by Cody Wagner
The second she was gone, the air pressure seemed normal again. Roze and I both rushed Cassie and surrounded her like a brick wall.
“I’m so sorry, Cass,” Roze said. “But you’re here and safe.”
“I will never give you crap for not talking to us more over the summer,” I said.
Cassie simply nodded. Then, as if pushing all the negativity away, she straightened and flashed a tiny smile. “Let’s take a walk.”
Considering my gigantor suitcase was gone, that sounded great to me.
* * * * *
We didn’t talk about Mrs. Cooke at all as we wandered around the road lasso. I wasn’t sure anything needed to be said. The lady was about as subtle as a machete attached to a machine gun. There weren’t any secret meanings or anything to analyze.
Instead, we jumped right to the Siren. It was about time, too. Just before giving my spiel, I took a long breath to slow myself down. I had to tread lightly. While they knew about the Siren and that Jimmy was The Seeker, they didn’t know I’d inherited his power. They thought I’d reached out to his dad just to get information that would help track down the Siren.
“So, you really called him?” Roze said, trying to jump start me.
“Yep.”
“What was his voice like?” Cassie asked.
I smiled. What a typical Cassie question. She probably would have read something important in his twang or the eloquence of his burps. But that was beyond me and I shrugged. “I don’t know. He was mean. And drunk.”
“You think he was mean because he was drunk? Or because you were gay?” Cassie asked.
“Neither. He was just mean. He made fun of me before he knew anything about me.”
“That sucks,” Roze said. “I didn’t even make fun of you until I knew you.”
I smirked. “I know. And you’re super mean. So he’s a real jackass.”
Roze laughed. “So what really happened?”
“Well, I learned something,” I said.
Cassie leaned in and we followed suit, forming a little huddle. No one was around, but Siren business was like our own little world.
“Something big?” Roze asked.
“I’ll take anything,” Cassie said.
“Well, I don’t know how big, but it’s something.” I wiped a June bug off my shirt, purposely stalling for dramatic effect. “Jimmy’s dad got really nasty when he found out I went to a healing school with his son.”
“Figures,” Cassie said.
“Yeah.” I said. “And I was about to hang up when I figured learning something was the best revenge.”
“Um . . . OK,” Rose said.
“And that’s when I had an idea.”
“Oh my god. You’re killing me.” Rose punched my arm. “Get on with it.”
“OK, sheesh!” I said, rubbing my shoulder. “He said Jimmy had an uncle named Robert.”
Cassie gasped like I’d just revealed the killer in a movie. “Were they close?”
“Well, Robert was gay,” I said.
She nodded, and we moved in a little closer. I stopped to collect my thoughts. I’d been thinking about what to say for days and how to mention Robert while skirting the issue of the locket, and subsequently, my power.
“Here’s the kicker.” I paused again before spitting out the lie I’d practiced a hundred times. “He said Robert was weird just like Jimmy. That Robert saw imaginary things, just like Jimmy.”
My skin prickled with guilt from the fib. It was necessary, though. They needed to know Robert had Jimmy’s power without suspecting I had it, too.
“The Seeker thing!” Roze said.
I nodded.
“So Robert was a Seeker, too,” Cassie said. “Where is he now?”
I lowered my gaze. “He’s dead.”
“Damn,” Roze said.
“Yeah.” I noticed people staring at our little huddle and we started walking again. We made it around the lasso—near the football field again—when Cassie pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Looking him up.”
Roze nodded. “Nice.”
I nodded, too, but didn’t say anything. I’d already tried Googling him. Unless Cassie had some super government-hacking skills, she wouldn’t come across anything useful. Finding one non-famous person who could have lived anywhere in the U.S. was impossible. Searches all over Arkansas and the Southeast yielded nothing. According to Google, he never existed. Maybe it was deliberate. Or maybe he was really just a nobody.
After navigating on her phone for a few minutes—with Roze looking on—Cassie finally shrugged. “We’ll look more later.”
We continued walking until we arrived at the outdoor basketball court. Six people were playing three-on-three, while a handful of others awaited their turns. Seeing people in try-hard mode, I guessed the students were desperate to expend all their built-up nervous energy. Normally, I would have joined in, but my mind was elsewhere.
“What do you think the Siren’s up to?” I asked.
“No idea,” Roze said. “And what about Zimmerman’s Zealots? They’ve changed.”
Cassie shrugged. “It’s smart.”
“Why?” Roze looked as if she knew the answer, but was asking just to verify.
“They’re appealing to the masses now.”
I thought about Dad and my stomach tightened. The Zealots’ compassionate act sure worked on him.
“What is the Siren doing with them?” Roze said.
Neither Cassie nor I spoke.
“And what about us?” Rose threw her hands up. “What’s her plan with Sanctuary?”
“No idea,” I said.
“Are all the Zealots under control? And why haven’t they come here?” Roze’s voice grew more frustrated with each question.
My mind went to Senator Joseph. He was the most prominent figured I’d seen under control. But he had nothing to do with Sanctuary, which was so confusing. A voice in my brain once again squeaked, You need to tell someone about the senator glowing purple. But I pushed it away. It was my first day back and the hurt from Jimmy’s death lingered at the edge of my mind. I couldn’t deal with my power right now. If I spoke up, the school would drag me in and make me their new Jimmy. I wasn’t ready for that.
