
“Hm?” I sit up, eyes wide. “How did you know?”
“I’ve spent enough time around teenage girls to know when they’re stressing out over some guy,” she says. “Is it about Thames?”
“Sort of.” I make a face. “It’s him and another boy. Cairo.”
“Ah. That explains it.” She smiles.
She putters around the kitchen, and I raise my eyebrow suspiciously. “You know Cairo?”
“Of course. I watched Cairo as well when he was a little boy.”
“You know Cairo’s mom, too?” I ask. Does everyone in Heaven know each other?
“Of course, sweetie. Cairo and Thames are brothers,” she explains.
Brothers?! I drop my spoon and reel backwards from the table. Isolde notices my surprise, and says, “It doesn’t shock me they haven’t told you. They don’t like to advertise the information that they’re related ever since Thames moved out.”
“Why’d he move?” I ask. Finally, I’m getting some real answers.
“He and Cairo got into a disagreement. They were very close growing up, but as they got older they began to disagree,” Isolde says.
“It was such a big deal that Thames moved out?” I ask. That’s insane. Maybe Cairo wasn’t exaggerating when he said that he was dangerous. Thames warned me about Cairo for a reason. Maybe I should listen.
“Boys keep secrets from girls, Cassia,” Isolde explains. “It’s not always right, or very helpful to us, but men always feel like they need to shoulder the burden to protect us poor little females.” She winks at me. “Cairo and Thames are particularly secretive about their pasts. Nice boys, but hard for anyone to crack.”
I bite my lip. Isolde puts a hand on my shoulder and says, “I’m off after five. Would you like to go get coffee with me tonight? There’s a nice café down the street that sells sandwiches. We can catch up, have some girl talk.”
“Okay.” I pretend to brighten up. “Sure. That sounds like a blast.”
Isolde beams. I grab my bag, and head for the car so she can drop me off. With all this new information, my head’s reeling. Thames and Cairo, brothers? Really? I thought they hated each other.
I know I should be shocked that Thames is in Chemistry like usual instead of at home recovering, but I’m not.
“Cass,” he starts. Before he can do anything I sit beside him, then duck down and lift up Thames’ pant leg. There isn’t a scratch on him from where the dog bit him last night. It’s completely healed.
“That’s so messed up, Thames.” I jerk down his pant leg and sit up, shaking my head.
“Can you seriously just drop it?” He slams his hands against the desk. “Why do you have to keep going on about it?”
“That dog mangled your leg! You shouldn’t even be able to walk!” I say. I have a hard time keeping my voice down. “Nobody can recover that quickly from an injury. It’s like it didn’t happen at all! Are you like a wizard or something?”
He snorts loudly. “Yeah, like that makes sense.”
“Nothing about this whole thing makes sense!” I shout, waving my arms around. Someone in front of us tells me to be quiet, but I give him the finger.
“Cass, cut it out,” he says, smacking my hand down. “I promise that if I could say something to you, I would, but Cairo has made me swear not to tell.” He makes a face. “And even though he drives me nuts, I have to agree that this is something you don’t need to know about.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you and Cairo are brothers?” I hiss. “That’s totally unfair.”
“I didn’t know it was any of your business.” He’s glaring at me, but I don’t care.
“It’s not! But it might help explain the weird dynamic between you two.”
“Technically we’re half-brothers, so it barely counts,” he argues. “We have the same mom. Just don’t keep dragging it on.”
I let my textbook fall open with a bang. “If you say so.”
Thames seems drastically invested in the lecture that day, because, you know, the makeup of oxygen is that interesting. He darts out of Chemistry before I have the chance to say anything else to him, and in-between breaks, he’s no longer waiting at my locker.
Great. Now he’s avoiding me, too. Cairo’s one thing, but Thames is my friend. I feel his absence deeper than I do Cairo’s as I go throughout the day, the hole in my chest getting deeper each time I look for him and he’s not there.
“I’m about ready to swear off guys,” I tell the girls at lunch. They’re super into hearing about every little detail that transpires between Cairo, Thames and I. I’m keeping out all the supernatural parts, because I don’t want them to think I’m crazy, but even if I just tell them the boring stuff it’s still pretty compelling.
“I don’t get why they were all over me at first and now they don’t want anything to do with me,” I finish.
“That’s men for you,” Lavonne says wisely, waving her fork. “One minute they can’t get enough of you, the next they need to retreat into their cave to preserve their manhood. It’s basically science.”
“Maybe if they don’t want to talk to you, you should give them space,” Emalee advises, putting a hand on my shoulder. “They’re just stupid guys. They’ll come around.”
“If not, it’s not like they’re the last two guys on earth,” Sydney cracks. Lavonne lets out a loud snort.
I’m finally able to snag Thames at the end of the day. He’s not like Cairo. He doesn’t bolt when I catch him. He even looks a little sad, but still he keeps his distance. That hurts.
