Chapter 385
When I opened my eyes, Jamie looked concerned, and I glanced down, realizing I was clutching my abdomen. I imagined my arm had moved into that position while I was in Holland’s head. I wondered how long I had been gone. “Are you okay?” Jamie asked.
“I’m okay,” I assured him. “But Holland isn’t. She’s having the baby. She’s unconscious right now, but while I was in her head, I could feel it. That’s never happened before. Also, I spent some time with Hines. It’s different now. I can access their thoughts a lot more quickly than I could before. I tried making him do something.” Jamie didn’t speak, but his eyebrows shot up in curiosity. “He looked like he was getting ready to do a surgical procedure, like maybe he was going to deliver the baby, and I wanted to see if I could get him to do what I wanted, so I had him take one of the scalpels and cut a hunk of his hair off. It really freaked him out.” I almost laughed, thinking of his surprise. I kept myself together. “I think maybe I can influence them the way that Holland was influencing Aaron.” It was a bold statement, to say maybe my powers were as strong as hers, but if I could make Hines do that, maybe I could do more.
Jamie stared at me for a long moment before he finally said, “Okay. Well, that might come in handy.”
“Yeah, as soon as he realized he wasn’t alone, he regained control, but it was neat while it lasted. I wonder if there’s anything else I could do.” I thought about the endless possibilities this new power presented.
“I don’t know,” Jamie admitted, “but be careful. You don’t want to get stuck over there or anything.”
Once again, I wanted to giggle. The idea that I could get trapped in one of their heads seemed ridiculous to me. It had been so easy to get in and get out this time. I wondered if I could even do that to Daunator. I realized Jamie might know more about this than I’d given him credit for, so I said, “I don’t think that could happen. Do you?” He shrugged. “Maybe I can use this to make her stop, or to probe into their minds and make them all stop.” The thought of ending all of this, of making them come to us, was appealing. “Maybe I’ll be able to access information more quickly.” Really, there was no end to the possibilities.
The doctor seemed more leery than I felt. “Maybe. But I think you should take it easy for now. In fact, I think you should probably go back to your apartment now. I’m pretty sure your mom wants to talk to you about how this happened.”
I wasn’t ready to face the consequences, not yet, not when I knew my mom would never be able to contextualize why this was worth it. She’d be focused on the risk, not the outcome. But he was right. I’d have to face it eventually. With a deep breath, I said, “Okay. But there’s just one more thing. I wonder....”
I didn’t finish my sentence. Instead, I held my hand out in front of me like I’ve seen superheroes do on the movies. Across the room, one of the medical trays began to float up off of the ground. It was exactly what I was trying to do. The idea that I could make things float was unbelievable to me! I couldn’t help but laugh as I put it back down. The possibilities truly were endless!
Glancing at Jamie, I could see how alarmed he was. So... I did the only thing I could in that moment. I imagined Jamie lifting off of the floor, and instantly, he began to float.
He was not amused. “All right, Cass, put me down.”
“Are you sure?” I teased. “It’s kind of fun.”
“I’m sure.” There was no doubt I was freaking him out. He probably realized I’d be hard to control now. I envisioned floating my parents around the apartment. “Put me down. And don’t do that to people.”
I did as he asked, but pointed out, “That should come in handy, don’t you think?” If I could float people, I could float our enemies.
“I’m sure it will, but I recommend you save it for the Vampires.” He was shaking his head at me, but I was still amused and couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face, despite knowing I was about to be grounded for the rest of eternity.
Jamie made one final note on my chart before he set it aside. “I don’t see any reason to keep you here. I think you can go. But Cassidy, remember, with great power comes great responsibility.”
“Are you quoting Voltaire—or Uncle Ben from Spiderman?” I asked, grinning at him.
He shook his head. “Does it matter?”
I didn’t really have an answer for that, but I decided I needed a little more fun before the punishment came. As we approached the door, I concentrated on my sister, easily stepping into her mind without using the IACs. I saw her standing right outside in the hallway, and I lifted her off of the ground.
“Cassidy! Put me down!” I could hear her screech before I even opened the door. I lowered her back to the floor.
