Brandon was already moving toward his father before even realizing he’d said nothing to Jamie to let him know about the conversation he’d been having with Cadence and Cassidy. The Healer reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Brandon? What’s going on?” Jamie asked, stopping the teen and spinning him around.
“I don’t know. Something weird is going on with Cassidy. I need to find my dad.” His eyes trained over the crowd, seeking out his father’s familiar face but not seeing him anywhere.
“Okay,” Jamie said with a reassuring nod. “They’re over there.” He gestured in the direction of the big tent, the way Brandon had been walking before the doctor had slowed him down. Jamie didn’t take his hand off his shoulder as they moved in that direction.
Unless he used his superhuman speed, which might alarm the Vampires dancing and gallivanting around between his current location and where he needed to be, it would take a few moments. Brandon grappled with the idea of mowing them all over, but he didn’t want to be the one to take what had, so far, been a peaceful get together to something more.
A woman with long blonde hair stepped right in front of him “Oh, sorry,” she muttered, but every time tried to move, she stepped directly into his path. It almost seemed like she was doing it on purpose. Just when he was about to pick her up and move her out of the way, she stepped aside, and mumbling a few curse words at her under his breath, Brandon got around her.
“Try to take some deep breaths,” Jamie suggested. “Whatever is going on with Cassidy, it’s probably not as bad as you think it is.”
He froze in his tracks and turned to face the Healer. “She was shouting something about the moon... moving,” he replied, running his hand through his hair. “She sounded really crazy, Jamie. And then Cadence said she blacked out.”
“I can see why that would be startling, but let’s see if we can get her back on the IAC. Maybe she’s all right by now.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He hadn’t tried since Cadence had turned him off, but it had been several minutes now. Maybe everything was better. He tried to access her, but just before he sent the signal, something in the distance caught his attention. Across an open space, on the other side of a flaming bonfire, he thought he saw a familiar form. A girl, moving quickly in his direction. “Is that... Cass?” he asked, pointing to the woman, dressed in black, with long, flowing dark hair, who seemed to be running right at them.
Jamie turned to look where Brandon was pointing. “It looks like her. But... how could she get here so fast?”
“I don’t know.” His feet were already moving in that direction. Behind him, he heard the familiar shout of his name and realized they’d walked over to where Dax and Alex were stationed. Brandon didn’t have time to talk to his friend right now. He needed to see whether or not the girl running toward him was Cassidy. Worry consumed him as he picked up speed, not even realizing where he was headed until he heard a strange chanting and everything around him went black.
* * *
“What the hell is going on?” Elliott asked, turning to face Aaron with his hands on his hips. “Cass thinks the moon is moving?”
“I don’t know. The whole thing is... odd.”
“You had Christian check everything, right? I mean everything? Every legend, every story, every damn book in that whole stinking archive no one ever uses?”
“Yes,” Aaron confirmed. “He said he couldn’t find anything alarming at all. That the blood moon was just red from the eclipse, and there was nothing to worry about.”
“Where is that son of a bitch anyway?” Elliott asked, turning back around and surveying the landscape.
“He’s stationed on the west side, over by the parking lot,” Aaron reminded him. “I haven’t heard much out of him all night.”
Elliott shook his head, not sure what to think. Christian Henry was a damn dirty scoundrel, not one to be trusted. Elliott should’ve done some research himself, even if that wasn’t his strong suit. At least Cass had climbed around inside Mika Ito’s head, and if she couldn’t find anything nefarious going on inside of the organizer’s mind, maybe they would be okay, but he couldn’t help but think maybe Cadence and Cassidy were in danger. “I think I should head back to the B and B,” he said, finally turning back to face his boss.
Aaron took in a deep breath. “Maybe so.”
“I know you need to stay here. But I don’t like this.”
Aaron nodded and opened his mouth. Elliott thought for sure he’d tell him to go, but then his forehead crinkled, and instead of giving him the okay, he said, “What the hell?”
Elliott turned back to look in the direction the Guardian Leader was staring. Off in the distance, across an opening in the crowd, a woman was hurrying their direction. She had long, dark hair, and from this distance, she looked like Cadence. “How could she get here so quickly?”
“I don’t know,” Aaron admitted. “Maybe it’s not her.”
Elliott remembered Laura changing herself to look like Drew. He had a point. “Well, we can’t hardly let some Vampire run around impersonating your wife all night. Come on.” Whatever was happening, they needed to get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later.
Aaron seemed more hesitant than Elliott felt, but after a second, his feet began to move, and they headed in the direction of the approaching woman, cautiously. It wasn’t until Elliott stepped over an oddly placed bucket of water, nearly shattering a mirror in the process, that he realized something was wrong. Off in the distance, he heard someone shout, “Leig solas na fala fala a-mach d ’anam!” and then everything went black.
