My mom came to pick me up a few hours later. By then, I had gotten over the initial shock of realizing my parents had allowed some strange man to come into my house and brainwash me into thinking the death of my sister’s friend was no big deal, but I was still miffed. And confused. Why in the world would my parents want me to think that Drew’s death was just a blip in my existence and not something to worry about?
Something very strange was going on, and I had no idea who I could talk to about it. If my parents were part of the conspiracy, then I couldn’t trust them. My grandmother also allegedly knew these people, though I wasn’t sure I could trust that either. As hard as it was, I decided to wait it out. My sister was supposed to return the next day. Maybe when she came home, she’d spew out some acceptable explanation for all of this weirdness and life would go back to normal.
I wasn’t holding my breath.
Saturday night, I tr
My mom shook her head. “That’s terrible. Cassidy, why don’t you….”I interrupted. I had no choice. “Poor Jack,” I said loudly, so that my mother sending me back to the car would be drowned out. “He’s probably having bad dreams, too. Has he said anything about that?” I wanted to add “or people walking on the roof” but didn’t want to be too obvious.“He has,” Steve said, looking at the ground. “But when he wakes up, he says he can’t remember what happened.”“It’s just awful. The whole thing.” Tears started to careen down Alice’s face again. “I’ve heard the other girls aren’t doing well either.” I assumed she was talking about Sidney and Taylor.“Who ever would’ve thought someone could lose their life rock climbing around here?” I wasn’t sure if Steve asked the question in such a
“Hey, Cass.” Jack’s voice croaked a bit, as if he’d had a cold and was just getting over it. I wondered if maybe he’d been sleeping too much.“Hey,” I said in return. He had always hugged me before, but this time he stood with his hands in his pockets, just looking at me. “I’m sorry to bother you. I just wanted to see you, make sure you’re okay, and give you this.” I extended the hastily put-together card. I had decided printing something off of the Internet was probably better than me trying to draw something, so it wasn’t horrible, but it was a little odd. They don’t exactly make cards that say, “Sorry your friend died. Are weird things happening at your house, too? Has my sister transformed into some sort of beast?”“Thank you,” he said, taking it. His fingertips grazed mine, and I almost jumped back. I wasn’t expecting his hand to be so cold. If his whole bod
Never in my entire life has my mother let me eat Sunday lunch upstairs, but all it took was mentioning that speaking to Jack had me feeling sad, and she agreed to let me fix a plate and take it to my room. I felt like she wanted to talk to my dad and thought it would be easier if I wasn’t there since this game of secrets was becoming more and more complicated with every passing moment.I grabbed a chicken breast, a helping of mashed potatoes, and a few roasted carrots, slipping a can of pop into my pocket before I headed up the stairs, my mom shouting at me to be careful on the carpet. My true purpose was to call Lucy as soon as I could. I needed to let her know what had happened at Jack’s.Unfortunately, I got her voicemail. I left her a message to call me and then jotted down a few notes in my notebook before snapping a picture and sending it to her.“Sunday: Went to talk to Jack Cook. He was acting odd. He seemed haggard and disheveled. His
From the top of the stairwell, I could hear my family talking. I took my time. If they didn’t know I could hear, they might just keep saying things that could be valuable to my investigation.My mom’s voice carried up the stairs. “We had always heard that Transformation was extremely painful, but now I guess they have some new method or something, and it’s not so bad? Is that right, or was Aaron just trying to make us feel better?”There was that word again. I knew for a fact now that my sister had undergone some sort of procedure, something that had altered who—or what—she was. The proof was in the blur I’d seen as she made her way to the house. And now my mom was confirming it.I wished there was some way I could wait until after my sister replied before I showed myself, but Cadence was facing the entryway from the stairs to the living room, so as soon as I stepped foot on the floor at the bottom of the stairwell
I realized I couldn’t risk calling Lucy because my sister might overhear, so I pulled out my phone, thinking I’d text her. There were quite a few missed texts on a three-way with Lucy and Emma, and I saw that Milo had called me, too. While I’d spoken to him a few days before, I was still in my crazy state of thinking that Drew’s death was no big deal when we talked, so I was eager to call him back to claim I’d been in shock or something.Noises next door told me Cadence was in her room, but she wasn’t particularly loud, and I hoped she’d fall asleep for a little while. After that, I hoped I’d get a chance to talk to her. There was so much going on all of a sudden, and I felt pressed for time, even though I had no idea why.I checked my texts first. The girls had discovered the car was a Lamborghini Aventador, which cost about $400,000. That number was from Emma, so I knew it wasn’t an exaggeration. I almost dropped
