by ID Johnson
Clearly, my mother’s answer was an attempt to let my sister know the lies I had been fed, but what was I going to say? “I know there’s something going on, and you’re all hiding it from me!” Probably not the right track to take if I ever wanted to be let in on the family secret.
Cadence was nodding so hard, I thought her head might come off. “Yes, that’s right. I just needed some time. But I’ll be fine. Thanks, Sis.”
There was an awkward pause where I was almost positive they were all waiting for me to skip off. No one seemed to want to tell me to skedaddle, though, so I waited patiently. I can play games, too.
My dad drew the short straw. “Cass, honey, we’re going to talk to Cadence a little more about what happened that night when she was out with her friends.” I stared at him, wondering what his excuse might be for not letting me stay. He took a deep breath and continued. “I really think it’s best if you just join us for dinner in a bit; all right, honey?”
Since we’d just eaten, that meant he wanted me to stay in my room for several hours! I felt like screaming, “No! I am a member of this family and should get to stay, too!” But I didn’t. I nodded and said, “All right. I’ll see you later, Sis,” to Cadence, even though I wasn’t sure whether or not I could trust her. I still needed to try and get some information from her.
I eyed her for a moment as she said, “For sure!” and sat back down on the couch.
I turned and headed for the stairs, trying to seem normal and walk at a regular pace. I wished they were still standing by the stairs so I could hear better once I reached the top, but I also knew that my parents had a tendency not to know their own volume.
The top of the stairs was still before me when I heard my mom say, “Well, honey, we hope it wasn’t too terribly painful.”
I strained to hear Cadence’s response, but her voice wasn’t as loud. Once I reached the top of the stairs, I didn’t even bother to fake-shut my door, thinking they were too wrapped up in their own conversation to even be paying attention to me. I went around the side of the railing closest to my bedroom and dropped to my stomach.
Knowing I’d missed part of the conversation, I strained to hear what was being said now. My dad’s voice boomed, “She had visions of you screaming in pain, writhing around on a hospital bed, you know, the type of thing you see on horror films.” I assumed he meant my mother thought this must be the case. Why would she think that? Was Cadence like Frankenstein’s monster now? Surely, they were talking about this procedure she’d undergone and nothing additional.
My mom’s voice was defensive, which meant louder than normal. “Well, I didn’t know. I just didn’t know. That Aaron is a nice boy, but for all I knew he was telling us what he thought we wanted to hear.” I thought my mom’s choice of words was a little funny. I didn’t know how old Aaron was, but he had to be older than he looked if he had worked with my grandmother.
I had no idea what Cadence was saying. I could barely make out the melody of her voice as she responded to my mom’s comment. My mom said something in response, but she must’ve calmed down because it was faint.
It was my dad’s voice that I was able to make out next, but I didn’t catch the first part of the sentence. I heard, “a bit scared,” followed by, “would be lying if we said we weren’t a little, uh, circumspect.”
Not knowing what that word meant for certain, I puzzled over it for a moment as my mom confirmed not only was that the word he’d said, it was a good one. “Circumspect,” I repeated, hoping I’d remember to look it up later.
There was a little more chatter before I heard Cadence imploring them to “focus,” which was about the only word she said that I could make out at all, and then she said she wanted to go lie down for a bit.
Scrambling to my feet, I slowly backed toward my bedroom door, knowing I couldn’t let my sister find me there. Now that she could move faster than a speeding bullet, I needed to hurry but still be as quiet as possible. Luckily, she seemed to be slowing her movements around my parents, and by the time I heard her footfalls on the stairs, I was in my room with the door closed.
I realized I couldn’t risk calling Lucy because my sister might overhear, so I pulled out my phone, thinking I’d text her. There were quite a few missed texts on a three-way with Lucy and Emma, and I saw that Milo had called me, too. While I’d spoken to him a few days before, I was still in my crazy state of thinking that Drew’s death was no big deal when we talked, so I was eager to call him back to claim I’d been in shock or something.
Noises next door told me Cadence was in her room, but she wasn’t particularly loud, and I hoped she’d fall asleep for a little while. After that, I hoped I’d get a chance to talk to her. There was so much going on all of a sudden, and I felt pressed for time, even though I had no idea why.
I checked my texts first. The girls had discovered the car was a Lamborghini Aventador, which cost about $400,000. That number was from Emma, so I knew it wasn’t an exaggeration. I almost dropped my phone. Again.
Also, Emma explained that you have to have a license to practice medicine in Iowa to be admitted to a hospital as a physician, so Dr. Sanderson’s story didn’t make any sense. She said there was only one Dr. Elliott Sanderson in the entire database of doctors she had accessed, and he was licensed in Oklahoma as a psychiatrist.
There was a whole lotta shade being thrown at this person’s story.
I sent them several texts to let them know what I had overheard and went ahead and jotted down in the notebook as well. I figured at this point, it was smart to have notes in various places. My family wasn’t typically nosy, so I wasn’t too worried someone might find them, and Lucy’s parents never messed with her stuff. There was a chance her maid might find it, but she only came to clean once a week and would probably think Lucy was just being weird. Emma’s parents knew she was weird so they wouldn’t think twice about seeing her write down something that sounded like a fantasy game.
