The line was silent for a moment, and she was sure her mom was contemplating how in the world a good mother could leave her youngest daughter alone when she was hurting so badly, but things had not been good between Cassidy and their parents lately, particularly their mom, so Cadence knew Cass wouldn’t want to talk to their mother about Brandon. Finally, her mother just said, “Okay. I’ll... give her some space.”
“Thanks. Thank you for handling the wedding, too, both of you. I just can’t do that right now. I can’t think about it.” Once again, she glanced down at her ring. She wondered if Aaron had his, too, or if he’d left it in his bags. The thought that his stuff was back at the B and B, that it would need packed up, that she’d have to touch his things and put them in a suitcase, one he’d packed just yesterday, made her stomach hurt, and the tears would no longer stay put. They insisted on cascading down her cheeks.
“Is there anything else we can do, sweetheart?” her dad asked, and it was almost like she was a six-year-old again, with a burst balloon or a dropped ice cream cone.
“No, Dad. Thanks. I’ll let you know if I think of anything, though, okay?”
“We love you so much, Cadence. And your sister,” her mom assured her, and Cadence could tell she was crying, too.
“I love you, too. So does Cass. I’ve gotta go.” She didn’t wait to hear them say goodbye. Instead, she put her phone away and sunk down on the edge of the walkway, fighting the tears and losing the battle. She was glad to be alone and hoped no one was watching from inside the building. She hadn’t let herself really cry yet, hadn’t had time to, but knew the tears were going to find a way to the surface no matter what.
Another message from Aurora popped up, and Cadence decided it might be wise to go ahead and answer it. “Hey—sorry. Been busy.”
“I guess everyone is,” her friend replied. “I’ve messaged you a bazillion times.”
“Yep. Lot’s going on. You okay?”
“Sure? Why wouldn’t I be? Just heading over to the church to help your mom out.”
Cadence checked the time. It was a quarter till eight. It seemed like it should be around four in the morning still. Clearly, Aurora didn’t know what happened. She wondered if Meagan and Shane knew. “Aurora...”
She didn’t get to finish. “Is everything okay with Elliott? I mean, I know he’s mad at me or whatever, but I’ve been trying to at least be friendly to him. I tried messaging him this morning, and he completely ignored me, like he wasn’t even there. Is he that pissed?”
“No, babe. He’s not pissed. He’s gone. You haven’t heard about the portal, then?”
“What? Are you joking around? That’s not funny, dude.”
“No, I’m not joking,” Cadenced assured her, tired of repeating herself. “A Blood Moon Portal opened last night at the Eidolon Festival, Roar. It sucked up Elliott, Brandon, Alex, Dax, Jamie... and Aaron. So, no I’m not joking. Can you go ahead and let everyone else who’s still there in Shenandoah with you know because apparently that’s not being handled the way I expected.” She thought for sure Hannah would be on top of that. How hard was it to send out a freaking memo to everyone on the team?
Aurora didn’t answer for a long time, but when she came back through she was obviously emotional. “Oh, God! Cadey, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. How are you?”
“Not good.” She pulled herself up off of the cracked, weathered concrete and headed for the door. “But I’ve got to get back to work. We need to figure out what happened.”
“Right. What can I do?”
“I don’t know. Get in touch with Hannah. She’s headed back to HQ. She might have a job for you.”
“Okay. Let me know if you need anything, though, all right, girl?”
“Yep.”
Cadence clicked off and walked back into the bustling office building, headed to find Job and Oswald. Maybe they’d made some progress while she was out spreading the bad news. She saw Cassidy rushing in her direction and paused, thinking she probably just wanted her phone back.
“Take a look at this,” she said, stopping just in front of her. She sent over a picture through her IAC.
It was a photo of a cell phone. Cadence zoomed in on the message and read, “Oh, my God, Tara! I’m so sorry, baby! I don’t know what happened or where the hell I am, but I love you so much. I’ll get back to you, one way or another, I promise.”
Confused, she read the message three more times. “But... when did he send that? Before the portal opened, I guess?”
“Look at the time. She received it at 7:00 AM our time. When I talked to her, she was all confused, wondering how in the world what I was saying could possibly be true.”
It was confusing. How could Dax have sent a text to his girlfriend after the portal swallowed him up? “I don’t understand either,” Cadence admitted. “Have you heard from Brandon?”
“No,” Cassidy said, checking the phone she’d just snatched out of her sister’s hands and double-checking. “But... if this really came from inside of the portal....”
“Or maybe he sent it before, and for some reason, it wasn’t delivered until after he was taken.”
“I don’t know,” Cassidy said. “Why would he be apologizing and saying he didn’t know where he was?”
“Good question. West Virginia is God’s country, but it’s not like wherever the hell they are now.”
“Cadence, I think... there’s a chance this came from inside, and if so, we might be able to communicate with them, which theoretically would make it a lot easier to get them out.”
“How, though, Cass? I mean, here, I’ll text Aaron right now. ‘Hey, babe! So you got sucked into a portal. Man, that stinks! Hope you’re having a good time!’”
“Don’t send that!” Cassidy pulled the phone out of her hands using her levitation powers. “Is that really what you want him to hear from you? What if I’m right?”
“Fine. You text Brandon and let me know if he answers. Believe me, I hope you’re right, but I think if they could use their phones, they’d be calling us already. Did Tara try texting him back?”
Cassidy’s face fell. “Yeah. She got a message failure every time she tried to send it. She set it up to keep trying until it goes through.” She deleted the message Cadence had typed out and handed the phone back.
“Well, if it goes through, let me know. In the meantime, I have to get Daniel and his team to LAX to intercept Stewart, see if Job and the others have come up with anything, and find someone who can read Scottish Gaelic.” She headed down the hallway again, and Cassidy followed.
“You told me to do that.”
She turned and looked at her sister. “And... did you?”
“Yeah. Duh.” She rolled her eyes, folded her arms, and kept walking. Cadence fell into step behind her. At least someone had done what she’d asked them to do, even if she had no idea who her sister was talking about.
