Chapter 51
We were scrambling, trying to hide whatever we could while still making sure our notes were clear. We still weren’t exactly sure what we’d seen, but we had come so far. I wasn’t about to let Elliott take it all away from me now. He’d have to claw it out of my cold, dead hands. That thought didn’t last long before I realized that could easily be arranged, and ice water began to run through my veins.
“Why did you do that?” Lucy asked, shoving her laptop and notebook in a secret hiding space she had beneath a floorboard behind her dresser. “You shouldn’t have told him!”
“Because I’m an idiot,” I replied. I had no idea why I’d made that phone call. “I thought I could trust him!”
“You’re an idiot!” Emma agreed.
“I know!” I grabbed my coat, having done my best to hide my laptop under a stack of Lucy’s clothing, and my notebook was shoved between her desk and the wall. “I’m just going to go.”
“It’s cold outside, and it’s almost dark,” Lucy reminded me.
“I can’t stay here. He’ll… brainwash both of you.”
My mind was made up, and I took off, stepping over the half-eaten pizza in the box on the floor, hoping Mr. and Mrs. Burk wouldn’t notice me as I fled the scene.
I was about halfway down the stairs when I heard a knock on the door. I turned to see Lucy and Emma had followed me. We all three froze in terror as Daniel opened the door. I knew Elliott could brainwash his way in, take everything from us, and disappear into the night, like a… banshee.
“Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you. My name is Hannah Roberts, and I’m a friend of Liz Findley’s. I understand her daughter, Cassidy, is here. Would you mind if I spoke to her for just a minute?”
It was Hannah. Oh, thank sweet baby Jesus, it was Hannah. Daniel shrugged and turned to face the stairs like he was going to scream up them, but when he saw me standing there, he walked away, leaving the door open and Hannah standing there. As I began to creep toward her, I heard Lucy’s mom ask her son who it was and he said nobody. I didn’t hear footsteps coming our direction, so I assumed somehow Hannah had manipulated Lucy’s family into letting her in without question.
I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “What are you doing here?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“Hi, Cassidy,” Hannah said, smiling as she pushed the door behind her closed. “Do you have a minute?”
“No….”
She laughed. “It’ll just take a moment.”
“Did Elliott send you?” I was on a roll with stupid questions tonight.
Hannah walked into the dining room like she owned the place, and the three of us followed. She gestured for us to have a seat, and we did. I could see Lucy’s hands trembling as she pulled out a chair, the one as far away from Hannah as possible.
“I understand that you saw a video on YouTube that has you asking some questions.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t nod. Didn’t waver.
“It’s natural for you to question videos of this sort which seem to show people doing things out of the ordinary, impossible things. I don’t blame you for being curious, particularly when they seem to disappear almost as quickly as they pop up. I can assure all three of you that you needn’t worry about Montana Mama; she’s just fine. An associate of mine is having a similar conversation with her just now. And… once that associate leaves, Montana Mama will no longer think she saw anything out of the ordinary.”
“And when you leave, neither will we?” I asked.
Hannah’s smile was tight. “I know you have notes, other pieces of information to help you remember what you think you’ve seen and heard, Cassidy.” Hannah’s voice was so pleasant, it was like a lullaby. “It’s perfectly normal for you to want to keep track of the information you’ve gathered. I know that Elliott has asked you several times to stop researching. Here’s the deal, sweet girls. This has to stop right here, right now, okay? You cannot keep digging. You have to let it go.”
All three of us were nodding.
“There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything that you’ve seen. It was a prank. Montana Mama is looking for attention from others. You are right to question what you’ve seen, to be confused, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing to fear.”
I was still nodding, but the question burning on the tip of my tongue flew out of my mouth despite her assurances. “Was that a vampire?”
“Of course not. There are no such things as vampires. That was a man in a costume.”
“Of course, it was a man in a costume.” Lucy let out a long sigh of relief.
“Okay,” I said.
“Now, when we are done, I want you to go back upstairs and rip up all of your notes. Delete everything off of your computers. And then… let all of this go. Okay?”
All three of us smiled. “Okay,” we agreed.
“I can’t wait to go rip up my notes,” Emma said, a big sappy smile on her face.
“I’ll just wipe my whole hard drive.” Lucy looked relieved.
“And don’t forget to delete all of your texts.” Hannah’s smile grew even wider.
“We will,” Lucy assured her.
“Okay then.” Hannah stood and pushed in her chair, heading for the door. We watched her let herself out, and still smiling like a bunch of idiots, we headed up the stairs.
“I am going to shred all of the notes I’ve taken,” Lucy said. “It will be like making confetti!”
“We can have a paper party!” Emma agreed.
I was thinking about what a relief it would be to destroy everything, to lift the burden I’d been living under for these past few weeks, to be free of vampires, mysteries, and everything that had been weighing so heavily on my heart. I’d be able to breathe again at last.
We were at the top of the stairs when my phone buzzed. I almost ignored it, but then I thought I may as well get to deleting those pesky text messages.
It was Elliott. “Don’t do it, Cass. Let them. Make them. But don’t do it.”
Confusion swept over me like a wave pounding against the rocky shoreline. What was he talking about? Don’t do what? Make them do what? Suddenly, everything came rushing back to me like a ton of bricks slamming into my chest. Hannah had tricked us, convinced us to destroy everything, but Elliott was telling me not to do it with my own research, to let it be. But… I’d have to convince my two best friends in the world to rip up, to delete, everything they’d been working so hard to gather these past few weeks.
And they’d been doing all of it for me, not for themselves. They’d done it because I asked them to. Knowing that, however, made me feel very selfish. I had dragged them into this mess, and they could’ve been in danger. They could still be in danger. I had no idea what we were dealing with here, but I knew that it involved vampires. I’d seen it with my own eyes. I knew what I needed to do.
I answered him quickly with just one letter. “K,” and followed Lucy to her room. I wished I could get a copy of that video, the one on Emma’s phone, though. It would be good to have. An idea popped into my head as Emma picked up her laptop. “Hey, give me your phone, and I’ll delete those texts,” I said to her. “I did mine on the stairs.”
“Sure!” she agreed, her voice still chipper from Hannah’s brainwashing. As soon as I had it in hand, I found the video and sent it to my own phone. Then, I set about deleting every scrap of information Emma had on her phone even remotely associated with vampires.
When I was done, I fumbled around on my own laptop for a few minutes before joyfully proclaiming that everything was gone. I pulled some random pages out of my notebook and ripped them up before stuffing what was left of it into my backpack. Satisfied that we were all done destroying our hard work, we all sank back onto Lucy’s furniture and grabbed cold slices of pizza.
“Want to watch a movie?” Lucy asked, flipping the TV on.
“Sure. What’s on?” I asked, scooting back onto the sofa beside her.
“Ooh, here’s one Emma’s never seen. Let’s watch this,” Lucy said, sinking her teeth into her slice of cheese pizza
“What is it about?” Emma asked, settling in on my other side.
“It’s called Twilight,” Lucy replied. “It’s about sparkly vampires.”
“Cool,” Emma said, a sappy smile still on her face. “I guess we know it’s not a documentary. Everyone knows vampires aren’t real.”
They both burst out laughing, and I forced myself to laugh right along with them, even though I could feel tears stinging the backs of my eyes. My best friends were completely convinced that none of this had ever happened; their minds had been altered, and it was my fault. What was worst of all was, I was still 99.9 percent sure that my sister, Cadence Findley, is a vampire.
