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
“That’s basically the entire facility. Do either of you have any questions?” Aaron asked Brandon and I as we looked around the gym.Without hesitation, Brandon said, “Yeah, when do I get to meet Sam?” His hands were on his hips, and once again, I was slightly reminded of his father. I pushed the thought aside.Aaron and Cadence exchanged a nervous glance. “Don’t you think you should wait until you Transform for that?” Cadence asked.I didn’t give Brandon a chance to answer. If he was meeting Sam, so was I. And I wasn’t waiting a year. “I want to meet him, too.”Cadence’s head was shaking before I finished talking. “No way. That’s way too dangerous.”“What?” I had lost it again. I was shrieking. Like a crazy person. “He was in an airplane crash. He’s basically a pile of mush. What could he possibly do to me?” She was not my m
I could tell Cadence and Aaron were still talking to each other through the IAC because they were way ahead of us, like they weren’t paying too close attention. I was taking my time on the slick stairs, though, and Brandon waited for me. When we reached the bottom, we went around a corner and down a narrow hallway a short distance.There were a pair of high security doors. We passed the first one and Aaron stopped in front of the second one. I imagined Laura was behind door number one. Part of me wanted to see her, too, to let her know how unhappy I was that she’d shot my sister, but Cadence was alive, and I was sure she’d already gotten her revenge.In a quiet voice, Aaron reminded us about Sam’s condition. “He’s in pretty bad shape, but he’s still a cantankerous old fart, so stay back. And, Brandon, whatever you plan to say to him, don’t expect any sort of polite response.” He looked at us both for a long moment,
The walk back over to Jamie’s office was mostly silent. I knew that he had alerted my sister and Aaron that he was ready for Brandon to come back. My sister never took her arm from around Brandon’s shoulders the whole time we were walking, so I didn’t get a chance to ask him again if he was nervous, though I got the impression he was, at least a little bit. I was sure he was still thinking about Sam, too, though. I knew I would be for a long time.We’d just crossed onto the sidewalk that led to Jamie’s office building when I realized my phone was vibrating. I pulled it out and saw that Lucy was calling, but with everything going on, I tucked it back into my pocket and tried to stay focused on what was going on around me. I’d call her back later, after Brandon was all done with his Transformation procedure.Something else must’ve been going on, too, because Aaron and Cadence kept doing that thing they do when they are having a c