The Line Between: Cassie Wilson Book 3

Chapter 1

Cassie took a deep breath and stepped forward as the next person came up to introduce herself and offer her welcome. 'This is by far the strangest birthday I have ever had, ' Cassie thought as the woman in front of her gave a short little bow.

"Welcome, cousin. I'm called Annabelle, " the woman said.

Cassie smiled. Having spent the last few weeks studying each member of the assembled group, she knew that the woman in front of her spent a great deal of time in greenhouses surrounded by flowery, growing things. To see her in a wood decorated with patches of ice and snow was odd after the greenhouses, but there was nothing about her that was frightening, technically. She had light brown hair streaked from time spent in the sun, warm gray eyes and a pleasant smile. She looked like a nice, average woman.

'Nothing to be afraid of, ' Cassie reminded herself as she nodded and replied with her thanks for the greeting.

Inside she still tensed, bracing for pain. The last interaction Cassie had with the woman, Annabelle, was when she held out a stone bowl of water. The stone matched her eyes and neither held any warmth. The bowl was a part of some test to see if she was a Walker. A man, who later introduced himself as Mikal, traced a symbol on her hand that burned through her palm like white hot metal and glowed blue in the air. She plunged her burning hand into the stone basin of water creating a steam bath around her. When the steam dissipated everyone in the clearing, including her grandfather, Abraham, was gone. It was later that she found it was a test and not just a cruel trick of some sort. She passed, but was uncertain what passing meant.

'If I was a Walker I would have lost the hand, but I didn't lose the hand, ' Cassie thought.

Her fingers absently traced the palm of her left hand where the symbol burned. The skin was whole again and no pain remained. On the first night after the test, when she traveled through her dreams to the place of twisting lines of light in the darkness that she thought of as the map room, Cassie could still see the symbol burning brightly on her palm.

Surprisingly, she could also see a symbol coming out on her right palm. This one looked as though it was pushing up from beneath her skin, rising to the surface like a submarine coming up for air. As her birthday drew closer, the burning symbol of the test faded so she no longer saw it on her skin, but the other symbol pushed forward, glowing ever brighter.

This morning, her grandfather picked her up for her birthday. She stood in a semi-circle, the others surrounding her as she faced the rising sun. The sun sang one clear note to her as it rose, the sound echoing with a feeling of right-ness somehow that filled her body. The symbol on her hand burned brightly and then burned itself down into the grass, not only scorching the grass, but burning deep so that she saw blackened rock under the symbol. Surprisingly, no one else saw it at all. They saw only the print of her bare feet in the dirt.

'They saw the boulder though, and the downed trees, ' Cassie reminded herself.

She glanced back towards the clearing. A large boulder looked as though a giant hammer struck it, splitting it in half and sending sprays of rock shards flying in every direction. Several trees were uprooted and torn like a giant had a temper tantrum. She heard them fall, but wasn't looking in their direction at the time so wasn't entirely certain how the damage occurred. Part of her didn't really want to know as she suspected she caused the damage.

"I wouldn't worry about them, " Abraham said, noticing her attention. "In a few weeks' time they will look perfectly natural."

"I hope so, " Cassie replied, smiling at the man she grew up believing was her grandfather.

She squelched her discomfort with the fact that she might have destroyed rocks and managed somehow to rip full grown trees from the earth. Whether Abraham was actually her grandfather, she didn't know, even if she still thought of him that way. Truth be told, he didn't know either. It was little consolation. When he admitted it, he told her that they were related somehow, but he wasn't entirely certain how. He was very vague on the details. In fact, he was vague on a lot of things.

'But he said to wait until my birthday, ' she reminded herself. 'Perhaps he will explain later.'

"Enjoying your party?" Abraham asked. He looked a little apprehensive. "There is cake."

"Chocolate cake, " she replied, offering him a smile. "It's a great party." He looked relieved and went to bring her a slice of the cake.

It was the first party Cassie ever attended. Her previous birthdays generally included a gift from her grandfather and another from her parents, but no parties. As Abraham put a blocker on her so that others couldn't see her unless she spoke directly to them or touched them, Cassie didn't have many close friends.

