Chapter 21: Chapter 21

My sister finally sat up at about 2:15. I glanced at her only long enough to make sure she was really awake as she wiped her hand across her face and blinked a few times. “Oh, good. You’re alive after all,” I joked, though my tone probably didn’t exactly ooze hilarity. I was starting to feel even worse about this whole deal. I could see Brandon, hear him talking with Jamie about different hunts and techniques through their IACs, but I still had that unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“What time is it?” Cadence asked, taking a drink of water from a glass on her nightstand—right next to a clock she didn’t bother to look at. I didn’t bother to answer her. She also literally had a clock in her eye.

Before I was even certain Cadence was fully awake, I blurted, “I have a funny feeling.” I wasn’t even looking at her. Only the bottom of the moon was visible out the window from this angle, but my eyes were glued to it. “I keep going over everything in my head. I’m even feeling out to every Vampire I can reach. As soon as one of the Guardians sees a new one, I jump into their head as quickly as I can. But... I can’t put my finger on it. I just know something’s wrong.” I hoped she didn’t say I told you so because she had, but this was more intense than what I thought she’d been describing before.

“I’ve felt the same way the last few days,” she reminded me. Without saying anything else, she got up and disappeared into the bathroom. When she came back, nothing had changed, unless it was possible I somehow felt even more uncomfortable.

Cadence didn’t say anything to me, only put on her boots and came back around the side of the bed and sat down next to me. I think she may have been talking to Aaron because her face was changing like she was having a conversation with someone, even though her lips weren’t moving.

We sat there like that for a few minutes. I was keeping tabs on Brandon but not really talking to him, and I don’t know exactly who Cadence was talking to, but she was snickering so I imagined it was probably Elliott. Then, something really weird started to happen.

At first, I thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but then, it got worse, and I couldn’t help but realize what I was staring at. Just like earlier, when Brandon and I had come back in from our walk, the moon was moving. Only this time, it was much more noticeable. I jumped up off of the bed and walked toward the window to get a better view.

I’ve never seen anything like it in my whole life, and hope I never do again. The moon was almost completely red now, and it was whirling, sort of like one of those swirly things hypnotists use. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. And I kept walking closer to it, even though I was out of room and was already up next to the window.

Brandon was chatting with Jamie, so I didn’t want to interrupt him, but I wondered if he could see it, too. “Brandon, what’s going on with the moon? Does it look like it’s moving to you?”

“Huh?” he asked, like he hadn’t quite heard me. “What are you talking about?”

“I... the moon... it’s all weird. I think... maybe I should go the Eidolon Festival. Maybe I should take my sister.... Maybe the moon is calling me.” I knew every word coming out of my mouth was making no sense, but I couldn’t pull myself away from that shiny, red orb in the sky.

Since Brandon seemed to be clueless as to what I was talking about, I decided to try my sister. Once I could get my mouth to move, I asked her, “What’s wrong with the moon?”

I could hear that Cadence’s voice was close to me, but I couldn’t actually turn my head to look at her. I couldn’t even blink, I was staring at the moon so intently. It was like I no longer had control over my own head. She said, “It’s a blood moon, remember?” like I’m some sort of a moron and wondered why it was that color. “It’s just turning... redder.”

“No, there’s something wrong with it. Look at it! It’s moving!” I insisted, pointing at it viciously and almost ramming my hand into the window.

“What?” my sister asked. I knew she was looking out the window, too, because she stepped in my view for a moment, and I almost had to shove her aside so I could see clearly. “Cassidy, I don’t see anything.”

“It’s moving!” I didn’t understand why no one could see this. Now, the twirly hypnotizing thingy was vibrating back and forth rapidly, and then I realized what was happening. “It’s opening! We need to get over there right now!”

Out of nowhere, everything went black. I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head, and I started vibrating almost as rapidly as that stupid orb in the sky. I felt my sister’s arms around me, which was a good thing because otherwise I might’ve fallen over right there. My body felt like it was attached to a jackhammer, it was shaking so hard, and then I felt my feet lift off of the floor. I needed to get there.... I needed to go through that opening.... I need to be inside of the moon....

