Cadence opened her eyes to see the sun was long gone and a full, slightly red moon had taken its place. Her hand immediately went to her eyes, and she rolled over to see her sister sitting on the edge of the bed, which made her jump. “Oh, good. You’re alive after all,” Cassidy muttered, not even turning her head away from the open window to look her sister in the face.
“What time is it?” Cadence asked, grappling for a glass of water she’d set on the nightstand before she’d fallen asleep. She hadn’t meant to doze off; the last thing she remembered, Aaron was assuring her everything was just fine, and he’d be back in no time at all. Now, before her sister even answered, she noticed the time on her IAC. It was 2:15 in the morning, which meant the Eidolon Festival had already started, and Aaron had been gone for over an hour. She hadn’t even had a chance to tell him goodbye.
“I have a funny feeling,” Cassidy said, her eyes still not leaving the glowing round object in the sky. “I keep going over everything in my head. I’m even feeling out to every Vampire I can reach. As soon as one of the Guardians sees a new one, I jump into their head, as quickly as I can. But... I can’t put my finger on it.”
“I’ve felt the same way for the last few days,” Cadence admitted. She left her stoic sister on the bed for a moment and went to the bathroom. When she came back, Cassidy still hadn’t moved. Cadence had fallen asleep in her clothes, except for her boots, and even though she wasn’t planning on going anywhere, she put them on and glanced around the room for her Glock. It was where she’d left it, on top of the dresser. Her IAC was on, and she had a message from Aaron telling her goodnight, and he’d see her in the morning. She quickly asked for visuals from him and Elliott, glad to see they were together.
“Why are you awake, beautiful?” her husband asked. “Everything’s fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said, noticing this festival looked a lot like the one she’d been to. Through his eyes, she could see a large bonfire with belly dancers gyrating in front of it. Off in the distance, a band played on a makeshift stage, and what looked like a hundred people or so were dancing, jumping up and down to the beat of the music. Seeing it again after what had happened when she was there sent a chill down her spine.
“It’s really pretty uneventful as festivals go. There aren’t that many humans here, and so far most of them are leery of getting too close to anyone they don’t know. Really, it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
She wanted to believe him, but there was still something unsettling in her gut. She thought she was picking up on something in his tone as well, as if he didn’t quite know if he was speaking the truth or not. “I’m sure everything will be fine. I don’t want to distract you, but do you mind if I just keep your visuals on? You don’t have to talk to me or anything.”
“You know you’re always welcome to stay in my head,” he said, and through Elliott’s IAC, she could see that smirk develop on his handsome face. She wished he was there with her now and not across town, out in a field somewhere, watching the Vampires play.
“You ain’t missin’ nothin’,” Elliott assured her. “May as well watch QVC and put yourself back to sleep.”
She giggled thinking that was probably about all that was on that time of night. “Where’s your son?”
“Uh, he’s with Jamie. Somewhere. I told him to go edumacate himself while he’s standin’ around, so the doc’s learnin’ him something or other. I don’t know.”
“You are starting to sound like maybe you should live in the parts of Appalachia most people are afraid to visit,” Cadence noted.
“I know, right? I’ve heard about every kind of crazy accent imaginable tonight, so I’m just trying them on for size.”
Cadence rolled her eyes, not that he could see her face. “All right. Stay out of trouble, weirdo.”
“You know I won’t.” He snickered, and her fingers immediately went to the necklace he’d given her which was still around her neck. She had a feeling his words might be true, though she didn’t know why, and she didn’t know what could possibly befall her friend who couldn’t die that would make her feel that way.
“Cadence,” Cassidy said, her voice unsteady as she stood and took a few steps toward the window. “What’s wrong with the moon?”
Cadence slid across the bed and stood up, not sure what her sister was getting at. It looked nearly the same to her, though the red was becoming more prevalent. “It’s a blood moon, remember?” she said, placing her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “It’s just turning... redder.”
“No, there’s something wrong with it. Look at it! It’s moving!”
“What?” Cadence asked, leaning forward toward the window screen a bit to get a better look. “Cassidy, I don’t see anything.”
Her sister gasped and covered her hands with her mouth. “It’s moving! It’s opening! We need to get over there, right now!”
