I was in my room trying to decide what to use the gift cards on that my grandma had given me for Christmas when my sister came in. She did a little half-knock but didn’t really wait for me to say anything, which was fine, just not like her. I set my laptop aside when I saw her face, and she plopped down next to me on the bed, wrapping her arm around my waist and slumping against my shoulder.
A little caught off guard, I said, “Hi,” but it came out more like a question. One of my favorite songs was playing on Spotify, but I leaned over and turned it down, thinking she must have something she wanted to say.
“Hi,” Cadence said quietly. The room grew silent again, and I debated asking her all of the questions that were dancing in my head, the ones Elliott had answered and the ones he’d evaded. I knew my sister had a secret life now, one she wasn’t able to talk about, and it was increasingly frustrating to be around her but not be a
It was almost painful to listen to Cadence speak. She grabbed a throw pillow and squeezed it, and I thought it might actually burst. I expected to see tears, but there weren’t any. I decided to change the subject.“What about your other friends?” I asked, shifting around so that I was on my hip now, facing her. “What about Meagan, Hannah, those other people I met at the funeral?” I wasn’t sure if I should say the word funeral, or if I should rattle off the names of her friends like I’d been searching online for information about them for the last several weeks, so I tried to keep it nonchalant.“Meagan’s great,” Cadence said, her face lighting up a little bit. “We went through our training together. And Hannah is pretty cool. She’s older than us, though, and has been working there a long time.” She made a face like she may have told me too much; how old did she think I thought Hannah was? As
My bedroom door practically burst open. “Hey, girls. Whatcha doin’?”“Why, Elliott, fancy seeing you here,” I proclaimed, staring at my sister hard, letting her think I might be on to her.“Well, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I might drop in.” He was still standing in the doorway, leaning into the room, his broad shoulders taking up most of the space in the threshold.“I was just asking Cadence some questions about your jobs. I was about to tell her how I’m thinking of going into the same line of work, you know, when I’m older.”“What?” Cadence asked, looking from me to Elliott and then back again. “Cassidy, I thought you wanted to be an engineer like dad, or a doctor or something.”I shrugged. “Plans change. Elliott, did you work at LIGHTS when our Grandma Janette worked there?”“No,” he answered quickly, his forehe
“Why do you have to leave?” I asked, jumping up off the bed and following Elliott as he headed toward the stairs.“I told you. We’ve got work to do.” He paused in front of the stairwell.“But… seriously, it’s Christmas break.”“You know, you should turn on a television sometime, lil girl. There are things happening in this world you may want to be aware of.” He started down the stairs, and I followed.Puzzled over what in the world he might be talking about, I continued to follow him until he reached the foyer. “What kinds of things?”He shook his head at me, yet again, and turned to look at me. “Something tells me you’ll know it when you see it.”Elliott was giving me a clue. I could find out more about what they were doing from the news. I wondered what in the world I could’ve been missing this whole time. Were there news stories about va
Once I was in my room, I took a deep breath and looked out the window. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I didn’t see anything. No one on the roof across the street, no noise on ours. It actually sort of made me sad. It had been comforting to know that Elliott was up there sometimes, but he wasn’t right now, and it was just as well since it was bitterly cold outside.I sat down at my desk and took a moment to reflect. I’d learned a lot from this short visit. I was no longer concerned about Elliott taking my thoughts and memories from me, but there was plenty that was still unclear to me, and sometimes writing things down helped me to organize my thoughts.Even though I hadn’t opened the notebook I’d been recording my experiences in since that night at Lucy’s house, the night that Hannah came in and stripped their memories, made Emma and Lucy tear up all of their own notes and delete everything vampire related off of the
I spent the next several days on my laptop, wishing I had someone to bounce ideas off of as I scoured the Internet looking for information about vampire hunters. I had to give it to CHENRY77; he was prolific. Scarcely a vampire site did I visit without traces of Christian’s presence. Even ones that sounded ridiculous and fake, like the, “My girlfriend and I are vampires. Do you want to be one, too? It’s super easy. You will live forever. Just call…” types of posts had his signature associated with them in some regard, often in the comments or as an administrator. I would’ve found it odd that he managed to make his presence known on so many different sorts of boards and chat rooms all across the world if I didn’t know the power of persuasion some of my sister’s friends had. I’m sure it didn’t take much for someone like Elliott to convince the creators of these message boards to surrender their upkeep to Mr. Henry.I
“Right. I hope so.” There was no way for me to tell Lucy things were never going to be normal again, not for me anyhow. And I wondered if Elliott would actually show up at my school in the next few days. I seriously doubted it. He was probably just messing with me. But if he did, well, there would go any shot of anyone thinking Cassidy’s life was back to its previous mundane existence. “What’s wrong with Emma?” I was actually a little surprised I had a chance to ask that before Lucy launched into another soliloquy.“Oh, uh, nothing,” she said, but I knew if I stayed quiet she’d tell me more. “She’s just, uh, being a little paranoid. A little more paranoid than usual.”“What? Did her mashed potatoes and turkey touch each other on her plate at Christmas dinner?” I joked. I was trying to lighten the mood, but I was actually a little concerned myself.“Ha, no,” Lucy said,
Realizing we were back on her dream now, I agreed. “It is weird, but like you said, it’s just a dream. Maybe you just happened to see all of those people on TV yesterday or something.”“I don’t think so,” Lucy said quickly, like she’d already gone through the possibilities. “And I definitely haven’t watched any scary movies or videos.”“We watched Twilight last time I was at your house,” I reminded her.“Uh, the only part about that movie that’s scary is K-Stew’s acting.”I tried not to laugh. “But it does involve vampires.”“True.”“People have been trying to figure out dreams forever, Lucy. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Just try to forget about it, okay?”“Okay….”I glanced at the clock by my bed and saw that it was almost 10:00. “It’s j
I picked up my laptop, thinking I needed to charge it, when one of those stupid pop-up news videos came on. “It’s now confirmed that twenty-five bodies have been found in the Caribbean, all victims of the same brutal throat slashing…” the newscaster was saying. Ordinarily, I would’ve closed the tab or shut my computer, but this time, I didn’t. I held it closer and actually clicked to enlarge the video so I could see it better. Elliott had warned me to pay attention to the news, so I figured I’d better do just that.The newscaster continued. “Video footage of two of the newest victims shows them enjoying a night out at a local club just hours before their bodies were found in a rainforest area near the beach, approximately a mile from the location of the club seen here.” She stopped talking for a moment as the camera zoomed in on the footage of a man and a woman who looked to be in their early twenties drinking at a club.
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,