Waveborn

18

Cass jerked awake; from outside her door came a faint clink that might be dishes "Jen?" she called. "Is that you?"

Footsteps approached and her door opened just far enough for Jen to peer through the opening. "Who else would it be, silly?" she asked.

Jen wore a nightshirt and sweats; with her blonde hair sticking every which way, she looked half awake and so perfectly Jen that it made Cass's throat close up. She shoved down the memory of the night before, when Jen wouldn't wake, and forced a smile. "I've seen so little of you lately I thought maybe someone else had moved in."

"I'm making oatmeal and coffee. Want some?"

Cass nodded.

She dressed slowly, trying to sort out the confusion in her head. She had a sister-she was convinced of that much-but she didn't know if Jen knew about her. She didn't really know why the girl had been on their boat, either. What had she hoped to accomplish? She'd taken Jen's necklace, which didn't make much sense; she'd warned Cass away from the "musicians;" and she'd badmouthed humankind in general and the researchers at the Piper Center specifically, with a passion that bordered on fanatic.

Cass couldn't get the image out of her head: a blade, jerking upward across Jen's throat. Would things have gone differently if she hadn't returned when she did? She squeezed her eyes shut and forced a deep breath. She'd hardly spoken to Jen the past few days. If Jen had been hurt...She wasn't hurt, she told herself firmly. Jen was fine.

But it changed everything. She'd been so furious at Jen for lying to her. She was still furious; her hands had balled into fists just thinking about it. No, she hadn't forgiven Jen for lying about her parents, but she realized how much she much she'd hate it if anything happened to her.

Suddenly, she very much did not want Jen to spend the day alone.

Over breakfast, Jen asked polite questions about what she'd been doing for the past few days, in a tone so matter-of-fact that Cass could almost pretend everything had returned to normal. She supplied polite answers: schoolwork, riding her new bike, she'd met some kids on the island.

The last was the understatement of the year, but when she thought of Jason her heart jumped to her throat and her tongue tangled in knots. She didn't want to talk about Jason yet. It was too soon.

"Are you going out today?" she asked instead.

Jen swallowed, nodding. "I'm still too far behind. Peter has this filing system that makes no sense to me. I wish you'd come take a look at it instead of just watching from the forest."

Cass froze, her spoon halfway to her mouth.

Jen sipped her coffee. "Come on, Cass. Didn't you think I'd see you, lurking around the building and keeping an eye on me? I figured you'd come in when you were ready to start helping-not that I blame you for trying to stay out of sight. I don't enjoy paperwork, either."

"You've seen me," Cass echoed stupidly. A cold weight settled in her stomach. Jen couldn't have seen her, because Cass hadn't been anywhere near the research station. Jen had seen her look-alike. Her sister had been watching Jen even before Cass had found her on the boat.

Jen downed the rest of her coffee and slid out from behind the table. "Yes. I've seen you. At the station. So do you want to join me today or not? I'm taking the whaler so I can haul some of my papers out there."

Cass remembered Joe's warning-They can't be happy to have someone poking into their business again-and shivered. They'd returned to Rodger's Island because the previous scientist had fallen; she'd assumed he'd been repairing the building or something. His head injury left him unable to read, much less continue working. He'd only been at the Piper Center a little over a year, which Cass knew only because he'd been working with Jen on her monitor project. She wondered who had worked at the Piper Center before Peter and how long they had lasted. Was Jen in danger?