Young Writers Society

Author's Note: I'm burned out from writing the majority of this in a single sitting, so I'll just say that Caspen is going very strong this chpater.

Words: 1,983

Last Line(s): “Just...just be careful, Cass.”

And then he was gone, disappearing into the darkness of the empty street. It was only when his figure was little more than a dot on the horizon that she realized that she had never mentioned her name.

Chapter 7

Cass remained in the entrance way to the park for just a few more minutes, childishly hoping that Aldonius would decide he had more to tell her and come back. She knew that he wasn't returning, but she let herself entertain that fantasy for as long as she could. When she finally had to face the reality that their conversation was all that she would be getting for answers that night, she resigned herself to returning to Lira's home.

She had been too distracted to pay attention to where she was supposed to go. Now, as she peered out into the darkness, she realized she had no idea how to get back to the palace. She knew needed to go left, and then she needed to take a right. But where was she supposed to go after that? She was in the middle of a town filled with people who hated her for her magic and the locket dangling above her chest. What if her magic revealed itself like with Prince Rodet, and they tried attacking her, too-

She took a deep, shaky breath.

She could do this. She just needed to take it one step at a time, and she would eventually find her way back to the palace. And if she was truly lost, there had to be at least one person that she could ask for help along the way. She placed one foot on the cobblestone path in front of her. Just one step after the other. One. Two. Three. Four. The panic slowly began to fade away as her footsteps fell into a steady rhythm. 

She might have not remembered the path to the palace, but her contracted did. Their memories led her through familiar streets. They weren't just streets that her contracted had walked down; they were the streets that Aldonius had led her through during their trek to the park. She was sure of it. Though still present, her fears were beginning to be quelled, and her mind began to wander from her terror to the conversation with Aldonius. 

And, more specifically, to how he had known her contracted.

Aldonius could lie and say that he had possibly met her contracted on his travels, but Cass knew that simply couldn't be the case. Her contracted had known him well. The feelings she felt every time she looked in his direction were simply too strong for that not to be the case – how could a stranger understand him so well? She felt like she was looking at her other half whenever she caught the rare glimpse of his face. That couldn't have been a coincidence, or the result of a chance meeting.

But why lie about it in the first place?

Just as this question presented itself, she suddenly became aware that she wasn't alone in the street. Footsteps gently walked across the cobblestone, and a dark figure began to appear on the horizon. They were too far away to make out any defining details, but Cass was suddenly gripped by the terrible possibility of it being Prince Rodet. If he returned now, when she was all by herself, there would be nothing to stop him from harming her. There was nothing to suggest that the person coming was Prince Rodet, but there was also nothing to suggest that he hadn't decided to return after growing increasingly angry at how their previous confrontation had gone. 

She came to a stop.

She knew the wise thing to do would be to keep moving, but her feet were refusing to budge. Her legs had frozen up, and the most she could do with her hands was clenched them into terrified fists. She was completely at the mercy of whoever was approaching, and that only made her even more horrified than before. She shut her eyes tight. Held her breath. Desperately wished that she could be anywhere else but here. God, she wished she was with Aspen again, and she wished that they were back home in the safety of Aspen's old Jeep-

The footsteps ceased, and a voice cut through the night.

“Cassie?”

She hesitantly opened her eyes.

Aspen was standing right in front of her. 

Tears immediately sprung to her eyes before she could even think about the reason she was crying, and she threw her arms around her best friend. A moment passed before Aspen returned the hug. Cass tried to stop more tears from falling, but she was just too relieved. The safety of Aspen's arms – and the comforting familiarity that came with them – made all of her worries and fears fall away. It was a silly, childish thing to think, but she felt like she could easily deal with Prince Rodet if Aspen was there to help her.

After a seemingly endless period of time, Cass finally pulled away from Aspen's embrace. She frantically attempted to wipe away her tears – she didn't want Aspen to see her crying anymore if she could avoid it. It took a few tries, but she finally managed to get the majority of them to disappear. All that she was left with were red eyes and flushed cheeks.

But at least that was something.

Aspen had watched her do all of this without saying a word. Cass took that as a sign that she had done something to upset her, but it quickly became evident that her assumption was wrong. Aspen looked uncomfortable. She avoided meeting Cass's gaze, and she began to sheepishly rub the back of her neck. “I'm sorry, Cassie,” she apologized. “I know you wanted to go out on your own, but I just got really worried...”

“It's okay,” Cass quietly reassured her. In retrospect, she was surprised that Aspen hadn't come after her sooner. 

