by ID Johnson
Elliott got up and walked away, returning a moment later with a napkin, which I supposed was the best he could do under the circumstances. His chair screeched across the floor as he sat back down. “Look, I wanna be honest with you, Cass. I can’t tell you everything, but I do want you to know I was wrong about one thing. I thought your sister would decide this line of work wasn’t for her. In fact, I thought I could convince her of such. But… well, she’s pretty darn good at her job. And she’s growing on me a little bit.” I looked up at him then, saw a small smile, remembered them holding hands on the couch earlier. “Anyway, I don’t think she’ll be headed off to school again quite so quickly. I think she’ll probably come back to KC with us when Jack’s funeral is over, and I think she might be with us for the long haul.”
I didn’t know what to say. I dabbed at the corners of my eyes, still upset but not wanting to start crying again. I muttered an, “Okay,” and took a deep breath.
“Just, whatever you do, don’t start asking her a bunch of questions, all right? She’s not equipped to handle that right now, and you don’t want her to get in trouble for telling you stuff you’re not supposed to know.”
I sounded like a broken record, whatever that means. “Okay.”
He reached over and put his big bear paw of a hand on my thin arm where it rested on the table. “Cassidy, I will tell you that you’re safe. You and your family are well-protected from anything and everything. You don’t have to worry.” I looked up into his eyes, and even without them gleaming at me, I believed him. “We are the good guys. You can trust us.”
Something about the intensity of the moment had me smirking. I had to turn it into something else so I didn’t seem rude. I asked, “So why do you always wear black, if you’re the good guys?”
“This ain’t no western, and it’s not my first rodeo,” he replied, without skipping a beat.
I nodded, feeling like even if he couldn’t tell me exactly what was going on, at least I no longer felt like there was a possibility that my sister was some evil creature who was taking out her friends. Once more, for good measure, I said, “Okay. I guess I should go to bed.”
“Yeah, I think you should, too.”
I rose, stepping behind my chair and pushing it in. I reached for my mostly-empty glass of milk. “I’ll take care of it,” he assured me, and I smiled. “Night, Cass.”
“Goodnight.” I gave him one last smile and then headed off to bed, thankful that he had at least put my mind at ease, even if he hadn’t answered all of my questions. I was hopeful the milk would do the trick, and I’d be drifting off to dreamland sometime soon.
Chapter 22
I felt sorry for Wes. His birthday party should’ve been epic, but instead, everyone looked morose. Even the upbeat songs and the disco lights reflecting off the slick skating surface didn’t make any of us feel any better; everyone was thinking about poor Jack Cook.
The rumors were ridiculous, and I tried not to listen to them. Of course, in comparison, I supposed they weren’t any more out there than what I thought might be the truth—that Jack Cook was infected by a vampire, turned, and was killed by a team of “good” vampires that my sister had recently joined. I guess the other kids’ ideas that it was the bubonic plague, tainted Mountain Dew, or an infiltration by Russian spies really weren’t that outlandish after all.
Once the party was over, Em and I headed to Lucy’s house. My folks thought it would be a good idea if I slept over for some reason. Maybe it was because they wanted me out of their hair so they could talk to Cadence about all of the secrets the three of them were keeping from me. I didn’t complain, though. It would give the three of us a better opportunity to look at things at the same time and see what we could come up with. Our brainstorming sessions were always best when done in person.
Lucy’s mom had ordered pizza and let us eat it in her room, which was totally cool and something my mom would’ve had a heart attack over, probably because she’d have to get out any stains herself, whereas Mrs. Burk had a housekeeper to do that—well, at least once a week.
We had found some other good sites to give us information about vampires and we were taking some careful notes about ways you can test to see if someone is a vampire when Emma made the “hmmm” sound she makes when something surprises her. We don’t hear that noise too often when she’s doing research because she usually sees things coming. But not this time.
“What is it, Em?” I asked, finishing up with my notes about mirrors and silver jewelry.