“Thames, what’s going on?” I ask. “You haven’t talked to me all day.”
Thames shifts from one foot to another. “I’ve been thinking, Cass. It’s probably not a good idea for us to hang out anymore. Or talk, really.”
My heart falls. “What?”
“It’s not your fault. This is something completely out of your control.” He swipes the air with his hand. “And mine, really. If there was another way, I promise you I’d take it.”
“If you’re mad about the dog thing, I’ll forget about it,” I say. I hug the books closer to my chest. “It’s no big deal.”
“It’s not that.” Thames rubs the back of his neck. “Cairo talked to me about it, and he said it’s not safe for you to be seen with me. I know he’s right, Cass.”
I glance over my shoulder. Cairo is watching us at the end of the hallway. Man, he looks guilty. But that doesn’t make me hate him any less for forcing Thames into this. “Does he say the same thing about his football buddies?” I say snidely.
“That’s different. He’s not close to them. Neither of us are close to them like we are you,” he says, before stopping himself and shaking his head. “No. That won’t make any sense to you, I’m sorry.”
“Are you trying
to tell me that you can’t hang out with me because I’m a girl? Is this some sexist thing, or are you two trying to protect the poor defenseless female?” I ask, thinking back to what Isolde said that morning.
“Cass, if there was a way I could be your friend without you getting hurt, I would be,” Thames says firmly. “But bottom line, you’ve almost died twice in the past few times we’ve hung out, and I won’t put you in danger anymore. Neither will Cairo. We’ve both agreed to stay away from you.”
I look down to the floor. “It’s not fair.”
“I know.”
I’m ashamed to find tears welling up in my eyes. I broke my first rule of high school; never let them see you cry. “No!” I shout. “You’re not going to do this!”
“Cass,” Thames starts. He reaches out his arms to me to hug me, but I slap them away.
“Don’t touch me!” I snap. People are looking at us. I’m making a scene, I know I am, but I can’t stop myself. “You were my first friend when I got here! I had nobody, but you came in and gave me the courage to talk to people, and now you have the audacity to tell me you’re going to leave after you’ve made me care? Screw you!”
I swing my backpack on my shoulder and stomp down the hallway, tears streaming down my face. The girls are waiting near the door. Lavonne and Sydney are looking enthralled, like they just got done watching the latest episode of their favorite soap opera, but Emalee seems like she wants to cry, too.
“Cass…” she says, reaching out her hands.
“Not now, Em. Sorry.” I give a loud sniff and get on the bus, since Thames obviously isn’t going to drive me home like he’s been doing for the past few weeks. My head feels like it’s ready to burst from all the drama.
When I finally disembark at Isolde’s house, the woods seem like they’re calling me. The peaceful sway of the pines and the cool, crisp air, fresh with the smell of the lakes, beckon me. The north seems like the perfect place to forget all my troubles. These forests have been around for thousands of years, before I met Thames and Cairo. They would be here long after everyone forgot all three of us. Their unchanging hardiness has stood the test of time. Stupid high school arguments seem even more ridiculous compared to the beauty of the emerald giants next to me.
“I just need to go for a walk,” I mumble. “Clear my head.”
What happened last time was a fluke. I’ll stick to the path. I won’t go too far in. It won’t take but five minutes.
I throw my bag down by the driveway and start walking. My feet crunch upon the pine needles and branches beneath my sneakers. The sunlight streams through the delicate branches, creating shadowy patterns on my skin. It’s one of the last days of fall. Though it’s only October, winter will be settling in here soon. The snow will coat the earth long before Halloween gets here. Better enjoy it now, before the temperature plunges to below zero and I won’t be able to get out here often.
The woods clear my head. I soon find I’ve forgotten all about Thames as I journey onward.
But no matter how deep I go, I can’t forget about Cairo. He haunts me. It’s like he’s right beside me as the foliage becomes thicker, more wild than before.
I’m happy out here. It’s an emotion I’ve often found I’ve lost these days. I don’t even remember how to be happy. But I’m not willing to stop trying.
I pause as I hear thunder crackle in the sky. I look up; the sky is clear and blue, cheerfully sunny. It’s long past thunderstorm season in the U.P. What’s going on?
It’s then that lightning strikes. A thick bolt of lightning shoots down from the perfect sky, and shocks the tree next to me. Cut in half, the tree starts tumbling toward me, falling at an alarmingly speedy rate.
As if this day wasn’t bad enough, now I’m going to be crushed. I turn and run for it, but the tree is so big that there’s nowhere to go. As a last-ditch effort I jump to the side and roll, hoping that I’ve flung myself far away for the tree to just miss me. I can feel the shadow of the falling behemoth upon me as it blocks out the sunlight, bringing my doom.
Then, light. White light so blinding that I have to shield my eyes. The sound of the falling tree stops. The light dims, and I dare to open my eyes.
