Cadence was still asleep, but she was tossing and turning a little, so I thought maybe she’d wake up soon. It seemed like forever since she’d gone to sleep from what I could tell. I wanted her to wake up so I could confess that I wasn’t feeling good about this whole situation. I knew I could just shake her, and she’d wake up in a second, but that seemed rude. So I sat on the foot of the bed and stared out the window at the moon. I decided to do one more round of recon to see if any of the Vampires around us knew anything fishy about the blood moon, but that wasn’t helping. I was even using the IACs as a tool to access new minds. All any of the Vampires at the festival seemed to care about was having a good time.
My sister finally sat up at about 2:15. I glanced at her only long enough to make sure she was really awake as she wiped her hand across her face and blinked a few times. “Oh, good. You’re alive after all,” I joked, thou
Out of nowhere, everything went black. I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head, and I started vibrating almost as rapidly as that stupid orb in the sky. I felt my sister’s arms around me, which was a good thing because otherwise I might’ve fallen over right there. My body felt like it was attached to a jackhammer, it was shaking so hard, and then I felt my feet lift off of the floor. I needed to get there.... I needed to go through that opening.... I need to be inside of the moon....My feet hit the floor hard, jarring my eyes open, and I realized I wasn’t shaking anymore. I was staring into my sister’s brown eyes, and it took a me a moment to even remember where I was. “What happened?” I asked, trying to remember. Something about the moon....“I don’t know, but it wasn’t normal,” Cadence said, her hands on my arms. “Are you okay?”I looked down and was glad to see my feet were planted on
I nodded in agreement with my sister, thinking that getting to the Eidolon Festival ourselves as soon as possible was the right thing to do. I was ready to run out the door right that second, but she needed a moment to get her Glock and tie her boots. She looked at me quizzically. “Where’s your weapon?”I pulled open my jacket. “In its holster.”Cadence rolled her eyes at me, like she had had no idea I had been armed and dangerous this whole time. She stood up and wandered around for a second, patting her pants. “Keys... keys....”I grabbed them off of the dresser and tossed them to her. She was driving me crazy. Like we were just going down to the Piggly Wiggly to grab some milk. “Come on, let’s go!”Cadence motioned at the door, and I flew out of it first, almost running right into Ashley. Great, another obstacle.“Oh, hey! Glad you’re both still awake. Something weird seems
Ashley popped her head between my sister and I. “What’s happening?” she asked, and I realized she had no idea what was going on, like none at all. She’d missed out on my little dance with the moon, and it probably hadn’t occurred to her that there was even an eclipse tonight, though I thought Aaron might’ve mentioned it during our meeting.“We don’t know,” Cadence admitted.I turned to Ashley to say more, but there really wasn’t much else to say, so I didn’t. I stayed in Hannah’s head and watched her as she and the others did as Cadence had said—rounding up Vampires, searching for Guardians, questioning anyone who looked suspicious.... It was all a chaotic mess, and I wished my sister could somehow drive even faster than she already was.When we pulled into the field next to the Eidolon Festival, Cadence dodged several parked cars to stop as close to the entryway as possible, and we al
I wanted to smack my sister. Like I hadn’t been trying to find Dr. Stewart, the Vampire responsible for the missing Guardians. “I can’t! Holland has some shield around him. I’ll be able to break through it eventually, but nothing I’m trying is working!”Cadence pulled me into her arms, and I realized I was shaking. “Okay, okay. Take some deep breaths. I’m sure, wherever they are, they’re all fine. Vampires can’t kill Guardians, remember? They’re strong. They’ll be okay.”She was talking like she still believed they’d just been kidnapped or something. I didn’t know how to make her see that this was something worse than an abduction, nor could I feel any trace of Hamish in the air, past that vague image of him rushing out of the festival in Rog’s mind, one he didn’t even realize was associated with Stewart since he’d never seen him before. I just knew the stocky ma
Instead of going into the room I was sharing with my sister, I went into Brandon and Elliott’s. It was weird. All of their stuff was still there, exactly how they’d left it. They thought they’d be coming back in an hour or two. Now, who knows? I wondered where they were, if they were okay, if they were scared. I imagined they’d have to be unless they lost their memories of us, the way that Elliott had when he died. I couldn’t imagine Brandon being out there somewhere in the cosmos now, not remembering me. I refused to believe that could be the case.I opened his suitcase and took out the shirt he’d been wearing earlier because it smelled like him. It was a cotton shirt, blue, with a logo on the front in black. I held it up to my face and took a deep breath and tried to fight back my tears. Taking off my leather jacket and my holster, I set them on the end of the bed and put his shirt on over the top of mine.Moving to Elliott’s
My sister’s voice infiltrated my thoughts, which seemed weird because I didn’t even know she was back. It wasn’t until I opened my eyes and saw her standing in the doorway that I also noticed I was levitating. I bounced up and down on the mattress a few times, and she looked at me a little oddly, like she couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing. She didn’t ask, only said, “Come on. We’re going to DC.”“Okay.” I slid off of the bed, grabbing my jacket and my Glock and putting them both on as we went. I still had Brandon’s shirt on, which probably looked way too big on me but not totally weird, but I decided to shove Elliott’s hat back in my pocket.I almost asked where Ashley was, but then I realized I’d been out a lot longer this last time than I would’ve ever guessed. I had a message from her from about an hour ago that said she went with Christian to DC to see if she could help. Sh
I had no idea how fast Job had been driving or exactly how far it was from Shepherdstown to DC, but we had reached our destination. He pulled into a spot in front of a rundown, brick office building. It wasn’t huge, but then this was the space most of the Independents worked out of, when they worked together, which just meant they truly answered to no one except Job, the leader they had appointed, and had no government funding. The second part showed.None of us said anything as we followed Job inside. We ran into a few people in the hallway and all politely greeted each other, but my mind was elsewhere. If I couldn’t find Holland, and I couldn’t find Stewart, what else could I do? I was starting to go a little crazy, and the person who is always there to calm me down and get me back on track was nowhere to be found.A tall woman with short blonde hair I recognized as Trina, the Hunter Leader for DC, was already in the conference room. So was her Guar
Aaron had been talking to Elliott on the video Christian was showing us of what happened right before they disappeared. I couldn’t hear either of their voices, but I could tell by Elliott’s expression that he was worried about something. I’m not an expert lip reader, but I thought he said he was leaving, maybe going back to the B and B.The image bobbed up and down, and I supposed that was Aaron nodding before he turned his head. Out in front of them about twenty yards, a girl came into view. She had the same build as one of the Vampires I’d talked to earlier, but she wasn’t wearing her face.“That looks like me,” my sister said, her mouth hanging open.“Right,” Christian agreed. “Elliott sees the same thing. They start walking in a hurry, and then, at 2:32, just as the moon hits its culmination....” He stopped talking and we watched as Elliott noticed something on the ground and then vanished, ri