Just a few days after her passing, Grandma Janette’s memorial service was held in the church she had attended regularly for the last fifteen years in Des Moines. The obituary said she’d passed of a sudden illness, and no one seemed to question the situation. Cadence had sat through the service stoically, Aaron’s arm around her; she was getting far too familiar with funerals.
While Cassidy’s conversation with her parents had been successful, they asked if she could wait a week or two in order to tie up loose ends at school and give them an opportunity to adjust to life without Grandma Janette. If they were discussing coming with her, they didn’t mention it to Cadence.
By the time Cadence, Aaron, Elliott, and Brandon returned to LIGHTS that weekend, there was a lot of chatter about Elliott’s return, and Aaron called a mandatory meeting for the entire team to assemble that afternoon. Ironically, the only place that was big enough to hold everyone was the same place where Elliott’s memorial had taken place a few months prior.
Even though he had completely opposed the opening of the portal in the first place, Aaron insisted on being the one to provide the explanation and address the team. Many of them already knew Elliott was back because members of the Reno team were talking. Cadence joined Aaron on the dais, but she was only there to answer questions if anyone had specific inquiries of her, and she was given strict instructions that she better toe the line and discourage others from taking actions similar to her own.
The only team member who wasn’t there was Elliott himself who decided it would just be too much to have everyone staring at him and not be able to remember enough information to be able to answer all of the inevitable questions about the afterlife. He would rather answer them one at a time as they came up in passing than be put on the spot.
Cadence hated speaking in front of large crowds, though she’d had experience recently giving tributes at both Jack’s and Elliott’s memorial services, so as she stood next to Aaron behind a small podium, she began to wring her hands. He smiled at her in reassurance, but it didn’t help. She was just thankful he’d be doing the bulk of the talking.
“Hey, kid, breathe,” Elliott said through the IAC, which Christian had re-installed right after they’d returned to headquarters. “You got this.”
“Thanks, dead guy,” Cadence replied. Elliott had done such a great job of helping her through her speech at Jack’s funeral, she really did feel comforted by having him in her head, though. “Sure you don’t want to trade me places?”
“Are you kidding? I’m sittin’ in my boxers, eating Cheetos, watching playoff football. I’m not moving for the next three hours.”
Cadence fought to hold back an inappropriate giggle, since Aaron was beginning to address the team, and she didn’t want anyone to assume she was laughing at him. She bit the inside of her cheek and thought of her grandmother to stifle the laugh as he adjusted the mic and began to speak.
“Good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you all coming out on short notice. I know that there was training scheduled for this time, and we hate to interrupt your agenda, but we have a pretty important topic we need to discuss with you. We’re hoping to keep this meeting as brief as possible while still answering any questions you may have as well as we can. Some have asked why we didn’t just hold the meeting via IAC, and while that is always an option, we felt it was important to actually have everyone in the same room for this type of discussion.”
He cleared his throat, and Cadence wondered if he wasn’t a little nervous himself. She’d never seen him hesitate to address a large crowd, but the topic had to be one he didn’t really want to talk about at all.
Aaron continued. “As most of you probably have heard by now, Dr. Elliott Sanderson, recently deceased, has actually returned to our team.” There were audible gasps and a bit of whispering as people’s suspicions were confirmed by their Leaders. “We do know for certain that it really is Elliott—not someone who looks like him, a clone, or a robot, as has previously been rumored—and while we are very excited to have him back, we know that his presence has raised a lot of questions for many of you.”
“How is this possible?” someone shouted out from the back.
“If you’ll hold all of your questions until the end, I’ll do my best to answer them,” Aaron assured the teammates. “The method that was used to bring Elliott back is highly dangerous and could still have negative consequences. We know that when this method has been used previously, it has actually allowed at least one extremely dangerous Vampire to return as well, and that is why we were very tentative to follow through with the procedure.”
Cadence shifted her weight nervously as he discussed the possibility that what she had done may have put other team members or innocent human lives at risk.
“While we have no evidence that this has been the case to this point, we are continuing to monitor the situation closely so that we can take immediate action should it become necessary. The last time this method was used, it took several decades for us to realize the ramifications.” He paused and surveyed the faces in the crowd. Every eye was trained on him.
