Chapter 65
Once my parents were settled in front of the TV in the living room, my dad reading the paper and my mom crocheting, I headed to the kitchen, looking for something to do, and decided I could empty the dishwasher since my mom and sister had done the dishes earlier. I’d just pulled out my mom’s heavy serving platter when Elliott’s voice startled me. It slipped from my fingers, but before it could hit the ground, he dashed across the room and caught it.
I looked up in awe. He’d crossed about ten feet in less than a second, faster than gravity. I stared at him as we both clutched the dish. “How did you…?”
He didn’t answer. “Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, taking it from me and opening the correct cabinet and sliding it inside exactly where it belonged.
“It’s okay,” I mumbled, turning back to the dishwasher. “I guess I should be used to that now. I’ve seen it enough times. It’s still… weird.”
“What? My face? Thanks, Cass,” he joked. With a deep sigh, he said, “Not much I can do about it now.”
He had me laughing, which made me think I might accidentally drop another dish, so I took a few calming breaths before I turned to the glasses. “No, that… speed.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, pulling a stack of plates out and putting them away, too, like he’d spent a lot of time strolling around my kitchen. I could tell by the way he said it he did know what I was talking about, though. He just couldn’t let on like he did.
We continued to empty the dishwasher in silence, and I took the few dishes out of the sink and stuffed them into their slots before I closed it, and we both washed our hands. I handed him the dish towel I’d dried my hands on, and taking a deep breath, I turned to face him. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Nope,” he said, using the towel and then looking around like he was trying to decide what to do with it. I took it from him and chucked it into the hamper my mom keeps near the laundry room for dirty dish towels.
“Please?” I asked.
Elliott leaned back against the counter. “Nope.”
Frustrated, I crossed my arms and stared up at him. “Not vampire related?”
He shook his head and let out a deep breath. “What, Cass?”
What I really wanted to ask was vampire related, so I had to choose something else. It took me a moment. “Why aren’t you with your family?”
I think I took him by surprise. He raised an eyebrow at me. “Well, not everyone has a family,” he replied with a shrug.
Noticing his answer didn’t quite match my question, I asked, “You don’t?” He hadn’t said that.
A far-off look crossed his face for a moment before he shrugged it off. “I used to.”
“What happened to them?” I asked, turning slightly so that I was better facing him.
“It’s a long story, Cass.”
“Luckily, I’ve got all night.”
He laughed at me and then started to walk away. I thought he was refusing to answer me, but he walked over to the nook and took a seat at the table. I followed. “I was married once, a long time ago. Things didn’t work out, so we separated.”
Shocked didn’t even begin to encapsulate the way I was feeling. “Really?” I asked. It was so hard for me to imagine him having a wife, especially one he’d been married to “a long time ago.” Knowing someone claims to be in their seventies when they look like they’re only a few years older than you are yourself is one thing; accepting that it’s true is something else entirely.
“Yep. So… I don’t really have a family now. I told you about my brother. And… there isn’t anyone else.”
Something about the way he made that last statement made me think he wasn’t being completely honest with me, like maybe there was someone else, but I decided not to press my luck with this line of questioning. As long as he was talking, though, I decided to keep going. “What’s up with Aaron and Eliza?”
Perhaps that was not my next best question as the air he blew out sounded something like a cross between a frustrated best friend and an angry water buffalo. “Heck if I know,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “That woman is… insane. I am hopeful this was just a temporary lapse in judgement, and everything will be corrected soon, but I swear, if I’m forced to endure that relationship again, I’ll… run away from home.”
I gathered from his expulsion of information that this was not a new thing then. “Aaron and Eliza have dated before?” I asked cautiously.
“Yeah, not recently. I had hoped it was over.” He was shaking his head. “Not really something you need to worry about, though, lil girl.”
I disagreed. “He broke my sister’s heart,” I reminded him, leaning forward slightly.
“I know. But you let me handle that. Don’t you go worrying your pretty lil head about it, okay?”
