School was cancelled for the rest of the week, which was just as well because no one would be going anyway. We would have our finals when we returned from our two-week Christmas break, and the little kids would have a winter party instead of a Christmas party upon their return. Plans were adjusted, schedules were changed, people did what needed to be done to get by since our small community had lost a second young life inside of a month’s time.
I’d slept late into the morning, which was unusual for me, but despite my nap, I was completely exhausted in every way imaginable. The night before, my parents had gotten me out of bed long enough to pick at a piece of chicken, but the last thing I wanted to do was eat. By the time I’d checked my phone, everyone already knew, so I didn’t bother to text anything back except for to let Lucy, Emma, Milo, and Wes know that I was okay. If that was the case, it didn’t feel like it, but I could hardly tell them how I really felt like someone had ripped my heart out of my body and crushed it before my very eyes.
It was mid-afternoon when we heard a car pull into our driveway. My dad and mom exchanged glances, and I swiped at my eyes again. We all knew Cadence would be home that day; I just had no idea who she would be when she got here.
We all went to the door to greet her. Something about her looked different again. She was wearing a faux smile, and I could tell that she’d been crying some, too, though I knew her eyes were not as puffy as mine. Her skin had a sheen to it I couldn’t quite place. I didn’t understand why I felt like grim death and my sister, Jack’s ex-girlfriend, looked like a supermodel.
I was relieved to see she wasn’t alone. After she’d hugged all of her family members, Cadence said, “Mom, Dad, Cass, you’ve all met Elliott. And this is Hannah.”
I smiled at Elliott the best I could, and the look in his eyes when he looked at me was nothing but empathetic. I wondered if he could climb inside of my head now and convince me that it was okay that Jack had died. I think I would’ve welcomed it.
Hannah was tall and thin, though not as tall as my sister, and she had long strawberry-blonde hair. She wore a professional looking skirt and jacket with a turtleneck under it, all in matching tones of gray. If I had to guess, I’d say she was in her mid-thirties, but at this point, I knew there was no way to tell. “Cassidy,” she said, her voice like a song, “it is so very nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.” I took her outstretched hand, and the moment I did, a wave of warmth hit me. Suddenly, the despair I’d been holding on to since my mother had given me the news seemed to fall away, and I could breathe again.
I looked at Elliott, and he smiled at me just long enough for me to understand that Hannah had some sort of ability, too, and that it was okay for me to give in to it. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” I said to Hannah. We all headed into the living room to make small talk and pretend like Jack wasn’t dead, and I could see that my sister looked more haggard now than she had in the direct sunlight of the front porch. She sat next to me and put her arm around my shoulders. I let her lean her head on my arm and pretend like she was the same sister I’d had not long ago, the one I knew and trusted. I wasn’t sure what she was now, and I didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t tell me. Still, she was obviously hurting. Maybe I didn’t see it at first because of whatever Hannah was doing to her, doing to us.
As my dad took his usual seat, he asked, “Where’s Aaron?”
“Billings,” Elliott said. “He’ll be here in a day or two.”
My dad nodded in understanding and the conversation rolled along, but all I could think about was whether or not this was actually my sister next to me or just something that looked mostly like her.
Elliott was sitting on her other side, sitting close, very close. And as we continued to talk, I noticed that my sister reached over with her free hand and took ahold of his. This seemed odd to me. I wasn’t sure if Cadence was just trying to stabilize her emotions by having direct contact with the two of us or if something else was going on. Was there more than just a friendship between the two of them?
“How are Alice and Steve?” my mom asked, crossing her legs and leaning forward in her recliner, as she had a tendency to do when she was nervous.
Cadence sat up only slightly. “They’re about as well as can be expected.” Her voice was solemn. “I’m sure it will take a very long time for them to go through the grieving process.”
Hannah spoke up in her soft voice from where she sat on the love seat across from my parents. “The grieving process is so vitally important for each of us to go through in order to return to any semblance of normalcy once we have a devastating loss of this nature.”
Both of my parents nodded and agreed, and I noticed again how clinical her voice sounded. “Are you a counselor of some sort?” I asked, hoping my tone seemed inquisitive and not at all accusatory, since I didn’t mean the question to come across that way. But I was suspicious of everyone.
Hannah looked at me and smiled. She was pretty in an unassuming way, and she sort of reminded me of the lady who plays Rayna on Nashville. “I am,” she said, her voice very calm. I nodded. I wanted to ask why Cadence brought along her own personal grief counselor, but I thought that might seem aggressive. “I’m happy to help any of you who might be struggling with the horrible events of the past few weeks.”
