My parent’s bedroom door was closed, but thankfully it wasn’t locked. I expected them both to be sound asleep, but as I threw the door open, I was surprised to see them both sitting up in bed talking, worried expressions on their faces.
“Mom! Dad!” I said, closing the door behind me and trying to hold back the terror in my voice. “Something weird is going on!”
“Oh, Cassidy, honey, you should be asleep.” Leave it to Liz Findley to try and soothe the terror out of me when she clearly knew something odd was happening. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be up this time of day either, not unless she was in the kitchen with the turkey, which she obviously wasn’t.
I flung myself onto the foot of their bed. “Mom, something’s going on with Cadence! There was a man in her room. And I saw her leave with some weird woman in a sports car!”
My parents exchanged glances, and then both of their phones chimed at the exact same moment with a text message. My mother held up a finger and reached for her phone. A small sigh escaped her lips as she showed the screen to my father despite the fact that he was holding his own phone in his hand and likely had just received the same message—from my sister, I presumed. I waited in agony for them to tell me what was going on.
I didn’t miss the look that passed between them. They were aware that something bizarre was going on, but they didn’t look panicked or terrified the way that I was. I continued to stare at my mother for what seemed like an eternity until she set her phone aside.
“I’ll go call Mom,” my dad said, letting out a deep breath. He took his phone and climbed out of bed, his blue pajama pants tangled around one calf. “Everything is okay, Cassidy,” he said almost as an afterthought as he headed into the bathroom so he could call his mom in private. I had no idea what Grandma Janette had to do with any of this, and I returned my attention to my mother.
“Get as much information as you can, Eli!” my mother called out to my father as he shut the bathroom door. Then, she returned her gaze to me. I knew that look. It was the same one she gave me when I came in fourth place in a gymnastics competition when I was six, just missing the podium. I got it often when I’d tried to play coaches pitch and found out I am not so good at hitting balls with large sticks. She reached up and smoothed my long brown hair away from my face. “Everything will be okay, Cassidy. Something unexpected has happened. But I’m sure your sister is just fine.”
Her words seemed measured, and I wondered exactly what that text, which I was certain now had to have been from Cadence, said. “Mom, I heard footsteps on the roof.”
“It was probably just the wind.”
“There was a man in Cadence’s room.”
“It must’ve been Jack.”
I couldn’t tell my mom that I’d heard Jack’s voice through Cadence’s wall plenty of times and knew it was not him. Also, Jack had never come and gone via the bedroom window before. “What about the sports car?”
“Honey, your sister just sent me a text. She’s made a new friend. I’m sure we’ll know more soon. She’s just going out of town for a bit.”
I raised both eyebrows at her. None of this made any sense. “What does Grandma have to do with anything?”
This one seemed to throw more of a wrench in her deceitful plan. “I think your dad just wanted Grandma to know that Cadence is going out of town for a little while.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. Why would my father call his elderly mother at—I glanced at the clock—4:57 to tell her that my sister had made a friend and was going out of town?
Before I could inquire further, my dad was on his way back to bed, his pant leg righted. “Everything is okay, Cassidy,” he repeated, a solemn smile on his face. Dad sat down on the opposite side of the bed from where I was sitting, and I could tell by his expression that everything wasn’t really okay. He looked at my mom and then at me, as if he was asking her whether or not they should toss me out. My mom only shrugged, and I could tell by her eyes that she was dying for my dad to tell her something.
“Cassidy, why don’t you go back to bed, and we’ll talk about all of this in a few hours?” My dad’s tone was the kind that says he’s asking a question, but he doesn’t really mean to see if you agree or not.
For once in my life, I played dumb. “No, thank you,” I said, as if I thought his question gave me a choice. “I’d like to know what’s going on now. Where’s Cadence? Is she okay?”
My father’s breath could’ve blown out all the candles on his cake if he was a hundred years old. “Cadence is fine, honey. There was some sort of an accident tonight. I’m not sure of the details yet, but Drew Peterson was hurt. They’ve taken her to the hospital. Your sister is going to stay with your grandma for a few days to try to calm down. She’s very upset.”
I listened to my father’s words and felt the blood drain out of my face. I had known all along this Eidolon Festival wasn’t a good idea, and now it was confirmed. Part of me thought I should tell them what I knew, that Cadence hadn’t just gone to Drew’s house that night, but I also didn’t want to get Cadence in trouble, especially if she was involved with whatever had happened to Drew. It seemed very bizarre to me that my sister would head out of town because her friend was in the hospital unless Cadence had something to do with whatever had landed Drew there.