'And my parents aren't actually my parents, ' Cassie reminded herself. Carolyn and Alan, the two people posing as her parents were some sort of Walker acolytes, another thing Abraham didn't explain very well.

Even with this event being her first ever birthday party, she could see it was a little on the strange side. 'Not exactly how the sitcoms portray birthday parties, ' Cassie thought, having nothing but television to compare with it. Abraham promised cake, as he understood it was the custom to have cake on a birthday. She was fairly certain he also knew that there were candles that were supposed to go with the cake.

The candles he brought however, weren't on the cake, but set in large wrought iron candle stands each looking a bit like a candelabrum was welded onto a hat rack. They reminded her of the candle stands in old movies that either featured medieval churches or vampires. There were eighteen stands placed around the clearing, Cassie counted. She guessed that as it was her eighteenth birthday, there was one stand for each year.

'Which is similar to a cake, although I don't think I'm going to be blowing them out, at least not with one breath, ' Cassie told herself. 'At this point, I don't even know what I would wish for if I did blow them out.' The amusement of attempting such a feat made her smile widen and look more genuine as yet another person offered her welcome.

'And that's another thing, ' Cassie thought. 'No one is saying happy birthday, just welcome, like I just joined a club. At least they are happy I joined.'

At the moment she was more than willing to accept any strangeness on their part. At the end of her ceremony, before she was brought to see the cake and candles on the other side of the clearing, Enki showed up. It was clear from the reaction of the others that he was neither invited nor welcome at the gathering. Thankfully, he didn't stay long and the others made it clear that he was not to hurt her.

As his cousin Erra attacked her a few months prior and he threatened to kill her if he found out she was a Walker, Cassie was relieved by their protection. 'But I'm not a Walker or I would have lost my hand during the test, ' She reminded herself circling back to her original thought. 'But if I'm not a Walker what am I?'

Abraham and Jacob told her that there was only a short list of things she could possibly be now that they knew she wasn't a Walker, but failed to elaborate on the possibilities on the list. Abraham returned with a piece of cake. The slice was placed on a handkerchief.

"Apparently, we didn't bring plates, " he told her handing the handkerchief and its slice of cake over to her. "Or forks." She lifted the napkin to her mouth and nibbled the chocolate cake.

"Delicious, " she told him. He exhaled with relief.

"I'm glad you like it, " he replied.

"Um, can I ask something?" she said after taking a second bite, chewing and swallowing.

"I'm sure you have many questions, but this is a celebration, questions come later, " Abraham told her.

"As long as answers come with them, I'm okay with that, " Cassie replied. "I just want to know why I smell a pork roast."

"Because we are roasting a pig, " he told her proudly. "In honor of the celebration."

Cassie looked around. She saw the small table with cake, her one slice taken out of it, the large dagger looking knife used to carve the piece from the whole looking strange stabbed point first into the table next to it. She saw the candles. While she smelled the pig, she didn't see it or anything that could be used to roast it.

"And where is it?" she asked.

"Oh, " Abraham said with a laugh. He gestured towards an earthen mound off to the side. "Underground. We roast the coals in a pit until they are white hot, then we put the wrapped and seasoned pig on top, and bury it so that it acts as an oven. When we are finished with cake, we will open the earth and feast."

Cassie looked around and realized she was the only one eating cake. She nodded and continued eating her slice, trying not to wolf it down as she realized the others were waiting for her to finish.

'He did say he had to tell them that cake was traditional, ' Cassie remembered. She guessed the others weren't terribly fond of cake, or felt no need to eat a piece to be sociable. They didn't see to feel the need to do much that was sociable. They offered their welcome and stepped away. While a few were speaking to each other as they waited for her to finish her cake, the bulk of them merely stood, silently waiting. Cassie thought it a little strange and tried to eat a little faster so they could move on to whatever it was that everyone was waiting to see or do. Her slice of cake was consumed quickly enough and Abraham whisked the handkerchief away with a flourish as she finished.

"Just out of curiosity, how are we going to eat the pig if no one brought plates or utensils?" she asked as Mikal and the surfer looking man picked up shovels and began to uncover the pig. She wasn't certain where the shovels were hidden as she didn't see them before.

