JULY 25TH, 2017 - TUESDAY

CASEY’S POV

Rap music played loudly throughout the house as Casey strode down the narrow hallway, toweling his wet hair as he moved. The young healer slipped into the bedroom and surveyed his sparse closet with a frown before getting dressed. With an hour left before he had to go, Casey plopped down onto his bed and pulled a white MP3 from his jeans’ front pocket. He popped the cover off with his thumbnail and plucked one of seven cigarettes from inside.

Casey leaned over to grab his backpack off the floor, nearly faceplanting in the process. He dug around in the front pocket for his grandfather’s lighter until his fingertips hit cold metal. The healer pulled it out with a triumphant ‘aha’ and flicked the top open with practiced ease to light the cigarette held gently between his teeth. His cheeks hollowed as he inhaled deeply and released the smoke with a heavy sigh. After a few drags, Casey leaned back against his mountain of pillows. He grabbed his book of baby names from the bedside table, occasionally flicking ash into what used to be his grandfather’s ashtray.

His eyes roamed over the names quickly, Casey thumbing through the pages faster than most, but none caught his attention. Adam had suggested trying out a few at the Starbucks in Downtown Ashbrooke. Still, Casey felt uneasy about doing that when he didn’t even have any ideas.

The healer tossed the book onto the bed as his alarm rang out and reached over to turn it off. Casey tugged on his scuffed up boots, shrugged on a jean jacket from his favorite thrift shop, and headed out the door. He pulled the grey hood up as he hoisted the backpack higher on his shoulders and plugged in his earbuds. His music blared as the healer skated toward the school, his cigarette nearly burned out as the brunet crossed the Graffiti Bridge. Casey was still contemplating possible names when he reached the bottom of the hill but paused to snuff the smoldering ash on his boot's heel.

Casey tossed the butt into the gutter as he trudged up the paved path and moved a bit quicker when he saw the eighth graders walking past the doors. He slipped inside and stopped by his locker to find Adam waiting.

“Morning, sunshine, you look like shit.” The brunet bristled at the nickname despite it having been in use since fourth grade. Casey had never told Adam about the black sun on the inside of his left wrist, so he figured the name was a cosmic joke of sorts.

"Thank you, dude, I really needed to hear that this morning," he replied, his lashes fluttering as he dropped his binder and books into his backpack. Casey slammed the door shut and turned toward Mr. Hale's room.

Adam fell into step beside him and slung an arm around his shoulders, smiling, “You know what I mean, asshole. Have you even slept in the past five days?”

“Yes, mother.” Not without nightmares, and not that much, but I have slept.

The blond rolled his eyes and flicked Casey’s ear as they stopped between their respective classrooms and he slid his arm off. “You’re an ass, be grateful I care about you, Case. See you at lunch, don’t get into any fights.” The older boy joked mockingly and stepped into the science classroom.

Casey slid into his desk from yesterday, mentally claiming it as his own, and pulled out his sketchbook. The healer idly flipped through the pages before finding the unfinished. It was a forest scene that he and Adam had come across over the summer while hiking with the blond’s parents. Casey had committed it to memory for later use, purposefully omitting Adam hanging upside down from a tree. He had finished the outline, leaving the shading and details which the healer planned to complete later.

Leaning back in the chair, Casey propped the book against the edge of the desk and his lap, using the math textbook for extra cover. The brunet didn't care much for math, especially not after spending the majority of his summer with a tutor who made him learn sixth through tenth-grade math skills. For four hours a day, Mrs. Matthews would show up at his door at eight am and drilled concepts and information into his head. If he didn't pass the quiz at the end of the day, she stayed for another hour. It was delightful. Since Casey was now ahead of the others, minus Adam, what was the point in paying attention?

"Okay, guys, today we're going to be taking a practice test to see where you all are at. You have the entire class period, so take your time to work through all the problems," Mr. Hale chirped. "There will obviously be stuff you don't know, but just try your best." A thick packet landed in front of him, so Casey slid his sketchbook into the bag sitting at his feet.

Pen in hand, he got to work. Thanks to his shitty tutor, Casey knew how to do everything on the placement test, his mind supplying the correct formulas and processes with ease. He marked a few wrong here and there to keep himself in the average classes and keep attention off himself, bubbling in the answers with surety. Casey sometimes wondered if he would try harder at school if he had a challenge. Still, the healer knew that would only lead to expectations he was unprepared to meet.

Casey finished the test with thirty minutes of class left to spare and gently set it down on the empty desk to his left. He passed the rest of the course by drawing and pretending not to notice that Mr. Hale watched him. His dazzling blue eyes peered curiously at the young healer when he thought Casey wasn’t aware. He knew though; the pain flared up behind his eyes whenever Mr. Hale’s gaze settled on him as a warning.