Cadence had no idea what her sister was seeing, but she was terrified just the same that something was wrong with Cassidy or something was going terribly wrong across town. “Aaron—can you see the moon? Cass thinks there’s something going on with it.”
“The moon?” he asked, looking up at the orb in the sky. From his vantage point, it looked exactly the same to Cadence as it did out her window, nothing was moving, nothing was opening. “What does she mean?”
“I don’t know. But she thinks we need to come over there, to where you are.”
“Don’t do that,” he said, and his voice conveyed he meant it. “Cadence, the moon is fine.”
“Is Cass okay?” Suddenly, Brandon’s voice was in her head. “She just... blacked out on me.”
“I don’t know,” Cadence admitted. “Listen, Brandon, she seems to think something’s wrong with the moon.”
“I heard that part.”
“Do you know where your dad is?” Cadence’s arms were still around her sister’s shoulders, even though Cassidy’s eyes were closed now, and she could feel some sort of vibrations radiating throughout her body. Cadence considered moving her over to the bed, but she didn’t know how her sister would react.
“Yeah, he’s over on the other side of that big tent.” Brandon’s voice was quivering with concern.
“Maybe you should go over there with him. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m worried.”
“Is Cass all right? Do I need to go back to the B and B?”
Clearly, he wasn’t listening to her advice about finding his dad. “No, don’t.” Cadence looked out the window again. The moon wasn’t moving. It was just hanging there, like it always did, though it was a darker red now than it had been a few moments ago. “Find your dad.”
“Are you coming here? She said something about coming here.”
“Just now?” Cassidy’s eyes were still shut, and it looked like she was in some sort of a deep trance. Cadence was having a hard time multitasking. “No. Just... find Elliott. I’m going to have to turn my IAC off for a second to help Cass.”
She didn’t wait to see if Aaron and Elliott had also gotten that message or if they had any idea what was happening, but Cadence had to focus all of her attention on Cassidy. She tried moving her backward, toward the bed, but her sister was rigid and wouldn’t move on her own accord. “Cass! Open your eyes!”
Cassidy didn’t. The vibrations got stronger, and Cadence realized her sister’s feet had come off of the ground. “Cass? You aren’t going to be able to float up to the moon!” She had no idea if that’s what Cassidy was trying to do, but Cadence let go of her long enough to turn and shut the window. She pulled the curtains closed, and Cassidy’s eyes immediately popped open.
“What the hell happened?” Cassidy asked, looking around the room like she wasn’t sure where she’d been.
Cadence stood back, her hands shaking. “I don’t know,” she said, still terrified. “But it wasn’t normal. Are you okay?”
Cassidy looked down, taking stock of herself. “I think so. What did I say?”
“You said the moon was moving, that it was opening,” Cadence repeated, her voice still trembling. “I thought you were going to levitate right out the window.”
Sinking down on the edge of the bed, Cassidy took several deep breaths. “That’s crazy,” she muttered. “I wonder... maybe Holland infiltrated my mind for a moment. Maybe she was trying to draw us out.”
“Maybe,” Cadence admitted. She sat down next to her sister, wrapping her arm around her. “Whatever it was, don’t ever do that again, okay? You scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry,” Cassidy mumbled. But then her back went straight again. “Cadence—I can’t find Brandon.”
“What?” Cadence asked, alarm setting in again. “What do you mean?”
“He’s gone. His IAC is gone. I can’t even reach him telepathically.”
Certain it must be whatever she’d just gone through messing with her, Cadence tried to get visuals from Brandon herself and realized she couldn’t. Taking a deep breath, she tried to get Aaron—and got nothing. Nor could she find Elliott. Or Jamie.
“Cadence... what the hell is happening?” Cassidy asked, the panic setting in all over again.
“Maybe it’s just Holland messing with our IACs again,” she rationalized. “You know how she interfered with mine during the warehouse hunt. She could be doing it again, just to upset us.”
“I know that, Cadence. But the last time, you ended up shooting Aaron and almost killing him, remember?”
Her sister didn’t need to remind her. “All right. Let’s try not to panic.”
“Cadence, what if it’s something really bad?”
Cassidy had a point. She hadn’t felt right about this festival since the moment Aaron had mentioned to her. Now, screw the rules. “I don’t know what’s going on, Cass. But I agree. We need to get over there right now.”
