Cassidy nodded like she thought that was true. Where this left them, Cadence wasn’t sure, but she was glad to know her sister was aware of the situation. “You need to come with us to the office. We’re having a meeting, and you seem to know more about what’s going on than anyone else, including Hannah.”
“Okay,” Cassidy said, but her voice sounded timid, completely unlike her.
“What is it?” Cadence asked.
“Nothing, only... I hope Hannah doesn’t get upset that I was helping Eliza out behind her back. And I hope Mila doesn’t get mad at Eliza that she didn’t reveal her source. I think... I think Eliza might be getting help from someone else, too, like an Independent or something. But I don’t know. I think that’s where the ‘guy’ part of Gimu originated.”
“I thought you said it might be ‘girl’,” Aaron questioned.
“It might be. Eliza’s... weird. I don’t always get what she’s talking about.”
That seemed true enough that Cadence couldn’t argue with it. “Okay, well, come on. Let’s head back to the office. And for now, we’ll leave Brandon out of this. Sorry, but there’s no reason for him to be involved.”
“No, that’s fine,” Cassidy said as they all stood up, but Cadence noticed right away that there was something else wrong with her sister.
“Cass? Is everything else okay?”
“Sure. Everything else is fine.”
Cadence knew she was lying but decided not to push it at the moment. They all headed out the door together, and she imagined Aaron was letting everyone know Cass was coming with them as they walked. She decided to do a little bit of investigating while it was fresh in her mind. “Elliott, is everything okay between Brandon and Cassidy?”
“Uh... why do you ask?” her friend responded in a tone that answered her question before he even explained.
“When I mentioned that Cass could come to our meeting but there was no reason to involve Brandon at the moment, she seemed upset at the mention of his name.”
It took Elliott a while to say anything, but when he did, it wasn’t what Cadence wanted to hear. “I believe they are on a break.”
“A break? Why? What happened?”
“I don’t have all of the details, kid, but I think they were having some issues since the portal and Alex dying and all of that. I told Brandon to stop pressuring her, to give her some space, and I guess he decided he needed to give her a whole lotta space.”
“So you convinced your son to dump my sister?” Cadence knew she was exaggerating, but she was upset about the situation.
“No, not at all. I didn’t want them to break up. I just wanted him to let her breathe until she was ready to talk about whatever it was that was bothering her.”
“Have you talked to him since? Do you think he regrets his decision?”
“Hell, Cadence, the kid is miserable. I’ve never seen someone so pathetic. But he thinks he needs to give her some time and let her come around. I don’t know. Who am I to tell anyone how to have a successful relationship?”
“And yet you took it upon yourself to advise him....”
Before Elliott could answer, Aaron had Cadence’s arm. “Hey—can you get Christian?”
“I’ll see you in a minute, Elliott.” She stopped and turned her attention to Aaron. “What? Christian?”
“Yeah. I can’t get him on the IAC at all.”
“He’s on vacation,” Cassidy reminded them.
“No, I know,” Aaron replied, turning around to face her. “But I need to ask him if he’s ever seen these creatures before, and I can’t get him at all. I should be able to force his IAC on. But I can’t.”
“That’s... super weird,” Cassidy muttered.
“Let me try.” As much as Cadence could’ve done without trying to find Christian and make him speak to her, especially since he was bound to be snarky if she was interrupting his vacation, she agreed it was odd. She sent a message to his IAC and got nothing, not even a blip. So she tried to force his IAC on, and still there was nothing. “No... I can’t get him either.” Looking at Aaron, she asked, “How is that possible?”
“I have no idea. I should be able to force anyone on at any time.”
“Maybe he made his different,” Cassidy offered as they started walking again. They were close to the office now. “He made them. He could’ve done whatever he wanted to with his, right? Made it like yours?”
“I guess he could have,” Aaron admitted. “But I don’t know why he would do that. I certainly didn’t authorize it.”
“Try calling him,” Cadence urged. She wasn’t even sure if she had Christian’s number in her phone any more.
Aaron pulled his phone out of his pocket as he opened the door for Cadence and Cassidy. She called the elevator, waiting for him to finish the call before they got on so that the elevator wouldn’t interfere with his signal.
Shaking his head, he pulled the phone away from his ear. “He’s not answering.” Aaron sent a text message, and then they got on the elevator.
“It’s probably nothing,” Cassidy said with a shrug.
“I know you hate him, but you have to admit all of this is weird, even for Christian,” Cadence said as the elevator door opened on the top floor.
“I guess,” Cassidy said nonchalantly. “He’s the weirdest person I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something.”
Mrs. Carminati welcomed them with a smile and even came around the desk to hug all three of them, since she said she didn’t want Cassidy to feel left out. She asked a dozen or so questions about the honeymoon and the wedding, which she hadn’t attended because she didn’t travel anymore at her age, or so she said, and Cadence and Aaron answered as many of them as they could until the rest of their teammates started showing up and they had to excuse themselves to enter the office and get things going. This whole situation seemed strange, and Cadence had a feeling there was more to it than what she was aware of, but she couldn’t quite figure it all out yet. She hoped Aaron was a few steps ahead of her, like he usually was, because otherwise, things were going to get worse before they got better.
