Chapter 360
It occurred to me that a nap might be a good idea. Sometimes, my math teacher allows permission to take the test at exactly midnight, which is great for people like Brandon who are awake in the middle of the night. Maybe I could take the test before the hunt. I decided I’d better wait and see what my sister had planned, though it wouldn’t be surprising if she had decided to show up in Lexington sometime around two or three o’clock in the morning.
I heard my sister’s voice and realized I’d dozed off for a few minutes. My mom was asking her a bunch of questions about her day, and Cadence’s voice was shifting from polite to annoyed. I decided to go ahead and save my sister, so I went out into the living room. “Hey, Cass,” she said, a look of relief on her face. “Ready to tell me what you got?”
“Sure,” I said, not making direct eye contact with my mother for fear she’d start asking me a bunch of questions, too. My dad wasn’t home from work yet, but I could smell a roast in the crockpot and my stomach rumbled. It’d been too long since that grilled cheese sandwich. It would have to wait. Cadence followed me into my bedroom and shut the door behind her. I could practically hear her rolling her eyes.
I dropped back down where I’d been sitting before. “Tell me about it,” I muttered as she took a seat near my knees. “At least you get to go to your own place.”
She ignored my comment, and I wasn’t surprised. She didn’t like for me to talk bad about Mom and Dad and always insisted they were doing the best they could, and I was the one who went off and did something stupid and dangerous. “What did you find out?”
“There are ten of them, I think, though there could be more. The place is called The Anderson House. It’s an historic site in Lexington. It’s huge. You need to look at it before you go.” I was browsing pictures on my IAC as I told her. “It’s really pretty, too, so try not to mess it up.”
“I’ll do my best,” Cadence replied, but I knew she’d make no promises. “All right—what else?”
“There’s a basement under the main part of the house. I think the entry is in the back. Maybe behind the stairs or something. Anyway, that’s where Spittle is right now, but it’s hard to say if he stays there or not. He doesn’t think you’re coming because I told him we were planning on taking out the others first, the ones that split off from his group. But he’ll know what’s up as soon as you pull up, so you’ll have to go in slow. This place is out in the country a little ways, near the river.”
“What river?” my sister asked, cocking her head to the side.
“The Nile.” I could roll my eyes, too. “The Missouri. Does it matter?”
“Snippy!” Cadence shook her head at me. “Sorry. There’s more than one river around here. Ever heard of the Mississippi?”
“Ever heard of St. Louis? Lexington is closer to the middle of Missouri.”
My sister ignored my sarcasm. “What else?”
“Nothing, I guess.” It crossed my mind to mention the bizarre state of Aaron’s thoughts, but I decided now wasn’t the time. “Did you get permission to take the Guardians?”
“No, but Elliott’s going anyway, and he is letting Brandon come. He said if they actually get kicked out, they’ll have to go together anyway.” My sister snickered, but I didn’t think it was funny—and I got the impression she didn’t really either. While I was fairly sure she wouldn’t let Aaron actually make them leave, he wasn’t known for making empty threats.
“Who else is going?” I knew my name wouldn’t be on that list, obviously, but I really wanted it to be.
“Aurora, Meagan, Ashley, and Martin. I needed a Healer, and he’s the only one we’ve got that isn’t a Guardian.”
“Jamie didn’t want to take the chance?”
“No, I wouldn’t let him,” she replied, folding her arms. “I told him there was no reason for all of Aaron’s close friends to go behind his back. Besides, I think Martin’s pretty good. He’ll do.”
“Yeah, but if someone gets hurt it’ll be harder for him to get to them,” I reminded her. One of the luxuries of having a Guardian for a Healer, like Jamie, was that a Vampire couldn’t hurt them. We just had to be careful about the crossfire.
“I know. We’ll make it work. Hopefully, no one will get hurt.”
I nodded, but I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be as easy as just knocking on Spittle’s door. Holland had influence over these people before. She might now. “I wish I could help.”
“Actually, I think you can,” my sister said with a curious expression on her face. “Do you think you could interfere with Holland’s signal the whole length of the hunt? I’m sure you’ll be up anyhow.”
My ears perked up at the possibility of being included, even if from afar. “What is it you want me to do?”
“Well, with the crazy crocopire business Holland pulled off in Houston, I was thinking it might be a good idea for you to see if you can block her the whole time we’re out on the hunt, sort of like a giant shield that will prevent her from making any of these Vampires capable of shifting.”
I could tell by my sister’s expression the idea of running into another anomaly such as the Vampire that shifted into a crocodile while she was in an underground tunnel sounded like something she’d like to avoid. “I have never done anything like that before, but I’m definitely willing to try,” I replied. “I’d want to watch the hunt anyway since Brandon is going with you. I may as well be doing something useful.” I didn’t know if I’d actually be able to see any of the hunt if I was making the shield like my sister asked, but the chance to lend a hand seemed more important to me than just watching everyone else have all of the fun.
“Great,” Cadence said, and I could tell she really did look relieved. “We’re planning to get there around two, so you should probably get some rest before then.”
My earlier thoughts of trying to complete my test before the hunt so I wouldn’t have to stress over it tomorrow entered my mind again. I was certain Aurora wouldn’t cancel training just because she was going on the hunt tonight. She still needed some sleep, but not a full night’s like me or Cadence. “Okay. I’ll see if I can work in a nap.” I thought I could probably close my eyes right then and sleep for the rest of the night if that was an option.
“Awesome.” Cadence hopped up off of the bed like she was totally carefree, even though I was quite certain that wasn’t the case. Not only had she called a hunt without Aaron’s approval—which she didn’t need but still always tried to have—but she was taking unauthorized personnel, and this would be our first strike out against an actual threat since we’d returned from Melbourne.
“Be careful,” I said to her retreating form just before she opened the door.
“We will be.” She turned and smiled at me over her shoulder like she was just going to the mall before she gave a little wave and disappeared. I heard my mom ask her something, and she muttered a response, something about being in a hurry because of the hunt. Then I heard the front door click into place. Must be nice to just come and go as she pleases.... I may never know.
That nap was sounding good. I glanced at the clock and saw that dinner would be ready soon. A smart person would probably wait, eat dinner, set her alarm in time to take her test, and then participate in the hunt. I am not always a smart person. I snuggled down into my pillow, knowing my mom would wake me up in time for dinner, and let my heavy eyelids do their thing.
