Cadence realized she’d stopped breathing and began gasping for air. “What... what does it say?”
Ashley had tears in her eyes. “Hi, baby. Not sure if this will work, probably not, but worth a shot. I think we’re trapped in some sort of a portal. Working to get out, working to get back to you. We are all fine. I love you, and I will see you soon.”
No words would come to her as Cadence went over the message again in her mind. How it was possible, she didn’t know, but to hear they were all okay, to see that they could actually communicate, even if it was on a huge delay, it was more than she would’ve ever hoped for.
Cassidy stared at her phone for a few moments, and Cadence knew what she was thinking. Cadence hadn’t even bothered to pull hers out of her pocket because it hadn’t vibrated, and she knew Aaron wouldn’t have thought to try to text her. While it was more surprising that Brandon hadn’t sent a text to Cassidy, there were logical explanations for it. “Maybe his phone is almost dead, or he wanted to see if it worked before he tried,” she offered.
Her sister nodded and put her phone in her pocket, but Cadence had a feeling she’d be checking it more often than usual—just in case.
If Aaron were going to try to talk to her, it would be through her IAC, and she’d gotten no messages from him. “Why would cell phones work and not IACs?” she asked no one in particular.
“They don’t run on exactly the same technology,” Oswald explained. “But you’d think if one sort of signal could get in and out every once in a while, so would the other.”
Cadence’s IAC had been working overtime with messages coming in from all over the place, condolences, offers to help. She looked back through her log, just making sure. And there it was. At exactly 1:00—all of them had showed up for just a second. Tiny blips of activity, like a signal fighting to connect but not quite making it. Looking back, there was another set of them at exactly 7:00 in the morning. “Cass, check your log. There won’t be any messages, but they’re there.”
Cocking her head to the side, Cass stared off into space for a moment, and Cadence knew she was concentrating on doing what her sister had suggested. A look of relief flooded Cassidy’s face as she saw the same thing in her IAC as Cadence had found.
“All right. So now we wait until 7:00,” Cassidy finally said.
“Yep.” Cadence would send Aaron a text, but not right now. She had six hours to figure out what to say. She wished she’d have sent something earlier when Cass first mentioned it, but she was glad she hadn’t sent the ridiculous message her sister had stopped her from firing off.
“Tara got a message from Dax, too. It must’ve crossed with the one she sent. It says, ‘I hope you’re getting these somehow. I swear the last one went through. God, Tara, I love you so much. We are all okay. Still trying to figure out how to get out. Met a weird Vampire girl who is helping us, but I don’t trust her. Please try texting me if you somehow get this.’”
“A weird Vampire girl?” Cadence repeated. The idea that they might not be alone in there hadn’t crossed her mind. “Who...?”
“I have no idea,” Cass said before she even finished the question. “I hope she doesn’t give them any reason not to trust her.”
Ashley was still standing in the doorway, staring at her phone. “Ash, would you like to come look at the maps with us?” Cadence asked. She had no idea what else they could do, but she needed to figure out something to occupy the next six hours.
“Sure,” the blonde said, not lifting her eyes off of her screen as she took a seat next to Cassidy.
“All right. Where were we?” Cadence wondered how she might get her mind back on anything else.
She didn’t get a chance. A female voice in the hallway had her looking at the door again. “They’re right in here,” one of the humans said, gesturing at the table before she stepped away.
A tall man with dark hair and a debonair air about him stepped into the doorway, glanced around quickly, and then his brown eyes fell on Cadence’s face. “Ah, yes. You must be Cadence,” he said, his accent either British, French, or some sort of jumbled up version of both. “And you must be Cassidy.”
Cadence’s eyes went to her sister whose smile was brighter than it had been all day. Clearly, Cass was expecting this person. She returned her attention to him and stood. “I am Cadence Findley,” or she had been anyway. “And you are?” She tried to sound as polite as she could, but she’d had enough surprises for one day.
He entered the room with a sweeping motion that almost made her expect a cape to come whirling around his shoulders and offered her his hand. “I’m Ward Bernard. Forgive my tardiness, but when I got Miss Cassidy’s message, I diverted my flight so that I was headed here instead of to Iowa, not as easy as you might think.”
“Ward?” Cadence repeated, and then she realized exactly who he was. “Ward! It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
“You as well, although I had hoped it would be under happier circumstances. But don’t you worry. Cassidy explained the situation to me, and I will do all that I can to help. I’ve never dealt with this exactly, but I can read Scottish Gaelic. And... I know our Aaron well enough to confirm what I’m sure you already know. He’ll find a way to get back to you.”
Cadence fought the tears again, nodding. If anyone in the world knew Aaron better than her, and she doubted that was possible, it was this man. His old mentor, the one who’d helped him when he Transformed. “Ward, I’m so glad you’re here,” Cadence said, and even though she’d just met him, she wrapped her arms around him, feeling truly hopeful for the first time since the world had stopped spinning.
