“How dare he plant something noncarnivorous,” Cassidy said.
That made Ash laugh. “Cruciferous! Not carnivorous. They’re not meat-eating plants.”
“Well, that’s not nearly as interesting.” Mischief crinkled the corners of her eyes.
Ash memorized the look on Cassidy’s face—and the witty conversation (her wit, not his). He might never have a chance like this again.
Oblivious to his pining, though, Cassidy kept talking. “Let me guess: you painted Frank and Maryann’s fence with fractals to represent their dedication to order?”
“Yeah. Exactly.” Ash smiled. She got it.
Cassidy considered the fractals for a few minutes, and Ash did, too, all the while sneaking glances at her. She was much more mesmerizing than the murals.
After a little while, though, she swiveled to face the back of the yard. “What’s in that shed?”
“It’s my studio.”
“Cool. Can I see?” She rose from the grass.
“No!” Ash lunged and grabbed her wrist.
Cassidy froze and stared wide-eyed where his hand held her arm.
Ash released her as quickly as he’d seized her. He fell backward onto the boards beneath him, holding both arms up in the air in surrender. “Sorry! I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have grabbed you. It’s just that my studio… it’s a super-personal space.”
If True were here, she would smack Ash upside the head. She did this often—it was an “affectionate” thing, she said. The first time was when Ash’s mom married True’s Uncle Neel and afterward, Ash still introduced True to people as his friend. She insisted that she was his cousin, even though they weren’t really related by blood, so Ash didn’t think it technically counted. But after True smacked him, Ash learned to change his tune, and from there on out, True was his cousin. (She hit hard!)
But True would smack him now, too, for grabbing Cassidylike that. It had only been a light touch, but still. He was a complete idiot.
Cassidy didn’t say anything.
Ash slouched in the grass. “I’m sorry I overreacted. The only way I can explain it is—have you ever had an idea so big that it felt overwhelming, but you plummet ahead anyway and pour your entire heart into it? But then, even though you’re pretty sure it’s a good idea, you sometimes lose confidence in it along the way, while it’s still a work in progress. Like, until you finish making this bigthing—whatever it is—or before you get to the final goal, you don’t want anyone to know yet that you’ve dared to dream it. Just in case you fail.”
Cassidy looked down at him through her lashes. Then she nodded slowly. “Yeah, I get it. I really do.”
Ash let out a long exhale, relieved. “That’s what my studio is. A home for my ideas, most too fragile yet to share.”
She nodded again. But now she wasn’t looking at the studio or at Ash. Rather, she gazed off into the sky at nothing in particular. “They’ll reveal themselves when they’re ready,” Cassidy said.
He wondered whether they were talking about the same thing at all.
Cassidy gave him a small smile before sitting back down on the grass.
“Tell me about the fence behind your studio,” she said, generously letting him off the hook for the weirdness of the past few minutes.
The mural was of a pastel, Monet-inspired impressionist garden. But behind it, an abandoned shack stood crookedly overburdened with ivy. A half-dead skeleton of a tree—struck ages ago by lightning—loomed over the roof like a sentient Damocles sword. The back porch sagged, and a rusty metal swing creaked in the wind, even though no one rode it. “That house has always creeped me out,” Cassidy said.
“It’s harmless,” Ash said. “The Coven has gone there since we were little. It was our weird clubhouse, I guess. When we were in elementary school, Onny used to try to conduct séances. She’s less into that kind of stuff now, though, and more into astrology and tarot.”
“Did you ever… contact anyone?”
Ash laughed. “You mean, like, spirits? No. But when Onny gets an idea in her head, there’s no stopping her unless you want to get plowed over. I’ve figured out it’s best just to go along.”
“You’re really close to Onny, huh?” Cassidy asked.
“She’s my best friend,” Ash answered simply. “And True, too.”
“But True’s your cousin.”
