priam on the shore

cassie floats; priam waits with the anchor.

not sure if this needs a trigger warning, per se, but obviously this chapter talks a lot about what (from Priam’s perspective) is mental illness, and he calls a lot of that behavior “crazy.”

When Cassie went crazy (Priam don’t say that, don’t say it like that), Priam’s mom called him. His dad didn’t. His dad rarely did, his dad sent emails on Priam’s birthday and always signed them Very best, Don above his professional signature. Which was fine. The Luwians weren’t exactly warm people. Sometimes his mom got a little weepy and affectionate, but for the most part they were a sensible, dry cheek-kisses kind of family. So he didn’t mind Very best, Don. Still: when his mom called, she was crying so hard it was difficult to understand what she said, and once he’d managed to string it together his first thought was that he wished she hadn’t had to be the one to do it. 

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What his mom said was: “It’s your sister. Last night she woke up and started rambling and running around the house and she picked up a pair of scissors and talked about how life was only a piece of string waiting to be cut by fate, and then she’d held up the scissors like she was going to cut it — ”

“Cut what?”

“I don’t know, Priam. She says she only wanted to tell me about Fate but I thought — the blade was pointed down and she was only in her nightgown and I thought she meant to — to — ”

“Where is she now?” Priam had asked, and his mom said, “Priam, have you ever heard the term 5150?”

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