“How’s it going?” Cadence inquired, no longer ready to push up out of his chair.
“It is going. It is going,” Elliott replied, tossing his jacket on the back of the recliner, the breeze brushing Cadence’s hair up off of her shoulders. “You will never guess who I ran into downstairs.”
Cadence knew by his happy demeanor he must not have any idea about Sam, and she supposed she’d have to tell him, but there was no reason to spoil it yet. “Who?”
“Your beloved. And… it was weird, but he was back to his old self for a few moments. It was… strange.”
He was headed into the kitchen, so Cadence followed him, her eyes narrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?” The idea that Aaron could be himself again, even for a few minutes, was almost unfathomable. The closest she’d seen to it in weeks had been before and after her procedure, and it hadn’t lasted, obviously.
“Yeah, it was the oddest thing. He was talking to Juan Diego, so I didn’t say anything to him, ‘cause you know how that guy is terrified of me.” He opened the refrigerator and rifled around for a minute before pulling out a carton of Chinese takeout which he smelled and then shrugged over before popping it into the microwave.
“And? And?”
“And I could see he was, you know, being salty with the poor guy, so I kinda hung back, but then, something seemed to change. His eyes shifted a little, and the next thing I know, he’s telling Juan what a great job he’s doing, like he’s his old self again. So as soon as Juan leaves, I walk over and ask him how it’s going, and he says he feels good. Really good. And he’s smiling at me like there ain’t nothin’ wrong in the world. So I’m like, great because we’ve been a little worried about you. And he kinda shrugs and says he knows, but then, almost as quickly as it came, it was gone, and then he was all morose again and turned around and walked away. I called after him, but he was gone, and I didn’t feel like chasing him down just to be told to go to hell. Weird, huh?”
The microwave beeped, and he pulled out his food, stirring it up with a fork before sticking it back in. Cadence leaned back against the counter, not sure what to say. “That is all very weird.”
“So… anyway, maybe there’s hope after all. Maybe Hannah got a handle on him for a second. Or hell, maybe the idea of maintenance being on top of their game is delightful. Either way, he’s in there somewhere.”
There was so much information Elliott had missed out on recently, Cadence didn’t even know how much to tell him and what to skip. She decided to leave most of it out. “Well, I’m arranging a hunt to go get Spittle, and he says no Guardians allowed.”
“Say what now?” The microwave beeped again, and he pulled his food out. Happy with the heat level this time, he popped open a pair of chopsticks from the silverware drawer, and though he was holding them correctly, they seemed more like a shovel when he started to use them.
“Yeah, that’s what he said last night. Cass is going to get me some intel in a bit, and then I’ll make a decision about who is going.”
“Well, I’m going. Cause he can’t kill me.”
She smiled, glad he had her back. “No, but he can transfer you.”
Laughing hysterically, Elliott walked out of the room, but he wasn’t headed for the living room. Instead, he turned the other direction, and Cadence knew he was walking toward his bedroom because she’d been in there once before. When he was dead. She followed, despite being slightly uncomfortable.
In his room, there was now a large recliner positioned in front of a large flat screen TV. His bed was shifted so that it was in the corner. “Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the foot of the bed, and Cadence decided to sit so as not to be rude. His bed was made, which didn’t surprise her, since he rarely slept, but the room was still messier than she would’ve liked. Still, she’d hung out in her male friends’ from high schools’ rooms enough times that this shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
“He won’t transfer me.”
“He says he will.”
“He can kiss my ass. And I say that with as much love and affection as a person can.”
She didn’t know what else to say about it, so she decided to get to the other pressing topic. “Has anyone told you about… Sam?”
Elliott had the remote in his hand and pressed the on button, flipping through channels as he replied. “No. What? Did the old son of a bitch finally die?”
“Not exactly,” Cadence replied, staring at a stain on the carpet she thought could’ve been soy sauce. Or taco sauce. Or one of several different kinds of condiments.
