buttressed out from their shoulders, their hair.
Nicks eyebrows trailed into his hairline, and his sideburns feinted onto his cheeks. When she sat behind him in class, she could see the muscles in his left shoulder sliding under his shirt.
Even Levi was a distraction. A near-constant distraction. With his long, tan neck. And his throat bobbing and cording when he laughed.
Cath felt different. Tuned in. Boyeven though none of these guys seemed like boys crazy. And for once, Wren was the last person she wanted to talk to about it. Everyone was the last person Cath wanted to talk to about it.
My strategy, she said to Wren now, is to make sure he doesnt meet my prettier, skinnier twin.
I dont think it would matter, Wren said. Cath noticed she wasnt arguing the prettier, skinnier point. It sounds like hes into your brain. I dont have your brain.
She didnt. And Cath didnt understand that at all. They had the same DNA. The same nature, the same nurture. All the differences between them didnt make sense.
Come home with me this weekend, Cath said abruptly. Shed found a ride back to Omaha that night. Wren had already said she didnt want to go.
You know Dad misses us, Cath said. Come on.
Wren looked down at her tray. I told you. Ive got to study.
Theres a home game this weekend, Courtney said. We dont have to be sober until Monday at eleven.
Have you even called Dad? Cath asked.
Weve been e-mailing, Wren said. He seems fine.
He misses us.
Hes supposed to miss ushes our father.
Yeah, Cath said softly, but hes different.
Wrens face lifted, and she glared at Cath, shaking her head just slightly.
Cath pushed away from the table. I better go. I need to run back to my room before class.
* * *
When Professor Piper asked for their unreliable-narrator papers that afternoon, Nick grabbed Caths out of her hand. She grabbed it back. He raised an eyebrow.
Cath tilted her chin and smiled at him. It was only later that she realized she was giving him one of Wrens smiles. One of her evangelical smiles.
Nick pushed his tongue into his cheek and studied Cath for a second before he turned around.
Professor Piper took the paper from her hand. Thank you, Cath. She smiled warmly and squeezed Caths shoulder. I can hardly wait.
Nick twisted his head back around at that. Pet, he mouthed.
Cath thought about reaching up to the back of his head and petting his hair down to the point at his neck.
It had been two hours since they watched the drawbridge lock into the fortress.
Two hours of squabbling about whose fault it had been.
Baz would pout and say, We wouldnt have missed curfew if you hadnt gotten in my way.
And Simon would growl and say, I wouldnt have to get in your way if you werent wandering the grounds nefariously.
But the truth, Simon knew, was that theyd just gotten so caught up in their arguing that theyd lost track of time, and now theyd have to spend the night out here. There was no getting around the curfewno matter how many times Baz clicked his heels and said, Theres no place like home. (That was a seventh-year spell anyway; there was no way Baz could pull it off.)
Simon sighed and dropped down onto the grass. Baz was still muttering and staring up at the fortress like he might yet spot a way in.
Oi, Simon said, thumping Bazs knee.
Ow. What.
Ive got an Aero bar, Simon said. Want half?
Baz peered down, his long face as grey as his eyes in the gloaming. He flicked his black hair back and frowned, settling down next to Simon on the hill. What kind?
Mint. Simon dug the candy out from the pocket in his cape.
Thats my favorite, Baz admitted, grudgingly.
Simon flashed him a wide, white grin. Mine, too.
from Secrets, Stars, and Aero Bars, posted January 2009 by FanFixx.net authors Magicath and Wrenegade
NINE
Cath had an hour or so to kill before she left for Omaha, and she didnt feel like sitting in her room. It was the best kind of November day. Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy. Just cold enough that she could justifiably wear all her favorite clothescardigans and tights and leg warmers.
She thought about going to the Union to study but decided to walk around downtown Lincoln instead. Cath almost never left campus; there wasnt much reason to. Leaving campus felt like crossing the border. What would she do if she lost her wallet or got lost? Shed have to call the
embassy.
Lincoln felt a lot more like a small town than Omaha. There were still movie theaters downtown and little shops. Cath walked by a Thai restaurant and the famous Chipotle. She stopped to walk through a gift shop and smell all the essential oils. There was a Starbucks across the street. She wondered if it was Levis Starbucks, and a minute later, she was crossing over.
Inside it was exactly like every other Starbucks Cath had ever been to. Maybe with a few more professorial types And with Levi briskly moving behind the espresso machine, smiling at something somebody was saying in his headset.
Levi was wearing a black sweater over a white T-shirt. He looked like hed just gotten a haircutshorter in the back but still sticking up and flopping all over his face. He called out someones name and handed a drink to a guy who looked like a retired violin teacher. Levi stopped to talk to the guy. Because he was Levi, and this was a biological necessity.