Waysider by K.J. Sutton

Author:K.J. Sutton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2024-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

On Monday morning, Cass walked into Hauntings 101 with hunched shoulders and a heavy heart.

Campus was buzzing with the news—the Chapel Victim had been officially identified. Her name was Karen Watkins. She’d been a student at Else & Bellows, a Pennyseeker on the verge of graduating when she disappeared. Foul play had been suspected, but no evidence was ever found.

Until now.

Cass felt like shit. Not just because she’d spent the past two days holed up in her room, afraid of encountering Karen’s traumatized revenant again, but because of the dreams. Or, more accurately, the nightmares. The few times she’d actually managed to fall asleep, Cass had kept jolting awake, clawing at her throat.

Cal had been there every time. He’d refused to leave her side after he witnessed the first one, and for the rest of the weekend, her twin watched her the way he used to watch her. Back when everything was fresh and awful, and Cass was drowning in the pain. He looked at her as if she were broken. As if she were hurting him.

Cass loved her brother, but her room was too small for the two of them. By the time Monday came around, she was almost relieved to leave for class. Then she’d reached the paths and started hearing all the conversations, the whispers, the tears. Crossing campus had been hell. It had taken everything Cass had not to turn right around and go back to Wayside.

“I hope she was able to move on,” she heard a girl say as she passed, walking down the center aisle of the classroom. The girl sniffled and leaned against her friend, who rubbed her arm comfortingly and made a sound of agreement. The rose pins on their blouses glinted—Dreamwalkers.

Cass slid into her usual chair on the far side of the room and thought about those big hands wrapped around her throat. She remembered the man’s strength as he squeezed tighter and tighter. Yeah, she didn’t think Karen was doing much moving on. Cass felt her heart accelerate and shied away from the memory, focusing determinedly on the textbook in front of her. Relief expanded in her chest when Professor Harkens swept into the room a moment later.

Professor Harkens was one of the senior teachers at the school, according to Sinister and the intel he’d given Cass on Friday night. Unlike Professor Green, who practically vibrated during her lectures, Professor Harkens was a force of calm. She reminded Cass of Headmistress Crane in how she spoke, her tone always firm and impassive. Cass supposed you sort of had to be detached, when you were filling your head with so much death and tragedy. Professor Harkens was like an encyclopedia of every terrible event that had ever occurred in the world.

“Today we’re going to talk about the reasons revenants get tied to sites or people,” she told the class by way of greeting. As the professor rummaged through her bag, her cool eyes moved over each of them. “There are six.

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