My feet hit the floor hard, jarring my eyes open, and I realized I wasn’t shaking anymore. I was staring into my sister’s brown eyes, and it took a me a moment to even remember where I was. “What happened?” I asked, trying to remember. Something about the moon....

“I don’t know, but it wasn’t normal,” Cadence said, her hands on my arms. “Are you okay?”

I looked down and was glad to see my feet were planted on the floor. “I think so.” I took a few deep breaths and assessed the situation. I noticed my IAC was off and wondered if Brandon had seen me acting so weird. He was probably worried. I’d need to check in with him in a second. “What did I say?” I asked my sister. I couldn’t exactly remember.

“You said the moon was moving, that it was opening,” she explained. “I thought you were going to levitate right out the window.” She kind of smirked with that last comment, but I knew she really did think it had been a possibility.

I took a few steps backward, my sister’s arms still on me, and let it all sink in. I sat down on the edge of the bed. Some of the stuff I’d been saying to myself was nuts. I wondered how much I’d said out loud.

“That’s so crazy.” There had to be an explanation. Nothing like that had ever happened before. I thought about all of the other crazy things we’d seen lately—Aaron’s brain covered in sticky goo, Cadence thinking he was a Vampire and shooting him, Laura making herself look like Drew. It all led back to one person. “I wonder... maybe Holland infiltrated my mind for a moment. Maybe she was trying to draw us out.” It’s the only thing that made any sense to me. If I did go out the window, Cadence would have to follow. There could be Vampires out there waiting for us. My nervousness all day had felt different than when there’s a Vampire nearby, but it could’ve been the same.

“Maybe.” Cadence sat down next to me and put her arm around me. “Whatever it was, don’t ever do that again, okay. You scared the crap out of me.”

I was listening to her, but I also needed to check in on Brandon. So while she was talking I tried to send him a message, and the weirdest thing happened. There was no trace of him in my IAC. I’ve never had that happen before. Even if his IAC is in full off mode, it’ll still register. I can still send him a message. But this time, it was like he was completely gone.

Before I panicked, I reached out with my telepathy. Even if something wonky was happening with the electronics, I’d be able to reach him with that. I’d gotten to Paul all the way in Melbourne, and I didn’t even know him that well. But when I tried to find Brandon’s mind, he was nowhere to be found.

Now, I was letting myself panic—a little bit. I took a deep breath. “Sorry,” I said, meaning about scaring her, but then I tried to explain, “Cadence, I can’t find Brandon.”

“What?” My sister is usually pretty chill in an emergency, but I could hear in her tone this was worrying her. “What do you mean?”

“He’s gone. His IAC is gone. I can’t even reach him telepathically.” My voice was two octaves higher than normal

She didn’t say anything, but I could tell she was trying to reach him, too, and couldn’t get him. And then she was trying other people. So I did the same thing, starting with Jamie because he had been right next to Brandon when I reached out to him before. Nope. No Jamie. I went to Elliott—and he wasn’t there either. Aaron would know what was going on. But I also couldn’t find him. My hands flew to my head and I started tugging on my hair. “Cadence, what is happening?”

My sister tried her best to anchor me to the bed because she could see I was freaking out in a different sort of way than the time before when I’d tried to float out the window. She said, “Maybe it’s just Holland messing with our IACs again.” That had happened before. “You know how she interfered with mine during the warehouse hunt. She could be doing it again, just to upset us.”

Cadence was talking like that was no big deal. “I know that, but the last time you ended up shooting Aaron and almost killing him, remember?” Besides, I would still be able to reach them with my telepathy, even if their IACs were being interfered with—at least I thought I could. It was possible Holland could mess with that, too, but I’d thought I was strong enough now to fight off a direct attack from her. Maybe I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was.

“All right,” my sister was saying. “Let’s try not to panic.”

“Cadence, what if it’s something really bad?” I asked her. That feeling in my gut had multiplied to the hundredth degree.

My sister had that look on her face that let me know she’d shifted into Hunter mode. “I don’t know what’s going on, Cass. But I agree. We need to get over there right now.”