Chapter 105 Chapter 105

Chapter 105 Chapter 105
  Cass barely remembered leaving the school.
  One moment she was standing in the noise of whispers and buzzing phones, Jace’s hand locked around hers, Zayelle’s silence cutting through everything like a blade, Marvin’s calm smile still echoing in the background.
  The next, she was outside.
  Cold air.
  Gray sky.
  The world too normal for what had just been said inside those walls.
  Jace didn’t let go of her hand even when they stopped walking.
  He just stood there with her for a moment, breathing like he was trying to steady something bigger than himself.
  Cass finally spoke.
  “What happens now?”
  Her voice didn’t sound like hers.
  Jace didn’t answer immediately.
  That silence told her everything.
  Then—
  “I don’t know,” he said quietly.
  That was worse than any lie.
  Cass swallowed hard.
  “So it’s real.”
  Jace looked at her then.
  Not away.
  Not avoiding.
  Just looking.
  “Yeah,” he said. “It’s real.”
  Cass let out a shaky breath, stepping back slightly like her body needed space from the words.
  “I didn’t even know I was part of it,” she whispered.
  Jace moved closer again.
  “You weren’t part of what he’s doing now.”
  Cass shook her head.
  “But I was part of something.”
  Jace’s jaw tightened.
  “Cass—”
  “No,” she cut in, softer now. “Don’t. Don’t try to clean it for me.”
  That stopped him.
  For a second.
  The wind picked up between them, pushing her hair across her face.
  She didn’t fix it.
  She just stood there, shaking slightly, like if she moved too much she might fall apart completely.
  Jace finally spoke again.
  “We should go to my place.”
  Cass looked up.
  “What?”
  “My dad already got a call,” he said. “This isn’t staying in the school anymore. If there’s an investigation starting, everything is going to shift fast. You shouldn’t be alone.”
  Cass almost laughed, but it came out broken.
  “Because being alone is dangerous now?”
  Jace didn’t flinch.
  “Yes.”
  That honesty hit deeper than anything else.
  Cass nodded slowly, like she didn’t trust her own voice anymore.
  “Okay.”
  The drive was silent.
  Not uncomfortable.
  Just heavy.
  Jace kept one hand on the wheel, the other resting loosely near the gear shift, like even he didn’t know what to do with himself anymore.
  Cass stared out the window the whole time.
  The world passing by like nothing was wrong.
  People walking.
  Cars moving.
  Life pretending it didn’t just crack open.
  When they arrived, the house felt colder than usual.
  Or maybe it was just her.
  Jace led her inside without a word.
  No one else was home.
  That made it worse.
  Too much space.
  Too many echoes.
  Cass sat down on the edge of the couch, hands folded tightly in her lap like she was trying to hold herself together physically.
  Jace stood in front of her for a moment.
  Then sat beside her.
  Not too close.
  Not too far.
  Just there.
  Cass finally broke the silence.
  “Your brother did this on purpose.”
  Jace exhaled slowly.
  “Yeah.”
  Cass turned to him.
  “Why?”
  Jace shook his head slightly.
  “I don’t think it’s just hate anymore.”
  Cass frowned.
  “What does that mean?”
  Jace looked down for a second.
  Then back up.
  “He thinks he’s fixing something.”
  Cass’s throat tightened.
  “By destroying everything?”
  “By forcing it out,” Jace said quietly. “He’s always believed silence made it worse.”
  Cass let that sit between them.
  Then whispered—
  “And what do you believe?”
  Jace didn’t answer right away.
  That pause mattered.
  When he finally spoke, his voice was low.
  “I believe we’re past choosing sides.”
  Cass looked at him longer this time.
  Like she was trying to find something stable in his face.
  But even he looked different now.
  Not weaker.
  Just… heavier.
  Like he was carrying something too big to name.
  Cass leaned back slightly.
  “I feel like everything I thought I knew about myself is wrong.”
  Jace turned toward her.
  “That’s not true.”
  Cass let out a bitter breath.
  “You weren’t there.”
  That landed.
  He didn’t argue.
  Because she was right.
  Cass looked down at her hands again.
  “I keep hearing it,” she whispered. “That I was there. That I was part of it. And I don’t even know what’s real in my head anymore.”
  Jace shifted slightly closer now.
  “Then we figure out what is,” he said.
  Cass shook her head.
  “It doesn’t feel like something we can figure out.”
  Jace didn’t respond immediately.
  Then quietly—
  “Then we survive it first.”
  Cass looked at him again.
  That word.
  Survive.
  Not fix.
  Not escape.
  Just… survive.
  It made something in her chest tighten in a different way.
  Less fear.
  More grounding.
  Outside, somewhere far off, thunder rolled softly.
  Cass didn’t move.
  Neither did Jace.
  And for a moment, in the middle of everything collapsing around them, there was just silence.
  Not peaceful.
  But shared.
  ⸻
  And somewhere else, far from that quiet room, a notification hit a desk.
  Then another.
  Then a phone lit up with names that hadn’t spoken in years.
  And the past—
  finally stopped pretending to be buried.