"We use knives, " Jacob told her. "It is tradition."

Personally Cassie thought a knife was a utensil, but her comments died before she could voice them as he walked over and held out a dagger in a sheath. The sheath was attached to a cord and Jacob helped to belt it around her waist. A second smaller cord kept the end from flopping around by lacing around her thigh. It reminded her of the holsters cowboys wore in the movies.

Once attached, Jacob moved away and Cassie pulled the dagger from its sheath. The handle was some sort of antler although she couldn't name the animal, and glowed softly amber and white, in the early morning light. The metal part was silver and reflected the sun almost painfully bright and looked sharp enough to slice air. As Cassie wrapped her hand around the handle, the knife felt right in her hand, fitting her perfectly and feeling warm in her grasp, the handle almost pulsing in time with her own heartbeat. It felt almost like a living thing.

She blinked and shook her head to clear it. Cassie slipped the dagger back into its sheath although she found herself strangely reluctant to let it leave her hand. When she looked up, Cassie found several of the other attendees at this strange party looking at her, Abraham and Jacob included. Each of the fourteen faces she saw bore an identically gentle smile.

The smiles made her heart and stomach flutter in an odd, but not terribly unpleasant way. It felt like she passed another test. 'At least this one was less painful, ' she decided, dismissing the looks. Cassie was relieved when the intensified aroma of the roast pig caused the others to look towards the pit rather than at her.

Cassie looked as well and saw the mound of earth was peeled back and the pig was lifted out of the hole. Metal stands were driven into the ground to either side of the hole and the large pole threaded through the center of the pig was rested on them so the cooked pig floated above the pit in which it was roasted. The pig itself was wrapped in some sort of large and shiny green leaves she couldn't identify. The leaves were charred around the edges and had both black and white ash stuck to them.

Mikel peeled the leaves away and placed them in the pit below the pig. Cassie felt herself drawn forward, her feet taking two steps in the direction of the pig before she realized it. She inhaled deeply, the tantalizing aroma making her mouth water and filling her with a deep, visceral hunger. She took another step forward, then stopped herself. She blinked and looked to her grandfather. Abraham stood to her left and gave her an encouraging nod.

"It is time, " he told her.

Cassie looked back to the pig and found the others moved to the roast as well. One by one they knelt on the ground around the pig, leaving space for her right in front of the roast. Cassie took her place, completing the circle and kneeling on the ground.

The scent was stronger now and despite the time being earlier than she usually woke, Cassie was as hungry as though she fasted the day prior. The earth beneath her jeans was cold and hard and she shivered as the chill seeped through her clothing. In front of her the pit beneath the pig still radiated heat and she found herself leaning forward towards the warmth, inhaling deeply of the scent of the roast while enjoying the warmth. Everyone else remained motionless and Cassie looked to Abraham for direction.

"You need to cut the first slice, " he told her. "Use your knife. Once you have taken a bite, we will join you in the feast."

Cassie nodded and took her knife from its sheath. She smiled as her fingers wrapped around the hilt. "Do I need to say anything?" she asked.

With the movements and the silence, the roast felt less like a meal and more like a ritual. He shook his head no and as Cassie turned back to the roast in front of her she saw a few of the others smiling in amusement. The man she thought of as the surfer winked at her. She thought his name was Devon, or something like that but couldn't remember at the moment. Cassie ignored him and turned to the pig.

While she carved roasts before, she never tried to carve a slice off a spitted animal in the middle of the woods. She wasn't quite certain how to proceed. Slowly she lifted the knife, looking for a spot to insert the blade. The silver caught the sun and gleamed.

She stopped thinking as though a switch was thrown in her mind, washing all of her concerns away with white noise. She plunged the knife into the pig, slicing off a strip. The meat came away easily, the knife moving as though the animal was merely soft butter. She felt a small electric thrill run through her as she leaned back, meat in one hand, knife in the other. She shivered with something other than cold, but she had no name for the sensation that filled her. It felt alien, otherworldly and not at all like her. Cassie lifted the meat to her lips and took a small bite. The meat was tender and succulent, the skin perfectly crispy. As she chewed, her mouth was filled with the taste of aromatic spices, and something sweet and tasting vaguely of apples. The white noise inside her faded away.

