Jamie stopped the SUV in front of one of the two apartment buildings. “This is the building where team members live, and that building over there is for the trainees.”
“What? You’re going to make her walk?” Eliza chimed in.
Cadence and Jamie exchanged glances before he responded. “No,” he replied, “not any further than you are. Cadence is on our team now, Eliza. Didn’t you realize that?”
“What?” Eliza asked. “How is that possible? You haven’t even completed training yet. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s great to work with you and all, but what if you suck?”
Jamie just shook his head, and Cadence didn’t know how to respond. She was beginning to understand why Aaron had warned her that Eliza didn’t get along well with other girls. “I’ll show you to your room,” he said, climbing out of the car. He tossed the keys to a valet who came out to move the car, which raised another question for Cadence.
She got out of the car and followed Jamie toward the building. “So, who are the other people that work here? They know about Clandestine Ternion, too, right? Are they humans?”
The doorman pulled open the heavy glass door, and Cadence found herself in a fairly large lobby. The center of the building was open all the way to the top where there was a skylight. It wasn’t a towering building, perhaps only twenty floors or so, but it was still impressive, and Cadence was feeling more and more at home.
“Most of them are non-Transformees,” Jamie explained. Eliza was behind them, but she was loafing, obviously still offended that she wasn’t consulted before Cadence was asked to join them. “A few of them are Transformees who either couldn’t cut it or decided it just wasn’t for them. It’s not easy doing battle with the powers of darkness every night,” he said attempting a bit of humor. Cadence chuckled, but she also saw the truth in what he said.
Jamie manually pushed the up button on the elevator, though he could have called it through his IAC, and they all stepped inside. “Are you going with us to see Cadence’s apartment?” Jamie asked Eliza. The look on his face made Cadence think perhaps he was also praying she would say no.
“Sure!” she said in a chipper voice. Cadence couldn’t determine if it was genuine or forced. “I have nothing else on my agenda. For now.”
“Great,” Jamie exclaimed. This time, there was no question the remark was disingenuous. The elevator started to move, and Cadence looked at him questioningly. “IAC,” he explained.
Cadence nodded, marveling at everything the device could do.
As Eliza’s face began to tell them she was otherwise engaged, Jamie tugged gently on Cadence’s sleeve so she’d take a step closer to him, away from Eliza. Leaning into her ear, and in a voice Cadence could hardly detect, he whispered, “I really hope she doesn’t notice we’re going to the twenty-second floor.”
While she had no idea what he was talking about, she nodded. A glimpse back at Eliza told her she was still on the IAC and was also distracted by her phone. Cadence couldn’t imagine she would ever need it to communicate with anyone, but apparently, she liked to play games with it. “What are you playing?” she asked, trying to be polite.
It took Eliza a second to respond. “Oh, uh, Candy Crush. Easier to swipe with my finger than my eye.”
Cadence laughed politely as the door opened. They stepped out into a short hallway. Looking around, Cadence realized they had gone to the top of the building. It narrowed up here, and there were only two apartments. Jamie took her to the right and pulled a physical key out of his pocket to open the door.
“What the hell are we doing here?” Eliza asked, suddenly realizing where they were. “This is the penthouse!”
“We are showing Cadence to her apartment,” Jamie replied, popping the door open. He waited for Cadence to go in first and then followed her in.
“Yeah, but, this apartment is reserved for the Hunter Leader!” Eliza continued, following them in.
With raised eyebrows, Cadence turned back to look at the doctor. “There are only two apartments up here,” he explained. “This one. And Aaron’s.”
The information was more than a little shocking. “Oh. Okay….” Cadence began, not sure what to say.
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“We do usually reserve this room for the Hunter Leader so that he or she can work closely with the Guardian Leader if needed.”
Only managing a nod, Cadence turned to survey the apartment. She couldn’t believe how beautiful the place was. They entered into a stunningly decorated living room with an open-concept dining room and full kitchen behind it. To her left there was a space set up as a small office. She could see a couple of doors down a narrow walkway by the kitchen, and she was eager to see what was back there, though she couldn’t pull her eyes away from all of the beautiful décor in these rooms.
As she passed the kitchen, she noticed granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances. Upon opening the first door, she found a gorgeous bedroom, decorated in shades of purple and gray, two of her favorite colors. The bed was huge, and it looked incredibly comfortable. She walked into the en suite bathroom and was thrilled to see a Jacuzzi bathtub and a stand-alone shower. Returning to the hallway, she also located a half-bath for guests and a laundry room with a full-sized washer and dryer.
