Chapter 152

The penthouse was far quieter than Cadon had ever experienced before. At least, he couldn’t remember a time when his previous home wasn’t buzzing with noise of some kind. Whether it was his parents talking and laughing or loud music coming from his sister’s room, noise always filled the space. Now, he was sitting on a foreign sofa in a room that was painted the wrong color and had no decorations on the walls, and all he could think about was whether or not any of his family members would ever be in this home with him again.
He’d decided to stop sitting in Christian’s office after a couple of hours of waiting for Jo to come back through the portal with his mom. It wasn’t that he didn’t have faith in either his sister or his mother. It was just… Ashley had told him the penthouse was finished, and he’d needed to see it.
Now that he was sitting in the living room, he sort of wished he hadn’t come here so soon.
Ghosts seemed to move around him as he watched images of the past replay in front of his mind’s eye. Saw Christmases and birthdays. He was witnessing a parade of shadows, and none of it was making him feel a damn bit better. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to start getting emotional, and that wasn’t a feeling he ever found himself comfortable with.
A knock on his door drew him out of his head just in time to keep him from forming tears in his eyes.
“Yeah?” Cadon called, not bothering to get up. The door was unlocked, but even if it wasn’t, most LIGHTS members could get in anyway.
Elliott popped his head through the door. “Hey, man. How’s it going? You gettin’ all cozy in here?”
“Something like that,” Cadon replied, hoping he didn’t look like he’d been about to cry. “What’s up?”
“Well, I was just thinking….” Elliott walked through the door carrying a backpack slung over his shoulder. “You’re home. Your sister’ll be home soon–with your mom, I have no doubt. I was just thinking… it was time your dad came home, too.” He flipped the backpack around and held it in such a way that Cadon had no doubt what was in it.
The urn.
“Oh, right,” Cadon said, looking around the room. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Yeah,” Elliott said, unzipping the backpack and pulling Aaron’s remains out. “So when I was dead, my understanding is that my spot was right over here on the mantel.” He carried the urn over there and placed it above the fireplace. “I figure we’ll keep him here until… you know… your mom decides whether or not to listen to him. Personally, I’m hoping she doesn’t listen and decides to bring him back, but who knows what she’ll do.”
Cadon wasn’t sure what to think about that. As much as he wanted to have his dad back, he also knew that if Aaron came back, something evil would come back as well, and Cadon wasn’t sure how he felt about having to start all over again battling monsters that were so powerful, they were nearly able to take over the entire world. If Holland came through again… the chances of them being able to contain her this time were nil to none.
But it would ultimately be up to his parents. His mom could ask his dad to come through, but it would be up to his dad to decide whether or not he wanted to stay on the other side, in what his mother used to refer to as “the beyond” or if he wanted to come back so that he could be with their mom again.
Cadon was pretty sure he knew what his dad would decide, though. Aaron was ultra-responsible and never did anything selfish, not even once in his entire life. If his dad came through the portal, it would have to be for some other reason, not just because he missed their mom and wanted to see her again.
No, that would be a selfish reason, and Aaron McReynolds was never selfish.
“Do you ever regret your decision to come back?” Cadon asked Elliott as his uncle walked across the room and sat down in a chair near where Cadon was sitting on the couch.
“Man, this chair is not nearly as comfortable as the one that used to be here,” Elliott mumbled. Cadon waited for him to circle back around to the question knowing that he would–eventually. “No, not anymore,” Elliott said in response to Cadon’s question. “I used to–back before I found out I could actually die in the Blood Moon Portal if I ever want to die. I mean, for a while, I was conflicted because I thought I might reach a point in my life when I was ready to call it quits but I wouldn’t be able to. Now that I know I can die somewhere, and it’s pretty easy to access for that matter, I don’t regret it.”
“But you brought Holland back with you, didn’t you?” Cadon asked, wondering if that made a difference to him.
“Who can say? When your great-grandma went through on the same night, Carter and Holland both came back. So maybe she brought Holland back, and I just brought Carter through. Really, there’s no way to know for sure.”
Cadon didn’t see the point in arguing with him. “You know he’s not going to come back, though, right? I mean, not unless he thinks it’s the only way to save the world somehow.”
Elliott shrugged. “I can see why you’d say that, but your dad loves your mom so much. When he sees her standing there, after having missed out on being with her for the last ten years, there’s a good chance he’ll forget everything else and just come to be with her.”
Cadon wasn’t sure about that. “I guess… all we can do is wait and find out,” he said. “Assuming Mom even wants to try.”
“She’ll want to see him. Hell, if she wanted to see my sorry ass, she’ll definitely want to see your dad. I just hope she gets through soon, though.”
“Why is that?” Cadon asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure out what Elliott was talking about.
“There’s a blue moon coming up in two weeks,” he explained. “It’d be great if she was back for that, and we could see what your dad’s verdict is. After that, we’ll have to wait several months.”
Cadon had no idea. He hadn’t checked to see when the next blue moon was. He was about to tell Elliott it was all up to his mom when there was another knock on the door. “Yeah?”
“Hey,” Jamie said, opening the door. “Mallory is ready. You wanna come?”
Shocked, Cadon found himself standing up before he even answered. “Sure.”
Elliott snickered, and Cadon knew exactly what that was all about, but he didn’t say anything because there was no point. People were going to talk, whether it was true or not.
He just didn’t know if there was anything to snicker about–or not.