Chapter 146
My friends were still sleeping, and so were my parents, so I decided to take my phone and go hang out in the kitchen, waiting for my sister to call. Normally, it would be pancake day, but I wasn’t sure if my dad would go to all that trouble with my friends here. Sometimes he did; sometimes he didn’t. Either way, it didn’t stop me from having a bowl of Cheerios while I stared at my phone.
When my phone finally did ring, I answered it on the first ring. “Cadence?” I hoped I sounded happy to hear from her and not like someone who has been staring at her phone forever.
“Hey, Cass. You sound wide awake. How’s it going?” my sister asked, and I thought I heard the sound of springs groaning like she was still in bed.
It kind of bothered me that she hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet when she knew I was waiting to hear about Brandon. “I’ve been waiting for you to call me for, like, an hour,” I replied, trying to stay calm, though I was having trouble with it, clearly. I guess this wasn’t as important to her as it was to me. Like most things these days.
“It’s not even eight o’clock yet,” Cadence reminded me.
I took a deep breath, wondering how I could word this in a way to make her understand that I was a little perturbed that she didn’t seem to care that she’d left me hanging the night before. “I know, but you said you’d call me first thing so….”
“I was up late. Killing a Vampire. Not an easy thing to do and a little taxing on the energy level.”
“I wouldn’t know.” My answer was snarky, and I attempted to bite my tongue before I said something else rude. It really wasn’t Cadence’s fault I couldn’t Transform yet. She didn’t make up that rule. At least, I didn’t think she had. I decided to get to the first matter of business we needed to attend to. “So, who is this Brandon guy? And why does he seem to think he knows me? He hasn’t been hanging out on the rooftop, has he?” I realized I’d thrown a lot of accusations into that one nice little line of questioning, and I waited patiently to see what she would say in response to all of that.
“No,” Cadence assured me. “No one’s been hanging out on your rooftop for a while.” She went quiet for a moment, and I imagined that was because she was thinking the same thing I was. Elliott had been assigned to keep watch over me. If anyone else had taken that position since he’d died, it had been without any sort of announcement to me. I supposed he wasn’t the only person who ever sat on my roof and kept watch, but I knew he had done it often enough.
Eventually, Cadence continued. “I guess there’s really no easy way to say this, so I’ll just tell you. He’s Elliott’s son.”
I had assumed that the night before, but actually hearing her confirm it had me speechless. I needed more information, but I was afraid that, as soon as I opened my mouth, I would either burst into tears or let go a bunch of swear words because the whole thing just seemed entirely unfair. Again. I took a few deep breaths and finally repeated what my sister had said, thinking saying it aloud would help me make it real. “Elliott has a son?”
“Yes,” Cadence said. “He actually has a couple of other kids as well, but they never Transformed, and they’re much older than us.” I figured she had no way of knowing Elliott had already told me all of that, and I realized my sister still had no idea how much I was aware of. It could stay that way. For now. She continued. “But Brandon is his child from a woman he was dating in the nineties. He never knew she had a baby.”
I had a million questions about Brandon’s mom, but for now, I was just glad to hear that Elliott wasn’t a bad parent after all, and he actually had no idea that Brandon had even existed. But then, that made me sad as well. “I don’t know whether to be really happy that there’s part of him left or to be really sad that he never knew.”
“I know,” Cadence agreed. “I felt the same way when I stopped to think about it for a few minutes. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the first time I saw Brandon I was elated. He’s like mini-Elliott. And he acts a lot like him, too, Cass. He’s sarcastic and rude. Funny as heck. Oh, and he’s an amazing liar.”
It took me a moment to see what she was saying. “Okay, I didn’t realize that was an asset.”
“It is when you’re trying to convince humans that they didn’t just see a Vampire,” Cadence explained. I understood what she meant then. She thought maybe Brandon would be able to brainwash people the way that his dad had been able to, and I imagined it must’ve been hard for their team to function these past few months without someone capable of doing that. “But anyway, that’s who you met last night. He hasn’t committed to Transforming yet, though. I think he wants to finish high school first.”