“Well, I’ve been visiting this forum a couple of times a day for the last week, trying to see if anyone posts anything else interesting. I was reading a post this lady wrote just a few minutes ago, but halfway through, it just disappeared. And now, her entire account has been erased.”
“That’s really odd,” Lucy said, setting her laptop aside and stretching across the end of the sofa she was sitting on to get closer to Emma in her chair. “What was it talking about?”
“Some lady in Montana posted that late last night, she was looking out her bedroom window and saw a terrible looking creature running across the street, being chased by a group of four or five people wearing black clothing. She said she saw a stream of blue light and what sounded like a gun firing before the creature just disappeared. I was getting to what happened next when the article literally just went away. That’s so weird, because I hadn’t refreshed my browser. It should’ve still been there.”
“That is super weird,” I agreed. “Do you remember her username or anything?”
“No, just that she was in Billings, I think.”
For some reason, that town sounded familiar to me, though I couldn’t quite place why. I puzzled over it while Lucy began typing furiously, and I wondered what in the world she was doing, but I didn’t ask. She didn’t look like she wanted to be distracted. “Are there any other sites like that you think she might’ve posted on?”
“There’s one more,” Emma mumbled, already typing. A few seconds later, she said, “Yeah, here she is. Montana Mama. But all of her posts are deleted.”
I got up now, needing a closer look. I came and crouched down next to Emma’s computer. Sure enough, there were three posts in a row that all said, “Montana Mama” and beneath her profile picture, “Deleted by admin CHENRY77” followed by the time, which was just a few minutes ago. “Super weird. I wonder if Montana Mama was on to something, and this admin person is trying to cover it up.”
“I don’t know. Let me see if Montana Mama has contact information before that disappears, too.” Emma clicked through a few buttons and took a screenshot of Montana Mama’s profile, which included an email address.
“OMG! OMG! OMG!” Lucy was squealing. “You have got to see this! Quick before it’s gone!”
Emma practically dropped her computer as we both scrambled to get to Lucy’s side. She was on YouTube, that was obvious by the red and white color scheme. The video she was watching was grainy at best. It was difficult to see what we were looking at, but I thought it might be a security camera. Emma pulled out her cell phone, and at first, I didn’t know what she was doing, but then I realized she was filming the video. Smart. That way if it disappeared again, we’d still have it.
Lucy also took a screenshot of the post. It said, “I will not be silenced! I didn’t want to have to do this, but you have forced my hand. Here’s the video to prove I’m not lying!” The user account was none other than Montana Mama.
The creature ran across the screen, its pale face obscured by long, stringy, black hair. You could tell Montana Mama had slowed the video way down. Behind it, we saw three men and a woman in black chasing it. One of them fired what looked like a gun, and a streak of blue made contact with the monster before it was obliterated and ash filled the camera frame. At the end, two more figures came into focus, like they’d been hanging back, not really part of the chase but there nonetheless. If they hadn’t been wearing black, I would’ve thought they were just innocent bystanders.
Judging by their height and muscle structure, one of them looked like a petite woman, the other a man. As the others began to walk away, the one I thought was a woman turned and looked directly into the camera. It was just a flicker, something I wouldn’t have even caught if I hadn’t been staring at the screen so intently, but when I realized who I was looking at, I fell backward from my knees straight onto my keister. The screen went black, and for a moment, so did YouTube. When it flickered back to life, Montana Mama’s video was gone.
“What the crap?” Lucy muttered, refreshing. Montana Mama’s entire YouTube channel was gone.
I was still staring blankly, trying to process what I’d just seen.
“It’s all gone.” Lucy typed a few things, shook her laptop, and huffed in frustration. “Did you get it, Emma? Too bad you can’t download from YouTube easily.”
“I got it,” Emma assured us. “I hope no one comes and erases my phone.”
“How could they know you recorded it off of YouTube with your phone?” Lucy asked, as if that was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. I’d heard crazier. “Cass? Are you okay?”
