Chapter 56: Chapter 56

“All right. If the two of you can work on that, I’d appreciate it. Cassidy, can you write up a text to send to Brandon’s phone that says the gist of what we’ve discovered here? Don’t mention Stewart going in yet. I think we need to talk a little more about how that will work before we bring it up. We’ll let them know, though, that we’ll be sending someone in so they can all get out.”

“Sure,” Cassidy said, grabbing Cadence’s phone off of the table.

“Let me look at it before you send it.” Her sister nodded. “Cale, will you go over to Christian’s lab and check on Tara and Lucy? That’s where they are isn’t it?” Christian nodded, and Cadence continued. “See if they need anything and if Tara is doing okay. If they want you to, stick around and help them with their assignment. I think that would be the best way you can help us. Who do we have on the ground in the area where Holland’s planes are?”

“We moved in Mila’s team,” Hannah reminded her.

“Right. I want a contingency at the airport, so if the planes move, we move. If Holland gets wind that we’re trying to track the portal opening to a specific location, she’ll be there, too.”

“On it,” Hannah confirmed.

“Christian, check in with Daniel Bower. When Hamish gets here, I want you to talk to him first. Let him think you’re in trouble over this, too. Which maybe you are. If he’ll confide in you, maybe I won’t need to be the hammer. In fact, maybe you need to be in the cell. Maybe you could mention the threat of portal time?”

Christian swallowed hard, like he thought she might actually consider disposing of him that way. “Okay,” was all he said, and she had a feeling he’d take this assignment a lot more seriously than he had the last one.

“All right. I have to sleep now. I am, after all, more like a human than most of you. Cassidy, you need to sleep, too, even though you don’t think you do. Ash, you guys will be of no use to anyone if you don’t rest.”

Neither of the other women looked as if they agreed with her assessment, but Cadence knew she was right. She pushed up from the table. “Thanks, guys.”

“Cadence, your mom has called me at least a half dozen times wanting to know if you’re going to call her,” Aurora said in a hushed tone.

“Call her for me?” Cadence asked. “I just can’t talk wedding right now.”

“Sure.” Aurora’s voice indicated she knew that wasn’t going to stop Liz Findley from calling, but she’d do her best to take care of it.

“Amanda Keen is here. She’s staying in Elliott and Brandon’s apartment.” Hannah didn’t look in Aurora’s direction as she spoke, and Cadence could only assume that Hannah was aware of the secret relationship that wasn’t so secret.

“All right. I’ll meet with her later.” That one would have to wait. “I’m sure she’ll want to do something to help, but I have no idea what that might be.”

“She’ll want to be there with us when Brandon comes home.” Hannah offered her a small smile, and Cadence nodded, heading toward the door, Cassidy close behind her.

On their way back to the apartment building, Cassidy handed Cadence her phone. Cadence read through the message. “Looks good,” she said, wishing she could add something personal to Aaron, but she thought they were right in trying to keep all of this as professional as possible. The idea that the Guardians would be back soon enough seemed more possible now than it had when her plane touched down. Maybe by the time she caught a few hours’ sleep, the situation would have further improved.

She hit send and put her phone in her pocket. Cadence knew her sister was still upset about Alex, but she didn’t know what to say, so she just put her arm around her shoulders.

“I know that’s what he wanted. Like, he would be so happy to be dying. He was probably smiling the whole time,” Cassidy said aloud. “That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t. Alex saved my life. He was a great guy. It’s no wonder they made a musical about his first life.”

“I just keep hoping when the portal opens, he’ll walk out, too, like it was all a misunderstanding. But that’s not going to happen, is it?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Cadence admitted. She squeezed her sister’s shoulders. “I know you don’t want to sleep, but you should.”

“I know.”

They passed a few people on their way to the apartment building and on their way across the lobby. There were some waves and sympathetic smiles, but everyone kept their distance, and Cadence was glad for it. Her thumb had gotten in the habit of spinning her ring around on her ring finger, and she realized she was doing it now. She wished she had her forever ring with her, but that was still in Iowa with her mother, who’d called at least four times while they were in the meeting.

“You wanna come up to my place?” Cadence asked as Cassidy pressed the button for the floor where her apartment was. After one too many arguments with their parents over the summer, she’d managed to convince everyone she was better off on her own, and Aaron had found an empty apartment for her on the fifth floor.

“It’s okay. I think we’ll sleep better if we don’t have to listen to each other cry,” she replied, and Cadence figured that was probably right.

The elevator doors opened, but before Cassidy stepped out, she wrapped her arms around her sister’s neck and squeezed. “Thanks, Cadence.”