At least, Casey perceived the pain as a warning. It had been happening since third grade, and it took a few months for the healer to realize that it was as a warning. His nifty system was how he met Adam when they were tiny third graders. It was how he had known to save Adam's comic book even though he had been facing away from the scene at the time. Two years later, in fifth grade, it had hit him suddenly while on the football field for gym class, and he had narrowly missed getting tackled. Those little moments kept happening, so Casey learned to trust it, and in turn, the warnings had saved his ass a couple of times.

The boy didn’t know why the Hale siblings set off the alarms, but he figured it best to listen.

Class ended, and Casey gathered his things before heading down the hall, catching a glimpse of both Adam and Perseus. The first waggled his brows as they passed, but the new kid actually waved at the healer. It surprised Casey so much that he nearly ran into someone’s back outside the door. As he sat down, he wondered what he could have done yesterday to give Perseus the impression that they were friends.

~_~.~_~

Casey was confused. That wasn’t out of the norm for the young healer, but it disconcerted him anyway. The new kid was a problem that he didn’t know how to solve, and he did not like that one bit. Each time Casey met the dude’s weird-colored eyes, there was a small twinge, but then it would fade as quickly as it had come. Plus, Perseus continued to smile at him. People only smiled at him when they wanted something, not including Adam, so he was obviously distrustful.

All in all, the healer had no choice but to ignore it until it became a problem. Really, he could probably do something, but that wasn’t the brunet’s style. So, Casey cleared his mind as he stepped into English and did his best to ignore Perseus’ sunny smile.

“Dude, I hate the locker you picked,” Adam grumbled as he strode past the brunet’s desk to sit behind him.

“It’s a locker, what the hell did it do to you?” Casey asked with a slight smirk that made the other boy glare even harder.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“It fucking stuck when I tried to open it, and I hit myself in the face!” He snorted at Adam’s hissed words and leaned back to avoid the punch aimed for his shoulder. “It’s not funny, you jackass! I will never get a boyfriend if they see me punch myself in the face like a doofus.” Casey bit the inside of his cheek to keep from outright laughing and instead studied Adam’s face. His right cheek had reddened from where his fist must have connected, and Casey immediately wanted to reach out and draw the pain away.

Adam knew about his black soulmark, but he could never know about his gift. He would either think Casey was completely insane or a freak, both of which could mean the end of their friendship. That was something Casey couldn’t risk, no matter how much he wanted to help his best friend.

The healer had this argument with himself a year ago when the blond broke his arm jumping from tree branches with Casey. He had dropped down beside Adam and reached for him, only to remember that he risked revealing his biggest secret. In the end, Casey had run back to the Tolliver house and gotten help.

That decision still agonized him to this day since Adam no longer had a full range of motion in his right arm.

“Dude, what are you thinkin’ so hard about?” Casey pushed his guilt to the back of his mind while tapping his pen absently.

“Nothing really, just what I’m gonna do later.” The lie felt natural on his tongue, not that he should be too proud of that Mrs. Hale’s arrival halted adam’s reply. Still, the look in his eye told Casey that wasn’t the end of the conversation. It’s all good though, I’ve lied my way out of plenty of situations. Too many some might say.

“Okay, I know we only have a few minutes before lunch, but I figured I would go ahead and tell you. You’ll be taking a practice test once you return,” Mrs. Hale informed cheerfully. “I know you’ve already taken one test today, but after this, you won’t have another until next week so small mercies, huh? Any questions before lunch?” While a few of his peers asked questions that could be answered with some simple common sense, Casey fiddled with his jacket’s strings. His fingers would brush the smooth metal of the triskelion pinned to the breast pocket, and it served as a distraction while he waited.

The bell rang soon enough, and Casey made sure to tuck his sketchbook and pencil set in the inside pocket of his jacket. The older boy followed Adam to the cafeteria. He immediately went back to drawing despite the blond’s attempts to get him to eat.

“Do you lie to me?”

The healer didn’t pause nor hesitate with his answer, “Only when necessary.” Adam seemed surprised by his response, not that Casey knew why. He knows what I’m like, it shouldn’t shock him that I lie, even to my best friend.

“Really?” Casey stopped shading and looked up at the other boy through his lashes.

“Yes. Not often, but I do lie to you.” Adam’s expression was clearly puzzled as he continued drawing. “Why do you ask?” Casey inquired.

He shrugged as he took a bite from his pb&j. “Curiosity, I guess.” Casey could tell there was more to it, but it wasn’t his nature to press the issue. The healer tried not to acknowledge his own thoughts, let alone someone else’s.

“Don’t you lie to me?”

“Nope.” Now, it was Casey’s turn to be confused.

“Really?” he questioned, his tone dubious even as Adam nodded. “You’ve never lied to me?”

