Chapter 17
1212 Words
Chapter 17
Merilee sends us on our way, directing us to the pile of files she says will have at least some of the history from the year I was born. She’s “cleaning up” Cassie’s mess—which appears to mean that she’s tearing every third piece of paper into small pieces—when we walk away.
“I wasn’t making fun of you, about the dragon thing,” Cassie says, once we’re out of earshot.
“You totally were,” I tell her. “But it’s okay. I can take a little teasing. And you still aren’t getting what a sister wife is, by the way.”
We settle in on the floor, surrounded by papers. Cassie starts in, pulling a random piece from the pile. “What am I looking for?”
“I don’t know.” I sigh. “Anything…weird?”
She nods. “Anything weird happening at the school for paranormal beings run by the gods who are at war with monsters, got it.” And then she gets to work like it wasn’t ironic at all. Which it probably wasn’t meant to be.
I grab a paper too, scanning the words in front of me.
And then Laurel said to Ivy that Uncas totally said I was hotter than Pantha, which is totally true–
“Hey, Cassie?” I ask. “When they say Archives and Records…”
“Yep,” she says, anticipating my question. “Anything that’s been written down, ever. I just found a janitor’s list of supplies.”
“Great,” I mutter. “This is going to be hell.”
“Well,” Cassie looks over her shoulder, lowers her voice. “If we just told my mom we were looking for anything having to do with your dad, she could find it right away. That’s what she does.”
“I don’t want to do that,” I tell her. “What if it’s something bad? Something she might feel she has to report? I don’t want to get your mom in any kind of trouble.”
Plus, I am starting to wonder if Merilee is full of s**t with her finder thing. Like maybe Cassie’s apple didn’t fall far from the tree in terms of gifts and abilities.
We read. And read. And read some more.
I learn about crushes and breakups from almost two decades ago. Notes from a class that’s no longer taught—Trees That Will Eat You—because apparently they are extinct now.
“Dragons don’t exist, my a*s,” I say under my breath, then grab another paper.
I had been clicking my tongue, biding my time as I read, but suddenly, I go very still.
Student Daniel Evans fled the grounds last night. He carries with him two secrets that could ruin the Academy forever, if their existence was known. Steps must be taken.
“Cassie,” I whisper. “I’ve found something.”
She comes to my side, reads over my shoulder, then shakes her head. “No, you didn’t.”
“What do you mean?” I snap. “It says my dad’s name right there! He learned two secrets and he ran away. We’ve got to find out what they were!”
But Cassie is still shaking her head. “It’s not him. Look,” she points to the date at the top of the page. “The year is totally wrong. It’s the year you were born and students can’t have kids. There’s too much magic flying around here to ensure the safety of the fetus, and the mother. If you get pregnant you’re done, off campus.”
“Yeah, but just the girls, right?” I ask, insistent, but Cassie shakes her head. “Why not?”
“Shifters and vamps have had bad blood for, like, ever,” Cassie says. “Ages ago the vamps wanted to whittle down the student body, get rid of as many shifters as they could, but they wanted to have some fun, too, right? So the vamp bros got a bunch of shifter girls pregnant, told them they’d had a spell cast on them that makes them shoot blanks.”
“But they didn’t?” I guessed. “That’s awful!”
“Yeah, so a whole bunch of girls got pregnant, and the shifters were all pissed. They insisted that the fathers be punished too.” Cassie shakes her head. “It was a small graduating class that year. So anyway, yeah, Daniel Evans can’t be your dad, because he was a student when you were born, and they take the pregnancy law very seriously.”
Cassie doesn’t notice that my hand is shaking, or that I have goosebumps.
“I mean,” she goes on, “like they take it super seriously. Hermes made one of the magical instructors come up with this truth serum that they used on all the dudes, to make them spill if they were the fathers. So there’s no way Daniel Evans is your dad. Unless…oh my gods!”
She gasps, her arm on my shoulder. I think she just figured it out.
“Unless you’re not actually seventeen. Cassie, is it possible that you’re…” She gulps. “Thirteen?”
“Or…” I can’t help but recall Cassie’s prophecy from last night. About my father not being the one I want. You can’t unhear s**t like that. It’s been running through the back of my mind in an ugly loop pretty much nonstop. “Maybe my dad isn’t really my dad.”
“Oh…” Cassie says, then takes a second to think about it. “Ohhhhhhhhhh. Well, I mean, either way—you still want to know what the secrets are, right?”
“Yeah,” I say, getting up. It’s hard because there are tears in my eyes, and my knees are shaky. I start down a random corridor of papers, Cassie in my wake.
“Hey,” she says, plucking at my wrist. “It could totally be the wrong guy, right? Like Daniel Evans is a super common name. There could have been two Daniel Evans at the school.”
I let hope rise in my chest. “Yes,” I agree. “I guess so.”
“Here,” she says confidently. “We’ll ask Mom.” She raises her voice before I can tell her not to. “Mooooommm!! We have a question.”
Merilee is at our side immediately, whipping her braid around to the other shoulder. “Yes?”
“Has there ever been more than one Daniel Evans enrolled at Mount Olympus Academy?” Cassie asks her mom.
“Let me check,” Merilee says, and I’m about to say no, that I’m done, that I don’t want to go traipsing through more piles of paper, when Merilee’s eyes roll back into her head. She’s like that for a few seconds, then they come back to the front.
“No,” she says. “One Daniel Evans only.”
“What???” I’m so confused I don’t have time to be disappointed about my paternity.
“Mom retains everything she reads,” Cassie says, resting her head on Merilee’s shoulder. “To the letter.”
“Wow,” I say, impressed. “So all of this…” I gesture to the piles of paper around me.
“Just for show, really.” Merilee shrugs, and taps her temple. “It’s all up here.”
“But what if you quit?” I ask. “Or…get struck by lightning and end up in a coma?”
Merilee laughs. “Don’t say something like that! Not on this campus.”
“Oh, gods. Sorry!” I try to back pedal but Merilee waves me off.
“It’s okay. I’m just teasing. But to answer your question, I can pass on my gift—it’s a simple spell. It’s willed to Cassie right now. She’ll always have a place here. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Nice,” I say.
But the sight of Merilee stroking Cassie’s head, and the light in my friend’s eyes as she looks up at her mom takes all the breath out of me. They’re so happy. So close. So proud of each other. Such a family.
Like the one that was taken from me.
Or at least…who I thought was my family.
- Writer
