It was almost painful to listen to Cadence speak. She grabbed a throw pillow and squeezed it, and I thought it might actually burst. I expected to see tears, but there weren’t any. I decided to change the subject.
“What about your other friends?” I asked, shifting around so that I was on my hip now, facing her. “What about Meagan, Hannah, those other people I met at the funeral?” I wasn’t sure if I should say the word funeral, or if I should rattle off the names of her friends like I’d been searching online for information about them for the last several weeks, so I tried to keep it nonchalant.
“Meagan’s great,” Cadence said, her face lighting up a little bit. “We went through our training together. And Hannah is pretty cool. She’s older than us, though, and has been working there a long time.” She made a face like she may have told me too much; how old did she think I thought Hannah was? As if she could just slide that right by me, she continued. “Of course, I have spent a lot of time with Elliott recently, and then there’s Jamie. You met him, right?”
Exclaiming, “You mean the hundred-and-fifty-year-old doctor?” didn’t seem like the best thing to say, so I replied, “Yes, I met him. He seemed nice.”
“He’s awesome. I really like him. Such a… neat guy.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you go out with him?”
Cadence started laughing. “Uh, no. I mean… I think he liked me a little bit at first. But I think I’ll just leave the dating alone for a little while. I need to get really good at my job first, and then I can start to think about the possibility of dating again. Besides… with Jack… gone….”
She didn’t need to finish the sentence. I knew what she meant. Jack had been her first and only boyfriend. It had to be so weird to know he was dead. “I’m really sorry about that. Jack meant a lot to me, too, though I know it’s not the same as it was for you.”
Cadence opened her mouth and then closed it, like she was going to say something to me about Jack but decided not to. The question of whether or not they’d ever determined exactly what Jack died from pressed into my mind, but I didn’t know that it was appropriate to ask right now, or at all. That might actually be a better question for Elliott, if I could get a chance to ask him. Something told me he’d tell me not to worry my pretty lil head about it. “I’ll be okay,” was all she finally got out, and I thought that was probably true, even though I had no idea why she’d said it like that. Jack had been pretty important to her at one time.
“Do you get to use a gun or anything?” I asked, trying to sound excited. “I mean—I don’t know what kind of security it is, exactly.”
Once again, there was hesitation. “Yeah, I’m training with weapons. I’m getting pretty good at it, but I still have a lot to learn.”
“That’s so weird,” I mumbled. “It’s hard for me to imagine you with a gun. You haven’t actually shot anyone have you?”
Cadence’s hazel eyes widened. “Shot? No… no I haven’t shot anyone. I’m mostly just going through my training.”
Something about her answer told me she wasn’t being honest. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to hide the fact that she’d injured people but hadn’t actually shot them or if she really had shot someone. Or something, as the case may be. I wasn’t quite aware of whether or not vampires counted as people.
My scrutinizing look may have shown my inner turmoil. “Cassidy,” Cadence began sitting up straighter. “Do you really think they’d let someone who just came into the organization a few weeks ago be put in a situation where they might have to shoot a person?”
Her verbiage didn’t go unnoticed. She’d said “a person” and I knew we were not talking about people in the true sense of the word. “I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug. “I don’t know much about the organization. It seems very interesting, though. I’d like to know more about it.”
Her forehead crinkled as if I had just informed her that I would like to be a professional unicorn inspector when I grow up. “I really don’t think you’d like it much,” Cadence began. “It’s really kinda not your thing.”
“Well, you didn’t think it would be yours either, did you? I mean, it’s a far cry from teaching kindergarten, I imagine.” I crossed my arms but then realized that could be construed as defensive, so I uncrossed them and tried to look nonchalant.
“It is,” Cadence confirmed, “but I like the people, and the purpose. It’s a good place to work, although, I’m not sure Kansas City is the place for me. I’m thinking about going somewhere else for a little while.”
Her eyes told me all the information I needed. I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to be around Aaron if she didn’t have to. I didn’t go there right now. Instead, I asked, “Did Grandma really like it when she worked there? Is that one of the reasons you decided to give it a try?” I knew more than she knew I knew, that was for sure. And, honestly, if I had interpreted what Aaron said correctly that first day when I was eavesdropping in the stairwell, I knew more than Cadence did. She’d never had a choice in the matter. Once whatever happened at the Eidolon Festival had taken place, they’d only let her think she had a choice. But I didn’t think now was a good time to reveal any of that to her. I let her stare at me in silence for a moment. I saw a flicker of motion in her eyes and wondered if she was calling on Elliott to come and rescue her or asking what I might know. I held her gaze, daring her to lie to me.
“I, uh, guess so,” she stammered. “We haven’t talked much about it. She had a different… position than me.”