“Love you, Sis,” she replied, and Cassidy muttered, “Love you, too,” before she darted out into the hall.

The doors closed, and Cadence felt utterly alone.

***

If there was an order to the opening of the portal regarding the various tunnels, Brandon wasn’t seeing it. After the last opening had been at fourteen, which made absolutely no sense to anyone, Brandon had given up on that being their method of concocting a way out of here. Heather insisted there was never any rhyme or reason to it, but the three older, wiser Guardians were still hashing it out. Not that his dad was much help; he wasn’t quite as clever as the other two when it came to situations like that. He had his merits, though, and Brandon would’ve rather been trapped in here with Elliott than just about anyone when it came to finding a way home. He had managed to cheat death once already, after all.

Heather was sitting against the tunnel wall studying the weapon she’d inherited from Alex. She had a solemn expression on her face, and Brandon couldn’t tell if that meant he should leave her alone or if she just always looked like sour grapes. He decided now was as good a time as any to see if she would tell him more about how she’d come to be here, so he left Dax with the adults and sauntered over.

“Pretty neat piece of machinery, isn’t it?” he asked carefully taking a spot on the cave floor next to her. “Alex wanted it to appear to be the same as his actual musket but have the firepower and accuracy of a higher tech weapon.”

“Yeah, it ain’t at all bad,” she said, seeming unimpressed. She took one more glance down the scope and set it so that the muzzle was leaning against the stone next to her. “We’ll run out of ammo long before those bastards stop trying to eat us.”

“We’ll be out of here before we run out of ammunition.” He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

“Ya think?” She shook her head. “You have a lot more confidence in those morons than I do. Ain’t no way to tell where the next shebang is gonna come from. You just have to be ready to run, and then look before you leap.”

“Well, maybe we should try that method next if this falls through. I guess they just don’t want to leave anyone behind if they can help it, though I’m pretty sure Aaron would send us all through if he could get them to go.”

“I’ll tell y’all right now. If one of them openings happens, and I am anywhere near a viable option, y’all can go to hell. I’ve missed the last two because some damn monster was tryin’ to kill me. That’s the only reason I’m still here.”

“I can’t say as though I blame you.” Brandon tapped his hands on his knees anxiously, trying to decide if now was the time to press on. “You’ve been here a long time.”

“Ya don’t say?”

“How... uh, how did that happen exactly?”

Her pretty face puckered even more than before. “What in the world makes you think I wanna talk about that?”

“I don’t know. I just thought... you’ve had no one to talk to for so long. Maybe you’d want someone else to know what happened to you.”

“Ya, well, I think I’ll wait until I see someone on the other side since the chances of your ass gettin’ out of here to record the story aren’t grand.”

“Thanks for that,” he said sarcastically. “I think there’s a real good chance I’m going to get out of here, actually. My dad will do what he needs to do to make sure I get home. I’d be the first one out if you hadn’t already called dibs.”

“Yeah, well, I did.”

“You sure are cantankerous,” Brandon said, picking up one of her own words. “Were you like this before, when you were a human? Or was it crossing over that turned you into a grump?”

Heather didn’t seem to like that. An even deeper scowl took over her expression. “I was just fine before. You try being turned into some sort of a mutant against your will, and see if you like it.”

“I know plenty of people who never meant to alter their human existence, and they’re not bitter about it, not anymore anyway. Take Jamie for instance. He didn’t want to do this. I’m pretty sure my dad didn’t either. I’m not sure about Aaron, but he hasn’t had an easy go of it. So... maybe you just need to change your perspective.”

“Yeah, all of them folks is Guardians. Ain’t a one of them some sort of half-this half-somethin’ else.”

“True, but that’s what my girlfriend is. And she’s not angry about it. At first, she was scared, and probably a little embarrassed. But now... she can do things no one else can do. We wouldn’t have been able to accomplish half the things our team has done the last year without her. You could embrace your differences, you know.”

“Listen,” Heather turned her body a little more so that she was facing him. “I don’t know how that came about, but I reckon it weren’t the same way my glorious Transformation took place. I was near done with the first change, an unwelcomed one, when the second one happened. So, no I won’t embrace it. I’ll be pissed off about it for as long as I live—which’ll likely be a lot longer than you do, the way you shoot.”

“Damn!” Brandon muttered, both offended and impressed with her gumption. He shook his head for a second and let her resettle against the cave wall, staring at the darkness across from them. “So you were almost a Hunter when—what? You got bitten?”

“Told you I ain’t lookin’ to talk about it.” Heather crossed her arms, her forehead crinkled.

Undeterred, Brandon pressed on. “That had to be rough. Was it at the same time that Mina was turned?” he asked.