They had finally noticed my stupor. “Yeah, it’s just… I think… I saw….” Both girls stared at me like I had two heads or fangs. “I think that woman at the end was Eliza.” My voice was just a whisper, like saying it aloud would bring black-clad super humans through the walls. I suddenly remembered what was familiar about Billings, Montana.
“Eliza?” Lucy repeated. “Shut up! Really? Play it again, Em.”
Obliging, Emma played the video again on her phone, Lucy staring over her shoulder. I still hadn’t moved. At the end, they both said, “Huh,” and I heard Emma’s camera go off as she captured a screenshot.
“I can run facial recognition,” she said. We already knew the software was 90 percent sure Jamie Joplin’s profile picture matched his Harvard graduation picture from over a hundred years ago.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, not sure why in the world I was doing what I was doing, but part of me was tired of playing games. He answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
Clearing my voice, I said, “Who took out Montana Mama?”
I could hear talking in the background and couldn’t decide if Elliott was at my parents’ house or the hotel room he and Hannah, and who knows who else, had rented. His voice was low. “What in the world are you talkin’ about now, lil girl?”
I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t know what I meant. He wasn’t in the office, after all, and I had a feeling it wasn’t him who had erased the video and posts. My mind flickered back to that video. Eliza was in Montana. Who was with her? I already knew the answer. That’s why Aaron hadn’t been at our house the night before—he was in Billings, Montana. Before I could ask another question, Emma was kicking me. I looked up, trying to listen to Elliott attempt to calm me down and read what Emma was trying to show me. The admin for the site that she was reading when Montana Mama’s post went away, CHENRY77—Christian Henry. Christian.
“Cass, I told you to stop before you get yourself into trouble.” He was talking through gritted teeth, his voice just above a whisper. “Seriously….”
“Ask Christian,” I dared him. “I saw it, Elliott! I saw the video! That, that thing….”
“Okay, okay! Where are you?”
Could I trust him? Could I let him come over to Lucy’s house when we had all of this information right here in front of us? He could destroy it all. He could make all three of us forget.
Before I could decide what to tell him, he was already answering. “Never mind. I already know. Stay there, Cass.”
The phone went dead. I looked at my friends whose eyes were as wide as mine. My heart was racing. “He’s coming. I’ve gotta get out of here.”
Chapter 23
We were scrambling, trying to hide whatever we could while still making sure our notes were clear. We still weren’t exactly sure what we’d seen, but we had come so far. I wasn’t about to let Elliott take it all away from me now. He’d have to claw it out of my cold, dead hands. That thought didn’t last long before I realized that could easily be arranged, and ice water began to run through my veins.
“Why did you do that?” Lucy asked, shoving her laptop and notebook in a secret hiding space she had beneath a floorboard behind her dresser. “You shouldn’t have told him!”
“Because I’m an idiot,” I replied. I had no idea why I’d made that phone call. “I thought I could trust him!”
“You’re an idiot!” Emma agreed.
“I know!” I grabbed my coat, having done my best to hide my laptop under a stack of Lucy’s clothing, and my notebook was shoved between her desk and the wall. “I’m just going to go.”
“It’s cold outside, and it’s almost dark,” Lucy reminded me.
“I can’t stay here. He’ll… brainwash both of you.”
My mind was made up, and I took off, stepping over the half-eaten pizza in the box on the floor, hoping Mr. and Mrs. Burk wouldn’t notice me as I fled the scene.
I was about halfway down the stairs when I heard a knock on the door. I turned to see Lucy and Emma had followed me. We all three froze in terror as Daniel opened the door. I knew Elliott could brainwash his way in, take everything from us, and disappear into the night, like a… banshee.
“Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you. My name is Hannah Roberts, and I’m a friend of Liz Findley’s. I understand her daughter, Cassidy, is here. Would you mind if I spoke to her for just a minute?”
