Chapter 4

On Wednesday, I didn’t get out of bed until almost noon, and when I went downstairs, I discovered my sister had left a few minutes after I went to bed the afternoon before. She’d left me a note telling me she’d call me soon. I couldn’t blame her. She needed to get back to headquarters so they could figure out what to do about Gibbon, and I honestly didn’t want to talk to her anymore anyway. It would be hard to get past what we’d been through together. She’d keep blaming herself, and I’d keep feeling guilty for putting her in a position where she had to trade herself for me.

My dad had gone to work like everything was normal, and his daughter wasn’t some freak. My mom was sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich and reading a magazine. When I walked in, she looked up and said, “Hi, honey,” and went back to what she was doing. I looked around the room, thinking there must be some sort of crew filming us or a special guest since she seemed so normal, but we were alone.

“Hi,” I said, slowly making my way to the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. I turned to look at her over my shoulder, and she just kept reading her Better Homes and Gardens.

“I was thinking I’d make that chicken tater tot casserole for dinner tonight. Do you think that sounds good?”

“Sure,” I replied as she smiled and looked back down at the article she was reading. “Mom, what’s going on?” I finally asked, not able to figure out how come she seemed so nonchalant on my own.

“What do you mean?” she asked, turning to look at me.

“I mean… I expected… something else.”

“Well, I don’t know why,” she said, meeting my eyes. “What’s done is done, honey. There isn’t much we can do about it now. You seem fine. You feel fine, don’t you?”

My muscles were still a little sore, but I felt pretty normal, except for faster and stronger. “I guess so,” I said.

“Then, I don’t see the point in saying anything more, unless you want to talk about it. I’m more than happy to listen to you, honey, but unless and until you’re ready to chat, I’m perfectly fine not bringing it up at all. I am sure none of this has been easy on you.”

I pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. “But Mom, I did some pretty terrible things, things that you have warned me not to do—like run away from home, essentially. You aren’t going to punish me?”

Mom cleared her throat and rested her hand on top of mine. “Your father and I talked about it, and we decided what’s happened is consequence enough. I’m not sure we’ll be letting you go to visit your sister without us any time soon, but what good would taking your cell phone away do or grounding you? If anything, I think you need your friends more than ever now, Cass. I’m sure this can’t be easy.”

Over the last few days I’d been thinking about how awesome my parents were and how I was awful for not appreciating them. The fact that my mother and father were being so cool about this was incredible. “Thank you, Mom.”

She smiled at me. “Jamie wrote a note excusing you through today or until Monday if you’re not feeling better. You won’t be able to cheer at the football game Friday night if you don’t go back tomorrow, but that’s completely up to you.”

“I think… I think I’ll try to go back tomorrow.” Originally, when I’d woken up, I thought I might never go back to school. Everyone there would seem so normal, and while I didn’t feel as odd as I had when I first woke up, things were definitely off. I had to concentrate some to look like I was moving at regular speed. My teeth felt fine, and I knew Christian’s contact would fool everyone, but occasionally, the idea that someone else was in my head presented itself. I wasn’t hearing the voices like I had when I’d first woken up, but it was still unsettling. Maybe getting back into a routine would make things seem like they had before.

“Okay, honey. Whatever you’d like.” Mom smiled again and then looked at her magazine for a second before she said, “Now, about this boy….”

I had been taking a drink and it caught in my throat. I sputtered for a second, and she asked if I was okay. After a few coughs, I nodded. “You mean Brandon?” I asked, thinking she could honestly be talking about just about anyone since she even called Aaron a young man most of the time, and he could’ve been her great-great-great-grandfather.

“Yes. I don’t think you should spend much time with him, Cass, or be talking to him, for that matter. I don’t know much about him, but he seems like a bit of a troublemaker to me.”

“What?” I asked, shocked. “Where did you get that idea?”

“You sister said he’d just gone through the Transformation process and hadn’t completed his training. Yet, he was willing to sneak off with you. He disobeyed direct orders. Instead of bringing you home, he took you to the train station. It doesn’t seem like he has very good judgment to me.”

“No, Mom, you don’t understand,” I began, trying to stay calm. “Brandon is responsible. He just… it was my fault. I talked him into it. He knew I was going to go whether he came along or not. And if I had gone by myself, Mom, I probably wouldn’t be here. He saved me. He called Aaron, and he chased Zabrina.”

“Aaron already knew what was going on with Giovani by then, and Eliza was already at the train station. She would’ve gotten to you,” my mom countered. “What kind of a responsible person allows a young woman to run off to the train station at all? He could’ve stopped you. He could’ve called your sister. Or us.”

“Okay, Mom, I guess he could’ve forcibly stopped me….”

“I mean, I understand I shouldn’t be talking right now, but what kind of an upbringing does this Brandon have that he thought this type of behavior is okay? I wish I could sit down with his parents and have a nice little chat with them about the danger he let you get into.”

“His parents?” I asked, sure I had confusion written all over my face. Apparently, no one had told me mom who Brandon’s parents are.

“Yes. It seems to me that he must not have had a very good role model. I’d like to ask his father how he’d feel if it was his daughter running off with our son.”

“Mom…”

“Any sort of parent at all would be calling and apologizing. I’m sure Aaron or someone let his parents know what happened. They’d have to know by now wouldn’t they?”

“No, Mom. I’m sure no one informed them.” My insides were melting. I felt awful for Brandon in so many respects right now. My parents had no idea how amazing he is, despite everything he’d had to overcome. She was still going on, but I’d heard enough. I put my hand on my mom’s arm. “Mom—Brandon’s mother is…” I didn’t know the right word, “not supportive. Maybe worse.” My mom stopped talking and looked at me. I didn’t know exactly what the situation was, but I wagered a guess at abusive, though I didn’t tell my mom that. “And his dad is—”

She stared at me expectantly for a long while before she asked, “Is what, Cass?”

I didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Dead? Absent? Had never even known Brandon existed? I said the only word I could get out. “Elliott.”