The sound of her sister’s footsteps behind her registered with Cassidy, even though her eyes were closed. She knew Cadence’s cadence, and she was glad to have someone there that she could speak to about all of this.
She turned her head just as Cadence walked into the room. “Can I speak to you for a moment, Sis?” she asked, and Cassidy literally flew up out of the chair, levitating a moment before she put her feet down and headed out the door. Cadence glanced past her in Ashley’s direction, a sympathetic expression there for a moment before it faded away, and the two sisters stepped out into the hallway.
“Christian did know,” she said, her voice calmer than Cassidy would’ve expected. “But we can’t murder him. We need his help in getting them back.”
“And what makes you think he’ll do that?” she asked, folding her arms between them.
“I don’t. But I’ll give him a chance. In the meantime, I need to figure out who reads ancient Scotch Gaelic.”
“Scottish. Scotch is a drink.”
Cadence pursed her lips at her sister but didn’t say anything about the correction. “We need to figure out whether to stay here or go back to headquarters. Something tells me this portal doesn’t just open in West Virginia.”
“I think we should stay here, me and you anyway, and draw Holland out. She can’t get here fast enough, but if she sends in her people—her own goons, not Stewart’s—maybe I can get a location on her.”
Her sister was considering it, she could tell. “And what if we get ourselves killed?”
A snicker escaped Cassidy’s lips before she could suck it in. “That won’t happen.”
Cadence was feeling pretty fierce, too. It was obvious in her stance she was ready to kick some Vampire butt. “I’ll consider it.”
“Okay. Listen, we have another problem. No one has told Mom and Dad anything. And....” She slowly drew her cell phone out of her pocket. “Amanda keeps calling.”
Cadence ran a hand down her face. “Dax’s parents will be worried, too. All right. I’ll call them.”
“All of them?”
Her sister nodded, though Cass thought Cadence might let Tara call Dax’s parents if she wanted to. “Can I use your phone to call Amanda, though? I don’t have her number.”
“Yeah.” She handed it over. It was of no use to her anyway. The only person she wanted to talk to was Brandon.
“No sign of Stewart?”
“Not last I checked,” Cassidy admitted. She hated that she couldn’t find the bastard. Even though she knew it was useless, she closed her eyes and felt out into the universe for the jackass who’d caused this all to go down, expecting the same black wall she’d run into the last hundred times she’d tried. Instead, she got something else. It was a thought, seemingly random at first, but the more she held on, the more it made sense. “Build an army... destroy them before Asteria can. As soon as I arrive in....”
Cassidy’s eyes flew open. “LAX.”
Cadence stared in disbelief for a moment before a grin stretched across her face. Patting Cassidy on the shoulder, she said, “I knew you’d come through. You always do.” She stooped down and kissed the top of her sister’s head, and Cassidy didn’t even feel embarrassed by her for once.
As Cadence’s footsteps echoed back the way she’d come, Cassidy shouted, “What do I do now?”
“Learn Scottish Gaelic?”
“Nope.”
“Find me someone who can read it?”
“Okay.” She had an idea of who that might be already. Cassidy headed back to her seat hoping she’d also get another chance to poke around in Stewart’s head without him knowing what she was doing. He was in for a rude awakening when he landed in Los Angeles, and she wanted to be there to see it go down.
***
The hissing and howling seemed to be getting louder as Aaron and Elliott picked their way down the dark tunnel. Aaron couldn’t quite decipher where the slight illumination was even coming from, but it seemed as if it was shining through the pores in some of the rocks. The entire location was unlike anything he’d ever imagined before. Not only were they essentially in a cave of jagged stones with steam shooting up from the ground from geysers cut into the surface every few feet, a milky fog drifted by at random levels in thin clouds, though sometimes it widened to completely obscure their vision.
Elliott was humming a song Aaron didn’t recognize, and he wished he’d be quiet. It wasn’t loud, but the distant howling seemed to be getting closer, and a new noise, a rattling that reminded him of a very large snake, also presented itself occasionally. The last thing they needed was to announce their presence through a stage show.
“Could you stop that?” Aaron whispered.
“Stop what?” Elliott asked, louder than his boss liked.
“That... humming. That is you, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I’ll try.”
Aaron looked over at him and could tell his best friend felt as miserable as he did. He hadn’t allowed himself to think about what Cadence might be doing. He was sure she had to be beside herself with worry. He hadn’t even told her goodbye, not while she was awake anyway. Finding a way back to her was a necessity.
They came to an opening, the first they’d encountered in what seemed to be about ten minutes of walking. It was hard to see if these were actual paths or if the tunnel was just widening. “Which way do we go?” Elliott asked.
Before Aaron could answer, there was a loud growling noise from his right, and out of the darkness what at first appeared to be a large, black jungle cat with two heads leapt down off a high cliff, catching Elliott’s shoulder and slamming him to the jagged ground. He screamed and clawed at one of the creature’s faces, aiming for its eyes, but the other one had him by the shoulder.
Aaron pulled his Glock, ready to fire at the monster, but he didn’t get the chance. From the blackness to his left, he heard a whoosh and watched as what appeared to be an ax blade passed within a millimeter of his face before sinking into the cat’s back. It screamed in pain, giving Elliott the opportunity he needed to knock the thing off of him. It scurried off into the blackness to their right.