Roze sighed. “The information we have just sucks! It’s all hunches and stupid useless Google searches.” She began to spin in a circle, arms outstretched, demonstrating the frustration I’m sure we all felt. “We could go all year, and nothing could happen. Or everything could explode tomorrow.” She stopped, stumbled around, and fell in the grass.
I joined her and sat cross-legged. Cassie stood over us.
After a few seconds, I said, “The S-I-R-E-N keys on Dad’s keyboard at home are all faded.”
I don’t know why, but we all found that funny and started laughing.
Cassie held out her phone. “These keys, too.”
From out of nowhere, Roze pointed at me and Cassie.
“What?”
“Life lesson: we have to move on. Including me.”
“Huh?!” I said.
“We have to live our lives,” she said. “That’s all we can do. That means we keep researching and trying to find the Siren.” She rubbed her feet on the grass, smashing a grasshopper. “But other than that, school’s starting and we have real lives to worry about.”
“The Siren is real life,” I said.
“I know,” Roze said. “But we can’t plan our lives around something we can’t predict. We could go down in flames tomorrow or in five years. How do you prepare for that?”
“We can’t,” Cassie said.
Roze nodded. “Right. We have to find something or wait for something to happen. Then we can react. It sucks, but in the meantime, we have to deal with the stuff we can plan for: classes, the stupid jocks, our parents, etcetera.”
I shrugged. Roze was good at compartmentalizing and dealing with stress. I totally envied that. Especially because she was r
ight in this case. We had educations and friends and all that other crap to worry about. And all that stuff was actually real. Not like this Siren creature who, most of the time, seemed like a mirage.
“We have to live our lives,” Cassie said, almost to herself.
“We have to live our lives,” Roze agreed.
“Some of our lives are cooler than others,” I said.
Roze actually busted out laughing. “We’ll see when you go do pull-ups again.” At that, she floundered on the ground like a baby trying push itself up.
“Is that supposed to be me?”
In response, she began fake-crying like an infant.
I leaned back and put my feet on her, flattening her to the grass. Her arms gave out, she collapsed, and I saw grass fly into her mouth. She hopped up, sputtering, as I died laughing. That started a wave of bantering that lasted a half hour. Translation: awesomeness.
Five
Keep Your Frenemies Close
The following morning, I almost tumbled off the bunk bed when my alarm went off. If it weren’t for the thin slat of wood spread across the bed as a safeguard, I’d have face-planted into the floor.
“You OK?” Cassie stood below me, concern on her face.
“No, I’m not OK.” I glanced at the time. “I don’t have time for a snooze.”
She shook her head and turned back to the mirror.
Groggy, I pushed myself up and climbed down the steps. Sunlight already blared through the windows and I knew the day would be a scorcher. After rubbing my arms as if preparing for the heat, I threw on shorts and a t-shirt. Then I waited for Cassie to fix her hair so I could flatten mine.
“What do you have first hour?” she said.
I shrugged. “Don’t know. But I’m sure it’s math.”
She stopped and stared at me in the mirror. “You haven’t looked at your schedule yet?”
I rolled my eyes; Cassie probably had hers laminated and taped to her heart.
“No,” I said. “I don’t want to see the misery until the last possible second.”
She shook her head. “You have to check. Now. It’s going to bug me if you don’t.” She gestured at me with a brush. “How can you not check your schedule until the first day of school?”
I smiled back and threw out my defense. “Last year, we didn’t get our schedules until orientation, so this is pretty much the same thing. Boom.”
Instead of bantering back, Cassie’s eyes grew wide.
That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected. “What’s wrong?”
“Orientation is about to end.”
“Whoa.” I gaped at her. “The newbies are learning the truth about Sanctuary!”
She nodded at me in the mirror.
“Let’s go check it out!” I said. Nothing like tons of happy students to get rid of sleepiness.
Cassie set down the brush. Her hair looked half done: the left half fell flat while the right half looked like it had been smashed against a pillow for hours.
“Are you leaving it like that?”
“Yes.” With a satisfied smile, she added, “My adoptive mom’s not here to judge.”
Returning her smile, I hopped to the sink, threw some water in my hair, and pressed it down with my hands until it kinda stayed on its own.
“Your mom can’t judge me either.” I bounced across the room and grabbed my bag. “You ready?”
Cassie was putting on her backpack. “Yes.”
Together, we race-walked down the hallway. Cassie’s legs moved twice as fast as mine. She was like Marvin the Martian. Being so short, I’m sure she was used to it, but I tried not to laugh.
“So, what’s your schedule?” Cassie said as we proceeded down the stairs.
“Sheesh, so bossy!” I said.
“It’s warranted,” Cassie said.
I shook my head but tore into my backpack, grabbing the piece of paper from its folder.
“First hour: Geometry.” I groaned and shook the paper at Cassie as we pushed open the door leading outside. “This is why I didn’t want to look! It’s stupid math! What do you have first hour?”