She swallowed her bite and took another from the strip she still held. The second bite signaled the others to join her in the feast and each leaned forward, knives sliding out of sheaths. The blades descended on the roast in glittering arcs of silver. After the first few bites, the others seemed to relax a little and the feel of ritual faded. It began to feel more like a strange sort of picnic. Cassie felt her own internal strangeness fading and exhaled with relief, feeling more like herself.

"It has been a while since we gathered like this, " Mikel said. "I almost forgot the taste."

"It was snowing last time, " Annabelle remarked.

"Glad there was no snow this time, " Devon, the surfer replied.

"I kind of miss the snow, " Mikel said between bites. "Gives it a bit more drama."

As Cassie had to be barefoot during the ceremony, she was pretty glad the only snow left on the ground was close to the tree boles in the deeper shadows. Even though her socks and shoes were returned to her, her toes were still a little chilly from the half frozen ground.

"I think Enki was enough drama, " Cassie replied. A few of those gathered chuckled.

"He won't be a problem now that he knows what you are, " Abraham assured her.

"And what am I?" Cassie couldn't help asking.

"One of us, " Mikel replied with a shrug. He leaned forward and cut another slice off of the pig. The knife looked just like a knife now, nothing special. Cassie tried not to frown as she wondered what changed. "Of course we don't know the details yet, " he continued. "But it should be interesting to see how it develops."

"Abraham said your sight was changing?" Anabelle asked. She took a bite of her portion and chewed as she waited for Cassie's response.

Cassie darted a glance towards Abraham. All her life he told her to keep what she saw to herself and she was uncertain about breaking that habit now.

"It's okay to tell them, " Abraham replied.

Jacob snorted. "His advice was to not tell anyone anything and to try and act normal, " he told the rest of the group.

"At the time it seemed like good advice, " Abraham replied.

Jacob opened his mouth to reply. "I swear you two bicker like old women, " one of the women in the group said. There was no sting to the comment, it was a simple matter of fact statement causing smiles in some and frowns on both Abraham and Jacob.

The woman who spoke was the one Cassie thought of as the dancer as she frequently watched her move through clubs. On the dance floor she became one with the music in a way Cassie found mesmerizing. While she hid her presence from the others sharing the dance floor with her, when she swung and her long braids or fingertips grazed those around her, the other dancers almost glowed with ecstasy and gave themselves fully to the music around them. Cassie couldn't remember hearing her name. As she spoke, both Abraham and Jacob glared at her. She smiled back at them and took another bite of the pork. Attention was once again focused on Cassie.

"Well, I always saw those with odd bits, like the tusks and beaks, feathers and snake eyes, " She began.

The vice principal of her high school, Mr. Babbin, also known as Ratatoskr had large curving tusks. Each time she saw him she had to remind herself not to see them. Oddly enough in the last few months, things like tusks and feathers became the least of the things she had to ignore.

"And then when I touch some of the others, I can see different places and get a ...sense of the person, " Cassie added. She blushed as she said the last part. The sensing of good bad or neutral always seemed a bit new-agey for her tastes. The others nodded as though accepting it as fact. She was pleased they didn't question her on it or laugh at her touchy feely description.

"That sight started recently?" Anabelle asked.

"No, that started a long time ago, " Cassie told them. "I think the invisibility might be new though. I can't remember having to pretend not to see people who others couldn't see at all before, just their odd bits like the feathers. And I've only been able to see the golden nets around the buildings since your...test, " she added. Her left hand clenched automatically at the memory and she forced herself to uncurl her fingers. If anyone noticed, they ignored it. "So that's new."

"There might not have been others hiding themselves here before, " Devon said.

"The area did become more populous after the gate opened, " Mikel replied. He looked to Cassie. "You didn't have anything to do with that did you?"

"Well, yeah, sort of, " Cassie admitted.

"I thought you hadn't been through the gate before your test?" Abraham asked.

"I hadn't been, " Cassie explained. "The first one I opened as a mistake actually."

