Chapter 260
Once everyone else was clear about their positions for the hunt, we went out to load the SUVs. The auxiliary staff had already loaded everything up while we were working—those are people like Juan Diego who are actually people and only know about the Ternion because they have some sort of ties to it, like they could’ve Transformed but decided not to, or they have a relative who is a Hunter or Guardian. Aaron and Elliott still wanted to look over everything before we headed out, but once they were satisfied we had everything we needed, Aaron gave the order for us to load up.
“You ridin’ with me, Son?” Elliott said to Brandon, and I think it was a sort of olive branch, like, “I may have just really made you mad, but you’re still my kid.”
“Sure,” Brandon said hesitantly, as though he wasn’t sure whether to take the branch or snap it in half. I looked at my sister, who had her eyebrows raised, but I knew she wouldn’t care if I rode with Brandon. We were only going an hour down the road. So I climbed in the far back seat with Brandon, and Ashley got in beside me.
If Cadence cared, she didn’t say anything, and she got into the other SUV with Aaron, who was driving. Mickey and Meagan got into our center seat, and Shane rode up front with Elliott. That left everyone else in the other SUV, which I thought was definitely the less fun of the two vehicles, though we would’ve taken Jamie to be in our cool kids group if he’d wanted to be. Aurora, Hannah, Christian, Aaron, and Cadence were far too serious to fit in with the rest of us who liked to joke around. At least, I usually like to under normal circumstances.
It didn’t take us ten minutes before we were all laughing and telling jokes. Elliott turned on some ridiculous ‘80s music, and Shane was actually trying to dance. I normally can’t stand him, but that was funny. Mickey looked very uncomfortable the whole time, but other than that, the rest of us were so busy chatting and laughing, we hardly even realized we were almost there until Elliott turned onto a winding dirt road and told us all we needed to put our game faces on now.
I tried to, I really did. But every time I looked at Ashley, we’d start giggling. She had just told a story about how her dad threw up on the Mad Hatter ride at Disney World, and I just couldn’t look at her without seeing the face she’d made when she was mimicking him. She was full of Disney World stories since she grew up in Orlando, and I thought she was such a cool person. I started to think maybe it didn’t matter that she was so much older than me and looked like a supermodel. Maybe we could be friends.
And then I got out of the SUV and saw my sister glaring at both of us, and nothing was funny anymore. I looked at Ash, and we both shrugged. I decided not to try to ask Cadence what was going on right now, but I saw Ashley’s face crumble. She had mentioned to me briefly a few weeks ago that she just didn’t think Cadence liked her. I tried to assure her that was silly—of course my sister liked her. But now I didn’t know if that was true or not.
I would have to figure that out later. We had about a mile to cover, and it was so late that it was almost early, so it was practically pitch dark out there, away from the big city and the soft glow in the distance that often accompanies a metroplex. Butler, Missouri, may as well be on the surface of the moon it’s so far away from anything else.
We parked a mile away because we didn’t figure they’d see us coming that way. Unless my reaching yesterday had somehow tipped them off, they shouldn’t have any idea we were moving in on them. We’d all walk to the RV park and then Aaron would direct everyone into position through the IAC. And then I’d have to climb that dang tree.
I had a Glock in a holster at my hip, but I didn’t think I’d use it. After last time, I guessed my sister thought I’d be better off with my own weapons so I didn’t have to steal them from anyone else. Brandon was walking beside me, behind Cadence, but we weren’t holding hands. I needed to concentrate on where I was stepping. I am not the stealthiest person in the world. I tended to try to follow Aaron and step where he did, but his legs are longer than mine, and sometimes I just did the best I could.
Elliott was behind me, and I figured if I could get in his head right now, he was probably whistling a casual tune, not at all worried about what we were about to do. I wished some of that could rub off on me, but the closer we got, the more unsettled I became. There was some sort of electricity in the air I hadn’t felt before, not even when Gibbon was around. There was a charge then, too, but this was definitely different. A glance around at my teammates, who had spread pretty far out across the field by the road, told me they felt it too. My sister looked more ticked than anyone else, though, and I thought maybe killing some Vampires would get it out of her system, whatever it was.
Aaron gave us the signal to stop over the IAC, and he pointed us all in the right direction. The tree he was sending me up was directly in front of us, and it was huge. I felt my hands start sweating as Brandon came over to give me a reassuring hug. I was just about to go ask Aaron if I could be assigned to someone else when Ashley beat me to it. I’m not sure what she was talking to him about, but she went right up to him and said something through her IAC. I could tell he answered her, and she started to walk away when she tripped, and fell right into his arms. She looked really embarrassed, even though he didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but then I saw my sister’s face and a whole bunch of puzzle pieces fell into place.
