Chapter 358
The thrusting of a grilled cheese sandwich under my nose brought me back to reality. I looked up to meet Brandon’s eyes and smiled, thanking him with a loud growl of my stomach. “I figured you had to be hungry.” He sat down beside me, and Elliott took his regular chair across from us, an open bag of Cheetos in his hand, his fingers already orange from the dust.
“How’s the mathing going?” he asked before slamming another handful of chips into his mouth. “I never did see the point.”
“It’s going,” I replied, biting into a perfectly melty, delicious, buttery gift from the gods. Brandon has a way with bread, cheese, and butter that transforms them into something otherworldly. “I don’t think I’m going to be up for this test, though, if you guys are going out tonight.”
“Yeah, we haven’t decided for sure yet. Depends on what you find out. But if Cadence is going, I’m going. I don’t really care what....” He stopped himself short of treason, or whatever it would be to publicly declare he wasn’t going to follow his Leader’s declaration.
“And that means I’m going, too,” Brandon said with a smile, not even bothering to pick up his book or his laptop.
“Must be nice,” I replied, almost done with my sandwich already.
“Just be patient, lil girl. Before long, you’ll be doing whatever you want.” Elliott dragged his teeth over his thumb, pulling off a layer of orange before putting his hand back into the bag for more. This is why no one ever ate out of his Cheeto bag.
“Did Cadey tell you about Sam?” I asked, pretty sure she would have or else I wouldn’t have broached the topic for fear I’d be the one explaining.
He nodded. “Just means I get to kill him for real this time.”
“Why do you think Hines did that?” I asked. Brandon took my empty plate before I even had a chance to set it on the coffee table and hurried it to the kitchen sink.
“Search me. You’re the one walking around in that whack-jobs head.”
“True, but figuring out anything in Hines’s head is confusing.” Some people were easier to navigate than others. I thought about how Holland had forced me out. “Do you know if Aaron has accepted that Holland’s preggo?”
“I have no idea,” Elliott admitted as Brandon handed me a bottle of water. “But I’m guessing no. I was just telling Cadence I saw him downstairs talking to Juan Diego a few minutes before I came up here, and he was his regular sour self at first, but then he changed back into the old Aaron for a few minutes—still sour but not in the same Eeyore state—and then he was gone again. It was so weird. It was only a few seconds, but it was nice to see him. I miss that guy.”
I tipped my head to the side and thought about everything Elliott had just said. It all seemed so strange. I knew precisely what he was talking about. Even when Aaron was himself, he wasn’t exactly the cheeriest person in the world, but recently it had gotten so bad it sort of was like he was impersonating Pooh Bear’s angsty friend. A spark of an idea hit me in the amygdala, but with all that math clogging my neurotransmitters, it faded away before it came together, and I was left just as puzzled as everyone else. It was nice to think that Aaron was capable of breaking out of this, whatever it was, though. I wondered if Cadence had been happy to hear that or if she’d rather not know that her fiancé had revealed himself to Elliott but not to her.
“I should probably let you guys get back to work.” Elliott licked his fingers again before pulling himself out of his chair.
“Where are you going?” Brandon asked, and I could clearly detect suspicion in his voice. Elliott turned slowly and looked at his son, picking up on it, too. His eyebrows touched and then raised in an unspoken question. “I mean... you gonna be around. In case there’s more info about the hunt—potential hunt?”
“Who’s whose dad?” Elliott asked with a crooked grin on his face. “I’m gonna head back to my dad cave and watch a little basketball, if it’s all the same to you.”
“No, it’s fine,” Brandon stammered. “I just... wanted to know in case Cadence said something.”
“Cadence can’t say somethin’ until Cass gets her the intel she needs, and she can’t do that until she learns all that new math that’s confusing just for the sake of bein’ confusing.”
“Right,” Brandon said with a nod, and Elliott walked into the kitchen with a smirk on his face. Something was definitely going on, something Elliott didn’t want us to know about, even though he clearly thought it was funny we were on to him.
I didn’t have time to worry about it. Checking the time, I saw that I had less than an hour until I had to return to my apartment or else I’d turn into a pumpkin or something. “Is this right?” I asked Brandon, showing him the work I’d done while he was gone and praying it was so I didn’t have to redo it.
He studied the problem for half a second before he said, “Yeah, that’s right. See, I told you you’d get it.” He smiled at me like a proud teacher, and I felt my cheeks pink a little. I was relieved I was starting to figure it out, but I still didn’t feel comfortable, and we were running out of time. I’d be happy when it was summer break, but something told me even then my mom would keep a tight rein on me. I had to do something to free myself, but for now, my options were limited, and I had no idea what I could possibly do to break free.
