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 of these are mine.”
“And I will take good care of them,” Christian replied, gently placing his hands around the container.
Reluctantly, Jamie released it. “Store them carefully.”
“You know I will,” Christian called as he disappeared down the hallway.
Jamie took his gloves off and tossed them into a trashcan on the other side of the open door. “She’s fine. She should wake up on her own in a few minutes.”
“Can I go in?” Brandon asked, already taking a few steps in that direction before Jamie replied.
“Sure,” the doctor said, stepping out of the way. Brandon went in, and Jamie moved into the hallway so that the door was closed behind him.
“No problems at all?” Cadence clarified.
“Nope. She’s a champ.”
Even though she hadn’t thought there was anything wrong, it was good to hear. Cadence glanced around. “Are we alone?” she asked, her voice lowered.
Elliott glanced over each shoulder and then said, “Yeah, except for Harvey the rabbit.”
Jamie laughed, and Cadence assumed that was a reference from before her time. “I mean… does anyone have their IAC on to anyone who isn’t right here in the hallway with us.”
“No, why?” Jamie asked as Elliott confirmed he didn’t have his on either.
With a deep breath, Cadence said, “I want to talk to both of you—and Christian—about….” Somehow saying out loud seemed like a betrayal, but she felt it was important. And it wouldn’t be the first time she’d gone behind Aaron’s back. “About the titanium bullets.”
“Right,” Jamie nodded. “I’ve been thinking about, that, too.”
“Thinking about what?” Christian asked, coming down the hallway with a big grin still plastered on his face.
“Titanium,” Elliott replied.
“Oh.” Christian nodded. “Right. Yeah, I’m not sure if it will make any difference against these new breeds of spooks, but I do think it would be worth a try.”
Cadence was glad to hear she wasn’t the only one who’d felt that way. “Cool. We need to figure out the best way to bring it up.”
“I thought you were an equal in this now,” Elliott said, a twinkle in his eye like he was about to give her trouble. “Can’t you just start making demands?”
A snort escaped Cadence before she could hold it back. “I think we all know we are equals in name only. If that. I don’t even have a Hunter on the Leadership team.”
“Yeah, about that,” Elliott went on. “What is this new Leadership team I hear talk of? How long was I dead?”
“The four of us just meet once a month to go over things, that’s all,” Jamie said, like it was no big deal.
“I’ve always felt like there should be five people on it.” Christian seemed to be standing slightly taller. “You know, to break a tie.”
“I concur,” Elliott agreed with him, for once.
“You do know that would mean I would be on the team, right?” Christian asked, and Cadence could feel an argument coming on.
“The hell you would. I outrank you.”
“Says who?” Christian shot back.
“Stop!” Cadence said, literally stepping between them and putting her arms up. “We’re not having this debate right now.” She honestly didn’t know who was next in command. She’d always thought Elliott was second in rank after Aaron before she was informed that it was really Hannah and then Jamie. After that, she didn’t know. It was just very apparent there were no Hunters anywhere near the top of the hierarchy other than herself, something that irritated her to no end. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have ties. We don’t vote on things. We just discuss them, and then Aaron and I decide what to do.”
“Irregardless--” Elliott began.
“It’s just regardless.” Christian rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
“Beg your pardon?” Elliott took a step forward, like he was hard of hearing.
“It’s just regardless. Irregardless isn’t really a word. And it means regardless,” the former Revolutionary War soldier explained.
“I’ll talk however I wanna talk. If I wanted to sound all prim and proper I would’ve really gone to medical school.” Cadence put a hand on his chest and gave him a gentle nudge backward. She was standing right in the middle of them now, and the longer the two of them spoke, the more she started to think perhaps Christian’s siren theory wasn’t as far off as she’d originally thought. Why else would she have been able to talk him into helping her bring Elliott back from the dead when Christian clearly couldn’t stand him?
“I think we should discuss it,” Jamie offered, as always, the voice of reason. He turned to check on his patient and then added, “But it looks like Cass is awake. Let’s send the kids on their way, and then we can go into my office and sit down and talk like grownups.” He looked directly at Elliott and raised an eyebrow when he added the last part.
“Why are you looking at me? Just cause I don’t predate the telephone don’t mean I ain’t a grownup.”
Not responding, Jamie turned and went into the other room to check on Cassidy, and Elliott looked at Cadence.
Quietly, she said, “You’re not a grownup. That’s okay. It’s overrated,” and patted him on the arm. He seemed to accept that, and Christian made a sort of low “humph” sound which she wasn’t sure what to make of. Cadence wondered how in the world Aaron had put up with these two for as long as he had.