My mouth falls open as I recognize the same shining figure that I cornered in the classroom on my first day of school. The golden beams shimmer around the man made of sun, who is holding the tree up with nothing but his bare hands.
The shining man tosses the tree. It hurtles twenty feet down a hill nearby, taking out several other trees as it goes. The light fades until it creates a thin halo around a gleaming figure, who turns to look at me with an expression of fear on his face.
Cairo.
Silence. Cairo stares at me, and I stare at him. Neither of us moves. It’s like both of us are too scared.
The shining halo fades from Cairo until he looks like a normal guy again. He appears as someone who throws the winning pass and wins homecoming king.
Not someone who saves girls from being crushed to death.
I swallow. “So you have super strength now? Isn’t that, like, cheating on the football field?”
His lips curl at the joke, but his eyes are still scared. “I hide it. No one notices.”
“Are you a superhero?” I ask, getting up off the ground.
“No.” He shakes his head.
“Do you have magic?”
“No.”
“Fine. Vampire? Werewolf? Leprechaun?” I’m just throwing stuff out there now.
“Not even close.”
“Then what are you?” I move closer, and he takes a step back. Though we’re so close, it feels like Cairo is oceans away.
I extend my arms and say, “Please don’t run away.”
Cairo swallows.
“I won’t tell anyone as long as my questions get answered,” I say firmly. “You can’t make up an excuse this time. You were following me. You had to be, to save me like that.”
“I was hunting,” Cairo says instantly, and his eyes dart to the side.
“Not true. Deer season hasn’t started, and you don’t have a gun or a bow,” I say, trapping him. “Tell me the truth.”
Cairo’s hands clench into fists. “Okay, I was following you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You seemed really upset after what happened with Thames.”
“He only did that because you made him.” I narrow my eyes.
“I didn’t make him do anything. He knew what was the right thing to do. Like I said, there are bigger things at play here than you and me.”
I take a step closer. Cairo flinches at the twig that cracks underneath my foot. “You’re not human. You can’t be.”
“You’re wrong on that one. I’m half human,” he says. He’s still backing away. “Half something else. Don’t ask what it is, because if you knew it would put you in terrible danger.”
I’m not willing to let him escape. “Thames isn’t human either. I saw his leg. No way a regular person could heal that fast. He’s in on it.”
“Thames and I aren’t the same. He’s not like me,” Cairo says. “Listen, you want to stop where you’re at. Before you get in too deep.”
“I was in too deep when you saved me from whatever attacked me in the woods my first night here,” I say, and Cairo freezes. “Oh yeah. I figured that was you, too.”
“How did you—”
“I didn’t have to figure it out, Cairo, I just knew.” Cairo’s backed up against a tree. I take a step forward until I’m right in his face, our noses almost touching. “You stopped the invisible force that attacked me in the forest. You vanished the first day of school when I chased after you. You saved me from the accident, and from that crazy dog. Now I wanna know why.”
I can feel Cairo’s chest as it rises and falls against mine. Our bodies are touching. Each particle of me is reaching out for him, desperate for his touch. This is my savior. He’s rescued me, saved my life not once, not twice, but three times now. I just want to lean in and wrap my arms ar
ound him, make him mine.
But I want answers way more. And by God, I’m getting them.
Cairo is so stiff. It’s like he’s paralyzed by me being so close. “You have no idea how badly I want to explain things, Cassia,” he says, and my insides slacken. “But I can’t. It’s not my choice.”
“If you’re scared of other people—”
“I’m not scared. It’s my responsibility. My sacred honor.” He ducks underneath me, to escape being cornered. It’s maddening, chasing after him.
“Remember what I told you about how I work in law enforcement? That I’m going into the family business?” he asks. “Well, I live by a code. And part of that code isn’t telling humans about us.”
“There are more of you?”
“A lot more, and I could get in big trouble if I exposed our secrets.”
Cairo turns back to me. He pauses before he does something surprising. He cups my face in his hand, and whispers, “This is for your own good, Cassia. Please. Just stay away from me.”
When Cairo takes his hand away, it feels like he’s slapped me in the face. He gives me a sympathetic look, then in the blink of an eye, he vanishes.
“Hey.” Isolde is bright and cheery when I get back to the house. “Ready to go?”
“Uh… yeah.” I say. I totally forgot about our coffee date, but right now, it seems like the perfect way to distract myself from glowing boys who can disappear into thin air. “Let’s head out.”
The coffee shop is quaint, and cute. I order a mocha frappe with an avocado, mushroom, kale and tomato gluten-free sandwich, to offset the number of pasties I’ve been consuming lately (I’ve become obsessed with them since Cairo took me to the diner… I swear I’ve gained five pounds). Isolde tucks into her soy latte and ham and cheese, her eyes cheery when she takes a bite.
“It’s good,” I say. My sandwich is delicious. I don’t know why the U.P. has such good food. Probably because there’s nothing else to do up here but eat and get drunk.
