Dusk

Chapter Eighteen

"Cassandra?"

I blink rapidly to clear my head. "Hm?" I look down at Neo's white hand, outstretched so I can shake it. "Oh."

He lets his hand fall to his side and smiles that odd smile of his again. "That's alright. Today must've been overwhelming for you," he says, his expression turning contemplative. "Maybe it was a bad idea for me to come."

"No! It... uh, it wasn't." I notice a similarity between Neo and Idris: they both seem to turn me into an inarticulate fool.

I stare unabashedly at him, taking in all of the details of his face. He's incredibly fair-featured, his hair so blond that it seems like it could emit light. His face is all angles, his chin sharp and pointed. It's not perfectly symmetrical, either- one eyebrow is more arched than the other, making him look questioning, and his odd smile is crooked. He's handsome, albeit in an unconventional way.

When I look into his eyes, I see that they're not icy like Amelia's or one of his guards, but open and earnest, if not a bit guarded. His left eye has some strange imperfection in it, a ripple in his otherwise sky blue iris. I don't get a close look at it, though, because Anden puts a hand on my shoulder and startles me.

"I'd be happy to take you myself, Miss Sullivan."

I tear my eyes away from Neo and brush Anden's hand away. "Thank you, Anden, but I can't deny the High Chancellor's son."

Neo holds his hands up. "Please, don't feel obligated to ride with me. I'm just offering."

"I'd like to go with you, Neo. May I call you by your first name, by the way?"

"Of course." He looks to Anden, who's lingering behind me. "It's good to see an attendant happy to serve."

"That is my job, after all." Anden says. His voice is a bit too even, with no real inflection. I wonder if he's upset about being talked to in a way that implies condescension.

Neo nods. "Well, if you're sure, Cassandra, then please get in first."

He steps aside to let me in the car. I climb inside and scoot to the left, close to the window, and Neo follows suit. Anden takes it upon himself to close the passenger door, and then goes to stand by his own car, arms crossed, his eyes almost perpetually narrower than usual.

The guard talking to Robert in the house exits through the front door and jogs to the car. A partition divides the passenger seat from the front of the car, so the only indication there is of him entering is him disappearing from my field of vision and the muffled sound of the door slamming.

"We're departing now, Master Neo and Miss Sullivan. Please stay still. Your seatbelts are deploying."

Above my left shoulder, the seatbelt shoots out over my body. It lands on the seat and snakes over to the buckle, but it stops and then abruptly retracts, the metal part making a dull thud when it smacks me in the cheek.

Neo looks over at me and shakes his head, sighing. "I thought we had that fixed ages ago. Sorry about that. Is your cheek okay?"

I reach up and touch it. My skin is a little warmer where the metal hit it, but it's not particularly painful. "Yeah."

His eyebrows raise. "Really? It made a horrible noise."

"Miss Sullivan, your seatbelt hasn't been fastened. We can't leave until you're secure."

Neo unbuckles his seatbelt and presses what's presumably a button by his window. "Wait a bit. The seatbelt's malfunctioning again. I'll connect it manually."