Chapter 121
“Don’t you both look beautiful,” my mom said, standing and hugging Cadence and then me.
“Thanks, Mom,” she said. “I’m heading out. See you guys there.” She smiled at us all sympathetically, and I hoped that she would make it through the service without messing up her makeup. I wondered if Hannah could or would help my sister. I wondered if she would use her emotional manipulation to make me feel better. I knew I needed to grieve, but right about now, I could use a shortcut.
I took a seat on the sofa near my dad, and my mom asked if I wanted her to fix me a sandwich before she sat back down, but I just shook my head. I wondered how many times Elliott had sat here on this sofa and watched TV with my sister. Probably a lot. They had been good friends. My dad was telling a story about tripping and hitting his head on the raised brick around the fireplace when he was little, but I wasn’t really listening.
Then a thought struck me. “Dad, how long have you known Aaron?”
He looked from me to my mom, who was back in a chair eating her sandwich, and then back again. “Well, my whole life,” he replied with a shrug. “I mean… I didn’t know him well because he was just a work associate of my parents’, but I knew who he was. He was pretty important to the operation back then, as he is now.”
It seemed so strange to me. My sister was dating someone my dad had known when he was a little kid. So bizarre.
“Actually,” my dad continued, and I could tell by my mom’s expression that she was bracing herself, thinking my dad’s strange stories might be confusing to my young mind. “When I cut my forehead open on that brick fireplace,” he pointed across the room, “it was Jamie who came and sewed me up.” He laughed, probably at the oddness of the whole situation. “I can remember being really scared it was going to hurt, but it didn’t. He did something to keep it from hurting at all, or even scarring.”
As much as I enjoyed my dad’s stories, I was also more than a little perturbed. “I can’t believe you guys kept all of this from me.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “It seems like you’ve known about it your whole life, Dad.”
“I did, honey, but that was different. I lived here. I had to know. There was no reason to confuse you with all this craziness, all the secrets, when it wasn’t going to affect you for years.”
“We were going to wait until you were seventeen and then tell both of you at the same time,” my mom explained. “That’s what my parents did.”
I looked at my mother for a moment, trying to see through her skull into her mind. “What’s that?” I asked.
“You know, I was never brave enough to take on any of this, like your sister is, but my parents waited until all of us were old enough and then told us. None of us wanted to take it all on. In fact, no one from my side of the family has Transformed for… ages. By the time my parents told me, I’d already met your father, so he’d been keeping the secret from me.”
I looked at my dad and he shrugged. I wanted to point out to my mother I had no idea this “situation” came from both sides of my family; here I thought it was only my dad’s tree that had some very crooked branches. But then, I remembered being told Lucy and Emma would find out about this eventually, so by the time I actually asked it, my question was different than the one I’d originally intended to blurt out. “Can just anyone become a Vampire Hunter then?”
“What’s that?” my mom asked.
“It seems like everyone in the world can find out about this secret life eventually. Is that the case?”
“Oh, no, honey. You have to be born with the ability to Transform in your DNA. Only people with a certain genetic code can become a Hunter or a Guardian. When we get back home, you can go up and talk to Grandma, and she’ll explain it all to you.” My mom nodded her head like that was the end of it.
“Why isn’t Grandma here?” I asked. “She knew Elliott.”
My dad let out a sigh, like he was the most exhausted person in the world. “I think she’s just tired of burying people, honey. She’ll be watching the live feed, though.”
“Live feed?” I asked. Was Elliott some sort of a dignitary?
“Hannah thought it would be best to do it that way, rather than have people leave their stations to come in,” Mom explained.
That made sense, I supposed, though I had no idea people all over the world were going to potentially see me crying like a little baby in a few minutes. Maybe if I let myself think about that, I’d be less inclined to lose it again, though I thought there wasn’t going to be much to prevent the waterworks.
My dad glanced at his watch and then looked at my mom. “Think we should head out?” he asked quietly.
“You know how long it takes to walk over there,” Mom responded unhelpfully. She stood and took the dirty plates into the kitchen.
Being the smart man that he is, my father has learned when is a good time to ignore my mother’s comments and when is a good time to respond. “I think we should go,” he shouted, as she came back into the room. He pulled himself up off of Cadence’s plush sofa, offering my mom his hand. As they headed toward the door, I took a deep breath and followed along.
“How do you lock it?” Mom asked, looking at the knob.
“Her IAC will lock it automatically when we leave I’m sure,” I mumbled, and my mom looked at me like she was surprised I knew anything at all. Seemed like common sense to me.
There were buttons on the elevator, at least, so we were able to navigate even without “eye computers.” I tried to think about what it would be like to have one of those on our way downstairs so I could try not to concentrate on the fact that we were headed to Elliott’s funeral.
The man who had brought our luggage up was in the lobby when we got there. He gave us each a sympathetic smile, and I wondered if he knew Elliott. I bet he did. He shouldn’t have to work. He should be allowed to go to the memorial. But then, maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe like Grandma he’d had enough death.
The sun was shining and a few birds were chirping, and I couldn’t help but think it all seemed wrong to me. The weather should match my mood—dark and gloomy—like in the movies. But then, Elliott wouldn’t want that. I needed to remember that the last thing he would have asked for was all of us moping around like a bunch of sad Eeyores. I breathed the fresh air into my lungs and kept one foot moving in front of the other, hopeful that I could find a way to put my head down and get through this without breaking again.
