Once again, Cassidy’s voice drew their attention, though she’d been yelling for at least ten seconds before everyone heard her. “Listen! LISTEN!” Once the rest of them were quiet and looking at her, she said, “I know who came through the portal. I know where they are. I just… just have to… remember.”
Over the sound of Shane’s guffaw, Elliott asked, “Cass, what do you mean?” and rested his hand on her shoulder.
“I mean—I saw them. I saw both of them. There are two. Mina said she also saw it. You all heard, didn’t you?” She glanced around briefly, her face fraught with worry. “She also said I already know everything. I just have to find it. So… let me figure it out.”
“And how long will that take?” Shane asked. “How will we even know we can trust you?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Cadence asked, suddenly drawn into the discussion.
“Nothing,” Shane said, clearly taken aback by her anger. “I meant… how will we even know she has it right. Not that we can’t actually trust her.”
“Choose your words more carefully,” Aaron warned, and Cadence continued to seethe at the Guardian across the room, one she’d never truly cared for, as he tried to back out of insinuating that Cassidy might intentionally steer them wrong since she was half Vampire. Shane only nodded in understanding at his boss’s admonition.
“Look, I don’t know how I know what I know,” Cassidy began. “But I do know some things I shouldn’t. I knew Mina’s name before I entered the room. She mentioned someone like me, and I saw her in my mind, though I didn’t think this had ever happened before.” She was looking at Jamie, and he shook his head. He hadn’t thought so either. “So… I know I can figure it out. I just need some time.”
“We don’t know how much time we have,” Christian reminded them all, his voice even. “Maybe we need to do both. Let Cass think but continue to study this pattern, send out our informants en masse, see what we can find out.”
“We’ve been doing that,” Aaron nodded. “The funny thing is, most of our informants basically fell off the face of the earth a few days ago. They’re not reporting anymore.”
Cadence hadn’t been aware of that either. “Why do you think that is?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Cadence shifted her expression to Cassidy, but she didn’t seem to have the answers either, not right now.
“We need to find out what can kill her,” Christian said quietly, and once again, Cadence’s eyes shifted. A shutter of disbelief rocked her as she realized he was talking about her little sister. “Knowing that will tell us what we can get away with.” His voice was honest, but cautious.
The word, “No,” was out of Cadence’s mouth before it even registered as a thought. Once she was sure of her response, she followed it up with, “Absolutely not.”
“Cadence, we wouldn’t hurt her,” Christian argued.
“No. No experiments on my sister.”
“Not on your sister,” he reasoned.
“What would you need to do?” Cassidy asked, shifting to look at him again. Cadence bit her tongue, hard. “What does that mean?”
Christian shifted and looked at Jamie, who took a deep breath, met Cadence’s gaze, and then addressed Cassidy. “We’d just need to take some tissue samples that Christian and I can run some tests on,” the doctor explained.
“Would it hurt?” Cassidy asked.
“No, not at all,” Jamie replied quickly. “I’d put you under, take the tissue from the inside of your arm, and then sew you up. I’d heal you before you even came to. No pain involved.”
“I think this is an awful idea.” Cadence realized Cassidy was only in this position because she’d failed to protect her all those months ago when they went to Philadelphia. There was no way she could put her in harm’s way again.
“Why not, Cadence?” Cassidy asked, sounding more than a little agitated. “He just said it wouldn’t hurt me.”
“It’s not the tissue samples or the experiments I’m afraid of,” she explained, grappling for the correct words. “It’s what it would lead to. Once we think we know what can kill you, what then? We put you in dangerous situations because we think we know what can make you die? What if we’re wrong?”
“We wouldn’t put her in any dangerous situations for no reason,” Christian said, a hint of defensiveness in his voice. “Don’t you think it would be nice to know what we need to avoid?”
“I already know—everything,” Cadence said, stubbornly. She crossed her arms, realizing she was being slightly unreasonable, even though at the moment fear and sisterly devotion trumped reason.
“Don’t you think this is my decision to make?” Cassidy piped in, sounding like the angry teenager she was.
“No, I don’t,” Cadence shot back.
“Why don’t we table this discussion for another time?” Aaron suggested. He put his hand on Cadence’s shoulder, and she hadn’t even realized he’d stepped over. She jerked away instinctively and immediately regretted it. He put his hand in his pocket and looked from Cassidy to Christian.
Cassidy literally growled but didn’t continue to argue.
“I think we’ve covered everything we needed to talk about,” Aaron finally said, once he was sure he’d regained everyone’s attention. “I suggest we all go get some rest and meet again tomorrow afternoon to see what’s changed on these maps. In the meantime, keep your ears open for anomalies. Let’s gather as much information as we can, okay? Anything else?”
“Uh, yeah,” Aurora said, and Cadence could tell she didn’t want to speak up, so it must’ve been important. “Dax Forest arrives tomorrow to start his training. Not sure if he might have some information for us, but it might be worth talking to him.”
Dax Forest—the park ranger from Angeles State Park. “Great, thanks,” Cadence said for both her and Aaron, and Aurora nodded, an indication that she felt her job as head trainer was done.
“Okay—thanks again, everyone. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
