Page 35 of Collected By the Crow

“You’re still leaving?” His voice sounded rough, as though he’d been snacking on burning coals. The sadness in his wide pupils battered her soul. “You’re welcome.”

She wanted to reach for him, to say something reassuring. Wanted to stay and fight together until they reached the end of this journey. But she couldn’t make promises she didn’t know she could keep. The words died on her tongue, and then she was standing in an empty room.

Chapter Twenty

Cassandra

That week, the success rate of the samples treated with venom healed phenomenally. With the venom, they were looking at a flat-out cure rather than a series of treatments. She couldn’t tell anyone. She had to extrapolate the healing agent, synthesize it, and confirm that it would heal with the same statistics. The following week, it was successfully synthesized. She treated the samples with the synthesized healing agent. All that was left to do was wait.

Not much later, and the cure was on its last round of tests before clinical trials, the whole office buzzing.

The day she expected to know whether it was ready for the next step, she ate her microwaved lunch on the patio with Ali, like they’d done since the day Cass took the job. She could almost pretend everything was normal. But that version of normal was outdated, like white noise at the end of a VHS.

“You’ve been quiet lately.”

“Just work.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Cassiopeia.” Ali put their hoagie on the table and leaned into her eyeline. “Listen, even if you don’t want to talk to me, please talk to someone.”

“Look, Ali.” Cass didn’t mean to snap. “I love you. You’re my best friend. But if you still had Champ, you’d be just as empty as I am.”

“I think it’s more than that.”

“Well, you’d know if it were,” Cass grumbled. She dropped her plastic fork and rubbed both hands over her face. “I’m sorry. I want to tell you, Ali, but you can’t freak out.”

“You know I won’t.”

“No, I don’t know that, actually.” She slumped over the tall table. A twinkle of anticipation bloomed in her belly, the kind that comes before secrets are shared. “But I think you’re right, I need to talk about it. It’s making me literally sick to my stomach to keep a secret.”

Ali didn’t speak. They gently touched her elbow and nodded, always the best listener. Cassandra glanced around the empty patio and started spinning her tale in a hushed voice. There was no way anyone—even Ali—would believe her, but at least she knew Ali wouldn’t judge her, and they might have insight into the bits that mattered.

“Is it going to work?”

“The venom? Yeah. It’s going to work,” she replied with absolute confidence.

“And you still want to go back there?”

“Yes. It feels like part of me never left. I just. . .” She gestured helplessly. “It’s complicated. He’s so amazing, and brilliant, and I can hear myself relax around him. Like, my mind, does that make sense? I just don’t want to end up hurting him. Plus, I don’t think I could walk around lying to everyone. You know?”

“How did he respond when you told him all of this?”

“Ummm.” Her flat palm wiggled her thigh.

“You haven’t? Cass!”

“But aren’t I being selfish? Is what’s between us worth forcing him out in the open? What if I fuck it up and let him down. Cass it up, like I always do? Then he’ll be even worse off, just for ever meeting me. There’s no way I’m worth that.”

“First off, I’m still pissed that motherfucker said that shit. You’re driven, and fucking good at what you do.” Al took an audible breath, then spoke in a gentler tone. “Second, you have to give him that choice. Your vampire—which, by the way, I’m surprised to hear you getting so creative in your storytelling—sounds insanely into you. Sometimes people just need a really good motivator to heal. What if he’s been waiting for the right reason?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“If you don’t tell him, you’ll never know. But if he’s actually an elderly man, then seriously you need to stop.”

Cass bit her lip. The memory of his face, crestfallen and defeated, rose in her mind’s eye. She’d left him there. The most gentle person she’d ever encountered had asked her for reassurance, and she’d left him there. She dropped her head into her hands and groaned. “Oh, fuck. I fucked up.”

Her phone buzzed annoyingly loud on the metal table. She gratefully snatched it up, but when she saw the digits, she froze.

“What?” Ali leaned over and peeked at the phone. “What? Why now?”

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