“Elliott will return to service as usual immediately, which means he will be visible around headquarters, joining us on hunts, and possibly participating in training. Should you see him, please feel free to say hello, but please refrain from bombarding him with questions. He will be unable to tell you more than what I am presenting to all of you assembled here today.”
“I like that. Leave the bastard alone,” Elliott said through the IAC, and once again, Cadence stifled a laugh.
“While I’m certain you may have many questions about how Dr. Sanderson came to rejoin our team, neither Cadence nor I will be answering such inquiries. Therefore, when I open the floor to questioning, please take that into consideration.” He turned to Cadence, as if he was asking if there was anything she wanted to add, and she shook her head. She definitely had nothing to say.
Aaron returned his attention to the audience. “If anyone has any questions they feel are not related to Elliott’s method of return, I’ll be happy to try to answer them now.”
As soon as he’d finished the statement, dozens of hands went up. “Rusty,” Aaron said, nodding at the older red haired gentleman in the middle of the group.
“What day did Elliott come back?” he asked.
“It was Wednesday, I believe,” Aaron said, as if he wasn’t certain, an attempt to evade more questions about the portal.
He called on a newer Hunter by the name of Sonia. “Did he just show up somewhere and call you to come and get him, or how did you even know he was back? Did he show up here?”
“I believe that’s more than one question,” Aaron said, laughing, though Cadence knew it was an attempt at easing the tension in the room. “I honestly have no idea where Elliott was when he came back. Cadence?”
She was a little shocked to hear him throw that question to her, since she knew he didn’t want her to reveal too much of the information she had. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and leaned into the microphone. “I was there when he came back,” she muttered. “Uhm, all I can say is that I knew there was a possibility he might come back. So… I was there.”
“But where?” Sonia asked again.
“I’d rather not say,” Cadence said, looking at Aaron instead of the brunette asking the question.
“Paxton?” Aaron said, moving along to the next question.
Paxton had a reputation for not being one of the brighter members of the team. “How did Elliott get back anyway? I thought Sam shot him.”
Cadence had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing—not at the question but at Aaron’s reaction. She watched as both of his arms stiffened on the podium and the vein in his neck begin to pop out. “Yes, Paxton,” he began, his face reddening as he attempted to keep his tone even. “Sam did shoot and kill Elliott. But he is back now. That’s why we are meeting today, to talk about that. We are not going to discuss how he came back, however, as I stated earlier. Next question. Ashley?”
The blonde was sitting front and center, and Cadence tried not to glare at her as she smiled and asked her question. “Wasn’t the blue moon Wednesday? Did it have anything to do with that?”
Not even waiting to see how Aaron would respond, Cadence found herself stepping over to the microphone. “As we said earlier, we aren’t going to be answering any questions at all about how Elliott came back, which includes any speculative theories.” She did her best to keep her tone even so that she wouldn’t give any clues that Ashley had hit on something, but she knew her irritation at the girl was likely making her sound a bit too harsh.
Ashley pursed her lips together, her smile gone, and nodded.
“We’ll take one more question,” Aaron said as Cadence stepped back, “and then if you have other questions that you feel fall within the parameters we’ve set, we’ll be happy to answer them over the IAC. Who else?” Several hands shot up, but Cadence had noticed none of her friends had raised their hands even once. She wondered if they just assumed she’d tell them all what happened later or they just didn’t want to stress her any more than necessary.
Aaron called upon an older Guardian sitting in the back. Phyllis cleared her throat and said, “I’ve heard that Janette Findley died the same night Elliott came back. Are the two events related?”
Cadence was startled at the abruptness of the question, and she felt her muscles tighten. Aaron was not as fazed however, and he shrugged lightly, replying, “Not to my knowledge. I have no idea how they could be.”
That answer seemed to satisfy Phyllis and several others who were nodding in agreement, as if they’d all been wondering the same thing.
“All right. Once again, I appreciate your time. You know it is always our intention to be as transparent as possible. However, in situations like this, we have to take into consideration the safety and well-being of everyone. Thanks again for coming, and please return to your regularly scheduled activities.”
