The cafeteria was so loud with kids laughing and carrying on, it was hard to hear the pop music station the teachers allowed us to listen to as it played in the background. I couldn’t help but glance at the stage off in the distance and remember it wasn’t too long ago my sister was standing up there giving a speech about Jack Cook’s life and untimely death. Though I couldn’t see the doors that led outside at the moment because the partition to the gym was closed, I remembered glancing behind me and seeing Cadence’s new friends sitting in a row, seeing Aaron walking in like he couldn’t get to my sister fast enough, only to dump her on Christmas Eve for some irritating woman with purple hair. I was sure my pleasant disposition was beginning to melt off of my face.
“You okay, Cass?” Emma asked, unwrapping her ham and cheese sandwich.
I surveyed her lunch before answering, happy to see some things never change. Ham and cheese
Dr. Sanderson was true to his word and actually gave me a ride home from school. If you want to impress your friends and influence people, try getting a ride home in a Lamborghini. That’ll do the trick every time. Even over the roar of the engine, I could hear the crowd’s exclamation of how cool the car was, and the driver, and thusly, me, the passenger.“You buckled in tight?” Elliott asked as the car shot out of the parking lot. I’d never been in a car like this before, and while part of me wanted to hold on for dear life, the rest of me wanted to enjoy it.“I am,” I replied. “Why? We’re just going home, aren’t we?”Elliott began to laugh, and unlike his normal jovial chuckle, this one sounded slightly more sinister. I turned my head to look at him, and he raised and lowered his shaggy eyebrows at me several times as the car began to pick up speed. He wasn’t headed for my house; he was hea
The happy vibes from earlier today were dissipating. My heart ached for my sister. I felt embarrassed and ashamed for ever thinking she might’ve been responsible for Drew’s death. My sister loved her friends and family with her whole heart, and that’s probably why she was hurting so badly even though she hadn’t really known Aaron that long. It seemed like she’d given her heart to him, and he’d shattered it into a million pieces. And now, she had to see him with Eliza every single day. “I wish I could go punch both Aaron and Eliza in the face,” I muttered, folding my arms.“You and me both, lil girl,” he agreed. “I’m pretty sure Aaron sees the error of his ways now, and I know for a fact he was manipulated, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he believed someone else over your sister, and he shouldn’t have treated her the way that he did.”Of course, I wasn’t privy to all o
By the end of the week, the cheerfulness had died down a little bit. Though it was no longer the frenzy it had been before, people were still acting strange. I wondered what they would think of themselves in a few months when they were no longer brainwashed to believe every day was the best day ever and saw the videos they’d posted all over social media of themselves during this time of unruly giddiness.“You coming to my house this weekend, Cass?” Lucy asked, picking the larger chunks of hamburger out of the pasta and meat concoction on her tray. I never understood why she got that when she hardly even ate half of it. “You haven’t been over for weeks.”It was unusual how long it had been since I’d paid her a visit. I was just having a really hard time hanging out with either of my friends when I couldn’t tell them the truth about everything I’d discovered. Still, I needed to make an effort. “Uh, sure,”
If Cadence noticed my word choice, she didn’t let on. “No, Aaron’s not always there, but he is a lot of the time. It makes it hard. I’ll talk to him while we are in the field, but not any other time. I just… can't.”I could feel Cadence’s broken heart beating through the phone and felt just terrible for her. “I’m so sorry, Cadey. Maybe… maybe it’s just not meant to be, you know? But there are lots of other guys on your team.” I didn’t name any names. The only ones I could think of that were even options were Jamie, who was an old man in my mind and one she’d already shot down at my suggestion, and Elliott, who belonged to me, even if it wasn’t in a romantic way. I was not going to suggest Christian as he creeped me out.“Yeah.” She was quiet for a really long time. “I’m still thinking about transferring,” she said, catching me completely off guard.
Lucy’s house is humongous, but I have never been jealous of her. Our house isn’t exactly small, but hers could probably fit at least one and a half of ours in it. I wondered what it might be like to have to call your mom on your cell phone to figure out what room she was in when she was in the same house as you….We watched a couple of movies with the boys over and then they headed to Wes’s house for the night. While they were definitely my best guy friends at school, the fact that they were immature almost-sixteen-year-olds was kind of annoying compared to the seventy-five-year-old man I’d been hanging out with recently. Every time they told a fart joke or started talking about some stupid video game, it was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes. Emma talked about video games, too, but it was different when she did it. That was just part of being Emma, not super annoying like when they began squaring off over levels of games like they wer
“Fine. Cause it’s not a big deal,” I replied, leaning back into the cushions of her pink sofa like I didn’t have a care in the world. I tried to keep my breathing even. Chances were, they wouldn’t see what I saw anyway. They didn’t know what I knew, so there was no reason for them to be staring at the video like I was.I vaguely recalled what the news report had been saying about the time that I’d flung my phone away from me, and even though the audio for both of their phones was playing at the same time but not saying the exact same thing, I tried to listen for it, hoping they’d pass right by it. They did. When the video ended, Lucy said, “Wow. That’s so sad. I hope they find her. Poor girl.”“Yeah. Really depressing. What scared you?” Emma asked.“Nothing. I just… it was sad to see her alive in the video and know that she’s probably not anymore.”&ldqu
Both of my best friends were staring at me like I’d completely lost my mind, and I couldn’t blame them. I knew I sounded like a lunatic. But I did have the proof to back up everything we’d discovered together, everything they couldn’t remember. “Look, I know it sounds crazy,” I began, scooting around to face them.“Yeah, it does.” Emma never missed a beat.“But you guys used to know just about everything I’m about to tell you. You just don’t remember.”“How’s that now?” Lucy asked, scooting back a bit and folding her arms. “What do you mean we don’t remember?”“Yeah, how’s that possible? I remember nearly everything.” Emma pushed her glasses up with her index finger.“I know you do, but Dr. Sanderson, Elliott, and one of his associates, have been wiping our minds clean. Recently, however, he’s allowed me to keep
Sitting through church had been more than a little excruciating. My parents had been a little late to the service, so we sat in the back—right behind Jack’s parents. It was an hour of torture, watching his mother wipe at her eyes and his father hold back sobs as the pastor talked to us about not questioning God’s plan. How could they do anything but that when they’d lost their son to what they believed to be some sort of horrible disease? As far as I knew, that’s what had claimed Jack, but I had my suspicions it was something even worse, though I did my best to push those thoughts aside.It was all I could do to fall asleep the night before. I was up thinking about Jack, what it must be like to realize one day that you’re not who you used to be. Had he been bitten by a vampire? Did it hurt? Did they drain him and leave him for dead? Had my sister and her friends swooped in in an attempt to save him but been too late? My mind was running wil
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,