The little old lady who runs the place was downstairs in the parlor on the phone when we walked in. She called hello, but none of us much felt like being overly friendly, so we sort of half-waved and went right up the stairs. Ashley was sniffling again before she reached her bedroom door.
“His stuff is in there,” she said quietly. Cadence didn’t pause to listen, just kept walking down the hall to our room.
“I know.” I patted her on the arm. “That’s okay. It’s a good thing.”
“But it smells like him.” She had large, bouncy tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Good. Go, smell it.”
Ashley looked at me like I’d just told her to go sniff paint fumes or something. I pulled up the hem of Brandon’s shirt, and I think she realized for the first time it was his. “It helps,” I said.
Slowly, she nodded, and fumbled in her pocket for the key. “How are we supposed to do this?” Her voice was a whisper of desperation. “I can’t, Cass. I’m not as strong as you two.”
“You are.” I reached over and pulled her to me. “You are strong enough, Ashley. You just have to believe.”
“Believe what? In a miracle? That we don’t have to wait for the next blood moon? That wherever they are it’s not terrifying and dangerous?” She was sobbing again, shaking her head as she spoke. “Believe we’re smart enough to decode whatever the crap that book says and figure this out? I don’t know if I can.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to necessarily believe in any of those things, though it would be nice if all of them are true.” She looked up at me. “You only have to believe in Jamie, Ash. Believe that he’ll find his way back to you. You know how much he loves you, right?” I didn’t even know if they’d been together long enough for that sort of discussion to have taken place, but I was pretty sure Jamie was the kind of guy who would tell his girl how he felt, and it seemed to me that he was in love with Ashley.
A nod of her head confirmed it for me. “Yes, he loves me.”
“Then believe in that. Nothing can keep the two of you apart then. Nothing.” I sounded like I’d walked out of a cheesy love movie, but I wanted to believe it myself. I had almost convinced myself it was true.
Until Ashley opened her mouth.
“But Jamie loved Ellie, too. And she’s dead. He didn’t get to be with her.”
I wasn’t expecting her to say something so morbid. It caught me off guard. I had to think for a second. My response wasn’t as clever as maybe it could’ve been. “This is different. You’re both practically immortal. You’re not going to die for a really long time, and he’s gonna live forever. So that gives him as long as it takes to get back to you.”
“But I don’t want to wait that long....”
“Ash!” She was ruining my movie moment. I had her by both arms now, staring into her eyes. “Listen, it is what it is. We can sit around and cry and wallow in our misery, or we can focus on the positives. We know they’re not going to give up. We know that Aaron is the smartest person either one of us has ever met, and if anyone will figure it out, it’s him. Alex has been around forever. They’ve got some Vampire chick in there who knows the place. Jamie can heal anyone who gets hurt. Everything is working in their favor. Ward will figure that book out, and they’ll be home soon. Okay?”
She swallowed hard. “You’re yelling.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t like it when you yell.”
I took a step back and let go of her. “Yelling? I’m... I’m not yelling. I’m just....” I hadn’t thought I was yelling, but maybe I looked a little scary already with blood on my clothes. “It’ll be all right, all right?”
“Okay.”
“Maybe get some sleep. The bed’s probably a lot more comfortable than the floor.”
“Yeah.”
I faked a half smile and left her, hoping I’d done more good than harm but not really sure.
The shower was on in the adjoining bathroom when I walked in. I thought about going over to Brandon’s and taking one myself, but I wasn’t really ready to go back in there yet. I would be soon enough. I grabbed a can of pop out of the mini-fridge and collapsed in the chair across from the bed.
I opened my texts. I’m not sure why. I probably shouldn’t have. But I scrolled all the way back to the beginning of my conversation with Brandon. He never sent me texts anymore because with our IACs, there was no reason for it. But these had been some of the best moments of my days when they’d originally arrived. Some of them I’d gotten in class when I still went to Shenandoah High. Some in the middle of the night. The ones from when we were just friends made me smile because it was so obvious to me now how he’d had feelings for me back then, even though at the time, I hadn’t seen it, not until I’d known him for a while.
My sister came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, her wet hair in a ponytail. I only gave her a fleeting glance because I didn’t want to stare, but she did look exhausted. She must’ve held it together in the shower. It didn’t look like she’d been crying.
Her suitcase was on the bed next to mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her grab some clothes out of her bag and then turn around and look at the closet for a long moment before she sighed and took a few steps back toward the bathroom.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Cadence rummaged around somewhere in the back of her mind long enough to find a smile and plaster it to her face. Totally fake. “I’m just fine.” Her eyes went back to the closet and then she walked out of the room.
I knew what she was thinking. If Ashley’s breakdown in the hall hadn’t been enough, I could read my sister pretty well. I heard her in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, and decided to spare her the conversation I’d had with Ash.
Aaron is an unpacker. Cadence and I are not. Our stuff was still in our suitcases. His was hung neatly in the closet, even thought it was just two outfits. I imagined the rest of his clothes were in the dresser drawers. Without giving it a second thought, I pulled his suitcase out and quickly tossed his clothes inside—as neatly as I could. It wasn’t bad, just not “Aaron neat.” I had everything in the room that belonged to him packed and the suitcase back where it was before in a couple of minutes, tops. When my sister came back out, I was in the chair again, acting nonchalant.
Of course, she noticed. “Thanks, Cass.” I could tell she was relieved. I’m not sure why she didn’t want to pack for him, but it wasn’t my place to tell her how to feel.
“Oh, yeah. Well, if we’re leaving tomorrow, figured, you know, may as well.” I gave her a half smile, and she nodded. “I have the key to the other room. I think I’ll go pack the rest of the guys’ things.” I don’t know why it suddenly seemed weird to say their names in that situation.
“Do you want a hand?”
I knew Hannah had gotten most of it. I didn’t need my sister to help me in Brandon and Elliott’s room. “No. I can do it. Thanks.”
She glanced down at the shirt I was wearing and nodded. “What about Dax and Alex’s room? Weren’t they sharing a room with Christian?”
“No, Alex was with Christian, and Dax was sharing a room with Hannah since neither one of them sleep anyway. Hannah got their stuff when she checked out.”
“Oh.” Cadence scratched her head, looked around for a minute, and then rested her hands on her hips. “I think I’m going to lay down for a little bit.”
“Yeah, good idea.” I could tell she was exhausted. I stood up. “I’ll be back.” I didn’t try to hazard a guess as to when.
She nodded again, and I left the room, glad that I would likely be alone when Brandon’s text came through in about a half hour.