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
Jamie cleared his throat. He was holding the tourniquet and seemed to be set to get on with it. Looking at Brandon, he asked, “You ready?”I saw Brandon’s eyes shift, and he seemed to swallow a lump in his throat. Everything was suddenly very real. “I guess so,” he said quietly.“Wait!” The word was out of my mouth before I even knew I was going to speak it. They all turned and looked at me, and I stepped over to the side of Brandon’s bed. Hesitantly, I said, “Uhm, good luck.”Brandon looked into my eyes, and I suddenly felt a lot calmer than I had before. I think he did, too. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”I nodded at him, trying to be as confident as possible. I put my hand on his arm, which seemed more familiar than it should after having only known him a few hours, and said, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”He didn’t say an
I could tell that Jamie was trying not to laugh at me as he headed toward the door without another word. I wished I had an IAC so I could tell him to stop being a jerkface, but my sister would question our familiarity, so I chose to glare at the back of his spiky head instead.Following Jamie to the door, Aaron said, “I’m going to go call his mom.” Cadence nodded at him and leaned back in her chair, her hand still on her gut.Jamie brought in three more chairs and offered the first to me, which I took. He set one on the other side of Cadence and then sat down next to me. This was the first opportunity I’d really had to talk to him since I arrived, but with my sister here, it was a little awkward, so we sat in silence. I was staring at Brandon, lying there like he was just asleep, and realized my leg was swaying back and forth frantically. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t. “You sure he’s okay? He’s awfully still,”
This assured me there was something else they weren’t telling me. I didn’t know where to look and was having trouble staying focused on what they were saying as I wanted to demand information about what had happened with Giovani, but I did hear my sister say, “Jamie, I’ve been on a hunt, and it was fine, remember? As soon as I get a few minutes, I’ll let you do it. But I really think it’s fine. So long as I don’t get dropped from any great heights.” Once again, she was glaring at her fiancé, and I began to think she needed to let that go, although I would probably also not be happy if someone threw me out of a moving airplane.Aaron didn’t acknowledge her comment. Instead, he inhaled deeply and then said, “I’ve been talking to Eliza--a lot--this evening, and she seems to think that Giovani has left the country. She’s got people looking into where he might be headed, but she doesn’t really hav
“Shut up!” I exclaimed. “When did you see Giovani at Heathrow, Lucy? Today?” I had a feeling if she was calling me it might have something to do with Giovani. The fact that they’d carried on with their quest after we got the new access the night before hadn’t surprised me.“Yes!” Lucy replied in response to my question. Emma had her laptop out, and Lucy pulled it around so I could see, holding the phone near the screen.Cadence leaned in and looked over my shoulder as Lucy hit play on the video. It was difficult to see considering we were watching a low quality video over FaceTime, but it did appear as if Giovani and Zabrina were making their way through security at a rather large airport. I could see the stamp LHR in the corner, and I knew from all of my own hours and hours of research that those were the letters for London Heathrow. The timestamp showed it was about ten hours ago.Cadence mumbled, “Oh, wow,
It had taken some serious negotiation, but I had managed to convince Cadence to let me stay in the operating room with Brandon, with Aaron’s help. I reminded her that I’d promised the new Guardian I’d be there when he woke up, and when Aaron assured her Jamie would be right next door, she finally gave in. She and Aaron had a lot to do, so she hurried off, back to her apartment, and Jamie disappeared for a few minutes, coming back with a bed identical to the one Brandon was sleeping in, which he wheeled over to Sleeping Beauty’s left.“What’s this?” I asked as he pushed it into place.“Well, I thought you might get tired,” he replied with a shrug. “I’m not sure how long he might be out, but I can’t imagine you’re planning to stay awake all night.”“Thanks, Jamie,” I said, thinking it was a really nice gesture. “Look, I’m really sorry I was such a brat earli
“Does it hurt at all?” I asked Brandon.“No,” he assured me. He licked his lips and finally put his arms down, which I was thankful for. They were starting to make me dizzy. “It hurt a little bit when Jamie put the first dose in, but I think I was already out by the time he gave me the second one, the pain medicine.” I nodded. I had thought he was already unconscious before the second shot, too, but it was hard to tell. “What time is it?” he asked, looking around like he might be able to see the clock, which was behind him.I had stowed my phone under my pillow, so I pulled it out and looked at the time, seeing I had a text from Lucy from about an hour ago asking if there were any updates on Brandon. I’d have to answer her later. “It’s just after midnight.”“Just after midnight Sunday morning, or just after midnight the third week of April?” Brandon asked. He shoved his pillows u
“Right,” Brandon remarked, turning his attention back to the ceiling. After a few moments of silence, he said, “Remind me who Jack is again.”“Oh, good grief!” I pulled the pillow out from under my head and playfully swatted him with it. I thought he at least knew that much. I was a little shocked he let me get away with that, considering he could’ve torn the pillow away from me, but he had his eyebrows raised as I shoved it back under my head. “He was my sister’s ex-boyfriend.”“That’s right,” Brandon replied. He was studying my face again, which made me uncomfortable, so I lay back down, finding familiarity in the ceiling again. “Well, I don’t think we should ask to go right now. Let’s just focus on getting into the meeting, okay?”His plan made sense, and I agreed we’d need to take this one step at a time. Prove we could be loyal soldiers at the meeting
The sounds of whispering woke me, and when I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see light pouring in the windows. It seemed like I’d only been asleep for a couple of minutes. I rubbed my eyes and stretched, only vaguely remembering where I should be.“Oh, no,” Brandon said loudly enough to let me know he was no longer worried he’d wake me. “We’ve awoken the sleeping princess.”“Just as well,” I heard another familiar voice say as I turned over to see what was going on. I knew before I looked at him that it was Jamie. “We have a meeting in a little while, so….”“We do?” I asked, sitting up, hopeful. “You managed to talk them in to letting us go?” I smiled at Brandon, not even thinking of what I might look like.“What?” Jamie asked, looking from Brandon to me and then back again.“Uh, not yet,” Brandon said in a voice that let me k