Chapter 388
While I worked on the dishes, I dropped in on Jamie. “How was your procedure?”
“Great! You will not believe what I can do now. It’s not as cool as what you can do, but it does involve blue lights shooting out of my hands, so there’s that.”
I couldn’t remember ever hearing him so giddy in my life and was relieved he didn’t seem angry at me anymore. “Cool! Let me see,” I said, floating a pan into the dishwasher.
He gave me visuals, and I saw a streak of blue light come out of one hand, form a ball in the air, and land in the other palm before disintegrating. “That should come in handy. I can shoot it across the room. And I think my battery is endless now.”
“Amazing!” I said. I couldn’t imagine a Jamie who didn’t fall asleep as soon as he healed someone. A knock on his office door took his attention away from me, and when my sister stuck her head in, I decided it was time to go. “See ya,” I said, clocking out before he could respond. I’d had enough Cadence for a while.
I needed to do what she asked, though, so I sent a message to Aaron telling him I needed to talk to him. It took him a few moments to get back to me, and by then, the kitchen was clean, the dishwasher was running, and my protein shake was in the blender. It was past lunchtime, but it sounded good, so I was going to drink it anyway.
“You should’ve waited to run the dishwasher until after you made that!” my mom shouted at me. I ignored her as I went through everything I’d already told Cadence, wondering how come she couldn’t just tell Aaron herself. When I got to the part about the wall, he asked me if I thought someone with X-ray vision would be able to see the seams. I immediately remembered I should have that now and turned to the wall that separates the living room from the kitchen. There’s a passthrough, but other than that, I was looking at cabinets and a counter. Using my new skill, I could see my parents sitting on the couch. It was odd—it looked nothing like those slides you see at the doctor. Everything was in color, and it wasn’t just their bones. I could see their clothes. I wondered if I pushed further if I could access their bone structure but thought that might be a little creepy. Instead, I just said, “I think so.” As far as I knew, no one in Melbourne had X-ray vision, but I imagined there was something he knew that I didn’t.
“Good. I’m sending Margie and Grant over to help, and they’re both undergoing the procedure on the way from Perth.”
“Ah, I see,” I replied. That made sense. Margie is Jamie’s sister, and while she’s not a Healer, she is a beast. Grant is her boyfriend—I think—and he is also a savage. They would definitely be able to help Paul, even without having undergone the procedure, but that would be a huge help to him.
“Cass, when you get a chance, will you see if you can throw a screen over Melbourne, see if you can keep Holland out of there when Paul goes back in?”
I felt for Paul again, thinking it would help if I knew what he was up against. I remembered the monsters from earlier and realized Holland wasn’t currently shifting those things. She’d already done it. “Yeah, I’ll see what I can do. I can’t stop the monsters that are already in the moat that way, though.”
“Okay. Just do your best.”
“Will do.” I took a gulp of my protein shake, glad it was Saturday so I didn’t have any extra assignments other than the ones I’d missed yesterday, which I’d rush through as soon as I had a chance. This would take all of my concentration. And there was still a hunt that night.
“Thanks, Cass,” Aaron said. “Hey, I think what you did was really stupid, careless, dangerous, and not very kind to your parents. But I have a feeling it’s going to be very beneficial for us. Just stop being an idiot, okay?”
I realized he wasn’t being too hard on me probably because I’d just saved him from Holland. “Okay.” That was all I could say. I couldn’t even think of another stupid thing I could do right now if I wanted to.
“All right. Good luck with the screen.”
“Thanks. Good luck coordinating all the attacks.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna need it. By the way, do you know Cadence has you assigned to Aurora tonight?”
I made a noise in the back of my throat. I knew that because she’d told me, but I didn’t like it. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted it to change. I wondered why he was telling me and decided to see what I could do. “I need to be with Brandon,” I said. “I’m only allowed to see him during hunts.”
“Maybe that’s part of your punishment?”
“Maybe I’ll be too distracted to do my job if I’m not with him?” I threatened.
“I’ll see what I can do.” And he was gone. I smiled, knowing he’d get me switched. I finished my shake, rinsed the cup out, and the blender, and headed back toward the living room, thinking I’d better get on that shield.
“Cassidy, your mother and I would like to speak to you,” my dad called as I walked back into the living room.
I tried not to huff. “Okay, but I just talked to Aaron, and he has an assignment for me that can’t wait. I need to help out in Melbourne.” Whatever it was they wanted to talk to me about, it had better be important because I had important work to do, work they simply weren’t capable of understanding.