“Why would I? You’re my best and only friend, you’ve literally seen me at my worst, so why lie?” That was the logic someone would expect from Casey, not the blond who was more known for his sarcasm and vast intellect. “What do you lie to me about?”

“It’s not really lying, more that I just keep the truth to myself about certain things,” the healer admitted. “Everyone has secrets, bro. I’m sure there are things that you’ve never told me either.” Adam opened his mouth, most likely to refute his statement, but then seemed to think better. They sat in silence for the remainder of lunch, but once they reached gym class, the blond was back to his usual talkative self. Adam talked animatedly about upcoming movies and video games he was interested in, barely pausing to breathe between sentences. All the while, Casey supplied his own opinions but never put forth anything else. He was content to let the younger boy lead the conversation as they walked laps around the gymnasium.

The only decent part about gym class, Mr. Scott didn’t give a shit what you did as long as you looked at least somewhat active.

As the pair were horribly unathletic unless they were riding around Ashbrooke, they were content to walk for the hour-long class. It didn’t leave them sweaty, gross messes for the fourth period either, which was always a plus in Casey’s book. After gym, when they finally settled back into English, Casey looked forward to the opportunity to draw once finished with the test.

If he finished math quick, then English practically took a handful of minutes. It was a breeze to the well-read teen, so he finished in less than fifteen minutes, though he made it look like he was still working for an extra ten.

Finally, Casey couldn’t pretend to be busy any longer and turned the packet over before withdrawing his sketchbook once more. He knew he was being watched as he drew, two sets of eyes on him. After a few minutes, Casey finally looked up and met Mrs. Hale’s eyes head-on. He didn’t waver despite the pain blooming in his head and met her blues. The healer rarely backed down from a challenge, it was one of his many flaws, and never knew when to quit. No matter the consequences.

A smile pulled at Mrs. Hale’s lips, and he could have sworn he saw a glimmer of respect in her eyes before she finally looked down at the papers on her desk. Casey returned to his nearly finished picture and refused to meet his other watcher's eyes as he knew it would be Perseus. No one else watched me, nor waved at me in the hallways. He’s the one outlier in this equation, and I don’t like it.

When the last fifteen minutes of the day arrived, Casey put his things away and pulled out his earbuds instead. He closed his eyes as his music played, and he reached into his front pocket to skim his fingertips over the MP3, just for reassurance. Casey knew he was being watched but found that it was easier to ignore listening to Logic’s “Alright” booming through his head.

Mrs. Hale collected the tests, eyes lingering on the healer as if she knew something. His knee bounced impatiently as he watched the clock. Casey found himself thinking about the New Kid of all people. Well, more specifically, his soulmark.

Soulmarks happened to be something Casey had done a vast amount of research on as soon as he was old enough to understand. He read everything from published books to theories written in backwater forums to get some sort of grasp on the phenomenon. Guessing who belonged with who based on their soulmarks was a game of his, something he did almost unconsciously most of the time. Casey didn’t dare write his guesses down or tell the unknowing game participants as the marks were quite intimate. Occasionally, he would find a fellow black-mark around his age and feel sympathy for them. Still, they were thankfully far and few between.

“Case?” His eyes opened at Adam’s muted voice, and he glanced around to find the room emptying. “You okay?” The boy tugged one earbud out and nodded at his best friend as he shrugged his bag on.

“Yeah, just thinkin’.” Adam dropped it and followed Casey out of the classroom, but the brunet noticed the concerned look. While they stopped on their locker, the older boy grabbed his board and walked off without a word. Adam knew him well enough to know it wasn’t personal.

He cranked the music impossibly louder until it hurt as he strode down the stone steps. Thinking about soulmarks always made Casey feel some type of way, and it seemed that Perseus Schuyler did too. The boy did not like that at all; he would like nothing more than to pretend the New Kid didn’t exist. Casey just didn’t know why. Perseus had never done anything to the brunet, he was nothing but pleasant actually. Still, something about him warned the healer away despite looking so unassuming. Casey knew all about masks, but it felt like there was more to it than that. The answer was right there.

Casey's board hit the pavement with a satisfying 'clack' against the concrete. He rode home and cut in front of cars dangerously and uncaring. He stopped at a red light, taking the chance to change the song when he happened to look up, and there was the persisting annoyance himself. Perseus was speaking happily to a redheaded driver, a gorgeous young girl with an almost icy stare, but paused. Quickly, Casey turned his head and busied himself with his phone though he had a feeling Perseus had seen him.

The New Kid didn't attempt to get his attention, and Casey didn't hesitate to watch them drive away, taking note of the new car and the hot driver. He added the latest information to the mental list on all things 'Perseus'. It was quickly becoming a long list, and he wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.