Chapter 513
I cried myself to sleep, but when I woke up, I was mad. I wasn’t sure what I was mad about or who I was mad at, but that’s how I felt. So I got up and went to my treadmill, hoping a few dozen angry miles would have me feeling better.
Christian was still in the hole. There was no point in pushing beyond that, so I focused my attention elsewhere as I pounded the pavement. I needed to talk to Brandon.
Going over the conversation we might have occupied my mind as the miles flew by. I could imagine what I would sound like going over and sitting on his couch, pulling up the picture I’d taken of Alex’s note, since I’d destroyed the original, and letting Brandon read it, trying to explain myself. “It’s not that I wanted to be with Alex. I just don’t know what I might want in the future.” It sounded dumb. I couldn’t say that to him. I revised the conversation and kept running.
Guessing what he would say was probably easier than figuring out what I was going to say. I knew him pretty well. In fact, most days, I’d say I knew him better than I knew myself. But I had to imagine he might say something that would throw me off, something unpredictable. I changed the conversation several times, trying to prepare myself for every situation. In the end, I reached a conclusion. Letting him read Alex’s letter would shatter his heart even beyond the damage I’d already done. If I was going to try to get back together with Brandon, I’d have to find another way to do it.
I’d gone over sixty miles and hadn’t gotten anywhere at all.
Grabbing a towel, I ran it across my sweaty forehead, using my powers to turn the shower on. I’d need to take another one. I was so sweaty, my clothes were sticking to me, and I could even sort of smell myself. I didn’t go straight to the bathroom, though. Instead, I plunked down on the couch. I hadn’t actually spoken to Christian for several hours. I needed to hear him say he was all right and that he didn’t want me to send in the cavalry.
“You okay?” I asked, a little worried about how he might respond.
“Well, I’m still in a hole in the ground. I can’t see a thing. Oh, and a psychotic Vampire showed up a little while ago and called all of my weapons rudimentary.”
I almost laughed at how offended he was that someone had insulted his weapons, but then I realized who he was talking about. “Wait—what? Daunator showed up? Did you kick his butt?”
“Yes, I did. That’s why I’m on my way home right now instead of still stuck in a hole in the ground.”
I couldn’t blame him for being snarky. He had to be frustrated. I tried to stay cool this time. “You could have kicked his butt and not be home right now because you are stuck in a hole in the ground, smarty pants.”
“No, Cassidy, I did not kick his butt! I emptied an entire clip into him and tossed a grenade his direction, and absolutely nothing happened at all, except for maybe a pithy amount of smoke.”
It sounded to me like he had used his old grenade, the kind I’d used to catch Gibbon on fire. Part of me wanted to clarify because I’d been under the impression he was going to try something different this time, but I didn’t know how to ask what I wanted to without making him more angry. He was obviously starting to lose it a little bit, and I couldn’t blame him. “Is it time for someone to come get you now, then?” I wanted him to say yes. Maybe they’d put a rescue mission together, and we could take Daunator out at the same time. Would they do that without my sister and Aaron? Probably not...
“No, not yet.” He meant it. “I need to try again.”
“Christian....”
“Cassidy, don’t. I will find a way to defeat him. Something in my arsenal has to be useful against him.”
I doubted what he was saying more than I’d ever doubted anything I’d heard in my life. But he wasn’t in a state to be reasoned with, so I wasn’t going to argue with him about it anymore. It crossed my mind that I should mention the creatures to him, but he was so far out of it at the moment, who knows what he might say. “All right. Well, is there anything I can do?” I had no idea what it might be, short of getting him out of there, but thought I’d offer.
“Not that I can think of.”
I didn’t want to walk away from him, not when he wasn’t able to reach anyone, and he was clearly starting to suffer from his time in the hole. But what else could I do? “Okay. I guess I’ll go then. I’ll check in on you soon.”
“All right.” I was about to turn his thoughts off when he stopped me. “Oh, one more thing, Cassidy. I’m not alone.”
Goosebumps rose up all over my arms as I pondered what that could mean. I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach like everything was about to come crashing down, and since none of this was good in the first place, crashing would be a disaster, to say the least. “What do you mean?” I held my breath waiting for his answer.
“I mean, there are other people down here. I can’t see them because it’s too dark, but I could hear them. And Daunator mentioned them as well.”
He could hear them? Does that mean he couldn’t now? People? Where would they have come from? “Can you walk to them? Could you find them that way? How many? Who are they?” The questions just kept streaming out of my mouth.
“That’s a lot of questions, none of which I can answer. I don’t know who they are or where they are, and I’m sure not going to go wandering around down here in the dark. For all I know, I could end up falling into an even deeper hole.”
