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It's Not Me; It's You
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2021-02-12 07:45:38Cadence took a drink of her soda and then asked, “So, Orlando, huh? Did you go to Disney a lot?”
“Oh, yeah. All the time,” Ashley nodded. Cadence had never been, but she’d always wanted to. She let Ashley talk about all of her favorite rides as she finished up her sandwich and cut into her fries. She noticed that most of the salad was still in the bowl and figured that was because Ashley was doing most of the talking. Cadence practiced her listening skills and learned that Ashley had two sisters and a brother, all older, none of which were interested in Transforming and only one sister was still within the window of being able to. Her mom hadn’t Transformed either, but her grandmother was a Hunter. Her dad was a human and wasn’t capable of changing into anything other than, as she put it, a “grumpy, balding full-time fisherman.”
“I feel like I’ve been talking forever,” Ashley finally proclaimed as
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Elliott didn’t seem completely convinced, but he didn’t question her further, and Cadence settled in to wait, thinking Jamie should be done soon. There was no reason to tell Elliott she sort of didn’t want Aaron there because she was hoping to talk to the other Guardians present, except for Brandon, in private if the opportunity presented itself.Without meaning to, Cadence counted eight more trips up and down the length of hallway directly in front of the door for Brandon before they could see Jamie was finished. He was approaching them with some sort of container in his hand. Christian opened the door for him and literally rubbed his hands together, a big grin on his face.The white plastic container seemed to hold a collection of other smaller, clear containers, and Cadence felt slightly nauseated thinking they contained her sister’s muscle tissue. Jamie shook his hand at Christian. “Back off there, Gollum,” he said. “Half o
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Brandon stared at Cassidy for a full five minutes before her eyelids began to flicker. It seemed to take a couple of more minutes after that before she was awake. Even though he trusted Jamie and was sure she was fine, it was a relief to have her conscious again. “Hey, there,” he said quietly, once she was looking up at him.“Hey,” Cassidy said, looking a little confused. “Where’s Jamie?”“Oh, he said I could do the procedure,” Brandon teased. “I took out your kidneys. Hope that’s okay.”Her pretty face looked only slightly amused as she began to sit up. He helped her by putting his arm around her shoulder, but she waved him off. Whatever it was that had been bothering her during the hunt last night, it seemed to still be a problem, and despite his best attempts to get her to talk to him about it, or anything for that matter, nothing seemed to be working.“You feel okay?”
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There were two chairs positioned in front of Jamie’s desk, and for a moment, Cadence foresaw bickering between Christian and Elliott as to who deserved to sit in the one she didn’t occupy herself—trusting neither of them would want her to stand—until Jamie, also likely envisioning the problem, picked up another chair by the door and carried it with him to the desk where he set it so that all three of them would have a place to rest. Since this one was slightly different than the other two, Cadence chose to sit there so that there could be no discussion of who got the better seat. She imagined this was what having children must be like and hoped these two alleged adults could at least sit near each other and not resort to eye poking or hand slapping.Jamie discarded his lab coat and went around and sat behind the desk. He still looked like a doctor in a white button-down shirt and red striped tie. She thought it was just as well that he was on the other
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“Whatever,” Christian said, not willing to admit defeat. “I still think she might be the better candidate to bring it up.”“Well, we don’t need to do it right now,” Jamie said. “Why don’t we wait until the Leadership team meeting and talk about it then?”“If we can,” Cadence replied. “Something tells me Aaron is on to something with what this movement means, and he’s just about ready to declare he’s figured it out. If that’s the case, we won’t have time to wait until the meeting.”“Let’s play it by ear then, and we’ll see how it goes,” Jamie said with a heavy sigh.That worked for Cadence. “Okay, but there is one more thing I’ve been pondering.” She realized it was past 1:00 now and her beloved might walk in at any time. She glanced over her shoulder at the door. “Listen, it’s probably really dum
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Cassidy smiled, but didn’t say anything, and Cadence could tell by her expression, she didn’t know what to make of Cadence’s revelation. It was no matter—she moved on.“Jack was pitching, Elliott. And the batter was a guy who looked so much like you. I couldn’t remember you at the time—sorry—but I asked, and my grandparents said the batter’s name was Jimmy.”“Jimmy?” Elliott echoed. “I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that name to you.”“I don’t think you have either, but that’s your brother’s name, isn’t it.”Elliott’s head rocked back and forth slowly. “Wow. If that don’t beat all.... It’s like the freakin’ Wizard of Oz. ‘And you were there, and you were there....’ Hmmm.”“Well, it gets Wizardier because your mom was there, too. Arlene. And she wa
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A growl from Elliott let her know he disagreed, but he didn’t say anything more, and Christian only nodded before he faded out of view. It was just as well. Cadence was exhausted. She didn’t really want to talk to anyone else, just let her husband pick her up in his strong arms and carry her back to the SUV so she could take a shower and fall asleep for a few years.“I hate to interrupt,” Scarlet said, taking a step closer to where they were sitting. “Cadence, it is wonderful you’re okay. But Jamie, what about that serum you made? Do you think we should try it? If we can get the Hybrids back up there, we might be able to save some of those people who are still trapped in the holes.”“Oh, right.” Jamie scratched his head, like he’d forgotten about the serum. “Yeah, why don’t you and Cale start working on that. The serum is in my backpack, which is in the trees near where we first encountered the bla
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Jamie was at twenty-two, and Aaron was trying to focus, but the voices to his left were prominent in his mind. He could still hear Elliott’s murmurs, Cass’s sobs, sighs and gasps from others. Christian was pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, behind almost everyone. Aurora, free of her handcuffs now that she was no longer a threat, was doubled over on the ground, her hands linked around her knees, her wails having lost their voice minutes ago so that she was no longer making a noise as her body shook and spasmed. Eliza had her arm around the much taller Hunter, trying to be comforting, but Aaron was aware that, of everyone here, Eliza Wrath was the only one who really didn’t care if Cadence ever opened her eyes again. He could feel it rolling off of her in waves of ugliness like the sea during the type of storm that leaves debris littered all over the beach, breaks boats in its wake, and sends sailors to the bottom of the ocean.There were