My eyes flickered to Elliott, and I silently wondered if this was because he had not done a very good job of helping me “deal” with my “grief.” He smiled at me, a small reassuring gesture, and I quickly put my attention elsewhere, back to Hannah. “Thanks,” was about all I could manage.
“How are the rest of your friends?” my dad asked. He looked at me, and for a moment I thought he might send me out of the room, like all of this was also top-secret, but he didn’t.
Cadence replied, “Okay. They spoke to Elliott and Hannah, and I think that helped.”
My parents nodded, and I pretended like I had no idea what that meant, like I was supposed to think Elliott and Hannah were just good at talking to people instead of knowing what Cadence really meant was that her new friend had brainwashed her gang from high school, and Hannah had used her emotional manipulation, the same good juju I was feeling right now.
I knew I was likely on my way upstairs, so I thought I might as well see if I could get something out of it first. “Do they have any idea what it was that… killed Jack?” I asked, turning my head slightly so that I could look at Cadence. I tried my best not to catch anyone else’s eyes as I was pretty sure they’d interfere with her answer. I took a chance that she might slip up, that she might forget the “don’t tell Cassidy stuff” rule.
“The CDC is looking into it,” Cadence replied. “Once they found his body and had it cremated, I think that they have it under control, but I’m not sure what the autopsy showed.”
I almost smiled. She had said way too much. I could tell by the wide-eyed expression I saw over her shoulder on Elliott’s face. He stammered, “Uh, it’s nothing to worry about, Cassidy. Everything is fine.”
She had messed up. I could tell. I analyzed her answer and saw the fault in it. Since I knew Jack was in the hospital sick for several days before he died, there was no way what she said about “finding” his body made any sense at all, unless they had temporarily lost Jack’s body. How odd. And… why would the CDC cremate a body? Was there even an autopsy?
But I had to play all dumb and innocent, like I didn’t have any idea that what my sister said was unexpected or led me to believe she was lying to me about anything at all. “That’s good,” I said, smiling at Cadence. She wasn’t looking at me, though. Her eyes were darting around, and for a second, I thought it seemed like she was talking to someone, the same way Elliott had the other day when he was supposed to be talking to me, but it looked like he was having an internal conversation. I glanced at him, and he was doing the same thing right now. Was it possible they were talking to each other? Using telepathy?
Eventually, Cadence pulled a sort-of creepy smile onto her face. “You know, Cass, everything is just fine. There’s nothing to worry about. I mean, it’s unfortunate that Jack has passed away, don’t get me wrong, but we don’t have to worry about the disease that claimed him.”
I nodded in agreement. “It is too bad that Jack died.” I looked at Elliott whose eyes were narrowed at me, as if he was doing his best to keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t help but let a haunt of a smile slip across my lips, though I was sure he was the only one who would notice. “But… these things happen. We should all be sad that Jack died, but then we need to let it go and get on with our lives. People die.” I shrugged, like it was no skin off my nose that the boy I used to think of as a brother was now tiny bits of ash in a container sitting somewhere on his parents’ mantel awaiting his final send off.
Elliott cleared his voice, obviously perturbed by me. I assumed the rest of the people present would just think he had managed to slip that brainwashing into my vocabulary, but he and I both knew better. “Cassidy, don’t you have… homework or something?”
As a teenage girl, I have perfected the, “I-will-murder-you stare.” I used it on the good doctor now.
“You know, Cassidy, I do think it might be better if you went upstairs for a little while. We need to talk to Cadence, and I am sure you don’t want to hear any of the details about Jack’s death.” I knew Elliott’s power of suggestion would work on my mother.
“No, of course I don’t want to,” I lied, turning to look at my parental units. “I think I’ll go upstairs.” Cadence let go of me, and I stood. I gave her a sympathetic look and then turned to Hannah. “It was nice to meet you.” She gave me a small smile, and then, looking directly at Elliott, I said, “I don’t have any homework, but I do have a few phone calls to make.”
The look on his face was one of almost amusement, as if he couldn’t believe I had the guts to look him squarely in the eyes and tell him I was about to do exactly what he’d told me not to and let my friends know what was going on, but he said nothing.
Upstairs, my phone was chiming before I even sat down on my bed. I knew who the text was from, and once I’d pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at it, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Cassidy Elizabeth, I think we talked about this. You’re supposed to let this go and not tell your friends jack about Jack.”
I replied, “Dr. Sanderson, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I tell my friends anything when I know nothing?”
