Chapter 429
Ward didn’t have an IAC, and I was tired of rummaging around in people’s heads without their consent. As much as I didn’t want to tell anyone what had happened, I thought he needed to know anyway, particularly if he was on his way to Shenandoah. He may as well reroute if he could.
“Ward, I know this is really weird, but I’m Cadence Findley’s sister, Cassidy, and I’m part Vampire, so I can communicate telepathically. If you can hear me, just think back, ‘Yes,’ and I’ll be able to pick it up.”
Without actually jumping into his memories, I wouldn’t know for sure what he was thinking about until he answered me, if he did. It took a few moments before I got a distinct, “Yes, I can hear you.”
“Good. Listen, something crazy has happened. Have you ever heard of the Blood Moon Portal?”
“I can’t say that I have.”
He was still being cautious, like he couldn’t trust his own thoughts. “Well, apparently there is one, and it opened last night at the Eidolon Festival in West Virginia. If Aaron mentioned that to you, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Anyway, he’s gone. We think he’s in the portal, along with five other Guardians, including my boyfriend, Brandon.” That part was hard to say. “We have a book that might tell us how to get them out, but it’s in ancient Scottish Gaelic. You don’t happen to read ancient Scottish Gaelic do you?”
I couldn’t blame him for taking a moment to digest all of that. Eventually, he thought, “I do.... A portal, you say? Aaron’s gone?”
“Temporarily, I hope. Listen, Cadence and I are still in DC. If you can get here, or to KC instead of going to Iowa, that would be helpful. And if you want to check you’re not crazy, call Hannah. She’ll tell you.”
“Whereabouts are you in DC? I’m about to board a plane to Des Moines from LaGuardia.”
“We are at the Independents’ office.”
Ward was quiet again for a while, and I imagined he might be checking to see if he could get on a flight to DC instead. If he could, there was a chance he could be there with us in a matter of hours, which would be great. I couldn’t believe our luck that he could actually decipher the book.
“I should be able to hop on a flight to DC soon.”
“Awesome! Do you know where the office is?”
“I do.”
I was so relieved. “Thank you, Ward. I think we can figure this out with your help.”
“I’d do anything for Aaron,” he said, and I could hear the emotion in his voice even though I was just listening to his thoughts.
“How is it that you happen to read ancient Scottish Gaelic?” I asked out of curiosity. I realized Tara was trying to get me through the IAC, and while I dreaded talking to her, I knew I needed to wrap it up with Ward.
“Many of the Vampires’ texts were written in that language in the day. They dominated Ireland and Scotland for centuries, so it’s no surprise. I wanted to be able to read what the enemy was writing, so I learned.”
“That makes sense. All right. We’ll see you soon. Thank you!”
“Thank you, Cassidy. We’ll find a way to get them back.”
I appreciated his confidence, and I hoped he was right, but part of me was still in panic mode. I told him goodbye and jumped out of his head, ready to see what Tara had to say.
“Hey, how are you?” I asked, not even sure what she knew.
“Something totally weird is happening, Cass. Did you see Hannah’s message?”
“The one about the IACs being messed up?” I asked. “Yeah, I saw it.”
“Okay, well, I thought Dax’s must just be on the fritz or something because I wasn’t able to get ahold of him when I woke up in the middle of the night last night, like, around 3:00 or something. But then this morning I couldn’t get him either.”
I didn’t know what time it was there, but a check of the clock in my IAC told me it was still pretty early in Iowa. They were an hour behind us, and it was just a little past 7:00 my time. “Yeah, Tara, about that.... Something’s happened. It’s not good. You should sit down.”
“What do you mean, Cass? You’re scaring me.”
Her voice was shaking a little, so I decided to just blurt it out. “A portal opened last night, and Dax and Brandon are gone. So are some other people—Elliott, Aaron, Jamie, and Alex. We’re trying to get them back.” I hoped that was enough information to let her know what was happening without confusing the crap out of her.
Apparently, it wasn’t, or it had come across in a confusing sort of way. “Huh?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but this Vampire named Hamish Stewart was working with Holland, and he opened the Blood Moon Portal. He had a whole team of Vampires working with him. But we just located him, so we should be able to bring him in for questioning, and maybe that will give us some more answers.”
Tara was silent for a long time. I wasn’t sure if she was confused or crying, so I just waited patiently for her to respond. When she did, it wasn’t what I was expecting. “Cass, I don’t know what’s going on, but I think what you’re telling me is impossible.”
“What do you mean?” I was praying that she was going to tell me that all of the guys were there with her, that this had all been a huge misunderstanding on my part for some reason.
That’s not what she said—but it was interesting to say the least. “I got a text message from Dax a few minutes ago. It was weird, and it freaked me out when I woke up and read how tragic it sounds. And I haven’t been able to get him on the IAC. My text back won’t go through either. But how could he have sent me a text if he’s in a portal?”
I was equally confused now. I had no idea. What were the chances you could sometimes contact a person in a portal through a cell phone? I asked the most logical question I could think of. “What did it say?”
“It says, ‘Oh, my gosh, Tara! I’m so sorry, baby! I don’t know what happened or where the heck I am, but I love you so much. I’ll get back to you, one way or another, I promise.’ Of course, I thought that was confusing because I didn’t think West Virginia was that bad.... But now, are you saying you think he sent that from inside the portal?”
Any hope I had of this being a misunderstanding on my part faded away. “Yeah, I do,” I said. “I guess it’s possible, sometimes, to text from inside a portal.” Yet another mystery we would have to sort out. I needed my phone back. If Brandon had sent me a text, I’d have it by now. Maybe he thought the whole idea of texting from inside a portal sounded ridiculous.
I wondered if Ashley had anything, but she was asleep, and I didn’t want to disturb her, not just to check her phone. If I could see it, I might snatch it out of her hand and check for myself, but she had it in her pocket, and I wasn’t going there.
“Do you really think they’re gone?” I could hear Tara starting to get emotional.
“Calm down, Tara. It’ll be okay. They’re not gone—they’re just... somewhere else right now. We will find them.”
“What can I do?” she asked. “I need to help.”
“Contact Hannah. She’ll let you know.” It was the best I could do. I had no idea what she could do to help, but I imagined Hannah could think of something. “Could you send me a screenshot of that text, please, so I can show my sister?”
“Of course.” I had it in my IAC a few seconds later. “Gosh, Cadence must be all broken up about this, too, if Aaron’s gone. It’s so close to their wedding.”
“She is. She’s holding it together, though. We aren’t going to be any good to anyone if we’re all a bunch of crybabies.”
“Does that mean you haven’t cried at all?” Tara seemed shocked. I rethought my previous statement.
“No, of course not. I’m just saying, for the most part, we need to keep our heads on straight.”
“Yeah, I’m barely holding back my tears right now, Cass.”
I felt bad having to be the one to tell her. I considered mentioning to her what else I’d done, but despite not being sorry for ripping Christian’s face off, I wasn’t about to admit it out loud. “I think I better go tell my sister about this text business. She’ll want to know.”
“Right. Okay. Keep me updated, all right? Like, if you hear anything at all, you let me know. Okay?”
“I will,” I promised her, figuring my friend would be in my head for most of the time it took us to bring the guys home.
My babysitter was still asleep, so I decided now was as good a time as ever to trek back upstairs and see if I could find Cadence. I took one more glance at Ashley to make sure she was out and then went upstairs to let Cadence know about the text from beyond. Something told me she was not going to believe it.