I walked out into the hallway to see them all staring at me, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. Brandon had his hand over his mouth but slowly pulled it away as I stopped in front of him. “Good news. I can infiltrate Vampire minds like never before.” I couldn’t help but smile, despite my mother’s scowl.
“And float people,” my boyfriend added.
“Yeah, that, too. You wanna try? It’s fun.”
“No!”
It hurt my feelings a little that he didn’t seem to trust me to pick him up, but I kept my mouth shut.
“I told her not to do that,” Jamie noted.
Cadence was still shaking her head. “I heard you. Right before my feet came off of the floor.”
She looked so angry, I couldn’t help but giggle. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I felt more mischievous than normal. I shrugged at her. “Gotta have a little fun, don’t I?” Before the hammer drops.
“No, you don’t,” my mom chimed in. In her best parent voice, she stepped up in front of me, wagged her finger in my face and declared, “You are grounded!”
“Oh, Mom....” The idea that she actually thought she could control me now seemed more than a little amusing.
“I’m serious. Don’t think that just because you have some sort of magical powers that means I can’t punish you, young lady.” I almost laughed at her use of ‘young lady.’ She grabbed me by my upper arm and started moving us down the hall. I went along. Clearly, she was more than a little angry.
I turned to see Brandon was following us, but he kept his distance, and I couldn’t blame him. My mom continued her rant. “This has gone far enough. When we get back to the house... apartment... you are going to your room. You will do your homework and stay there until I say so!”
“It’s Saturday,” I mentioned. Granted, I still had Friday’s assignments, but I felt like being contrary.
“You will do as I say!”
I swallowed another laugh. I wasn’t sure why it was so amusing to me that my mom thought this hadn’t changed anything.
“Cass, seriously, get a grip,” Brandon said in my head. “We were all really worried about you, especially your mom. I’m sure learning you have the kind of powers most people only dream about is making you a little giddy, but you need to get it together.”
He was right. Maybe my mom could no longer stop me from doing whatever I wanted, but I had scared a lot of people—and not for the first time. The grin left my face, and I straightened up. I would do my assignments from Friday, and I needed to check in on Paul. And we had a hunt coming up. I could use the time in my room to prepare for that as well. I also realized I could potentially do a more thorough search for Heather now that I had these powers. Before, I hadn’t been able to find anything else about the other Hybrid, the one Mina had insisted existed. Maybe now I could.
I wasn’t used to walking this slowly, and now that I could zip along, the fact that I had to pace myself to my mom was excruciating. But I did it. When we reached the elevator, Brandon said he needed to go talk to someone, and he’d see me later.
“She will not be leaving her room for the rest of the evening, so don’t bother coming over,” my mom reminded him, as if he’d done something wrong, and the elevator doors closed.
“Mom, you don’t have to be rude to Brandon. He didn’t do this.”
“You mean to tell me you didn’t mention this to him before you went through with it?” she asked, finally releasing me, now that the elevator had me sufficiently contained.
“No, I didn’t tell anyone.” It was the truth. There was no way Brandon, or anyone else, would’ve let me go through with it. “This was all me.”
She didn’t say anything else. The elevator reached our floor, and I followed her to our apartment. My dad jumped up off of the sofa as soon as we walked in. “There she is! Cass, how are you, honey? I’ve been worried sick.”
I was a little surprised he was awake. The sun was just peeking over the horizon as we’d made our way across campus. Maybe he’d been sleeping on the couch. “I’m fine, Dad,” I said. I’d let my mom explain everything else to him.
“Go to your room,” she commanded, and I obliged. If she needed some time to get over this, I’d give it to her. I couldn’t blame them for being mad. But they were both going to have to accept the fact that things were different now. I wanted this to be a smooth transition, for them to come to the conclusion on their own. So I went off to my room, closing the door behind me with my mind, and sat down on the bed.
I could hear them, of course, even though they started out trying to keep their voices low. My mom told my dad everything I could do now—sort of. She didn’t know the half of it. And he was shocked. This was not what they’d signed up for. I got it. By the time the conversation was moving into their bedroom on the other side of the apartment, I was done listening. It didn’t matter. I knew who I was and what I had done. And I knew that the power I had just gained was going to change things in a way our enemies couldn’t possibly imagine.