“Sunday: Cadence returned. I saw her get out of the Lamborghini Aventador she had ridden away in the other night, and I think it was the same girl who was driving though I couldn’t really see her. Cadence got out of the car like a normal person but then moved so quickly to the house, all I could see was a streak. I am certain that this happened, even though it is unbelievable.
“I overheard my mother asking about Cadence’s transformation. My dad said that he thought my mom was envisioning a scene from a horror movie. My mom mentioned that she thought Aaron was just telling them what he wanted them to hear. My dad said they had been a bit scared and thought the whole situation was circumspect, which Emma told me means, ‘guarded’ or ‘wary,’ so I think that means he is suspicious of what is going on. I concur, though my parents clearly know a lot more than I do.”
Once I was satisfied that I’d written down everything I needed to, I gave Milo a call, hoping he didn’t think I was nuts like he did the other day when I’d talked to him.
“Hey, Cass. Is your sister home?”
Milo is often very direct, like Emma. “Yes, she’s here. Listen, Milo, I’m sorry I was acting so weird the other day when we were talking. I think I was still in shock about, you know, everything. I’m really upset about Drew, and I am just hoping my sister is okay.” I kept my voice down, hoping Cadence couldn’t hear me, but it didn’t really matter if she did. Milo and I weren’t going to discuss anything I wasn’t supposed to know.
“That’s fine,” Milo said, clearly accepting my crazy explanation. “I just wanted to tell you I saw you leaving Jack Cook’s house this morning.”
“Right,” I said. Milo lived down the street from the Cooks, and we’d driven by his house a couple of times. “I just went over to check on him.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Milo was silent for a really long time. “He seems… freaked out.”
Normally, Milo would use more scientific words than “freaked” but I had to agree with his word choice. “I know,” was all I could manage. I wasn’t ready to tell yet
another one of my friends that I thought something bizarre was going on with my sister and her friends.
“You saw it, too?”
“Uh huh.”
“I mean… not only did he look awful, the whole time I was trying to talk to him, he kept looking out the window, and at one point he said, ‘I think I’m next.’ Then, his mom came in and calmed him down, saying something about some doctor. It was really weird, Cass.”
I took a deep breath, not knowing what to say. I knew that Milo had every right to be concerned, but I didn’t want to let him know what I knew. “That is bizarre,” I finally said. “He was a little antsy when I was there, but nothing like that.” I wondered if his mother had started using the Dr. Sanderson line with him because she saw what happened when I mentioned him or if she’d been doing it all along.
“Your sister’s not acting like that, is she?” he asked, and I could hear more than just curiosity in his voice. He really thought my sister might be losing it, too.
“No, she’s sad, I think, but not paranoid.” I did not mention that I thought, whatever was happening to Jack, my sister had already gone through it. It had to have something to do with this transformation procedure my parents kept talking about, but I had no idea what it meant. Jack must be in the early stages of transforming or something.
“Well, that’s good,” Milo said. His voice sounded a little calmer, but not completely back to normal. “Okay. I just wanted to check on her. And you.”
“Thanks, Milo,” I said, trying to smile so that he would think I was being nonchalant. I may have to enlist his help later, but not right now.
We hung up, and I saw that I’d missed a whole slew of speculative texts from my girls. I let them know what Milo had told me, and once again, added a notation in the notebook. At this rate, I was going to need a three-ring binder.
“Sunday: Milo called. Said he went to see Jack, who was acting weird. Jack said he ‘thinks he’s next.’ Not sure what this means but wondering if hast something to do with transforming. Are Aaron and Elliott stalking Jack? Will he be their next victim?”
Chapter 12
My mother ordered pizza for dinner. Yet another reason to suspect it was the end of times. I wanted to check the back yard to see if perhaps she had also purchased us a pet unicorn, that’s how rare it was that my mom would order pizza for dinner when it wasn’t anyone’s birthday. The only other time I remember her ordering anything in on a regular day was when my father had a fender bender on the way home from work, and they were both stressed out about calling insurance and whatever else you have to do when your car’s crunched.
We didn’t even eat at the table! We sat in front of the television and watched a movie. I had no idea we even owned TV trays. It was amazing, and it sort of made me wish my sister had transformed into some weird, super-fast creature earlier or more often.
If Cadence was struggling to keep things at a normal pace, no one noticed. She looked like her regular self, although I swear she was more muscular somehow. It was hard to tell since she was wearing a long sweater and jeans, but something about her arms looked more defined. Her skin had an even more glowing quality to it than usual. Not like Green Lantern glowing but like she was well-rested and had been getting her eight glasses of water in every day.
After the movie was over, I decided to go to my room. I hoped Cadence would follow because I had so many questions for her, but I didn’t think I should just invite her up, like she was there for a job interview, so I just said I was heading upstairs and smiled at her. A few minutes after I settled onto my bed with my laptop, I heard a soft knock. I turned down the Spotify station I’d been playing and turned my attention to the door.
She poked her head in. “Hey! Whatcha doin’?” My sister has one of those smiles that immediately makes you smile back, so I did.