Aspen sighed.

“Rodet showed up at the palace a little while after you left,” she said. The mention of his name made Cass feel a jolt of fear, even though he had to be at least a block away. She gave her a small smile that bordered on being a smirk. “I don't think he likes me that much anymore.”

“...Why?”

“He was claiming you had attacked him, and that Lira needed to stop hanging around you. And even if your magic did go crazy, I know it's only because he was trying to hurt you first, right? You'd never try to hurt someone.” 

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She knew that Aspen had strangely come to love her magic after it showed itself for the first time, but she had doubted that the love would carry over once she learned about the second time it had appeared. 

“So why doesn't he like you now?” she asked.

“Well,” Aspen said, “the middle finger I gave him as I stormed out of the room might have been lost due to cultural differences, but the profanity certainly wasn't.”

Cass gasped. “But-but he's royalty! His dad is in charge! And even if he wasn't, he's Lira's boyfriend-”

“And he's an asshole who decided to be mean to my best friend,” Aspen added. Her smile had grown into a full-blown smirk by this point and Cass was almost completely sure that Aspen was very pleased with herself. “From what I overheard as I was heading towards the exit, Lira sounded fairly upset with him. I don't think she was too offended by me saying that he should screw himself.” 

Cass gave Aspen a look of disbelief, but didn't press the topic anymore. She suspected that Aspen wouldn't change her mind no matter what Cass tried to argue. Even more importantly, Cass was beginning to agree. He wasn't anything like the princes she had read about as a child. He was just a person, and a cruel one at that. She waited for Aspen to say something else or give some indication of where they were going next; it was Aspen who had sought her out, and Cass was sure she had something in mind. 

And she did.

“So how did your meeting with Aldonius go?” Aspen asked.

Cass stared. “...I never mentioned I was going to talk to him. How-How did you know?”

“Cassie, I know you like the back of my hand,” she said, her smirk transforming into a warm smile. The sight made Cass's heart melt as they continued to stand beside a floating lantern. “You said that he felt different than everyone else here – you even knew where to find him thanks to what Lira said. Besides, Rodet mentioned being double-teamed by you and a guy who seemed to fit Aldonius's description. It was him, wasn't it?”

She managed to nod.

“So how did it go? Did you find the answers you were looking for, or was talking to him a dead end?”

Aldonius had said to be careful. He had implied that her contracted was probably a fallen and she was inclined to believe that they were if she was right on her guess that he knew who they were. She had to deal with the locket hanging above her chest. She had to deal with her magic. If she kept her connection to a fallen secret, she could avoid another thing that made people hate her. Aldonius had never explicitly told her to do so – she could read between the lines.

But she needed to share with someone.

She told Aspen everything.

She told her about that she had a contracted. She told her that she suspected Aldonius knew exactly who that contracted was. She told her that Aldonius had known her name. She told her everything she could possibly think of in an attempt to make sense of a thing she struggled to fully understand, and Aspen listened to every single word. As she got further into the explanation, understanding began to dawn on Aspen's face. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to see as a response, but

Aspen was starting to smile. 

“Cassie,” she whispered, “it happens slowly, right?”

Cass hesitantly nodded.

“And yours started with strange dreams, didn't they?”

Cass began to nod again, but stopped when she realized what Aspen was guessing. Her jaw dropped, and she stared at her best friend with a mix of wonder and excitement. “You're someone's contracted, too,” she said. And even though she knew she should have felt jealous about losing the one thing that made her stand out, all she could feel was joy when she realized she wasn't in this alone.

Aspen suddenly let out a gasp.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Cassie, it's not just us.”

Who could she be talking about? There wasn't anyone else who had been having the dreams – she would have remembered someone mentioning them. But before she could question who Aspen was referring to, she remembered that Aspen and her hadn't been together for the entirety of their time on this world. There was the brief window of time where Aspen had remained in the palace. Was someone there like them, too? 

“I didn't mention what you've been going through,” Aspen hurriedly said, “but I told Lira about how I've been getting strange dreams. I asked her if she knew anything about it, and she said that she had been trying to figure out the same thing – she's had them for around the same time I have.”

Cass and Aspen stared at each other.

“We need to get back to the palace, don't we?” Aspen realized.

Cass nodded. Aldonius's warning rang out through her mind, but she gently put it to rest as she followed Aspen back towards the palace. Lira was a decent person, even if her boyfriend wasn't. 

And if there was even the slightest possibility of Lira being able to help them understand everything better, they had to take the risk.