My mother ordered pizza for dinner. Yet another reason to suspect it was the end of times. I wanted to check the back yard to see if perhaps she had also purchased us a pet unicorn, that’s how rare it was that my mom would order pizza for dinner when it wasn’t anyone’s birthday. The only other time I remember her ordering anything in on a regular day was when my father had a fender bender on the way home from work, and they were both stressed out about calling insurance and whatever else you have to do when your car’s crunched.We didn’t even eat at the table! We sat in front of the television and watched a movie. I had no idea we even owned TV trays. It was amazing, and it sort of made me wish my sister had transformed into some weird, super-fast creature earlier or more often.If Cadence was struggling to keep things at a normal pace, no one noticed. She looked like her regular self, although I swear she was more muscular somehow. It was
I think Cadence really wanted to change the subject, but I pressed on. “So what kind of work are you going to be doing?”By now she must’ve realized I knew more than she thought I would. “It’s sort of difficult to explain and top secret.” She plastered a crooked smile on her face, which I knew was fake. “If I told ya I’d have to kill ya.” She poked me in the ribs with her elbow.I laughed because it was meant to be funny, but on the inside, I felt my blood run cold. “Ha, yeah. Mom said it was security or something.”“Something like that. Hey, how are Lucy and Emma?”She had managed to change the subject. Good for her. “They’re good. We were all ready to head back to school, but I guess that’ll happen Tuesday. We are working on a science project together.”“Cool. What’s it about?”I spent way too long explaining our pr
Lying as still as I possibly could, I strained to hear what was happening next door. I heard Cadence’s water switch off but didn’t hear anything else for a while. I assumed she was still in the bathroom, drying off, etc. Just when I was beginning to think I was imagining everything, the bathroom door opened, and I heard my sister shriek. It wasn’t a scream—like she was in pain or something was attacking her—it was more like the sound someone might make at a surprise party. However, it was enough for me to know I wasn’t losing my mind.It was muffled but distinct enough that I could make out every word. “What are you doing in my bedroom again?” my sister shouted.Before he even spoke, I knew who she was speaking to. “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” I heard Aaron say. His voice was becoming too familiar to me. “I just climbed in the window…. I had no idea you were in the shower. If I had known, I wouldn&rsquo
Cadence was glowing, holding both of her babies, one in each arm. I smiled at her and then focused on Josephina. She wasn’t crying now, but her little face was wrinkled as if she might burst into tears at any moment. Aaron had his hand on her back, beaming with pride as he looked at his little family. Jamie and another Healer, Ona, were cleaning up a tray table, but I caught his eye, and he winked at me. I hoped he could tell how grateful I was. If it wasn’t for him and his life saving blue magical healing powers, not to mention his medical skills, Cadence never would’ve come back to life.“Where’s my new favorite lil girl?” Elliott asked beside me.“Hey! I’m your lil girl. You’re going to have to think of something else to call her.” I threw an elbow at him.“Oh, I’m just teasing,” Elliott assured me. “Still, she is definitely lil. And she is my girl.”“I&rsqu
I’ll never forget the day my sister died. Even now, eight months later, sitting outside of Jamie’s operating room with Brandon’s hand in mine, every time I think about what happened that day, I get tears in my eyes. So many things could’ve gone differently, if only one of us would’ve made a different choice. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on what I could’ve done differently myself that day, and even though everyone tells me there’s no point in dwelling on it, what’s done is done, it still haunts me sometimes when I’m trying to fall asleep at night, when I can so vividly see Cadence hanging there in the air before she plummeted to the ground, the whoosh of power that left my hand just missing its mark.The new Hunter Leader is a guy named Daniel Bower. He came in from California a few months ago. He’s awesome. I’ve known him for a while. He’s the one who helped capture Professor Stewart after th
I continued to beg and plead with her to come back to us. At fifteen minutes, Scarlet’s whispers were loud enough for me to detect what she was saying to Cale. “How long will he give it?”“I don’t know.” Cale seemed agitated and upset, certainly more connected to my sister than Scarlet. “Not yet.”“Please... Cadey, please.” I felt as far and as deep as I could, thinking about how I’d had to go so very far into her brain to plant that dream. The clock continued to tick. Cadence still wasn’t breathing, and Jamie began to sound desperate. At twenty-five minutes, when Jamie said “thirty,” his voice broke. He knew that the chances of her coming back to us now, after this long, were minute at best. He couldn’t give up, though. We couldn’t give up.Aaron blew two breaths of air into my sister’s lungs, and Jamie started counting again.Something was diff
