Chapter 124
“Where did everyone go?” Cadence asked, looking around like she didn’t realize she’d been gone for so long.
“We’re having a luncheon at the main building in a few minutes,” Hannah explained, stopping in front of them. I took a few steps closer so I was pretty near behind her and the rest of my family followed. “Is everything all right?” Hannah asked.
“Yes. Fine. Why?” Cadence asked as Aaron stepped around her and headed over toward the guys.
I had no idea why my sister was being so dense. Why did she not expect her friends and family to be worried when she rushed out of a funeral? I stepped up beside Hannah, ready to have her back when she told my sister she was being dumb. Hannah began, “You took off out of here so quickly I just wondered if...” but halfway through, she switched tracks as her eyes landed on the same thing I was just noticing. “Oh, my goodness, Cadence! What's that on your hand?”
Mom pushed her way in before Cadence could even respond, grabbing my sister’s left hand. “Oh, this?” Cadence replied, beaming.
"Oh, my! It's beautiful!" my mom exclaimed. "Princess cut in a cathedral setting? Very nice."
“It’s huge!” That was about all I could think of to say since, “Hey, that’s the same dude who decided to date one of your friends instead of you and left you heartbroken for, like, six months,” seemed a little inappropriate, though it was on the tip of my tongue. No wonder he’d been so nice to me earlier.
I glanced up at my dad, who seemed to be trying to decide whether or not he should go be part of the guys or hang out with his family, and the expression on his face told me that he already knew about this. Had Aaron asked my dad’s permission before he proposed?
“Well, congratulations!” Hannah exclaimed and the rest of her friends gushed over her and the ring for a few minutes. Aaron seemed to prefer laying low, blending in with his friends, and I tried to imagine having him as a brother. I’d had two others recently, and I thought the shoes would be pretty hard to fill. I honestly didn’t think he could do it, but we would see.
Something else struck me as odd. My dad had walked back over to where his soon-to-be son-in-law and his friends were congregated. The other guys were all congratulating Aaron quietly and talking amongst themselves, but Christian was staring at my sister. And I mean staring at her. It was creepy. There was just something about that guy, and even though I couldn’t put my finger on it, I hoped I’d never have to spend any time alone with him.
Hannah began the process of herding us all over toward the other building, and as we walked along, I dropped to the back of the pack, content to observe and see how these people seemed to relate to each other. Cadence noticed and slowed down, and once everyone had gone past her, she slipped her arm through mine, which was comforting, even though I would’ve liked to have been alone with my thoughts.
"How you doin', Sis?" she asked. She gave me a sympathetic smile, and I returned it, knowing that she had to feel just as miserable as I did, though the ring on her finger might be reason enough for her to be happier than she otherwise might’ve been.
I had to remind myself that I needed to be strategic as I approached this. I wanted information from my sister, and I couldn’t give her any ideas that Elliott and I had been discussing all the secrets of this place for months. So I decided to be cautious as I sought more information. "I'm not sure," I began. "I never even knew this place existed. Those pictures of Elliott--and you--hunting Vampires, that was surreal. And now you're engaged to some guy I hardly know who seems like he's okay, but hasn't he already broken your heart a couple of times?"
Her response only addressed the last thing I mentioned, which was a mistake in the wording on my part. "Yes, but things are different now.”
"If you say so," I replied and then tried to steer her back to the fact that this was my first visit to headquarters. "I see all of this, and I think about what happened to Elliott, and I get so angry. I can't help but wish I could be part of it now, you know? Rather than waiting."
"I know, but you're not old enough to Transform yet. As soon as you are, we'll make it happen. In the meantime, you really need to talk to Grandma. She can explain everything a lot better than I can. I know she wanted to be here. At least she got to watch the memorial."
I thought it was odd that she said Grandma wanted to be here whereas my parents said she didn’t want to sit through another funeral. Maybe no one knew what was going on. Aaron had already promised me he’d fill me in, and while Cadence seemed to think my grandma was the best bet, I wasn’t sure. "I've spoken to her about Elliott dozens of times, and she never even acted like she knew him. I always thought it was a little odd that no one thought it was weird that I was such good friends with a guy my sister worked with who happened to be, in my understanding, like, ten years older than me. But even grandma would just say she was glad I had someone to look out for me. It makes sense now, I guess." I couldn’t tell her I knew Elliott had been at Grandma’s house on several occasions because I’d promised him I wouldn’t. Her next comment had me lying again.
We were almost at the other building now. I could tell because people were filing in, and the scent of scrumptious food, the kind your parents usually want you to limit, wafted through the air. Greasy burgers, taco sauce, chocolate. Cadence continued. "Elliott was assigned to look after you, since you were a baby.”
"What?" I stopped cold in my tracks and stared at her as if this was all brand new information. "He was?"
I think I must have fooled her because she went on to explain more. "Yes. Aaron just told me last night. So, it makes perfect sense that you would have a relationship with him from the beginning. And of course, Grandma, Mom, and Dad would think nothing of it."
"Wow, this keeps getting more and more bizarre by the moment." I shook my head still pretending to be in shock. I was really selling it. Elliott had made me promise, though, that I wouldn’t let Cadence know he’d told me anything, and that was a pretty big something. I had no choice but to lie.
"You're telling me," Cadence mumbled.
"No wonder he hated that guy I had a crush on.” I muttered, one last comment to sell her on my surprise, and I headed into the building. I almost ran into an unbelievably hot blond guy whom I hadn’t noticed before, and I’m pretty sure I would remember him, and stepped out of the way just in time. My mom was just inside the main room, beckoning to me, so I hurried over to her, not paying much attention to what happened to Cadence, though as I entered the large room set up with several tables and a huge buffet on one side, I realized that Cadence may have literally run into that guy.