It was Hannah. Oh, thank sweet baby Jesus, it was Hannah. Daniel shrugged and turned to face the stairs like he was going to scream up them, but when he saw me standing there, he walked away, leaving the door open and Hannah standing there. As I began to creep toward her, I heard Lucy’s mom ask her son who it was and he said nobody. I didn’t hear footsteps coming our direction, so I assumed somehow Hannah had manipulated Lucy’s family into letting her in without question.
I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “What are you doing here?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“Hi, Cassidy,” Hannah said, smiling as she pushed the door behind her closed. “Do you have a minute?”
“No….”
She laughed. “It’ll just take a moment.”
“Did Elliott send you?” I was on a roll with stupid questions tonight.
Hannah walked into the dining room like she owned the place, and the three of us followed. She gestured for us to have a seat, and we did. I could see Lucy’s hands trembling as she pulled out a chair, the one as far away from Hannah as possible.
“I understand that you saw a video on YouTube that has you asking some questions.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t nod. Didn’t waver.
“It’s natural for you to question videos of this sort which seem to show people doing things out of the ordinary, impossible things. I don’t blame you for being curious, particularly when they seem to disappear almost as quickly as they pop up. I can assure all three of you that you needn’t worry about Montana Mama; she’s just fine. An associate of mine is having a similar conversation with her just now. And… once that associate leaves, Montana Mama will no longer think she saw anything out of the ordinary.”
“And when you leave, neither will we?” I asked.
Hannah’s smile was tight. “I know you have notes, other pieces of information to help you remember what you think you’ve seen and heard, Cassidy.” Hannah’s voice was so pleasant, it was like a lullaby. “It’s perfectly normal for you to want to keep track of the information you’ve gathered. I know that Elliott has asked you several times to stop researching. Here’s the deal, sweet girls. This has to stop right here, right now, okay? You cannot keep digging. You have to let it go.”
All three of us were nodding.
“There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything that you’ve seen. It was a prank. Montana Mama is looking for attention from others. You are right to question what you’ve seen, to be confused, b
ut at the end of the day, there’s nothing to fear.”
I was still nodding, but the question burning on the tip of my tongue flew out of my mouth despite her assurances. “Was that a vampire?”
“Of course not. There are no such things as vampires. That was a man in a costume.”
“Of course, it was a man in a costume.” Lucy let out a long sigh of relief.
“Okay,” I said.
“Now, when we are done, I want you to go back upstairs and rip up all of your notes. Delete everything off of your computers. And then… let all of this go. Okay?”
All three of us smiled. “Okay,” we agreed.
“I can’t wait to go rip up my notes,” Emma said, a big sappy smile on her face.
“I’ll just wipe my whole hard drive.”
“And don’t forget to delete all of your texts.” Hannah’s smile grew even wider.
“We will,” Lucy assured her.
“Okay then.” Hannah stood and pushed in her chair, heading for the door. We watched her let herself out, and still smiling like a bunch of idiots, we headed up the stairs.
“I am going to shred all of the notes I’ve taken,” Lucy said. “It will be like making confetti!”
“We can have a paper party!” Emma agreed.
I was thinking about what a relief it would be to destroy everything, to lift the burden I’d been living under for these past few weeks, to be free of vampires, mysteries, and everything that had been weighing so heavily on my heart. I’d be able to breathe again at last.
We were at the top of the stairs when my phone buzzed. I almost ignored it, but then I thought I may as well get to deleting those pesky text messages.
It was Elliott. “Don’t do it, Cass. Let them. Make them. But don’t do it.”
Confusion swept over me like a wave pounding against the rocky shoreline. What was he talking about? Don’t do what? Make them do what? Suddenly, everything came rushing back to me like a ton of bricks slamming into my chest. Hannah had tricked us, convinced us to destroy everything, but Elliott was telling me not to do it with my own research, to let it be. But… I’d have to convince my two best friends in the world to rip up, to delete, everything they’d been working so hard to gather these past few weeks.