Jamie was waiting for her in the kitchen while Eliza had dropped herself into a chair in the living room and was carefully studying her fingernails.
“This is incredible!” Cadence proclaimed. She threw her arms around his neck, and Jamie couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm.
“Isn’t it?” he agreed. “And did you see the view?”
Cadence had briefly glanced out the window, but she was happy to look again. She could see a great deal of the green space from here, one of the fountains that decorated the campus, and off in the distance, she could see some of the buildings from downtown Kansas City.
“This is just amazing,” she commented still staring out the window. “Ha! I feel like a grownup!” she laughed.
“I’m very glad you like it,” Jamie replied.
“Why wouldn’t she like it?” Eliza asked. “We’re in the freaking penthouse!”
Both of them chose to ignore her for now, and Jamie continued. “This actually used to be your grandmother’s apartment, you know, several years ago, of course, but this was it.”
“Really?” Cadence asked. How exciting to think that her grandmother had once lived here, too.
“Yes, the building has undergone extensive remodeling since then, and the interior was recently just redecorated with you in mind, but it’s still the same location, same address, as when your grandmother lived here.”
“I wonder if that’s why it was assigned to me,” she said absently, still spinning around, taking in all of the little details of the decorating.
“No, it was assigned to you because Aaron is thinking with the wrong head!” Eliza commented directly into Jamie’s IAC.
“I’m sure that had something to do with it,” Jamie said in response to Cadence’s comment, not Eliza’s. “Now, you should have some clothes in your closet from your house and your dorm room. Aaron wanted me to ask you to get into your training clothes before I show you the other buildings so I can just take you straight to him. Do you think you have anything that will work for that?”
“I’ll go check,” she said, bustling back to her new bedroom, planning to toss herself on to the bed just to see how comfy it was before she started to look for workout clothes.
* * *
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jamie demanded, turning to Eliza.
“What?” she asked, as if she had no idea to what he was referring.
“Could you be any uglier or more selfish?” he asked, like a father scolding his incessant daughter.
Eliza wanted to fire back with some smart remark, but in her heart, she knew he was right. Cadence needed this room because there was a pretty good possibility she would someday become the Hunter Leader if she were successful in the hunt at all. After all, her grandfather was one of the most popular Guardian Leaders ever, and her grandmother had more success as the Hunter Leader than any two other leaders combined. It made sense to move her directly into this apartment, establish her as the leader that she most likely would be, and expect the Hunters to follow. And even though Aaron had been doing a tremendous job running both Passels for years and years, she knew he would be much happier with help from a Hunter Leader. She was just extremely jealous of Cadence and wished she was a lot less attractive. Even though it had been a while since she and Aaron had dated, and it had been a disaster, she still had feelings for him. She needed to find a way to deal with that herself instead of pushing it off onto other people and making it their problem.
“You’re right,” she said. “I’m sorry. It’s just hard, Jamie,” she said tossing herself back against the chair then and slumping her head against her hands.
Jamie sighed and wedged himself into the oversized chair she was sitting in. “You know I’m not completely unsympathetic to your situation. But in all honesty, Eliza, you’ve got to control your mouth.”
“I know,” she muttered, her hands still covering her face. She thought his tone indicated perhaps he was getting a little tired of always being the one who had to listen to her whine.
“You’re going to have to figure this out, sweetheart. Cause you know Aaron is never returning to that relationship, regardless of how much either one of you claims to have changed. I’m not fully blaming you, but that was not pleasant for any of us, having him so pissed off at you all of the time and inadvertently taking it out on us. No thank you.”
“I know, I know,” she repeated. “I just need to move on. Find someone else.”
“Yes, you do,” Jamie agreed.
Cadence came bounding back out wearing yoga pants, a matching T-shirt, and a light hoody. “Will this work?” she asked.
Though she had actually been looking at Jamie, it was Eliza who answered. “That’s super cute!” she said, smiling. “That will definitely work!”
Cadence glanced inquisitively from Eliza to Jamie and then back again. He just smiled at her so she decided to pretend she hadn’t noticed a complete 180-degree shift in Eliza’s attitude.
“Are you ready for a little tour?” Jamie asked.