I remembered hearing my sister cry a few moments ago. Had she done something to hurt Drew? Was it on purpose, or an accident, like my dad said? I couldn’t imagine Cadence hurting anyone. Even though we were siblings, we never roughhoused the way that some kids did. She’d never done more than throw a pillow at me. My insides felt all tangled up. So many more questions burned in my mind, but I didn’t feel safe asking any of them right now for fear I’d give my sister’s secret away. As it was, I may have already said too much. Would my parents wonder who the man was that was in my sister’s room? What had Cadence told them about the woman with the purple hair?Holding back all of the questions that threatened to bubble to the surface, I nodded my head. “Will you tell me if you hear anything more about Drew? Or if Cadence calls?”“Of course, honey,” my mom said. “But don’t worry. You’re perfectly s
Somehow, I must’ve managed to fall back to sleep because when I opened my eyes again, the sun was streaming in between my curtains, and the clock said it was 9:27. I was so alarmed that I’d missed something important, I leapt out of my bed and ran to the door, listening for more weird sounds. The house was eerily silent without Cadence next door. I was sure my parents were up, but they were likely in the kitchen preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, and I wouldn’t be able to hear them from here.I went back and sat on the edge of my bed, trying to decide what to do. I could check all the usual social media sites to see if anyone knew how Drew was or what had happened, but I was a little hesitant to do that. What if someone knew my sister was involved? Did I really want to read that Cadence had killed someone on Facebook? I also considered calling my sister again but decided not to bother her. With a sigh, I grabbed some clean clothes and decided to head down th
Nevertheless, I was not one for letting looks deceive me. I’d seen enough documentaries to know how people like Ted Bundy worked. I did not falter in my caution as I stood there, waiting for him to declare his intentions.He must’ve been expecting my parents to open the door or something because it took him a minute to respond. “Hi,” he said, injecting a cheerfulness into his voice I was sure wouldn’t typically be there if it weren’t a teenage girl staring at him from the doorjamb. “Are your parents around?”As soon as he finished the sentence, a bolt of recognition struck me surer than if Zeus had tossed down a shock from heaven. I knew that voice! This was the guy from my sister’s room the night before! My eyes widened, my mouth dropped open, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. If there were words formulating in my head, they were not connecting with my mouth.“Cassidy?” he said quietly, &
The color seemed to drain out of my mom’s face. She looked at my dad, and he seemed just as lost. My questions lingered in the air as I began to think of all of the horrible things that might’ve happened to my sister and her friend. The only person who seemed to think I deserved answers wasn’t even related to me (as far as I knew. Things were getting so weird!). “Cassidy, your sister is fine. I just came to talk to your parents about that. She’s with your grandma.”This raised a million other questions. Why didn’t Grandma Janette just call? Why would he need to be the one to tell them anything about their own kid? But I nodded. At least Cadence was okay, and someone was answering my questions.“Honey,” my mom said, unfreezing and turning to face me, “Drew… passed away.”Even though I’d been bracing for bad news about Drew all mor
That all came out in one long, drawn out breath, and I knew if I was actually going to answer her before she started talking again, I’d have to act quickly. “You may know more than I do,” I admitted. “My parents won’t tell me much.” I didn’t tell her about the strange man downstairs. Not yet, anyway. “Do you know what happened to Drew?”“I know what everyone is saying. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but every single one of her friends that was with he swears it’s the truth. Except for maybe your sis because she’s not here. She’s not there, right?”“No, she’s at my grandma’s.” That much I did believe, though I wasn’t sure why.“Well, I guess Drew told her parents she was going to spend the night at her friend Sidney Cox’s house last night, but instead they all went out somewhere.” I was positive I knew what Lucy wo
I was a little relieved to hear that my dad was talking to Aaron outside when I came down the stairs with my mother. There was just something about the intensity of his eyes that made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their voices seemed lighter than they had a few minutes ago when the stranger had first arrived.My mom led me into the living room, and I followed as if I’d never been to this particular part of our home before, each step feeling a bit like a death sentence. Dr. Sanderson unfolded himself from my mother’s recliner as we approached, and I had a hard time taking in how someone so large could occupy the same space as my dainty mother.“Cassidy, honey, this is Dr. Sanderson.”He extended his large hand to me, and I let it envelop mine. There was something hauntingly familiar about his green eyes. It was like I’d seen them before, frequently, and while I was certain I would remember meeting
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, even though it was so odd to me that my sister wasn’t there. I really wished she could’ve been, but I understood that Cadence needed to rest. I wanted to know more about her new job, but I also realized there was no reason to ask about it. Everything was just fine.After I helped my mom clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher, I decided to head upstairs. I doubted Lucy or Em would have called since I’d already talked to one and the other would be busy trying to avoid her family. Emma really hated crowds of any kind, even if they were related to her, and I was pretty sure the meal this year was supposed to be at her house. I did think maybe Milo or Wes would’ve called, though. They both lived just down the street from Jack Cook, and it was possible they might’ve seen him. They might want to know what was going on, and I’d be happy to explain to them that it was an accident and nothing to worry
A knock at the door interrupted what would’ve been a pretty good buck-toothed rabbit face my dad was constructing on a short stack. “I’ll get it,” my mom said, pulling herself away from blueberry eyes. I could tell by the way she looked at my dad that she was reluctant to see who had come calling. They exchanged nervous glances.Something twisted inside of me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Have you ever had something really terrible going on in your life, and for a few moments you lose track of it, like it’s not consciously on your mind, but then it starts to creep in, and before it even registers in your brain, your stomach starts to hurt, like a sharp knife has been plummeted in from the side, a sneak attack? It was like that. I looked at my dad and he offered a small smile before he, too, pushed back his chair. “Go ahead and eat, Cass. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”I nodded, and he exited the dinin