Hearing familiar voices coming from the apartment, Cadence decided not to knock and wasn’t surprised when she was able to open the door. Brandon and Cassidy were sitting on the sofa while Tara, Dax, and Lucy were sitting on the loveseat and chair respectively, a couple of pizzas on the coffee table. The teens didn’t even end their conversation as she walked in, though it didn’t matter since Cadence had no idea what they were talking about. Something about birds, blindfolds, and a river. “Hey, Cass, Mom wants you home soon, so can I interrupt?”
“Sorry,” her sister said, as Dax finished his sentence, and no one jumped in with another comment, at least not while Cadence was asking for quiet. “What is it?”
Cassidy didn’t seem agitated, just preoccupied. Cadence dropped down to the armrest near her, though she’d be speaking across Brandon. She glanced around at the others and decided it wasn’t anything they couldn’t hear. Even though Lucy hadn’t Transformed yet, she knew just about everything there was to know about the Ternion. “You remember I told you Elliott and I encountered some sort of crocapire last night?”
“Yeah?” Cassidy said, leaning back a little.
“We want you to see if you can figure out what that was all about. Can they shift into whatever they want to now, or was that just a one-time deal? Also, can you check and make sure Hines still hasn’t perfected his solution? We need to make sure Holland hasn’t made any progress on anything. It’s been a few days since you’ve checked in, hasn’t it?”
“No.” At first Cadence thought her sister was saying she wouldn’t do it, but then she un-huffed her shoulders and said, “I check in all the time. Hines is confusing me. He seems to think he’s found something, and then he’s certain he hasn’t. I’ll check again. Also, something odd is going on with Holland. It’s almost like she’s sick or something. It’s weird. When I was in her head last night, she knew I was there, but she was ignoring me, and I felt… like sick to my stomach or something. Can Vampires be sick?”
Cadence was taken aback. “I don’t think so. That is weird. Was she wounded or anything?”
“Nah, I don’t think so. Maybe she’s just anxious. She still cries about Carter all the time. I mean…. All. The. Time. It’s annoying.”
“Sorry,” Cadence muttered, not sure what else she was supposed to say. She hadn’t killed the demonic Vampire in order to annoy her sister. “Anything else?”
“Just the same thing I’ve been telling you and Aaron both for the past few weeks. I know I can get a location on Spittle and the rest of the escapees whenever you’re ready to go. I think they’ve split into two groups, though. Maybe more. But I think I know where he is.”
Drawing a deep breath in through her nose, Cadence said the same thing she had been saying every time her sister brought that up. “I know. We’re talking about it.” Why Aaron was reluctant to move in on the Vampires who had escaped from their very facility was beyond her, but she hadn’t been able to convince him it was a good move yet. “See if you can get some more info on that, too, I guess.” It wouldn’t hurt to try again.
“’Kay,” Cassidy agreed. “When? Tonight? Does Mom know?”
“I told her I needed your help tonight. She said that meant you’d have less time to spend with your friends.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes, and Brandon squeezed her hand. He probably didn’t like having his girlfriend’s parents upstairs either, but he had never said anything negative in front of Cadence.
“How are you doing, Luce?” Cadence asked, turning to her sister’s friend who was practically swallowed up in Elliott’s recliner. “Hanging in there?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Lucy said. Her light blue eyes didn’t have the same twinkle in them as they did before her dad’s untimely death. “I got all of my homework done, in case your mom asks.”
Cadence tried to ignore the sarcasm in the girl’s voice. “She asked how you were. Glad you’re doing okay. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Actually…” Lucy said, and Cadence braced herself, wondering if she was going to ask for money or her own apartment. “Do you think it would be okay of I started watching the training sessions? At least the ones with Aurora? I know I can’t participate yet, but if I could watch… that would be cool.”
It hadn’t been what she was expecting. “Yeah, sure. I’ll ask her,” Cadence said. It seemed like a good idea and a harmless one. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Lucy would’ve requested for Jamie to go ahead and try the Transformation serum or something much more difficult to agree to.
“Thanks,” Lucy said, and Cadence nodded at her before pulling herself up off of the couch.
“Okay, you should probably go do your homework before Mom blows a gasket.”
Cassidy’s huff was back, and it billowed out of her mouth like a pocket of gas escaping a geyser. “Are you going back up there?”
“Nope,” Cadence knew better than that.
“Okay, then, how long did you say I’d be gone?”
“Like, a half-hour tops.”
Cassidy seemed to check the time on her IAC. “Then I have twenty minutes.” A wicked smile spread across her face.
Shaking her head, Cadence headed for the door. “You kids behave.” She suddenly understood why Elliott always said he felt like he had more than one teenager now. Thinking of him reminded her of what she’d seen at the gym. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “Brandon, do you know where your dad is?” She tried to sound nonchalant, like she was just wondering, not like she knew herself.
“No. Out doing important Guardian stuff, I guess.”
“Right,” Cadence nodded. She really wanted to ask if he knew anything, if he was aware that something might be going on with Elliott and Aurora, but she thought, if she were Elliott, she wouldn’t appreciate someone asking her kid that question, particularly if said kid was oblivious. “How’s your mom?”
“Better,” he said with a smile. “I talked to her last night. Rehab seems to be working. She’s signed up to take college classes in the summer.”
“That’s awesome.” Cadence’s smile was genuine. Amanda Keen was getting the help she needed, thanks to Elliott, and she couldn’t help but wonder what life might’ve been like for Brandon if his mother would’ve let his father know he existed. “See you guys.”
A chorus of goodbyes sent her out the door, and she supposed they were back to their discussion about whatever she had interrupted. There were lots of hunts going on around the world, other smaller raids like the one she’d participated in the night before, and she had Area Leaders to check in with, so she headed up to her apartment, thinking Aaron was probably in the office they shared across campus and would most likely rather be alone at the moment. She’d let him have his space for now, but she knew something was going to have to change soon. She’d be damned before she’d lose him again.