“You know more than you should.”
Feeling bold, I sent a text back, “Come up here and make me stop then, why don’t you?”
It took him a few moments to answer, and I wondered if someone had asked him who he was texting. Finally, I got my reply. “You know I can.”
I did. I knew he could do a lot of things, even if he wasn’t a vampire. He’s a big dude. But I also knew that he wouldn’t. Because he liked me. I didn’t know why, but I knew that he did. And I liked him, too. For some reason, I felt like I’d known him a lot longer than a few days. He seemed familiar in the way the sun or the moon feel like old friends, like he’d always been there in the background, part of my life I’d never noticed before.
Part of me wanted to respect his wishes and not tell my friends anything, but I knew they deserved to know as much as I did. I called Lucy and Emma on three-way and waited for them both to answer before I began to recite what I’d learned from Cadence. I hadn’t really spoken to them since I’d left Lucy’s the day before, when my mom picked me up to tell me about Jack, though we’d sent a few texts about how we couldn’t believe it, and I let them know I was okay—or would be—eventually.
I told them I really felt like my sister and her friend were carrying on a mental conversation. I expected Lucy to believe me, which she did, but what really surprised me was that Emma did, too. She said she had gone ahead and started doing some research on vampires herself and that most popular legends state that they have the ability to use telepathy as a means of communication. When I mentioned Jack’s missing body, Lucy about lost it herself, exclaiming that it would only make sense if Jack had left the hospital on his own and they’d had to hunt him down and destroy him. We were back to the good vampire/bad vampire scenario, and as much as I hated to believe it, it was beginning to make sense. Maybe my sister was a vampire, but if she was, I could at least hope that she was one that was supposed to help protect people from evil vampires.
I hung up and laid back on my bed, wondering if my sister had actually bitten someone and sucked their blood. I didn’t think my sister could kill Jack, and I believed Elliott when he told me that she hadn’t killed Drew. Was it possible that whichever evil vampire had killed Drew had infected Jack? It seemed like he had started getting sick almost right away, back when I went to visit him. I know other people thought he was acting weird because he was upset about Drew, and that would make sense, but part of me thought there was a good chance that he was turning even back then.
Lucy must’ve been thinking the same thing. She sent a text that said, “Maybe Jack was infected the night Drew died, and this was just an incubation period?”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” I replied. We sent a few more texts with theories and timelines, and Lucy said she’d update the Wiki. I’d set my phone down and was staring at the ceiling, thinking about how devastated I’d been the night before and feeling thankful for Hannah’s superpowers when a knock on my door had me sitting up.
“Yeah?”
Cadence opened the door slowly. “Hey. How are you doing?”
I shrugged. “I’m okay. I feel better today than I did yesterday.” I considered feeling her out about Hannah, but I let it go. Whatever was happening, it had to be taking its toll on my sister. She looked even more exhausted now than she had when she’d had her head on my shoulder, although I couldn’t get over how much more vibrant her skin looked.
“Mom said dinner will be ready in a few minutes.” She sat down next to me on the bed. “How’s school been?”
“Fine.”
“How’s that boy you never want to talk about?”
I blushed. “He’s good. He came over to study for algebra with me last week.” It seemed like a million years ago.
My sister gave me a mischievous grin. “Are you sure you don’t have a boyfriend, Cass?” she asked, a twinkle in her eyes.
“No!” I exclaimed, sitting up. “He’s definitely not my boyfriend.” Like I could even get my hopes up that he might be someday.
“I don’t know…” my sister said in a sing-song voice.
“What about you?” I asked, remembering her holding hands with Elliott. “Anything you wanna tell me?”
Cadence raised both eyebrows and stared at me hard for a long moment. “Uh, I think I hear Mom calling,” she said, darting off of the bed almost too fast to be believed.
“Uh huh!” I called after her, jumping up and running to catch her. “I think you’re a fine one to talk, teasing me about boys.”
Hearing my sister’s laughter momentarily made me forget that everyone around us seemed to be dying or changing into creatures of the night. She reached the foyer and turned back to look at me. “No boyfriend here,” she replied. “I can’t help it everyone wants a piece of this, though.” She winked at me and made a really weird gesture with both arms, like she was displaying what she meant by “this,” and I cracked up. Having my sister back, even if it was just for a little while, and even if she wasn’t really herself, was comforting. So was walking into a dining room with just my family and digging into mom’s pot roast without thinking of vampires or funerals. It might not last, but I was determined to hold on to it for now.