Chapter 432
I turned to head back upstairs but decided to check on Ashley first. She was still asleep, which I found really odd. It had been several hours. Deciding not to wake her, I headed back down the hallway toward the elevator, hoping Cadence would have more information for me when I got to the conference room.
It was apparent from the doorway they hadn’t gotten too far. My sister looked exhausted, and the others looked frustrated. I paused in the doorway until I had Cadence’s attention before I announced, “Leig solas na fala fala a-mach d’anam!”
Cadence smirked at me. “Fala fala to you, too. Where’d you find that?” She looked happier now than she had since before we headed to the Eidolon Festival all those hours ago.
“All of their heads, eventually. Well, the four gents. The girls had no idea what I was talking about. It took a little persuasion of the strong-arm variety.” I saw no reason to go into how I’d had to piece it all together and then trick them into saying it.
“All right. So... now we just need to figure out what that means.”
I felt out into the universe for Ward and realized he was nearby. “We should have help with that soon,” I promised my sister. Pulling out a chair across from her, I glanced around. There were a ton of notes, diagrams, charts, logs—it looked like Aaron had been here, the table was so full of paper. Of course, it wasn’t as tidy as it would’ve been if this had been his work.
“I’m hungry,” Trina announced from the far end of the table. “What do you say we order some pizza?”
Oswald answered quickly. “Sounds good to me.” He looked like one of those Guardians who loves to eat, like Elliott.
The idea of putting a greasy slice of pizza in my mouth sounded unappetizing. And then there was the fact that pizza was Brandon’s favorite meal. He ate it almost every day. A wave of nausea washed over me. “I’m not really hungry.”
“I’m not either,” Cadence agreed. “But we need to eat.” Then, to just anyone, she asked, “What time is it?”
“Almost one.” Job pointed at a clock directly across from my sister on the wall. Then, with a teasing grin, he added, “That computer chip in your eye also has a clock.” For a moment, I thought maybe he was flirting with my sister, but I figured he had to know better than that, didn’t he? He was kind of cute—but he was no Aaron.
Cadence made a face at him but didn’t respond, and then her expression changed for a moment, and I realized she was talking to someone on the IAC. I knew Stewart’s plane was due to arrive in Los Angeles around 12:15 our time. I wondered if it had landed on schedule and if the California team had him in custody. Maybe that’s what that face meant. I was also praying that the portal might allow messages in and out again at noon. I don’t know why I had it in my head that it could be every six hours, but it was just a feeling I had inside me, like some memory I had from a long time ago. I wondered if it might have something to do with the Vampire DNA I had inside me from Zabrina.
Cadence’s face lit up. “We got him!” she announced, and I could tell she felt like we were getting closer to figuring this whole thing out.
Part of me was happy, but the rest was still outraged. “Good. Let’s go make him talk.” I was praying I’d have the opportunity to spend some time with Hamish Stewart, all up close and personal.
My sister looked at me like she thought I was a maniac. “Daniel’s going to handle it for now.” I knew Daniel was a Hunter who had recently been named the Area Leader of California He was excellent at his job, but that didn’t take away from the fact that I wanted my turn with Stewart.
“You said you couldn’t find Hines or Holland through him?” It took me a moment to realize Job was talking to me, I was so caught up in my hatred for Hamish.
“Not from here,” I admitted. “But I might be able to if I was staring into his beady, little, gray eyes.”
Cadence sighed. “I’m sure you’ll get your chance. Right now, I want us to figure out what Holland’s angle is going to be on this. She’s got to assume we’re trying to get them back, so she’s not going to wait to attack. If her planes move, we’ve got her. What else could she do to get here?”
“Airliner?” Trina asked. I assumed she’d ordered the pizzas on her IAC and prayed none of them were pepperoni, Brandon’s favorite.
“That would be stupid.” I felt bad as soon as the phrase was out of my mouth. It sounded so rude. I tried to soften my tone. “I mean, we just picked Stewart up at the airport. She has to know that. She’s probably really mad.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Cadence said, tapping her chin with a pen as she thought. “In fact, I think she gave us Stewart.”
“Huh?” Oswald asked, as I tried not to lash out angrily at my older sister—and boss.
“Yeah, so, we couldn’t find Stewart when he was right here, but then suddenly Cassidy has a location on him and can get in his head. That’s not a mistake on Holland’s part. She gave that to us,” Cadence explained.
I realized she had a point. It did seem to make sense that Holland wouldn’t mess that up. Still, I like to think I had a little bit to do with it. “You don’t think I was just able to use my superpowers to find him?”
Cadence shrugged, probably trying to seem nonchalant so I wouldn’t attack her. “You’d been trying for a long time with nothing. Then, it was suddenly very easy for you to find him. So easy, in fact, that at first I thought maybe it was a ruse. But the way that Stewart reacted in the airport tells me we’ve got the right guy. So... Holland must’ve given him to us. Why would she do that?”
The question was a good one. I tried to think from Holland’s perspective, but that was difficult because she’s such a psycho. “Maybe she has no more purpose for keeping him, and it was draining her power to keep her shield over him?”
Cadence considered my explanation. “Yeah, maybe. What else might she need that power for? She was able to shield him, set up our decoys, and shield herself and Hines at the same time. We still don’t know if her baby is with her or if she hid him somewhere else, in which case she’s shielding him, too. It seems like she’s getting stronger.”
The thought of Holland’s baby gave me the willies. That awful creature, with red skin, a bald head, and long claws. He had been the size of a two-year-old when he was born. I was really hoping she did bring him with her the next time we met because I wanted to put an end to that nightmare before he grew up to be something even worse than Holland.
“Didn’t you say she was creating all kinds of shapeshifters and what-have-you before?” Job asked, steepling his fingers in front of his face. “Maybe since we took out Melbourne she’s got more power to work with.”
I found his use of the word “we” a little offensive since he was an Independent and had nothing to do with it, but I kept my mouth shut. Cadence is nicer than I am. “That could be it.” She rubbed her temples like she felt a headache coming on. “At any rate, I think we need to expect her to move soon. And I think she may send in some more of her goons before she gets to us herself. While I’m certain she’d love to just meet me on the battlefield, she’ll be content with taking me prisoner and destroying me at her leisure.”
“Cause that worked out so well for Giovani,” I muttered.
Before anyone could say anything to me in response, my phone made a whooshing noise, like a message was being sent. I stared at Cadence for a moment, my head cocked to the side in shock, and then pulled out my phone. “That’s weird,” I said, looking at my messages.
“What is it?”
Despite the feeling I’d had that noon would be the lucky hour, I still couldn’t believe it. “My message to Brandon just went through.”