"You mistakenly opened a gate?" Devon asked. His grin was wide and he looked as though he wanted to laugh, but was attempting to restrain himself.

"It was in a dream, " Cassie said. "I didn't think it was real."

"What happened in the dream?" Abraham asked.

"In the dream, I found myself in the district, " Cassie said. She decided to leave out the bouncing from lamppost to lamppost as she moved between the carved symbols. Something inside her didn't want to mention the symbols to the group, even though they had to know about them. Keeping secrets was too deep a habit to lose all at once. "The area where the gate was located started humming, so I hummed along with it and it opened."

"So you heard the gate then?" Mikel asked. "You didn't see it?"

"Not until it was open, then I could see in."

"Did you open the other gates?" Annabelle asked.

"Yes, " Cassie told her. "It seemed like the easiest way to get everyone to leave. After I opened the gate here, so many people came to the district that it was really hard to ignore them. Opening a gate and sending them elsewhere seemed like the best solution."

"Did you dream of the other gates too?" the dancer asked.

"Not exactly, " Cassie replied, uncertain how to explain the map room. She found the space in her sleep, but wasn't certain it was a dream.

"She found the nexus, " Jacob told the group. There were looks of surprise on all of the faces around the room.

"She found the nexus in a dream?" the dancer asked.

They all looked to her and Cassie nodded. "When I go to sleep I end up there most nights. I've been calling it the map room."

"Not a bad description, " Mikel replied nodding. "And if she's only been there in her sleep it explains how she was able to open the gates remotely. Even if it usually is the other way around."

"Do you mean I could go there when I was awake?" Cassie asked.

"Of course, " Mikel said. "Then you could travel places in person, physically instead of just mentally. Typically, you learn the physical first and then the mental route, but apparently you decided to go backwards."

"Oh, " Cassie replied, uncertain if it was a rebuke or not.

Abraham shook his head and frowned at Mikel. "That's the way Walkers learned to find the Nexus, when they could find it at all, which very few of them could."

"True enough." Mikel said amiably. He carved another piece off of the roast and Cassie noticed that the roast was starting to look a little ragged, bones showing through in places as the flesh was consumed. She took another piece herself and chewed slowly as the group continued to talk. Oddly after the first bite, her strange hunger faded away.

"We'll still need to see what abilities she is likely to develop, " Annabelle said.

"It might be interesting to be in town for a time anyway, " Devon said. He grinned wickedly as he carved off another slice of meat. "Especially as Enki and the others are still here. And if they do try anything it's an excuse to...play with them." The grin he flashed at the thought had a wicked edge. Cassie was surprised to see if flash across several other faces in the group including her grandfather's.

"I don't suppose there is a reason he calls you Cupcake is there? A nickname we should know about?" One of the others asked. Cassie couldn't remember his name and even in her weeks of silent observation only managed to see him twice as he favored remote wind swept places that tended to be far from the carved symbols she used to watch them through.

"Not exactly, " Cassie said. "The first time I met him I was in the bookstore in the district. The one owned by Ami Pi, and to keep from reacting to him and Skadi I pulled a book on cupcakes from the shelf. Since they seemed intent on hurting those they thought were Walkers and they thought Walkers would in no way be interested in cupcakes I held onto the book until they left." Cassie shivered remembering that first meeting. It was the first time she ever heard the term Walker and it was then that her world started to change. "I figured he never bothered to learn my name. He seems to give everyone nicknames."

"So it is not a name you chose or like?" Devon asked.

"No, " Cassie said. She thought of Enki's voice and how he often called her Cupcake when threatening her with violence or death. "Definitely not."

"Then we won't use it, " Annabelle said. She cast looks at the others, favoring Devon with a stern look.

He smiled and shrugged. "Cassie works well enough for me. Less formal than Cassandra."

"We'll have to set up a schedule to test her on various skills, " Mikel said.

"I have midterms this week, " Cassie told them. "Then winter break. It's a short three day week though."

"We will wait until winter break then, " he replied nodding. "That should give us time to work up a schedule. "You will still be working at Hestia's Bakery?"

