Chapter 9

Shiri called us through our communication ports the next morning, informing us of the name of the Edge District restaurant she had spoken of yesterday. We all agreed to meet there for lunch. After that, I suggested, we should meet at the waterfall. The others greeted this suggestion readily, excited about meeting at the place we hadn't seen in so many years.

I walked to school with Maegan and headed to the Edge Districts from there. Shiri's restaurant sat on the complete opposite side of the Edge Districts that Cas and I had crossed yesterday, but it wasn't too far from Maegan's Second Level Academy, so it didn't take me long to get there. I arrived to find them standing outside the door, talking and laughing about something.

"Hey, I found Miranda," Shiri said, pointing over the rest of the group's heads at me. They all turned to look in my direction.

"What took you so long, Miranda?" Kalle asked with a grin. "We thought maybe the mysterious hooded figure from last time came back."

I rolled my eyes. "Great Triad above," I said. "Leave it to you to bring that into it, Kalle."

Shiri guided us through the doors, and one of the servers guided us to a table. We sat near the window, where there was an Edge view of the cliffs and of Terminus below. The view of Terminus was particularly clear today, and I made sure to slide into a window seat before anyone else could. As the others stared at their menus, I glanced out the window at the landscape. I could make out features of the terrain, piles of rocks, cracks in the ground. I studied it for a minute, trying to see if I could glimpse anything else beyond the perpetual gray. But I couldn't see anything, and soon enough Kalle hit me with her menu to ask if I knew what I wanted to order. I didn't.

After we had sorted out our orders, a silence fell over the six of us. Shiri crossed one leg over the other and cleared her throat, and I smirked, knowing she was about to say something controversial.

I'd known Shiri Neville long enough to recognize the gesture. She'd sat in front of me for years. When I'd first met her in Third Level, I watched her tuck a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and, as her sleeve slipped down her wrist, glimpsed the tendrils of ink creeping over her skin there. I'd stopped talking midsentence and stared, my mouth hanging open, until she noticed and pulled her sleeve back up.

"Don't tell," she said.

I closed my mouth and cleared my throat. "How did you do that?" I asked.

She hesitated. "Needles."

"I didn't know that was possible."

"It's possible," she'd said and swept a lock of hair over her shoulder, revealing shades of blue and pink underneath the blonde.

We saw each other every day in class, and eventually, Shiri had decided I wasn't a threat. She showed me all sorts of art, from the kind that she drew on her skin to the kind that she drew on paper, even though we both knew none of it would be tolerated publicly. When she joined me and the other Programming and Operation students, we learned that none of them minded her art, either.

"So have you all gotten your Pairing Letters?" she asked with a mischievous grin.

"Of course," Kalle said. "We all got them at the same time. Two weeks ago."

"Anyone feel like sharing?" Shiri asked. As she said it, she glanced sideways at me. Damn. So she knew. But how?

The table fell silent. At first I felt relieved that no one else wanted to talk, but panic welled up in me again as Shiri reached over and set her hand on my shoulder.

"Miranda, you want to go first?" she said. "Please? We're all dying to know." She shot me the most innocent look I'd ever seen - fluttering eyelashes and sweet smile and all - especially considering her cunning and deceptive glance just a moment ago.

"Cas." The answer flew out of my mouth before I could stop it.

For several seconds, no one responded. I chanced a look at Kalle and saw that her mouth had dropped open in disbelief. Shiri, on the other hand, wore a knowing look.

"How on Terminus did you already know about this?" I asked.

"Well, I may or may not have overheard you talking about it," Shiri said, looking up at the ceiling and smirking. "Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but you two are so awkward."

I looked across the table at Cas, whose face had turned an unnaturally bright red. I wondered if my face was the same shade.

"Anyway," I said, clearing my throat. "Maybe you should tell us who you got Paired with, Shiri."

"Gladly," Shiri said. "His name is Taniel, and I doubt any of you have ever heard of him."

Kalle arched an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Because he's not from Valdemaras," Shiri said. "He's from the Edge of all Edges. You know, Kenelm."

"What?" Kalle squinted. "How do you get someone from Kenelm?"

"No idea," Shiri said. "But I did. So who's next?"

We spent the next few minutes discussing everyone else's Pairing assignments. But I kept thinking of yesterday and how I'd shrugged Cas off. My face continued to burn, even though no one was talking about Cas or me anymore.

Tristan and Kalle knew their Pairs from class, but not well. Shiri and Elen had never met or heard of their Pairs. And Cas and I . . . well.

"Some people don't even know the person they're Paired with until they go through the Ceremony," Shiri said, laughing.

"That'd be awful." Kalle made a face. "That's like walking in and saying, 'Nice to meet you. Let's go live together for the rest of our lives.'"

Despite the thought that I was pretty sure my face was still red, I had to smile a little.

"Well, I guess that means I get to visit Kenelm," Shiri said.

"You'd better visit Kenelm, girl," Kalle said.

We steered clear of the subject of Pairings for the rest of our lunch. As we neared the end of the meal and prepared to go back outside, I recalled the incident with the hooded man and felt an overwhelming relief that nothing so dramatic had happened this time. I'd take talking about Pairing assignments over attacks by unidentified criminals.