Chapter 87
Sitting through church had been more than a little excruciating. My parents had been a little late to the service, so we sat in the back—right behind Jack’s parents. It was an hour of torture, watching his mother wipe at her eyes and his father hold back sobs as the pastor talked to us about not questioning God’s plan. How could they do anything but that when they’d lost their son to what they believed to be some sort of horrible disease? As far as I knew, that’s what had claimed Jack, but I had my suspicions it was something even worse, though I did my best to push those thoughts aside.
It was all I could do to fall asleep the night before. I was up thinking about Jack, what it must be like to realize one day that you’re not who you used to be. Had he been bitten by a vampire? Did it hurt? Did they drain him and leave him for dead? Had my sister and her friends swooped in in an attempt to save him but been too late? My mind was running wild and the sun was about to come up by the time I’d fallen asleep. Since my mom had a strict rule that I still had to get up in time for church even if I spent the night at a friend’s house, if it was one of the days she’d decided we were going, I wasn’t thrilled when my alarm had gone off at 8:00. Lucy and Emma hadn’t stirred as I’d walked around like a zombie getting ready to go and sneaking out. Luckily, I knew the alarm code, or I would’ve woken the whole house up.
Alice Cook has the same nose as Jack’s. Even though hers was currently red and raw from all the tears she’d shed these past few weeks, I could still see the resemblance. She’d been a good mom, raised a son a person could be proud of. Now, here she was, likely wondering where she’d gone wrong, why God was angry enough at her that He’d take her only son in the prime of his life. There were no answers for that.
If Jack really was a vampire, running around the Caribbean killing tourists and other unfortunate souls, would Alice want to know? If I was in her position, would I? What about Cadence? I assumed if it was him I saw on the video that my sister already knew about it, which begged another question: how could she keep that information to herself?
Of course, Cadence didn’t know what I knew. She had no idea that I was aware that she was anything other than a security guard for an elite company. Elliott had made it very clear that I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone what I knew and that I shouldn’t share any of the information I’d gathered with my friends. Well, that ended up not making any difference because they were incapable of believing me right now, and I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t believe me either. Heck, half of the time I didn’t believe myself. I thought I was losing my mind.
When the sermon was over and we sang the last notes of the final hymn, I jumped up and headed for the van. I knew my mom would want to linger, probably talk to Alice and Steve, and I couldn’t blame her for that. But I didn’t want to talk to them. I didn’t want to look into Steve’s eyes, the same as Jack’s, and think, “By the way, could you watch this video and tell me if you think that might be your son lurking back there in the shadows?”
My dad was a smart man, and I heard him click the button on the remote to the van to unlock and start it for me. I am sure he realized how uncomfortable I would be standing around talking to grownups about grownup things. I waved at a few people I knew but didn’t smile as I made my way out the double doors, not even waiting long enough for the pastor to take his spot to shake my hand. Once I was in the van, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I had a missed call from Emma. I was hopeful she was already on the mission I’d assigned her the night before. Without hesitating, I dialed her back, not thinking about how it might appear to my parents if I were to find out about Jack with them sitting in the van.
“Hey, Em. You called?”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice bordering between bored and clinical. “I ran that test.”
“And?” I asked, glancing back toward the church. Still no parental units.
“And… it’s a match.”
We were both silent for a long exhale before I said, “I’m sorry. Are you saying… that was Jack in that video.”
“Well, not one hundred percent sure,” she began.
I forced myself to breath. “How sure?”
“Ninety-nine point nine.”
Once again, the air was heavy. “Emma, you do realize what this means, right?”
“Yes. It means Jack Cook is alive and living in the Caribbean. Possibly killing people.”
“No, Em. It means that he is a vampire. That everything I told you last night is true! He’s not dead---he’s not alive—he’s undead!”
“Cassidy, I don’t think that’s possible.” Emma launched into the same biological explanation she’d used to explain away vampires the last time we’d had this discussion, weeks ago, back when I hadn’t convinced her the first time.
About halfway through, I saw my parents coming and cut her off. “Okay, Emma Jane. I get it. But do me a favor and see what you can find on your own, okay?” This approach had worked last time. She’d done enough digging around to convince herself without me having to put in too much effort. “Just pose the hypothesis that perhaps vampires are real, and see if you can prove it, all right?”
“I don’t know why I’d do that….”
“Humor me!” My parents were walking with the Cooks, and I knew I definitely couldn’t talk to them right now. My heart was racing in my chest. Their son was somewhere right at that moment, near a sundrenched beach, planning to attack another innocent person, perhaps that very night, and they thought he was in an urn on their fireplace. I questioned exactly who or what was in said urn before bringing my mind back to more immediately pressing things. “Does Lucy know about this?”
“No, I wanted to tell you first.”
“Good. I’ll call her myself, okay?”
“Fine,” Emma said, “but I know you just think you can convince her if you get to her first.”
“Possibly,” I admitted. “I’m not trying to convince you of anything, Em,” I said as my parents stopped next to the van. “I just… I’m freaking out here.” I kept my voice low so my mom and dad couldn’t hear.
“That’s understandable. I am sure you’ll want to inform your sister that her ex-boyfriend is still alive. So bizarre….”
“Emma, do not tell anyone about this,” I warned. I could just see Cadence and her associates breaking through doors and windows like a SWAT team on a B-rated movie, taking Emma’s family hostage.
“Who am I going to tell?” she asked. “I speak to two people. I just told you, and you told me not to tell Lucy.”
She had a point. I could think of a few other people she might mention it to, like Milo and Wes, but since she hadn’t thought of that, I left it alone as my parents pulled their doors open. “Okay. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Emma hung up. She said she didn’t really see the point in telling people goodbye if she was going to see them soon, so I expected nothing less.
