Chapter 27
“What is it, Cass?” Lucy’s voice sounded haunted, as if she, too, were on the edge of a discovery that would shake her from what was left of the normal world.
I was having trouble even formulating what had entered my head into a coherent thought, let alone a sentence. I managed to croak, “Water,” and gestured for the bottle I’d left on Lucy’s nightstand.
Emma looked at Lucy, her eyes wider than normal behind her glasses, took the lid off of the bottle and handed it to me. I nodded my thanks and swallowed about half of the contents before handing it back to her and taking a few deep breaths. The water helped loosen my tongue, but I still didn’t know how I was going to say what I was thinking.
I slowly turned so that I was facing them both. “Okay—so here’s the deal,” I began. “You guys prepare to tell me that I’m nuts. Okay?”
“No problem.” Emma’s response was serious, and I knew she wouldn’t hesitate. It would’ve made me laugh if I wasn’t freaking out.
“Eliza Wrath looks like Ashley Greene.” I looked from one pair of eyes to the other to see if they were following me. They both looked lost. “The actress who played Alice on Twilight.”
“Right,” Lucy said, nodding.
“What’s Twilight?” Emma asked.
“It’s a movie,” Lucy replied, barely glancing at her and then back at me.
“I gathered that,” Emma shot back. “But what movie?”
I needed to continue before I lost the nerve or my train of thought. I stuck up a finger to still Emma. I didn’t think she’d get what I was trying to say anyway, but I thought Lucy might. “Seeing her picture made me think about what I’ve seen. People who move very quickly, who can jump from great heights and not get hurt. They drive expensive vehicles. Jack was so cold when I touched him. I don’t know if he’s part of this or if that was just a clue. They’re all pretending to be something they aren’t. My sister said she couldn’t talk about her new job but it was security related—which I doubt. Some of them are very attractive, more so than normal people.” That wasn’t necessarily the case for Dr. Sanderson, but Aaron and Eliza were above average for certain. So was my sister. “Lucy,” I said, slowly, “do you think….” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
Lucy’s face showed confusion still, even though I was pretty sure she was following me. After a very long pause, she slowly asked, “So, you think your sister’s a… vampire?”
My hands were literally shaking, but my head was nodding up and down. “I think she could be.”
“Huh?” Emma asked, her head swiveling from me to Lucy and back again. “What’s Twilight?” she asked again.
Neither of us answered, only stared at each other with our mouths open. I heard Emma’s fingers flying over the keyboard, and a few seconds later, she said, “Oh.” A minute later, she said, “I don’t think they look that much alike.”
“That’s not the point, Em!” Lucy exclaimed. “She doesn’t think that Eliza is Alice. That’s just what made her think of it. I totally get the connection. And what you said makes totes sense, it’s just…. You do realize what you’re saying, right Cass?”
I stood up then, needing to pace. “Yes! I know exactly what I’m saying! I know it’s insane. I know it doesn’t make any sense when one considers the laws of nature and everything we’ve ever known about what is real and what is make believe.” I turned to face them before I continued, “But I’m not crazy to think that explanation… fits… am I?”
“No, no you’re not crazy.” Lucy pulled herself off of the bed, her laptop sliding onto the comforter and a notebook slipping onto the floor. She took a few steps so that she was standing right in front of me and took both of my upper arms in her hands. “You’re not crazy, Cass. I totally get why you would say that.”
“I think you might be crazy.”
We both turned and looked at Emma. She had a pen in her hand and was resting the end of it against her chin. She just shrugged.
Lucy turned back to me. “When you put it like that, it does sort of seem to fit. Let’s just go back over everything from the context of ‘what if Cadence is a Vampire’ and see if we can come to a logical explanation for what might’ve happened.”
Her blue eyes were still wide, but I saw the complete confidence in them that I hadn’t lost my mind. Lucy was going to help me. I knew Emma would, too, though I wasn’t surprised to hear her say she thought I might be nuts. Emma is not only overly analytical, she also calls it like she sees it with no filter.
We sat back down on Lucy’s bed, and she pulled out her notes. “Okay, so let’s start at the beginning. Your sister and her friends were talking about going to an Eidolon Festival, which we weren’t able to find too much information on, but based on the name, we can establish that this is some sort of a creepy festival. Is it possible that there could’ve been vampires there?”
“No, because vampires don’t exist,” Emma said, crossing her arms.
Lucy let out a loud sigh. “If vampires do exist, is it possible that there was one at the festival?”
“No, because it is impossible to assume vampires exist when they don’t.” Emma’s voice didn’t change in intensity as she reasoned through the unreasonable.
With an icy stare, Lucy said, “Sheldon Cooper, much?”
That got Emma’s attention. She knew when Lucy said something about the popular character from The Big Bang Theory that her autism was getting the better of her. “Fine. Let’s pretend that in a parallel universe where it is possible to transform into an undead creature that lives off of the bodily fluids of humans, there was a vampire at an Eidolon Festival and alternative reality Cadence J. Findley attended said festival.”
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