“Computer Science.”
I gaped at her. “Are you sure you’re a sophomore?”
She blushed. Now that was like Cassie. She was enamored by the tiniest compliment. Now that I knew more about her home life, the reason was obvious. I figured the only way her parents would compliment her was if she cured cancer while winning the NBA Finals on a unicorn.
“What else do you have?” she asked, trying to change the subject.
I glanced back down at my schedule. “Geometry, Chemistry, Spanish 2, Music Appreciation, Lunch, Gym, English 10, and World History.”
“We have English together,” Cassie said.
“Cool.”
We made our way across the road lasso and up onto the field. The auditorium lay in front of us and students were filing out. Every single person wore an enormous grin. Some even wiped away happy tears.
I grinned at Cassie, but she was busy studying everyone, an intent look on her face. The awe all around me was amazing. The new students’ worlds had just been turned on their butts. And it was a nice butt, not droopy or wrinkly at all. I wanted to be surrounded by their energy and joined them as they walked to the Classroom Center for their first day of gay school.
About halfway, I approached two guys inching along, mouths open in shock. One of them kept shrugging and looking around as if he couldn’t believe what had happened. I walked up behind him and said, “Welcome to Sanctuary!”
He jumped and both of them turned.
I shook like I was having a small seizure and said, “Can you feeling the healing?”
It didn’t seem possible, but I think his jaw dropped even lower. His friend broke into a smile.
“It’s gonna be awesome,” I told him. Then I turned to Cassie who stood there, expressionless. She never liked us saying we were healing. She wanted us to be more genuine. I nudged her with my shoulder. “I’m just playing.”
She finally shook her head and said, “Heal away,” as we entered the Classroom Center.
The gift shop was to my right and I strutted past; it still felt cool having a store inside school. It’s like we were in college. Not that my parents gave me much money to shop.
“I’m on the first floor,” Cassie said.
I glanced at my schedule. “I’m on the second.” I turned to the stairs. “See you at lunch?”
She nodded, and I made my way up to the second floor and walked into room 207.
The classroom was just like the Algebra room from last year: rows of small desks faced a large wooden one. A white board sat just behind the teacher’s desk.
The one big difference was Roze. We didn’t have math together last year, but here she was, sitting at a desk near the back. I grinned, and before she could stop herself, she grinned back. Then she became serious and said, “It’s way too early to deal with you and math.”
I turned around. “Yeah, I’m changing my schedule now.”
After faking a few steps to the door, I turned back, still smiling. Then, I noticed a left-handed desk right next to her. I marched over and sat down. “Did you put this here for little ol’ left-handed me?”
She didn’t reply but I saw her blush. Despite her tough exterior, Roze was really thoughtful.
“Awwwwwww,” I said.
She punched my arm.
Just then, Darrin Winborne walked into the room. I turned to Roze and we both rolled our eyes.
Darrin Winborne and his boyfriend, Luke Solano, were the most popular guys at school. Their good looks and perfect smiles were effortless. Apparently, all the effort they didn’t have to put into their appearances went into ruining the lives of “uncool” students. Last year, they made Jimmy’s life hell. And mine at times. In the end, they tried to make up for it by creating the painting of Jimmy that hung over my desk at home. While the artistry was pretty amazing, it shouldn’t have taken a kid’s death to bring ou
t their compassionate sides.
I rolled my eyes again when Darrin joined a group of other good-looking people and they all started joking and preening. It was like a modeling competition from Zoolander.
That’s when I noticed Darrin’s other half wasn’t around.
“Where’s Luke?” I said, glancing at the door.
“Graduated.”
I turned back to Roze, surprised.
“What?” she said. “People graduate, you know.”
She was right, but the news still caught me off guard. I hadn’t thought about Luke leaving and it actually worried me. Last year, at Christmas, Luke’s parents had suspected him of dating Darrin and his dad lost it, almost attacking him. Then his dad and my dad almost got into a fight. It was insane.
“So where is he, then?” I said. There was no way Luke would have gone home. Not after being free at Sanctuary for four years.
“Not sure,” Roze said.
A sliver of concern ran down my spine. Would Sanctuary take care of students whose parents hadn’t come around? For a second, the worry was directed at myself. Then I thought of Roze.
“You graduate this year, right?”
I thought Roze would appreciate my concern, but she hit my arm and said, “You’re the worst friend ever!”
“Ow!” That punch stung. She must have been serious.
“I’m a junior, dork,” she said. “With everything that happened back in Atlanta, I got held back a year.”
I stared at her, speechless. My apprehension at diving into peoples’ personal lives had just backfired again. I didn’t even know what grade my best friend was in. How embarrassing. While I did know a bit about Atlanta—apparently, Roze was super popular, but when she came out, all her friends turned on her—it wasn’t enough to be proud of. And so, I just sat there, feeling stupid.
“Oh my god,” Roze said.
I was about to apologize when I noticed her eyes were fixed on the door.
I turned to see Tracey Bridges walk in.
My breath caught in my lungs, and I found my eyes bouncing with her steps as she walked across the room. I wasn’t the only one; almost every head turned and followed her.
