Chapter 419
I nodded in agreement with my sister, thinking that getting to the Eidolon Festival ourselves as soon as possible was the right thing to do. I was ready to run out the door right that second, but she needed a moment to get her Glock and tie her boots. She looked at me quizzically. “Where’s your weapon?”
I pulled open my jacket. “In its holster.”
Cadence rolled her eyes at me, like she had had no idea I had been armed and dangerous this whole time. She stood up and wandered around for a second, patting her pants. “Keys... keys....”
I grabbed them off of the dresser and tossed them to her. She was driving me crazy. Like we were just going down to the Piggly Wiggly to grab some milk. “Come on, let’s go!”
Cadence motioned at the door, and I flew out of it first, almost running right into Ashley. Great, another obstacle.
“Oh, hey! Glad you’re both still awake. Something weird seems to be going on. I can’t get ahold of Jamie. I’m sure it’s nothing....”
I had to cut her off. Her tone was a mix between “about to lose her mind” and “this is no big deal.” I said, “We know.”
Cadence shoved me past her. “We are on our way over there now. You can come if you want.”
I was already flying down the stairs when I heard Ashley say, “What? No, we can’t, remember? No Hunters allowed,” and then laugh like an idiot.
I paused halfway down the stairs as my sister said, “There’s no time to explain. Are you coming or not?”
All of the color drained from Ashley’s face. “Yeah, I’m coming. Let me grab my Glock.”
“Hurry!” I insisted, and then my sister and I ran out the door.
I hopped into the passenger seat as Cadence cranked the engine. A pounding on her window had me jumping right out of my skin until I saw it was one of the area Hunters. I recognized her face from my IAC. Her—I could access. An older lady who had been around a while, her name was May, and she was glad to have been put on “watch the Findley sisters” duty because it was about the only action she’d had in a few months. I didn’t mean to see that in her head, but I’d pushed a little too far.
“What’s going on?” she asked as Cadence rolled the window down. “Where are you headed?”
“The festival. Something weird’s happening. Look, I don’t think you guys are going to see any action here. Why don’t you head across town and set up a loose perimeter around the festival grounds? Major roads on surveillance for certain. Hopefully, it’s nothing, but if I need you to close things down, I’d rather you were already over there.” Cadence was talking faster than I’d ever heard her speak in my life.
May’s whole life seemed to brighten. “You got it, chief,” she said then turned and ran away from us with her hair blowing in the wind.
“Come on, Ash,” my sister whispered under her breath, looking back at the house. I wondered how long she’d wait before she left Jamie’s girlfriend behind. It’s no secret Cadence does not like her.
It seemed like an eternity, but it was probably only a few seconds later when the door came open, and Ashley flew to the back seat. I caught a glimpse of her Glock in its holster, but she also had a Berate. We knew Vampires didn’t like to see our weapons, so Guardians didn’t usually take the bigger guns to festivals, but I guessed none of that really mattered at the moment since we were about the crash the party.
Cadence started to drive, and while she did, I decided to do something useful. I tried Brandon again and got nothing. I decided to go down the ranks. Aaron was still gone. But then I found Hannah—his second in command. “Thank God,” I said to her. “What in the world is happening?” Out loud, I shrieked, “Hannah! I got Hannah!” and a second later my sister was on the IAC, too, so when Hannah answered, it was to both of us.
“I don’t know.” That was not at all what I wanted to hear. “I can’t find Aaron anywhere. Elliott seems to be missing, too. We’re looking.” Hannah’s voice is usually cool as a cucumber, but even she seemed panicked by the situation.
“What about Brandon?” I crossed my fingers that she’d say she had eyes on him, that he was just fine.
It took her longer to come back to me than I was comfortable with, but when she did, I’d just as soon she’d kept her answer to herself. “No, I don’t know.”
I made a little sound like a lost sheep, and my sister grabbed ahold of my leg and squeezed it. “It’s okay, Cass. He couldn’t have gone far.”
I nodded, but I didn’t think that was true. I knew what I’d seen earlier. In the back of my mind, I started to think perhaps Christian had been mistaken. Maybe there really was a Blood Moon Portal. If so, it had to work differently than the Blue Moon Portal. I wondered if it could’ve somehow sucked them up into another dimension. The thought was terrifying, so I had to push it to the back of my mind. I was still praying that Holland was simply putting some sort of screen around the missing Guardians so we couldn’t see them so she could kidnap them. As awful as that sounded, it didn’t scare me nearly as bad as a Blood Moon Portal.
My sister was giving Hannah directions, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I caught something about not letting any of the Vampires leave and finding Mika Ito, the girl who’d called Aaron to organize the festival. Of course, I caught the last part she practically yelled, “Find the missing Guardians!”