He was looking at her now, even though the remote was still pointed at the TV. “Speak, Cadence.”
“He’s… undead.”
The Chinese food nearly went flying out of his hand as he scrambled to put it on his dresser. “Say what now?”
“I know, it’s shocking. Hines went and got him last night from Leavenworth. Sprung Laura, too. We have no idea what they want with either one of them, but I guess they think they’re valuable somehow.”
Elliott stared at her with his mouth hanging open for a long moment before he finally shrugged and said, “Well, I guess this’ll give me a chance to kill him then. Get some revenge.”
She was glad that’s the way he was choosing to handle it. She wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to rip the old man’s head from his shoulders either. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it. Did you get a chance to talk to Hannah?” She almost didn’t want him to answer the question.
But he did. Picking up his takeout container off of the dresser, he said, “Yeah, she said she’s tried everything she can. It’s weird. She can send the happy thoughts his way, but it’s like they get absorbed by something before she can make a dent in his… disposition. She said she’s never seen anything like it before.”
Cadence let out a heavy breath. “Did she say if she’d tried anything else?”
“She said she’s tried getting him to sit down and talk to her, like a therapy session, but he always says he’s too busy. So she volunteered to take something off of his plate, but he won’t designate anything to her. It’s like he’s stuck in overdrive, and the engine just keeps going round and round until….”
“Until it eventually tears itself apart from the inside?”
His green eyes were sympathetic, but he was nodding. “We’ll figure it out, Cadence. There’s got to be a solution. Between Jamie and Dr. Morrow, there’s got to be something we can do, don’t you think?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. Nothing I say seems to make a difference. He sat with me the whole time I was out, which made me think that maybe he was making progress, but it’s like all the craziness got stored up, and the next time I talked to him was when he told me no Guardians can go to Lexington.” She pulled herself up off of the foot of the bed, realizing she wasn’t going to find any answers in Elliott’s bedroom.
“Well, the fact that I saw him acting like himself earlier gives me hope that we can find a way to extract him.” He tossed the empty food container in a trash can nearby, along with the chopsticks, and stood. “Cadence, I know this isn’t easy, but we’ll figure it out. You’re going to be all right.”
She walked into his embrace, fighting the tears. At least he smelled like himself this time, and not like Aurora, though there was a tinge of orange chicken lingering in the air. “Thanks. I know we’ll find a way to help him. I just….” Once again, she was unable to finish her thoughts.
“Why don’t you go to the gym? I bet you haven’t worked out today, have you? You’ll be able to get in your miles finished in half the time now.”
She chuckled, thinking that was true, though her plan had been to go twice as far, back when she thought the day would be normal. “That’s a good idea, but there’s a lot to do.”
“Not anything that won’t wait. As soon as Cass has some numbers, I’ll let you know. We’ll get the band back together and go fight some Vampires. Okay?”
“Okay,” Cadence agreed. Her feet weren’t moving yet, though, as she continued to rest her head on Elliott’s chest. He rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head, and she realized how much she’d missed being touched by someone who cared about her. It seemed like forever since Aaron had shown her any sort of affection at all that wasn’t forced.
Laughter from the living room caught her attention, and she realized she needed to go. “Thanks, Elliott,” she said as released him.
“Anytime, kid. Just be careful not to tear up the treadmill. Juan Diego’s already pretty busy fixin’ all the holes you’ve been makin’ in the walls.”
She giggled as she headed out of his bedroom, making sure her footsteps were loud in case the teens in the living room had moved on from studying and needed an announcement that they were about to have company. “Cass, get those numbers to Elliott as soon as you can, okay?” she said in her best gentle-reminder/I’m-not-bossing-you-around-voice.
“Will do,” her sister nodded, and Cadence waved at both of them before she headed out the door. Hopefully, some time alone on the treadmill would be enough to make her feel better for a little while. What was certain, however, was that all of her problems would be waiting for her as soon as she hit the last mile marker.
