Chapter 276
Nothing like that had ever happened to me before, and I wasn’t sure where the power even came from. Intending to just pound my fist on the table as I had a million times, as my sister had a few minutes ago, I dropped my right hand onto the table as I shouted, “Let me!” Only I didn’t just hit the table. I splintered it. A perfect circle of wood dropped through a jagged hole and landed near my boot.
I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I could see the whole table breaking in half perhaps. But this was different. It was controlled madness. I stared at my own hand like I’d never seen it before as I muttered to myself, “What…?” I couldn’t finish the question because I didn’t even know what to think.
The rest of the occupants of the room were staring at me wide-eyed, and I couldn’t blame them. It always stuns me when they see something that shocks them because of all the crazy things they’ve witnessed, some of them over centuries. And here I was being the weird one again.
Perhaps he thought he could calm me down by being funny. I’m not sure, but Brandon was the first to speak. “Holy moly! I’m dating the Incredible Hulk,” he said before peering through the hole in the table and adding, “Nice boots.”
I didn’t think it was funny. In fact, I was on the verge of tears. I fought against them because the last thing I needed was to be the lunatic who breaks things and throws baby fits. I just stared at him for a moment, and he shrugged, clearly uncomfortable now, too.
“For the love of God, Cadence, let her do the tissue samples,” Elliott said, causing my head to swing around so I could see him. “You’re lucky that wasn’t your face. That was just an innocent table, and look what she did to that.” He rapidly raised and lowered his eyebrows at me a few times, which always made me laugh, and while that wasn’t the effect it had this time, at least it kept me from crying.
My sister was shaking her head, and I could tell she was borderline ready to explode, too, but she said, “Fine. You guys do what you need to do.” She looked from Jamie to Christian and then got up out of her chair, yanking her arm away from Jamie and grabbing her jacket before she headed out the door.
I didn’t like the fact that I had made her so mad. She was just trying to do what was best for me, and as usual, I ended up acting like a spoiled brat. Before I could even think about what I was doing, I got up and ran after her, glad Christian was gone so I wouldn’t run into him at the door.
Cadence was about halfway to the apartment building, and I would never catch her if I didn’t make her stop. “Cadey!” I shouted, hoping she’d give me a chance to catch up. My head was beginning to hurt. I’d had enough of everything for one day.
She stopped, slowly turning to face me. Her expression was slightly more relaxed but just a tad. “What?”
I flew up to where she was standing and took a deep breath. I wasn’t exactly sure how to tell her everything I needed to say, but I knew the easiest place to start. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes widened, like she wasn’t sure I meant it. “I’m sorry I broke the table. I didn’t know I could do that.” I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“It’s just a table.” I could see she had calmed down quite a bit now, too. It’s amazing how those two simple words can be so powerful. “But are you sure you want to do this?”
I nodded. “I need to know. You heard what Mina said. There was someone else like me, but she’s gone now.” For all the things on my mind that day, that was one that wouldn’t go away. “That means there is something that can kill me. I need to know what it is.”
“How do you know that old woman wasn’t just messing with your mind, Cassidy?” she reasoned.
“No, I told you, I saw her. I saw the girl. In Mina’s memories.” I knew my sentences were choppy and coming out disjointed, but hopefully she could understand me through my exhaustion. “She was like me. I’m sure of it.”
The fatigue I felt was echoed in my sister’s response. “Fine. I already said you can do it.”
“I know,” I replied. I stared down at the sidewalk for a moment before I added, “But I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
Cadence let out a loud sigh and took ahold of my arms. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just tired.”
I could understand that. “Me, too,” I said. I wanted to believe her, but I could feel the strain still. Neither one of us needed to push it anymore tonight. And I could sense the fact that we were no longer alone. “Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”
“Goodnight, Cass,” she said, patting my arm before she turned and left.
I glanced at the sky and could see streaks of pink and orange playing around the horizon off in the distance and knew it was more morning than night, but I watched my sister walk away, listening to Brandon’s footsteps approaching behind me. I drew in a deep breath and tried to think of the easiest and best way to handle this situation, but I knew anything I tried to say to him right now would just make things worse.
I turned around in a slow pivot on my heel. He was standing directly behind me with his hands shoved deep down in his leather jacket, just waiting. The expression on his face was close to what I’d seen flicker across Aaron’s when Cadence had pulled away from him, and I knew that was because that’s what I was doing now, only it wasn’t physical. She hadn’t wanted to be touched, and I didn’t want to be felt—I didn’t want anything from him at all right now except space.
“Can we talk about this tomorrow?” I finally asked, not quite able to meet his eyes.
I knew that’s not what he wanted to hear, but he nodded. “’Kay,” he said, his voice weak. He was completely clueless as to what was happening, and I couldn’t explain it myself, so I couldn’t blame him for feeling that way. “You okay, though?”
Behind him, the door to the building we had just occupied opened, and his dad, Aaron, and Jamie all walked out, heading the other direction. Elliott’s loud laugh echoed down the street, but they all three paused to look at us for a second, all concerned about me and about Brandon, and I wondered for a small second how these could be the same people who were so heartless when it came to Mina but cared so much about me. It didn’t make sense in my mind at the moment, and continuing to think about it might just make my brain explode. I’d had enough explosions for one day.
“I’m okay,” I said, taking a step backward. It wasn’t true—but there was nothing he could do to make me okay-er either.
He nodded, and I took another step away from him. I could hear the anguish in his voice as he asked quietly, “Are we okay?”
I had no answer for that, not in the moment. A good girlfriend would’ve told him what he wanted to hear. But I have a spark of evil pulsating through me. I have for the last few months. You can see it in my eye when I’m not wearing my contact. So I said, “Goodnight, Brandon,” and turned around and walked away.
