The Outliers (The Outliers, #1)(71)

“We have to go, Cassie. Right now,” I whisper to the side of her face, when she still won’t look at me. “I think those people, North Point, might already have Jasper. Quentin found his jacket in the woods.” I’m worried what adding that kind of guilt could do to the whirlpool already churning inside her—after all, she’s the reason he left. But I’m more worried about what will happen if Cassie doesn’t wake up and realize the danger she’s in. “They could be coming for you.”

She turns to look at me, not shocked by this news about Jasper. More defeated. Like she’s already given up.

“We’ll have to go through the woods, but it’ll be better than just waiting here,” I go on, when she still does not speak. At least she’s listening. This is my chance to convince her. “I know the woods. My mom took me all the time, remember? I’m actually pretty good in an emergency, too. Much better even than I usually am.”

“It’s not you,” Cassie says, and with that same dead look in her eyes. “I don’t want to—I won’t go, Wylie. They’re right. It’s too dangerous.”

“Cassie, I don’t think we should be listening to—”

“Wylie, did you hear me?” She steps closer, her eyes bright and angry. “Because you need to hear me. We are not going anywhere.” And then she turns. “Don’t bring it up again. Just get your dad here, okay? I have to go change. I’ll be back.”

Cassie walks away, headed toward one of the other cabins, where Fiona’s clothes would probably be. As I watch her go, my panic blooms, blotting out my hurt feelings. Now what?

When I look over, Quentin is still working on something in front of the main cabin. I cross the grass toward him.

“Everything okay?” he asks when I’ve made my way over. “That looked tense.”

“Cassie is freaked out. It’s hard to blame her.”

“Ah, well, this thing sucks for her, that’s for sure,” Quentin says, inspecting a wire inside the black plastic box he’s working on. “Being an Outlier could be a cool thing if the world wasn’t such a screwed-up place.”

A place that needs a restart, it’s true. It reminds me of Fiona and Miriam and all their waxing philosophical about some kind of rapture.

“Is Fiona a professor?” I ask, because the way she was talking for sure didn’t seem very scientific.

“I think so. Ouch.” Quentin snatches his finger back and sucks on it like he just pricked it. “I think she teaches art or something like that, figurative drawing, maybe. Why?”

He looks at me quizzically, pushes his glasses back up his nose. He is definitely nerdy, but not in a bad way.

I shrug. “No reason.” It seems stupid now to care about Fiona or Miriam and however they want to talk about this. “I really can’t believe that my dad would do all of this without even warning us.”

“I’m sure he didn’t see it playing out this way.” Now it’s Quentin who shrugs. “How could he? It’s like he’s discovered this tiny little tear in the fabric of the world, which maybe isn’t even really a tear if you look at it up close,” he says. “I probably wouldn’t go around advertising it either until I knew for sure what it meant. Look at these lunatics from this company, already trying to get their hands on it. And no one even knows exactly what ‘it’ is yet, or what it means.”

“At least he should have told Cassie about her test,” I say. “She would have had time to adjust to the whole idea that she can do this thing before, you know, she had to run for her life.”

“Fair enough.” Quentin holds up his hands. “To be clear, I’m on your side, not your dad’s. And if I was Cassie, I definitely wouldn’t sit here and wait. No matter what anyone said.”

I’m relieved that he’s brought up us leaving again.

“I just told Cassie that.” I glance over at him. “But don’t tell Dr. Simons, okay?”

He rolls his eyes. “He’s my professor, not my priest, okay? I don’t have to confess everything to him.”

“Sorry, I just—I know Dr. Simons thinks it’s too dangerous for us to go, but sitting here waiting seems—”

“Insane?” Quentin nods. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

The way he says it makes me feel a little ridiculous. Like a little girl waiting for permission. I am sixteen, not six. And what is Dr. Simons going to do? Tie us up? They did lock us in a cabin for a little while, but there’s got to be a limit to what they’re willing to do.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” I motion toward where Cassie has gone. “She won’t go.”

“Really?” Quentin looks confused. “Is it because she doesn’t want to leave without Jasper? Because it looks like at least he got away okay.”

“How do you know?” My gut churns. And not with relief.

“Officer Kendall called Dr. Simons and told him the truck you guys came in is gone.” Quentin rubs his forehead. “Now that I think about it, I guess that’s not proof Jasper is okay. A good sign, though.”

“Oh, yeah,” I say. But I do not feel reassured. “I’ll tell Cassie, definitely. But I’m not even sure it was because she was worried about Jasper.”