“Well, I’m not staying up for all that,” I said, yawning. “I say, we go to sleep, and we can work on that tomorrow. And if I can talk my sister into letting me go to KC tomorrow, then I’m doing it, and you two can fend for yourselves.”
“Like you were any help anyway,” Lucy teased, and I glared at her before she started giggling. “Okay, I agree. And I must say, I’m very proud of you for staying off of there without us the last few days as we agreed. And for staying away from the news headlines.”
“Thank you,” I said, getting up to grab my pajamas out of my dresser drawer. Emma had brought her sleeping bag and would crash on the floor, and while Lucy and I would both fit in the bed, I thought I might go sleep in Cadence’s room just because I kinda wanted some quiet, and Lucy had a tendency to talk until she passed out. “I have to say, though, this is truly killing me, you guys.&rdquo
My friends were still sleeping, and so were my parents, so I decided to take my phone and go hang out in the kitchen, waiting for my sister to call. Normally, it would be pancake day, but I wasn’t sure if my dad would go to all that trouble with my friends here. Sometimes he did; sometimes he didn’t. Either way, it didn’t stop me from having a bowl of Cheerios while I stared at my phone.When my phone finally did ring, I answered it on the first ring. “Cadence?” I hoped I sounded happy to hear from her and not like someone who has been staring at her phone forever.“Hey, Cass. You sound wide awake. How’s it going?” my sister asked, and I thought I heard the sound of springs groaning like she was still in bed.It kind of bothered me that she hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet when she knew I was waiting to hear about Brandon. “I’ve been waiting for you to call me for, like, an hour,” I replied
My sister actually got to our house early, which shocked me, but then I found out that she’d insisted Aaron fly her so that she could take a nap. That was fine with me, though. That meant we’d get back to headquarters all the faster.Mom and Dad were not thrilled to find out I’d be spending the weekend in Kansas City. “I just think it’s all too fast,” my mom said as I sat in the living room with my bags, waiting for Cadence to arrive. “You’re only sixteen, and barely that. You don’t even have your driver’s license yet, sweetie.”“What does that have to do with anything?” I’d asked, trying not to be snarky.“Your mother is just saying, it’s been an awfully lot of change this past year,” my dad had explained. “I think you should just slow down a little, honey.”“You know Cadence will keep me safe,” I reminded them. “Nothing dan
It was about two o’clock when we made it into Cadence’s apartment. She still seemed groggy, but I thought she might come around in a little bit, and then maybe I’d finally have a chance to see what this was all about from her perspective. It seemed a little odd to me that the person who spoke to me the least about this whole deal was my own sister.I loved my sister’s apartment and spent a few minutes staring out the window at the view before Cadence told me to make myself at home on the couch. I sank back into the cushions, feeling a little tired myself. The dream that’d interrupted my slumber came back to me as Aaron mentioned he’d dropped my bag in the guest room.“I need to go check in with Jamie,” Aaron said to my sister as he walked toward the door. “He said he needs to see me in person. So….”Cadence was still standing in the middle of the room. “What’s that all about?”
My sister was already headed toward the door. I remembered the remark Aaron had made in the airplane about Cadence having no clue what was going on with me and decided to mess with my sister a little bit. “Which one is Jamie?”Cadence held the door for me and said, “He’s the Healer.”“The one with the spiky hair?” I asked. Not, “The one that took me to visit Grandma?”“That’s him.” We waited for the elevator to reach the penthouse level, and she didn’t even seem to think it strange I wouldn’t know who Jamie was. So, I continued to have my fun.“I remember Meagan and Aurora. What’s that other guy’s name? The one with the weird accent?”“That’s Christian,” Cadence replied as we stepped into the elevator. “He’s not here right now, though.”“Oh, where’s he at?” I found that surprising a
“Cass, this is Brandon,” Aaron was saying, standing up from his spot on Jamie’s desk and taking a step toward us. “Brandon, this is Cassidy.”“It’s nice to finally meet you in person,” Brandon said, offering me his hand as he closed the gap between us.“Oh, yeah, you too.” I stared at his hand for a moment like I was checking for weapons before I finally took it and repeated my sister’s question. “Why are you here?”I swear Brandon was staring at me like he was meeting Selena Gomez or some other celebrity. It seemed to take him a moment to process my question, but after a moment he said, “Oh, uh, well, after I went on the hunt last night, I decided it was time to go through with the Transformation.”I stopped listening after he said the first sentence. “The what?” I knew my voice was louder and higher in pitch than it should’ve been, but I couldn&rs
My sister and Aaron were pretty far behind us, I noticed, and a quick glance behind me let me know they were carrying on an IAC conversation. I turned back around and wondered, for the hundredth time, what that would be like. “So, you from Iowa?” Brandon asked me as we walked along.“Uh, yeah,” I replied, assuming he probably already knew that. “And you’re from Oklahoma?”“Born and raised,” he replied. I glanced up at him, and he smiled down at me. There was something about him that immediately set me at ease, like we had been friends for years, sort of like the vibe I’d gotten from his dad, though he was definitely different than Elliott. While they looked the same, and their voices had the same gravely quality, as well as a similar accent, when I looked at Brandon, I didn’t see his dad. “You a senior?”“No, I’m a junior,” I replied. “Are you a senior?”
Laughing, Brandon puffed up his chest a little and said, “I’m a grownup, too, you know? I just left home, starting a new job. I’m an independent man.”I couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know about that. What did your mom say when you told her what you were doing?”I watched a shadow cross his face, and he folded his arms. Quietly, he admitted “I didn’t tell her.”My mouth dropped open. “Seriously?” I asked, taking a step closer to him “She doesn’t know?”“Nah,” Brandon shrugged. “I’ll tell her later.” He acted like it wasn’t a big deal. I couldn’t even imagine coming from Oklahoma to Missouri to alter my DNA without telling my mom. But then, part of me thought it might be nice to have that sort of freedom, too, to not care what my parents think. I didn’t know what to say. There seemed to be something going on bet
My pity party was interrupted by Brandon’s exclamation of, “Now that’s a climbing wall!” We were in the main part of the gym now, and I had to agree with him. We were looking at a monster.“It’s a pretty difficult climb,” Aaron was saying. Gesturing at the other side of the gym, he said, “And that is called The Hill.” It was an incredibly steep incline that reached almost to the ceiling, which looked to be at least three or four stories above us.“Whoa! I wish we’d had that at football practice. That thing is steep,” Brandon marveled as we approached it. “You just run up it?”With a bit of a smirk on his face, Aaron asked, “Care to demonstrate, Cadence?”My sister was standing next to me. She had one hand on her stomach, and for the first time I realized she had a pained look on her face, like something was bothering her. “Uh, sure. Give me a second,&rdqu