“Is there a place I can wash my hands?” I asked Ashley. They were covered with Christian’s blood, and I wanted it off of me. Now.
Ashley didn’t blink, so I leaned around her. The woman on the other side of her had heard. “There’s a restroom right there.” She pointed across the hallway.
“Thanks.” I looked at Ashley, who didn’t seem to notice me at all, and headed off to the ladies’ room thinking if my sister had given her some sort of a warning not to let me out of her sight, Ashley had failed in less than thirty seconds.
I opened the door with my mind and was glad to see the room was empty. Three stalls, three sinks. I picked the one closest to the door and turned the faucet on, shoving my hands beneath the warm water and watching it instantly pink. There was more blood there than I had realized, and I felt slightly bad for what I’d done to Christian—not that he didn’t deserve it
I recognized my sister’s footsteps behind me even though my eyes were closed again. Amanda had stopped calling, so I was trying to find Stewart and getting nowhere. I opened them and turned to look at Cadence as she came to stand beside me. She was just as tired, frustrated, and upset as I was—but not nearly as angry.“Can I speak to you for a moment, Sis?” she asked, thumbing back down the hall.I flew up out of the chair, literally, levitating for a moment before I stepped away with her. Glancing back at Ashley, I saw she had stopped crying, but her shoulders were doing that shuddering thing that sometimes happens when you’ve cried yourself into oblivion.Down the hallway, my sister folded her arms and kept her voice down. “Christian did know, but we can’t murder him. We need his help in getting them back.”I shook my head, my dander up again. Of course I knew he knew, but now that I knew my sister knew he
Ward didn’t have an IAC, and I was tired of rummaging around in people’s heads without their consent. As much as I didn’t want to tell anyone what had happened, I thought he needed to know anyway, particularly if he was on his way to Shenandoah. He may as well reroute if he could.“Ward, I know this is really weird, but I’m Cadence Findley’s sister, Cassidy, and I’m part Vampire, so I can communicate telepathically. If you can hear me, just think back, ‘Yes,’ and I’ll be able to pick it up.”Without actually jumping into his memories, I wouldn’t know for sure what he was thinking about until he answered me, if he did. It took a few moments before I got a distinct, “Yes, I can hear you.”“Good. Listen, something crazy has happened. Have you ever heard of the Blood Moon Portal?”“I can’t say that I have.”
Cadence was headed back into the building when I was walking out. I hadn’t needed anyone’s help to find her. I just sort of knew where she was. I wished that would work for Brandon right now.Before she could even say anything to me, I sent her the picture of Dax’s text and said, “Take a look at this.”I watched Cadence’s face scrunch up as she read over it at least once. She was puzzled, and I couldn’t blame her. It was pretty far-fetched to think someone could send a text from inside a portal. “When did he send that?” she asked, her face still scrunched. “Before the portal opened, I guess?”“Look at the time. She received it at 7:00 AM our time. When I talked to her, she was all confused, wondering how in the world what he was saying could possibly be true.”Cadence stared at me for a long time before scratching her head, shrugging, and saying, “I don’t understand
Trina clicked a few buttons on her laptop. “I want you to listen carefully to the voice in the background.” She hit play, and Cadence and I both leaned in trying to hear.It was easy to hear the voice but impossible to decipher what the Vampire speaking was saying. His voice was low, and his tone was quiet. It sounded like a bunch of nonsense to me, but then I figured he must be speaking another language.“Play it again,” Cadence said, really straining this time. She shrugged and said, “I don’t know. Any guesses?”“We think whatever he is saying was designed to work with the reflective surfaces to open the portal. But we don’t know what it means,” Oswald explained.“Do you think it’s Gaelic?” Cadence asked.“Probably,” Job said, “but unless we can find someone who speaks it, we might not know.”“I’ve got someone on the way for th
I turned to head back upstairs but decided to check on Ashley first. She was still asleep, which I found really odd. It had been several hours. Deciding not to wake her, I headed back down the hallway toward the elevator, hoping Cadence would have more information for me when I got to the conference room.It was apparent from the doorway they hadn’t gotten too far. My sister looked exhausted, and the others looked frustrated. I paused in the doorway until I had Cadence’s attention before I announced, “Leig solas na fala fala a-mach d’anam!”Cadence smirked at me. “Fala fala to you, too. Where’d you find that?” She looked happier now than she had since before we headed to the Eidolon Festival all those hours ago.“All of their heads, eventually. Well, the four gents. The girls had no idea what I was talking about. It took a little persuasion of the strong-arm variety.” I saw no reason t
“What time is it?” Cadence asked again.Job pointed at the clock again. “One.”I locked eyes with my sister and swallowed a lump in my throat. She asked, “What time did you say Tara got that message?”“What message?” Trina demanded. I was a little surprised Cadence hadn’t told them.“A text message from Dax,” Cadence replied, not looking away from me to answer.“Dax?” Oswald repeated loudly. “One of the guys who is trapped in the portal?” He was leaning so far forward in his chair, I could imagine it toppling over and knocking him into the table.“Yeah,” I assured him. “It was at 7:00 AM.” My sister was puzzled, so I clarified. “Our time. So 6:00 AM Central time. Every six hours?”“Oh, yeah. We are in the Eastern time zone.” Cadence shook her head. I could tell she was exhausted and not thinking as
“Ward?” Cadence echoed, staring at the man in disbelief.“Forgive my tardiness, but when I got Miss Cassidy’s message, I diverted my flight so that I was headed here instead of to Iowa, not as easy as you might think.”“Ward!” my sister said again. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.” I thought for a moment she might fling herself at him, but he didn’t exactly look like the sort of man a stranger hugs. She might’ve gotten him wrinkled.“You as well, although I had hoped it would be under happier circumstances. But don’t you worry. Cassidy explained the situation to me, and I will do all that I can to help. I’ve never dealt with this exactly, but I can read Scottish Gaelic. And... I know our Aaron well enough to confirm what I’m sure you already know. He’ll find a way to get back to you.”I could see that my sister was fighting back tears. Her head wa
“You don’t expect me to actually take a nap at a time like this, do you?” I asked my sister, glancing at Ashley and wondering how in the world she was sleeping again. I couldn’t imagine my mind shutting off under the circumstances.“I do,” Cadence confirmed. “What sort of use are you going to be if you can’t keep your eyes open?”The idea of Vampires rampaging our rooms while I was sleeping made me chuckle. “Do you think I could fall asleep during a Vampire attack?”I could see the other people in the room shifting their attention from me to Cadence and back again with each statement. I thought I saw a flicker of fear in Oswald’s eyes, like he thought maybe I would attack my sister. I wouldn’t.“Your reflexes will slow down if you’re not well rested, sister dear.”I shook my head. “Cadence....”“Cassidy?”I exhaled l