Jamie took a deep breath before he began. “Basically, every Hunter and Guardian is born with a genetic code in their DNA which will activate one of a few ways. Back in the olden days, before we had the technology that we have today, it took several years for full conversion, unless the gene was extremely strong, such as in the case of your grandmother. She basically willed her way into becoming a Hunter and activated that coding within her genes. Clearly, you can see how it worked for you last night. You needed to accomplish certain tasks, so you did.” Once again, Cadence found herself nodding, though she wasn’t sure why. She still wasn’t allowing herself to consider what had happened to her last night.
Jamie continued. “Nowadays, we have developed a serum that essentially lets us go in and speed up that Transformation process, making it much, much shorter."
After he finished speaking, the reality of where this was heading set in, and she realized she needed clarification. A lot of it. “Whoa, wait, hold on a second, timeout,” Cadence said, making a “T” shape with her hands as if she were the referee in a basketball game. “Did you say I activated something in my genes last night? What? No, I was just angry. I just did what any normal human being would do when they were in a similar situation.” The idea that her words were ridiculous crossed her mind, but she went with them.
Again, glances were exchanged between the two Guardians. “No,” Eliza said as they both shook their heads. “You activated your Hunter gene last night. That’s the only way you could have ran up to thirty miles per hour and torn the head off of a Vampire.”
“What?” Ignoring the last part of the statement, she said, “No! I wasn’t running that fast!”
“Yes, yes you were,” Jamie agreed. “You just couldn’t tell how fast you were moving because you have limited experience in judging it. Trust me, you were burning up the path.”
Cadence stopped to consider this for a moment. She did feel as if she was covering a lot of ground last night, but she had no idea she was moving that quickly. “Really?” she asked. “Was I really going that fast? How do you know?”
She could tell by the pause that there was some conferring going on that she was not yet privy to, so she sat quietly and watched Eliza nod, even though she would never admit she was doing so. “Let me pull up the footage,” she said.
Once again Cadence was confused. “What are you going to pop out your eyeball and let me use it as a telescope or something? I mean seriously, how does that work?”
Eliza began to giggle, which turned into a snort, which made her laugh even louder, and finally it seemed that she must have received a directive to get her act together because the laughter halted abruptly. “I can project it,” she said very seriously. She walked over next to where Cadence was sitting on the couch and pressed a few buttons on what looked like a watch. Suddenly, a video appeared in the air in front of her, and though there was really nothing for it to project on to, Cadence could see it very clearly. She recognized herself, all right, and she was running through the woods.
“But, I’m not going that fast!” she said, as the video didn’t seem to show too much exertion on her part.
“Two things,” Jamie said from his seat across the room. “Look at the speedometer at the bottom of the screen, and realize that Aaron is the one recording you so at this point, he is paralleling you, and he knows how fast he is running, which at this point is 32 miles per hour. And you know how fast he can move.”
“Now look at this footage,” Eliza insisted, fast forwarding a bit. “This is when you enter the clearing. He’s in front of you at that point and can see you approaching.”
“I’m not sure I want to see that,” Cadence said, thinking of the scenes she saw upon entering the clearing.
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“He actually edited it for you,” Eliza said, looking at Jamie who made a face as if he were surprised. Cadence wasn’t sure what that was all about, but she agreed to watch the footage as long as she wouldn’t have to see Drew or the Vampire she had decapitated. Sure enough, she came flying through the trees, approaching cheetah speed, dodging tree limbs as if she could just tell where they were going to be.
“Wow,” Cadence said, unable to believe she was seeing herself move that quickly and agilely. “So, why haven’t I ever been able to do this before? I mean, I should have been blowing up the track meets in high school, you know?”
“Because you needed something to activate that gene within your DNA. And just typical adrenaline isn’t going to do it most likely, unless it’s layered on with event after event after event,” Jamie explained. “So, if you decided to undergo Transformation all by yourself, you could probably fully do it on your own within a few months, maybe a year. But, with the serum, you could do it literally overnight, and then, you’d be practically at full power before you even complete your training.”
“Now hold on there just one flippin’ minute,” Cadence said, looking from Jamie to her grandma and then back at Eliza who turned the video off and took a step back. “Just because I have this gene in my DNA, that doesn’t mean I have to use it, right? Isn’t that what you said, Grandma? I’m pretty sure I heard you say that.”
“Yes, that is true,” Janette agreed. She was still on the fence as to whether or not she wanted Cadence to undergo the Transformation. She knew the pros and cons for each and did not want Cadence to make a rash decision.
Cadence could tell that Jamie was listening to Aaron as he was speaking, though she wasn’t sure whether the words he chose were his own or if he was just relaying them. “But Cadence, this really is a bit of a non-negotiable for you. I mean, first of all, clearly, you are a natural at this. You were meant to be a Hunter. You come from a direct line of Leaders. This is what you were destined to become. Also, consider the good you would be doing for the world by helping rid the planet of the types of scum that you eliminated last night. It was simple for you because it runs so thickly through your blood. Can you imagine what you would be able to do if you were fully Transformed?” Cadence looked at him dryly, and he seemed to gather from her expression that he was not making much progress. “Look, Cadence,” he said, scooting to the edge of his chair and attempting to look into her eyes from across the room. This seemed to be a shift in tactics, and she gave him her full attention. “That horrible bitch, Holland, the redheaded Vampire, she is still out there. And she is partially responsible for the death of your friend. She did nothing to stop Carter from taking Drew. She would have killed all of you last night if she had been given the opportunity. You know what you need to do. The choice is easy. The opportunity to stay young and healthy practically forever, to stay just as beautiful as you are today for decades to come, who wouldn’t want that? Not to mention, you are capable of doing so much to right the wrongs of the world. We want you. We need you. What do you say? Will you join our team?"
Though she was desperately trying not to, Cadence burst into laughter. His face looked so sincere, and yet his words seemed canned and trivial. Not to mention she was completely overwhelmed and had no idea what to think about any of this. “I’m sorry,” she said, covering her mouth. “I don’t mean to laugh, I just… I need a while to think about this. It’s really a big decision, a life altering decision, and it’s not one that I am willing to make on hardly any sleep in over twenty-four hours.”
Jamie rested his head on his hand. Cadence couldn’t tell if he was thinking or listening. Finally, he turned back to her and said, “All right then, I understand. Why don’t you go get some rest, and we’ll talk about it again tomorrow—or this evening?”
Cadence agreed. Sleep was the only thing that could help clarify this situation for her. She hugged her grandmother and kissed her on the cheek. Without another word, she stood and grabbed the overnight bag she had brought in with her, carrying it up the stairs to her grandmother’s guest room.
As she rounded the corner, she heard Eliza say, “Well, that went over well,” followed by what seemed to be the sound of a pillow being flung across the room.
“At least they get along,” Cadence thought to herself. She knew, if she decided to convert, she would be fast friends with Eliza and Jamie. But the thought of having Aaron in her head 24/7 seemed a little much to consider right now, especially since he seemed to be moving in on his own, even without the technology the others had implanted. She resolved not to think about it again until after at least a three-hour nap, at which point she would be refreshed and ready to make her decision without hesitation. At least she hoped that was the case, though with all of this new information, she wasn’t sure how she could ever process all of it and make the correct, life-altering choice.