Chapter 417
Cadence was still asleep, but she was tossing and turning a little, so I thought maybe she’d wake up soon. It seemed like forever since she’d gone to sleep from what I could tell. I wanted her to wake up so I could confess that I wasn’t feeling good about this whole situation. I knew I could just shake her, and she’d wake up in a second, but that seemed rude. So I sat on the foot of the bed and stared out the window at the moon. I decided to do one more round of recon to see if any of the Vampires around us knew anything fishy about the blood moon, but that wasn’t helping. I was even using the IACs as a tool to access new minds. All any of the Vampires at the festival seemed to care about was having a good time.
My sister finally sat up at about 2:15. I glanced at her only long enough to make sure she was really awake as she wiped her hand across her face and blinked a few times. “Oh, good. You’re alive after all,” I joked, though my tone probably didn’t exactly ooze hilarity. I was starting to feel even worse about this whole deal. I could see Brandon, hear him talking with Jamie about different hunts and techniques through their IACs, but I still had that unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“What time is it?” Cadence asked, taking a drink of water from a glass on her nightstand—right next to a clock she didn’t bother to look at. I didn’t bother to answer her. She also literally had a clock in her eye.
Before I was even certain Cadence was fully awake, I blurted, “I have a funny feeling.” I wasn’t even looking at her. Only the bottom of the moon was visible out the window from this angle, but my eyes were glued to it. “I keep going over everything in my head. I’m even feeling out to every Vampire I can reach. As soon as one of the Guardians sees a new one, I jump into their head as quickly as I can. But... I can’t put my finger on it. I just know something’s wrong.” I hoped she didn’t say I told you so because she had, but this was more intense than what I thought she’d been describing before.
“I’ve felt the same way the last few days,” she reminded me. Without saying anything else, she got up and disappeared into the bathroom. When she came back, nothing had changed, unless it was possible I somehow felt even more uncomfortable.
Cadence didn’t say anything to me, only put on her boots and came back around the side of the bed and sat down next to me. I think she may have been talking to Aaron because her face was changing like she was having a conversation with someone, even though her lips weren’t moving.
We sat there like that for a few minutes. I was keeping tabs on Brandon but not really talking to him, and I don’t know exactly who Cadence was talking to, but she was snickering so I imagined it was probably Elliott. Then, something really weird started to happen.
At first, I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but then, it got worse, and I couldn’t help but realize what I was staring at. Just like earlier, when Brandon and I had come back in from our walk, the moon was moving. Only this time, it was much more noticeable. I jumped up off of the bed and walked toward the window to get a better view.
I’ve never seen anything like it in my whole life, and hope I never do again. The moon was almost completely red now, and it was whirling, sort of like one of those swirly things hypnotists use. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. And I kept walking closer to it, even though I was out of room and was already up next to the window.
Brandon was chatting with Jamie, so I didn’t want to interrupt him, but I wondered if he could see it, too. “Brandon, what’s going on with the moon? Does it look like it’s moving to you?”
“Huh?” he asked, like he hadn’t quite heard me. “What are you talking about?”
“I... the moon... it’s all weird. I think... maybe I should go the Eidolon Festival. Maybe I should take my sister.... Maybe the moon is calling me.” I knew every word coming out of my mouth was making no sense, but I couldn’t pull myself away from that shiny, red orb in the sky.
Since Brandon seemed to be clueless as to what I was talking about, I decided to try my sister. Once I could get my mouth to move, I asked her, “What’s wrong with the moon?”
I could hear that Cadence’s voice was close to me, but I couldn’t actually turn my head to look at her. I couldn’t even blink, I was staring at the moon so intently. It was like I no longer had control over my own head. She said, “It’s a blood moon, remember?” like I’m some sort of a moron and wondered why it was that color. “It’s just turning... redder.”
“No, there’s something wrong with it. Look at it! It’s moving!” I insisted, pointing at it viciously and almost ramming my hand into the window.
“What?” my sister asked. I knew she was looking out the window, too, because she stepped in my view for a moment, and I almost had to shove her aside so I could see clearly. “Cassidy, I don’t see anything.”
“It’s moving!” I didn’t understand why no one could see this. Now, the twirly hypnotizing thingy was vibrating back and forth rapidly, and then I realized what was happening. “It’s opening! We need to get over there right now!”
