Elliott Sanderson was sitting on the sofa in my movie room, alive and well. I was having trouble believing it, and I don’t think I was the only one. Brandon sat down on the wraparound sofa about as far away from his dad as possible, and I had no problem sitting between them, though in this case I chose to sit closer to Elliott, in case I needed to pinch him or something.
“So how are you, lil girl?” he asked, his eyes giving away his concern. “I heard you had a little adventure.”
I absently wondered why I was “lil” but my adventure was “little” while I thought about a response. Apparently, one of the million things I needed to tell him had already been told. “Yeah, I had a little run in with a Vampire or two. I’m fine,” I replied, shrugging like it was no big deal. I really didn’t want to talk about myself, relive everything right now. I wanted to hear about him.
That wasn’t going
“So… how was your Transformation process, Brandon?” Elliott asked, and I leaned back so that the father could see his son a little better. How weird would it be to come back from the dead and find out you had an eighteen-year-old kid?“Smooth,” Brandon replied, rubbing his hands together like he was still very uncomfortable. “Just went to sleep, woke up a superhero.”“That’s every day for me,” Elliott joked, nudging me with his elbow. I laughed genuinely for the first time in as long as I could remember. “Cool. Glad it wasn’t painful. Jamie’s a heckofa guy ain’t he?”“Yeah, he sure is. He saved Cassidy.” Brandon smiled at me, and I found myself scooting closer to him on the sofa. I really wished they weren’t so far apart, but I supposed that was a bit of a metaphor for life.“That’s what I heard. I gotta say, though, when I first heard
I didn’t sleep well that night. Perhaps it was the fact that I’d taken a two hour nap during Office Space. Perhaps it was the fact that Elliott was downstairs, no longer the prisoner of an urn. Perhaps it was the fact that the guy I’d been falling for over the last three months had tried to kiss me, and I’d been dodgier than Jessie James.The next morning, I decided it was time to have a conversation with someone about my concerns. I knew my choices were limited. Talking to my mother about how I was feeling about life in general, about Brandon, about being left behind would’ve been about the same as talking to a pleasantly painted wall. It might look nice, but I wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I could talk to Elliott about how I was feeling trapped in my own life, but I definitely couldn’t talk to him about his own kid. While Aaron was likely the best option for all of these topics, he was even more distant now than he had b
Cadence seemed upset that I’d never shared my fake kissing expeditions with her. It’s not like she ever told me anything about that sort of stuff either. I didn’t want to hear it, mind you. Barf. “Okay. Well, why were you afraid then? I thought you liked Brandon.”“I do!” I exclaimed, my hands flailing. I was beginning to think I never should’ve mentioned this to her in the first place. “I was afraid about… you know.” Surely, by now, she’d figured out what I was getting at.My sister stared at me in utter confusion. “What?” she asked, leaning in closely, her voice just above a whisper.“Seriously?” I asked. My eyes rolled of their own accord. Was I really going to have to say this? Out loud? “I was afraid that I might….” I waited for her to catch on.“What? Miss? Drool on him? Pee your pants? What?”“Arghh!” I
I glanced at the time on my IAC as I flew down the stairs. It was just past 7:00, which gave me about thirty minutes to try to talk to my parents before I had to get ready for school. I wondered if my dad would even go to work today. For that matter, I wondered if I was even going to school. I assumed it depended upon what Dad and Aunt Lorraine had discussed the night before. One thing was certain: I needed to talk to them about moving to headquarters before I chickened out.I was surprised to see both of my parents sitting in their recliners in the living room when I reached the bottom of the stairs. My dad was reading a newspaper, and my mom had a novel in her hands. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her reading a book in the morning, especially not when we had company. Noise from the kitchen, along with the scent of something either cooking or burning—possibly both—piqued my curiosity even more.“Mom?” I said getting both of my pa
Funeral. That should be a four-letter word. I was tired of them. I never wanted to attend another one again, and as I sat there, looking around at all of the faces, part of me couldn’t help but wonder who might be next. I assumed it would be one of my grandmother’s elderly friends, but really, who knew?How ironic was it that my grandma couldn’t bear to attend Elliott’s, but he was at hers? My grandma had left a will which stated she did not want a big production, so the service was held in the church she’d been attending for the last several years. No one else from LIGHTS who wasn’t already at our house came, and Brandon decided to stay at Grandma’s house and wait for us since he’d never met her. We all respected that and thought it went along with what Grandma had said about not making a big fuss.After the pastor spoke a few words about what an amazing, generous person Grandma Janette was, one of the ladies from church
Saturday, everyone left to go back to headquarters. Telling them goodbye wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be since I knew I’d be seeing them again soon, but part of me didn’t want to let Elliott out of my sight in case he’d turn back into a pumpkin. And I didn’t want Brandon to leave either for obvious reasons.I went to Lucy’s house almost immediately as soon as they were all off to the airport. Emma met me at the Burk Mansion. I’d already talked to them about Elliott and my grandma, but I had to tell them my personal news, and I didn’t want to let it go any longer than I had to. That was something that needed to be relayed in person.It seemed like a million years since we’d sat here speculating about what my sister was and whether or not she was responsible for Drew’s and/or Jack’s deaths. Now, I was sitting in the same spot on Lucy’s couch telling them I was dropping out of high school
I wanted to be as much use to my sister and the rest of the team as I could. If I was going to prove to them that my moving to Kansas City was a good idea, then a little bit of information about Gibbon could go a long way toward that. The fact that Lucy was right next to me, that I felt anchored and safe, made me brave. I sent a question out into the abyss.“Where is the Jogging Path Killer?” I asked, stretching my mind, reaching for all things Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell. The Eagles. The Museum of Art. “Where is Gibbon?”Like static on a television, a flickering began to occur in my mind. A station, just out of tune, fighting through the blizzard of gray and white. It was startling, but I dug my fingernails into Lucy’s sofa and pressed on. “Where is he? Where is the Jogging Path Killer?” At first, all I heard were random comments about the Eagle defense and whether or not tickets to the zoo were t
“I beat you this time!” Christian insisted.Aaron waved him off. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get to Philadelphia now. This could be bad. Really bad.”“Absolutely,” Christian agreed.Relieved that I was right, and they’d figured it out, I sat back into the couch a little bit. “You did it, Cass,” Brandon said. “Nice job.”I didn’t get a chance to reply because the conversation continued, and I wanted to hear it, so I sent him a heart-eye emoji. “What are you talking about?” Elliott asked for the rest of the team.Aaron opened his mouth to answer, but his phone dinged, and whether he was answering Elliott’s question or reading, I wasn’t sure, but either way the answer seemed to be the same. “Eastern State Penitentiary.”Christian nodded. “Yes, that has to be where Ms. Riggins disappeared.” I didn&rsq