"I would like to, " Cassie replied. "Unless she has a problem with me. I'm sure Enki will tell everyone that I'm...something now, even if that something isn't a Walker."

"We'll plan for you working in the Bakery and you can let us know if your employment ceases so we can adjust, " Mikel decided.

Cassie wasn't sure if he knew what would happen when Hester and the others heard Enki's news any more than she did. Inside, she felt a fluttering of nerves as the others discussed schedules. From their words it sounded like she would have a very busy winter break this year. Usually, it was quiet with her parents off to some exotic locale and her grandfather only stopping in occasionally to check on her. She usually used the solitude to practice more time consuming and elaborate recipes that she didn't have time to try at other points in the year. Somehow she didn't think she would have that luxury this year. She didn't know how she felt about that.

'I suppose it will depend on how painful the testing for skills turns out to be, ' she thought.

Discussions and arguments lasted until the pig was a pile of clean bones, each dropped into the pit when the flesh was consumed. The metal pole threaded through the center of the animal and the two supports were removed and Mikel quickly shoveled the dirt back over the bones, filling in the hole and patting it smooth. The others remained in place and as the last shovel of dirt fell, they looked to her. Cassie looked to Abraham.

"Place your right hand on the earth and bless the remains, " he told her.

"Bless?" Cassie asked.

Abraham smiled. "Say thanks for the meal. It does not need to be said aloud."

"Oh, " she said.

She noticed a couple of smirks on those surrounding her, but most of the faces looked curious. It was as if they were wondering what she would say, but somehow it felt like another test. Cassie leaned forward and placed her right hand on the dirt. Despite the chilled ground she could feel beneath her legs, this dirt felt warm. 'Maybe it's the coals, ' she thought.

Her hand sunk a little into the freshly turned earth. Despite the oddness of the request and the initial amusement at her questioning, the others now looked serious and she thought this too might be some sort of ritual. She felt the symbol in her hand pulse, a warm and comforting heat. She thought of her grandfather's request.

'Thank you for the meal, ' she thought, unsure if she was thanking the pig, the ground or whoever put the pig in the ground. She dismissed the thought and focused on her thanks. As her thoughts stilled, words floated across her brain. They seemed appropriate so she focused on them, saying them aloud even if her voice was barely a whisper.

"Thank you for this offering and I grant my blessing in return, " she said.

Her hand pulsed and she felt an odd sheering sensation as though something left her hand and went into the ground. She was startled enough that she rocked backwards pulling her hand from the dirt. The stillness inside her faded away and she wondered what happened. On the ground, her hand print could be clearly seen pressed into the dirt. The symbol she was growing familiar with seeing on her skin glittered brightly in the center as though written with a metallic gold ink pen.

She blinked and Cassie saw something pushing up through the center of her mark, distorting it. She frowned and leaned forward. Despite the winter cold earth, a seedling was sprouting from the center of the mark. At first it was a small dot of green, but with each heartbeat the sprout grew larger, sprouting tiny leaves and stretching upwards. It was like watching a film with time lapse photography, every time Cassie blinked the plant was bigger.

When the little seedling was developed into a small sapling, the base of which was the same size as the mark her palm left behind, it stopped growing. Cassie looked at the dirt. The mark was gone, taken up by the small tree. Oddly enough, her hand print still remained in the dirt around it. She saw her finger marks around the base of the trunk as though the tree was held in the palm of her hand.

"Well, that certainly settles it then, " Abraham said, a satisfied ring to his voice. "Definitely not a Walker."

Annabelle leaned forward and studied the tree. "Cherry, " she pronounced. "Interesting." She leaned back.

"Now what, " Cassie said, looking to Abraham.

"Now we get you home where it is warm, " he told her.

He, as well as the others, stood, and he offered her a hand, helping her to rise to her feet. As Cassie stood she wondered if the others saw the golden mark or like the other times it was visible only to her. As everyone began to walk away from the clearing Cassie turned her palm upwards and studied it. She brushed the clinging bits of dirt off of her hand and saw the symbol still on her palm. Even as she looked, the symbol faded until her hand looked normal. She shook her head and let her hand drop, following her grandfather back to his car.