I could feel myself blushing because he’d called me pretty, so I decided to move on. “What’s LIGHTS?” I asked, and his eyebrows arched high enough to make me concerned for his vision. “My mom slipped up,” I explained.
“Oh,” he said, shaking his head again. “That Liz. First, she doesn’t want you to know anything, then she’s telling you stuff. I wish she’d make up her mind.”
I giggled for a moment before I realized he hadn’t answered me. “What’s LIGHTS?”
“That’s the place where we work!” He sounded slightly exasperated now, like he wasn’t used to people catching him evading questions and redirecting him. “I think you could probably gather that from whatever your mom said.”
“Sure, I could,” I nodded, “which is why I’m asking you what it is. That’s a weird name. Why is it called that?”
“Heck if I know,” he replied again. “I didn’t name it.”
“Does it stand for something?”
“Yes, yes it does. It stands for Lil Intelligent Girls Have To Stop, and it was named that because you need to stop asking questions.”
Now I was laughing hard enough that I was concerned my parents might come to investigate. “Did you just think of that?”
Elliott winked at me. “I’m pretty quick on my feet. Pun intended.”
Afraid I might fall out of my seat, I braced myself against the table and tried to get my laughter under control. I thought he might try to make an escape while I was rendered speechless, but he didn’t. I did notice he was doing that weird thing with his eyes, like he was talking to someone, and once I could breathe again, I was determined to find out what that was all about. I’d seen my sister do it, too. “Why do you look like you’re carrying on a conversation when there’s no one else around?” I asked, finally returning to normal.
He went from looking shocked to shaking his head. “Really, Cassidy. Stop asking me things I can’t tell you.” Elliott pushed his chair back and began to stand. I grabbed his arm.
“Wait! Seriously, I know so much more now than I did before, and I haven’t even told Lucy or Emma, though I’ve been dying to. Elliott, you’re the only one I can talk to about any of this stuff, and it’s starting to drive me crazy. Please, just tell me.”
While he looked sympathetic, he sighed and said, “I can’t, Cass.”
“Why? Because Aaron doesn’t want you to? After what he did to my sister, who cares what he thinks?”
“It’s not that simple. I told you. Your parents don’t want you to know either.”
“Yeah, well, most of what I know is because they keep slipping up. They’re bound to say something more they’re not supposed to eventually anyway. Earlier, my mom said you’ve always been welcome here. What did that mean?”
“It means, your mom knows that I’ve been watching over you for a long time,” he admitted slowly. “Cass, accidentally saying something is one thing; going out of my way to tell you information I’ve been sworn not to is something else. I’m glad you haven’t been telling your friends. There’s no reason to confuse them and have them running around asking all sorts of questions, too. Seriously, just let it go.”
I couldn’t though. “Will you at least tell me what an IAC is?” That question had been burning in my mind for weeks, since I’d overheard Aaron and Cadence talking about her getting one installed, something I thought Christian was supposed to do.
“Can’t do it, lil girl.” He was out of his chair now. “Why don’t you worry about student stuff and let us worry about saving the world?”
I wanted to yell because they hadn’t done a very good job recently, that Jack was dead, and Drew was dead, and Cadence was weird, but I knew it would get me nowhere. I’d have to try again later. “Fine,” I said, watching him go. I imagined he’d head off to the living room to listen to the television like my parents did while they did other things, but he didn’t seem to be the type to crochet, and I didn’t know if my dad would be willing to part with the paper.
I sat in the kitchen for a long time, staring at the wall. Suddenly, all of the Christmas joy seemed to be sucked out of the house, and reality began to set back in, which made me angry because I should still have a couple of hours before the clock struck twelve and everyone turned back into pumpkins. I was so tired of secrets, so tired of being the one left in the dark. I decided that, if Elliott wouldn’t help me, I would figure things out for myself, one way or another, and if that meant re-involving my friends, well then, so be it.
