My mom was shaking her head when I came into the living room to see what it was they wanted to talk to me about, and I could see tears in her eyes. “This is all just a game to you, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Paul has five Guardians trapped in cells beneath the floor of an insane asylum, and a mad scientist is trying to turn them back into humans so he can destroy them. My job is to interfere with Holland so she can’t send any messages to the Vampires she’s left behind in Melbourne, so no, that’s not a game. That’s five people who might die if I don’t do my job.” I knew Margie wasn’t even there yet, I had a feeling she was a few hours out, but my parents didn’t know that.
“Fine,” my mom said. “We’ll make it quick. You’re grounded. For a month. You don’t see Brandon outside of work, or your other friends, not even Lucy. Do you understand?”
Sarcastic me wan
Margie Joplin is the sort of beast I aspire to be one day. Sure, my sister’s fierce, but seeing that tiny woman with the blue hair rip through Vampires like they were unsuspecting customers standing in line for a corny dog at the state fair gets me excited every time. Now that she has X-ray vision and can move faster than lightning, it was even more stellar. The second Paul led his team into Larundel with Margie right behind him, I had no doubt they were going to get the Guardians out okay.It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, though. I figured out whose head I needed to be in too late to do anything with that information. Apparently, Holland’s next in command after Hines is a guy named Bossley. By the time Paul and Margie located the basement cells, he and some other Vampire nurse chick had already administered both shots to the five Guardians. Thanks to Jamie and Sicilia’s help over the IAC, it looked like they were all going to be okay, thoug
“Cass, what’s up with your sister’s IAC?” Elliott asked. He must’ve had the same idea as I did. “I can see Aaron, but not her.”“I’m not sure,” I admitted. I took a deep breath and sent out a signal to try to shield Cadence from Holland, but there was definitely something odd going on. “I’m trying to block Holland and get Cadence back on, but I feel like she’s focusing everything she’s got on disrupting Cadence right now.” It didn’t make any sense. Maybe if I was closer to Cadence, I’d be able to do something. I should be stronger than Holland. Or maybe I just couldn’t focus. Either way, my concern was growing.I decided to pay attention to what was in front of me now and worry about my sister if Aaron said I needed to. We made our way through the entrance, and Elliott stopped in front of a small ticket booth that looked like maybe it was part of guest relations
I scanned my IAC quickly to try to find anyone who could come and help her, but there was no one. It was obvious Meagan was starting to lose it. She darted away from Elliott’s limp body and tried to find a place to hide. I hated that Sam had that effect on her, that she was so terrified she was beginning to shake.“We’ve gotta go help her,” I said, taking a few steps toward Brandon.“I’m not supposed to let you out of here. Just give him a minute.”Through my IAC, I tried to contact Elliott but got nothing. I tried something else—my telepathy. “He’s going to get Meagan if you don’t get up off of the floor! Go! Go get Sam!” I was shocked when Elliott’s voice sounded in my head. “Where... is... Jamie?” He was clearly still out of it, but at least he could communicate—sort of.I answered, “Across the park, over by the rollercoas
Elliott was still lying where he’d fallen, which was actually a good thing. If the Vampires intended to take him away somewhere to conduct experiments on him, they hadn’t tried to move him yet. I bent down next to him, seeing the spent syringe now. I was certain we were alone and used both my IAC and telepathy to shout at him. “Elliott! Wake up!”I must’ve shouted it a dozen times as I shook him. He was out of it, that was for sure. So, I decided there was only one thing I could do to get him where he needed to be. I put myself back on the floor and lifted him up off of it, rotating him so that he appeared to be standing.He cracked one eye and looked at me, confused. “I thought I told you to stay put.”“I’m not known for listening or following directions,” I replied with a shrug. He was in no position to argue with me. Across the building, I heard a gunshot. We were running out of tim
Jamie had a question mark hanging over his head, but he didn’t argue. We could all see through Elliott’s IAC that Sam was cornered. He was in a room full of distressed mirrors, the kind that make you look like something else. I thought it was ironic in an Alanis Morissette sort of way. Sam didn’t look like himself at all—and he would die the same sort of creature he’d spent centuries destroying.“Whatcha gonna do with me?” Sam was shouting at Elliott just before the mirror behind him exploded into a thousand shards of glass. He ducked and covered his face, but it was too late. Elliott had his Glock pointed right at the old man’s head.“I don’t know,” Elliott replied. He was aware that Meagan was on her way, I could tell by the way his eyes were shifting toward the hallway, like he was waiting for her. But he continued to taunt Sam. “Maybe I’ll keep you in a cage in my apartment where I can to
I was relieved Alex wasn’t here. I needed to thank him for taking out the guy who’d tried to kill my sister, but now probably wasn’t the best time. I had to sort out the way I was feeling about him. I was certain it was just fascination with an historical character, but if it was bothering Brandon, it was a problem.Ashley came in a few minutes before Jamie finished, and Cadence was polite, but I saw her roll her eyes. I guess the two of them still aren’t getting along. Jamie’s girlfriend waited with her arm wrapped around me, and when the doctor took a step back and nodded his head, only a few moments after he began, she started to applaud. “I’m dating a superhero,” she said with a wink, and I couldn’t help but giggle.“Just one more thing,” Jamie said. He took a lock of my sister’s hair, one right next to the bald spot she had on the side of her head, and pulled it over slightly so it was coverin
We all agreed that Holland needed to be taken out. How we were going to do that exactly was another question.“Let’s sleep on it, take Sunday off, and get together Monday morning to see what the situation is,” Aaron proposed.“Wait a minute—you’re going to take the day off?” Elliott asked. “Who are you? Did someone take over your brain again?”“I didn’t say I was going to take the day off.” He slid off of the gurney and stepped over to help Cadence sit up. She was clearly exhausted, as was I. “But I might.”Elliott couldn’t control his laughter. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”“All right. I guess I’ll head back to my prison now,” I said, trying not to sound like a baby and failing. Brandon put his arm around my shoulders as my sister made it to her feet.“At least you don’t have to go to training
Most people probably have a pretty good idea how their life is going to go. At sixteen, there may be more than one path ahead, several options to choose from, but most kids my age are thinking about finishing high school and then going on to college or a trade school, getting a job, getting married, living the life. Some more ambitious people might be thinking about making it big in one industry or another. I have friends at Shenandoah High who still dream of being rock stars. That’s cool—I wish them well. But chances are, they will eventually succumb to the reality of a 9:00 to 5:00 job where the most exciting day of the week is Taco Tuesday. It’s not a bad way to live, mind you. It’s predictable—unless fate has some messed up screwball to throw you and something tragic happens. That will probably never be the case for most people.It seems like it’s a daily occurrence for me.I know, I know. Whiney Teenage Girl, Party of One. I&rsq