“And then you think he’s going to come and train with you?” She had just told me he was still in high school, though I didn’t know how old he was. I imagined he was a senior. He looked more sophisticated than the guys at my high school, almost like a college kid. Still, the idea that he could join the team soon, ahead of me, made me slightly jealous for some reason. I didn’t want to admit it, but it was there just the same.
“I hope so. I’m not sure,” Cadence replied, and I thought I heard the bed again, like she was resituating.
“Well, it’s nice that you’ll have someone there with you who reminds you of Elliott.” It wasn’t like Brandon would be coming here to visit me, to chaperone my dances, or convince my friends that today was the best day ever. My sister might get a little piece of him back, but I wouldn’t. My heart felt heavy.
“Yep,” Cadence agreed before she promptly changed the subject. I imagined she could sense my melancholy. “So, what are your plans for today?”
“I’m not sure. I think it depends if Lucy and Emma ever wake up. Dad’s probably going to make pancakes, but I can’t get either one of them to budge.” I considered pushing forward with my plan, but I was hesitant. I knew I’d have to go into full whiny teenager mode and was dreading it.
“What time did you go to sleep last night? You called me after eleven,” Cadence asked.
“I don’t know.” I thought for a moment. It had to be pretty late by the time I actually fell asleep since I’d laid in bed—her bed—for so long. “One or two I guess,” I finally replied, though I had no idea how long Lucy and Emma had stayed up after I ducked out. I could hear their voices for a while as I tried to go to sleep.
“Well, they’re probably a little tired then.”
It was true. Emma never slept in. If the sun was up, she was usually up. But not today. “I know,” I agreed with my sister. “But I was hoping they’d wake up soon so we could eat and they’d go home because….” Ugh, I could already hear the whiny tone coming on. Why couldn’t she just read my mind?
“Because?” Cadence questioned, clearly not just guessing what it was I wanted to ask her.
I decided to rip the Band-Aid off. “Because… I wanted to see if maybe you would come and get me today and let me spend the rest of the weekend with you. We have Monday off for parent teacher conferences, so it would be the perfect time.” I spat it out quickly, afraid otherwise I would chicken out.
“Cass….”
I knew that tone and cut her off. “Please, Cadence? You’re always saying that I can come and spend the weekend with you, and you’ll show me around, but you never do it.”
“I know, but Cass….”
“Please?”
“Cass….”
“PLEASE??” I was a typical teenage whiner. There was no going back now.
Cadence groaned. “Fine! But can I please go back to sleep for a few hours? I’ll be there around… noon.”
I couldn’t believe she had agreed. I was secretly high-fiving myself, but I also didn’t want to wait until noon for her to get here, especially since I assumed she’d be late. “Make it ten,” I bargained.
“Eleven,” Cadence countered.
“Ten-thirty?”
“Never?”
I had pushed a bit too hard. “See you at eleven,” I said and promptly hung up the phone before Cadence could change her mind. I couldn’t help but smile, feeling like I’d won a small victory. While it definitely wasn’t the same as joining the team, at least I wouldn’t be spending the whole three day weekend in boring Shenandoah. I realized I hadn’t even asked my parents, but I knew they’d say yes. They trusted my sister and her friends to keep me safe, and that was something I needed to keep in mind; even though I was going to headquarters, there was no way in the world my sister would ever let anything remotely dangerous happen anywhere near my proximity. I’d probably spend the weekend sitting on her couch watching movies while she was out hunting Vampires. But it was something.
I glanced at the time and saw that I still had three hours. I headed upstairs, wondering what I should do with myself while my friends were still sleeping. I wouldn’t even be able to pack with them knocked out in my room. I tried to keep myself focused despite my excitement at finally having the chance to return to headquarters. Cadence likely wouldn’t be too talkative on the trip back, so I sort of hoped she’d bring someone else with her, someone who would tell me stuff. It was kinda funny that my sister was the most tight-lipped of all of them when she should be the one most readily available to answer my questions. No matter. I was going to headquarters, so I was bound to find out something I didn’t know yet. I ran up the stairs, absently wondering if Brandon might be spending the weekend there, too.