After Aaron finally moved forward, I followed, staying back a little bit. I didn’t want to see her like that. I had never seen a person’s body after they’ve fallen that far, but I could imagine what it was like.Only when I finally did take a few hesitant steps around the trees, Brandon’s hands on my shoulders, she didn’t look like I expected her to at all.Cadence was lying flat on the ground with her hands folded over her abdomen, sort of like Snow White. Her feet were out straight, and her hair was blown out around her. She looked absolutely beautiful. And still. So very, very still.Jamie was doing chest compressions, and when it was time to breathe, Aaron did that for my sister. Some sort of automatic pilot must’ve turned on for him because his movements were very robotic. Jamie would say thirty, and Aaron would breathe into my sister’s open mouth twice before Jamie started counting again.Tears were rolling
“No!” My scream echoed across the mountainside as I watched in horror as my sister fell. I cannot guide what I cannot see, and I didn’t have a chance to get a grip on her before she plummeted. My hands shot out in her direction, but the surge of power I’d sent to grab her went over her head. I saw a streak of blue do the same and knew Jamie had missed as well.Fumbling through Cadence’s stream of consciousness, I tried again, hoping I’d be able to figure out how to get my powers around her before she hit the ground, but she was moving too fast, and without my eyes on her, I wouldn’t be able to get a grip.Part of me wanted to at least jump into her head, to be with her, to let her know she was okay, but then, the thought of what she was about to endure, when she hit the tops of the trees and then cascaded down through them to the earth, I couldn’t bear the thought, and I knew she wouldn’t want me to see it.I
“Brandon!” I shouted, floating over to where he had disappeared. He didn’t answer, and I realized he must’ve fallen all the way in. “Dang it.” I looked around the battlefield. I knew he was safe down there, but I hated that he was in that miserable place. Cadence was firing at Daunator now while Christian moved in, to place the grenade, I assumed, so I thought perhaps she’d be safe for a few minutes. I decided to help Brandon.“Are you all right?” I asked, using my telepathy.“Thank goodness,” he thought, probably not even to me. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just really dark in here.”“I know. Hold on, and I’ll get you out.”“If I hold on, won’t it be harder for you to get me out?”“All right smarty pants.” I needed to focus all of my energy if I was going to do this
“You okay?” Brandon shouted to me as he moved a little closer to where I was standing. The holes in the ground were not shaking now as much as they had been before, but they were still an obstacle we had to consider. I didn’t want him to get too close because of my tornadoes, but I was glad he was nearby.“Great,” I called back, sending another pile of creatures over the side of the mountain.Aaron was fighting his way through the crowd of black creatures, working his way to Cadence. The path was getting clearer, as far as the minions were concerned, but once he got within about a hundred yards of Cadence’s location, one of the Vampires that had been engaged with our forces closer to the top of the mountain broke off, clearly on his way to intercept the Guardian Leader.Whether he liked it or not, Aaron wasn’t alone now. I wasn’t sure where she’d come from, but Eliza was running parallel to him, fighting off
Moving the black creatures off of the ledge worked well, and I was just starting my second round when I realized my sister had taken off running toward Daunator. Christian had reached him already, a grenade in his hand. I prayed he didn’t get sucked down into another hole. The fact that Cadence was so far away from Aaron was worrisome, but he was busy with the creatures. While Cadence was slowed a few times by the minions sinking their teeth into her arm or grabbing at her heels, for the most part, they seemed to be letting her through, which seemed like a bad sign to me. Did Daunator want her to fight him?A blast of light illuminated the mountain, and then a wave of smoke obscured my view of Christian and Daunator. He’d thrown a grenade, the old kind, the ones he knew wouldn’t work. When the smoke cleared, Daunator’s laughter echoed through the air, and Christian went flying twenty feet in the air.Paul’s voice came over the IAC as I tos
Christian’s eyes widened. “Get out of here? We can’t. We have to get Daunator.”“We will. But for now, we need to go back and regroup. The most important thing is that you’re safe now,” Cadence explained to him.Christian was starting to freak out again. “No, Cadence, you don’t understand. We can’t just leave from here! We can’t just let him go!” His eyes were wild, and he reached forward and grabbed my sister’s shoulders. That lasted about half a second before Aaron grabbed him and pulled him off.“Listen, Christian, I agree. It’s important we come back and end this, but you need medical attention. And a good visit with Hannah.”And a shower, I thought to myself. But I was staying out of this one for the moment. I felt a stirring in the ground and a shift in energy somewhere further up the mountain. The argument was about to be moot.“No,