Page 15

CHAPTER 15 brETT STEPHENS

2000

Plattsburgh

I knew something was up with Cass from the beginning. One of the first days after she started working at the café, I saw her in her car. It was after dark, and I’d forgotten something at the shop. I was walking through the back alley, which opens into a small parking lot with a chain-link fence and those hazy yellow streetlights that always make things feel ominous. I glanced over my shoulder and did a double take: Cass was sitting with her eyes closed in the front seat of this red Honda.

I stopped, looked closer. Her eyes were closed but not like she was asleep. Like she was meditating, though nobody did that back then. A force field of energy was radiating out, and I couldn’t help but step closer. Then I could see that she was rocking back and forth, ever so slightly. I quickly looked away. I don’t know, it just felt… private? Like she was trying to harness the world’s energy to produce a miracle or something. I didn’t want to get in the way.

What I learned that night: This girl, whoever she was, was processing something big. I wasn’t wary or afraid of her after that. When she finally asked for the keys, it seemed like such an easy fix to a big problem, which was getting her a safe place to sleep. I should have thought of it myself. Of course, I was more of a jerk back then, so I made her sweat a little bit. But it seemed clear that whatever was happening with her, the only person she was endangering was herself.