Setting my laptop aside, but leaving it open so the music continued to play, I made room for her on my bed. It’s a full-sized, but we both like to lean against the wall and sort of have our regular spots. “Nothing.” That was true. I hadn’t even checked my email before she came in.
Cadence sat in her usual spot, grabbing one of my pillows and stuffing it behind her. “How are you?” I could see concern in her eyes, and while I appreciated it, I thought it a bit strange. It was her friend who had died, after all, not mine.
“I’m okay.” I gave her a small smile and then proceeded with caution. Gathering information without tipping my hand would be tricky. “How are you? This has gotta be hard on you.”
I could see sadness in my sister’s brown eyes, but she put on a brave face. “It has been,” she admitted. “But I’ll be okay.”
Nodding, I took another step down the road, hoping not to fall off of a cliff. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” Her answer came too quickly, and I wished I would’ve phrased my question differently. This may’ve been a missed opportunity.
I thought I’d try a different tactic and maybe circle back to what had happened that night with Drew at a later time. “How’s Grandma?”
“She’s good. She was sad she didn’t get to come down for Thanksgiving. I’m sorry I missed it, too. But she cooked for us.”
“Us?” I asked. “Did she have friends over?”
I saw the wheels turning in my sister’s head. I’m sure she’d meant just her and Grandma when she’d said “us,” but I wasn’t going to let an opportunity like that pass me up. My grandma allegedly knew Aaron, if not more of the strangers who had recently come into our lives, and I wanted to know if my sister would admit that.
“Oh, just… a few people. No one you’d know.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I decided to feel her out. “I met Aaron.”
I saw her eyes enlarge slightly. “You did?”
“Yep.” I decided to keep Dr. Sanderson in my pocket for a moment. Would he have been there, at my grandma’s?
“That’s cool.” She looked uncomfortable. “How are your friends?”
So, clearly she did not want to talk about Mr. McReynolds. “They’re fine. Milo went to visit Jack today.”
“How is he?”
I assumed she meant Jack and not Milo, though it was hard to say for sure. In that case, there was no easy answer to the question. “Do you know that I saw him this morning?”
Cadence looked surprised. “Jack? No.”
“Dad took me over. I wanted to check on him. Daniel, Lucy’s brother, saw him the other day. He said he looked… different. So, I wanted to make sure he was okay. Milo went over after I did.” I waited to see if she’d ask me anything about Jack. I wanted to know what kind of concerns she might have.
“That was nice of you. I’m sure he’s just as upset about Drew’s death as I am.” It seemed hard for her to say those two words—Drew’s death. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to talk about a good friend that way. “Did he seem… okay?”
“He was not himself.”
Cadence puzzled over my choice of words, which had been intentional. “I’m sure he’s very upset.”
“Mom told me you’re not going back to school.”
Once again, her eyes lit up with surprise. She must not have realized Mom had told me anything. “I’ve decided to take a little break.” She nodded, trying to make her voice sound confident, but I could hear her wavering a bit.
“Why? I thought you liked college. Are you still going to be a teacher?”
Cadence ran her hands through her hair. “It’s hard to explain, Cass. I just felt like going back there right now wasn’t the right thing to do. I’m sure I’ll go back eventually.”
I had to accept that answer, for now anyway. I think she really wanted to change the subject, but I pressed on. “So what kind of work are you going to be doing?”
By now she must’ve realized I knew more than she thought I would. “It’s sort of difficult to explain and top secret.” She plastered a crooked smile on her face, which I knew was fake. “If I told ya I’d hav
e to kill ya.” She poked me in the ribs with her elbow.
I laughed because it was meant to be funny, but on the inside, I felt my blood run cold. “Ha, yeah. Mom said it was security or something.”
“Something like that. Hey, how are Lucy and Emma?”
She had managed to change the subject. Good for her. “They’re good. We were all ready to head back to school, but I guess that’ll happen Tuesday. We are working on a science project together.”
“Cool. What’s it about?”
I spent way too long explaining our project on electromagnetic charges to her, and by the time I’d finished, I realized we were as far off of the topic I wanted to be discussing as we could possibly be. Score one for big sis.
Eventually, we got around to Cadence’s favorite question. By now, we were lying on our stomachs facing each other. “So… you gotta boyfriend?”
I felt my face flush but rolled my eyes and shook my head. “No.”
“No… but?”
She could read me like a book. I readjusted the pillow beneath my chest and let out a sigh. “There is a boy I think is cute, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me.”
“Oh, my goodness, Cass, I knew it! Spill! Who is he?”
“It’s not a big deal, Cadence!” I wished I hadn’t said anything, but she could always tell when I wasn’t being completely honest with her. “His name is Liam White, and he’s in my algebra class. He’s super popular, though, and lots of girls like him.”
“Awww!” my sister gushed. “What does he look like?”
Letting out another exhale, I pulled out my phone and went to a popular social media site. I silently handed over the device.
“Cass! He’s so cute! He looks like he could be in a boy band.”
“Thanks?” I said, not sure that was a compliment, though I think she meant it to be. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. We’re not going out or anything. I’ve just helped him with his homework a few times.” I took my phone back and put it in my back pocket.