Chapter 123
Aaron was next, and I felt like it took him a little longer than I expected to actually start speaking. He definitely looked like he was having a hard time, which I bet wasn’t easy for him. He seems like the kind of guy who wouldn’t really cry much in front of other people. He shared a couple of great stories about Elliott and lots of accolades. When he finished, the preacher took the stage again. He made a few closing remarks, and we all bowed our heads to say a prayer. I was thankful this was almost over, but I knew the long process of putting our lives back together with such a gaping hole in the middle was just beginning.
When I opened my eyes, I noticed that Cadence was gone. I wondered if it had gotten to be too much, and she’d headed to the restroom to have a good cry. I looked at my mom who also seemed bewildered. “Where’s your sister?” she asked, alarm in her voice.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Maybe we should go look for her.”
Aaron was headed our direction. I could tell that was his intent by the way he kept looking at me, even though every other step he took, someone stopped him to say something, so I did something rather odd and got out of my seat and walked over to him. The older woman who had cut him off about three rows away from us wouldn’t stop talking, so he put his hand on my shoulder to let me know he was doing his best to address the fact that I was concerned about my sister. As soon as he touched me, I felt oddly grounded. I knew he wasn’t manipulating my emotions, the way that Hannah had done, or my thoughts the way that Elliott could. It was almost like his presence just declared everything was under control.
Eventually, he had to break in, “Can you excuse me just a second, Viola?” he said, smiling, and the older woman excused herself and said she’d talk to him later. His blue eyes fell on my face, and looking into them, I felt calmness sweep over me. “Sorry,” he said, putting is other hand on my other shoulder. “Cadence is fine. She just saw someone she needed to talk to who was leaving a little early.”
“Oh,” I said, glad to hear she hadn’t run off to the bathroom, though his response was also not what I’d been expecting.
“I’m going to go find her, and we’ll be back in a little while, unless you need something.”
“No, I’m fine,” I assured him, thinking it odd that he would care so much about how I was doing to consider altering his plans.
“Great. Listen, I know you have a lot of questions, and we’ll do our best to answer them all as soon as we can, but I want you to know that we’re excited about having you as a part of our team, Cass. Elliott knew there was something special about you, and I see it, too. It’s just going to take a little time, okay?”
Despite the fact that we were standing in the aisle of a chapel at a funeral, I couldn’t help but smile. “Okay,” I said. He patted my shoulder and headed off to find my sister, I assumed, and I let his words sink in a little bit. While the skeptical part of my brain wanted to suppose that was some sort of a recruiting speech he gave to every new person who came along, the rest of me wanted to believe it. Everyone kept telling me how special my sister was—how good she was at her job. Was there a possibility I would also be particularly good at killing Vampires? We had the same genes, after all, didn’t we?
My mother approached, looking down the aisle toward where Aaron had disappeared. “Did he tell you where Cadence went?”
“Yeah, he said she needed to talk to someone. She’s fine.”
“Okay,” Mom nodded, and then a few of my sister’s friends came over, and Hannah wrapped her arms around me. I instantly felt a shift in my demeanor as complacency and joy intermingled. I didn’t feel overwhelmingly happy, but I didn’t feel devastated anymore. I wondered if she’d meant to do that or if she just couldn’t control it.
Most of the people had already left the chapel and were headed toward another building where there would be a luncheon with all of Elliott’s favorite foods. I’d eaten very little since yesterday when I found out Elliott was gone, which honestly seemed like a million years ago now, and I was glad I’d have an excuse to shove tacos and cheeseburgers down my throat. That’s what he would’ve wanted anyhow, right?
The men broke off into one group, my dad, Jamie, Christian, and Shane, leaving me with Mom, Hannah, Meagan, and another woman whom I’d learned was Aurora. She was tall and muscular, like an Amazonian or something, with long red hair, and I instantly liked her. I could tell why she was one of my sister’s best friends. A couple about the age of my parents was also still sitting nearby, and I discovered that these were Meagan’s parents. Apparently, they’d been very worried about her since she’d been injured and knew this would be hard for her because Elliott had died protecting her. She would be a great person to ask questions of if there was any chance I could get her alone. My sleuthiness was shocking even to me, but I had already decided that focusing on gathering information was a great distraction from my despair, so I tried not to be too hard on myself for being so hardcore.
It seemed like my sister and Aaron had been gone for a really long time, and I wondered if Hannah needed to go over to the luncheon and be in charge of that, too. A lot of people were checking their watches, which I found odd because I imagined they could look at the time on their IAC easier, and just when Hannah and Aurora were talking about heading over, my sister and her boyfriend walked in. My dad wandered over to where we were standing and Hannah headed off to greet the couple.
