The Rouge Omega Caster

Chapter 3: The stars

Cadence’s POV

After the s**t show that was breakfast, Reese and I hid out in my little art shed, which was more like a cabin, that Grandma and Grandpa got for me when my room got too full for my art supplies. The moment I saw it, I fell in love with it and affectionately nicknamed it ‘my lair,’ as I got closer to Reese, it became our spot where we met up and hung out, disclosing things to each other we would never tell anybody else and belting songs on the top of our lungs when we got bored.

Inside, it had a cot, two beanbag chairs, and walls lined with shelves decorated with fairy lights for my art supplies, with a desk and easel to the side. If I wasn’t at home, I was here. My home is 10 yards away from home.

“ That went well, don't you think?” Reese asked, each word dripping with sarcasm. She laid down on the moss-green plush carpet I had installed last year. I was sitting in one of the bean bags with my knees pulled up to my chest.

I had expected some resistance on the topic but didn't expect how harshly and instantly it would be shot down altogether. I at least thought that we could come to an understanding… It's nice to know where I inherited my stubbornness from. The more I thought about it, the more it made me upset. I got up, went over to one of the shelves, and grabbed an extra sketchbook from it, seeing as how I stormed off and left my other one back in the Manor. I opened it up and began to sketch in it roughly.

“Cade, it doesn't seem like Grandpa will budge about Hillcrest. And to be honest, it seemed like there was more to it than just the werewolf shifters… And with you, too.” Reese looks at me questioningly, hoping to see answers written on my face. I look at her and then look away. Taking a breath, I walked over to the carpet she was sitting on. Reese moved aside so I could lift the carpet and open a loose floorboard. I pulled out a brown leather book bound shut with a leather string. Reese looked at the book, then to me expectantly, and then I began to explain.

“It happened around a month ago when I was reorganizing my room and gathering. I didn't want to donate it later. As I moved the bookshelf away from the wall, I noticed a makeshift cubby in the corner of the floor. Inside, I discovered a collection of belongings belonging to a girl and this book.

I glanced at Reese to check if she was still paying attention, and she seemed utterly engrossed. I continued, "When I opened the book, I saw the name Natalia Dubois written on the cover. It's my mom's diary, Reese. That night, I read it and learned so many things about my mom that I never knew. Her likes and dislikes, her favorite places to go hang out with her friends, and the fact that she attended Hillcrest where she met my dad… as I kept reading, I felt this pull and strong desire to…," and I trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence when Reese finished it.

“To experience and walk the halls of a place your mom used to,” she stated, and I nodded.

“That and something else, something more. Whatever it was, I thought it could finally help me to heal, that I could come to terms with the fact that she's... Gone.” I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them close. Reese crawled over to me, sat, and rested her head on my shoulder, A silent way of comforting me. And it helped.

***

Hours passed, and the sun began to set when Aunt Josephine texted Reese to come home, which happened to be down the way from home. Though it is hard to come to terms with, I decided it was time to return to the manor and face the music of how I acted this morning. “Do you want me to walk with you? Strength in numbers.” Reese offered as we walked on the trail back home.

“Nah, I'll be fine. A Dubois doesn't back down from a fight, even with another Dubois”, I said and smiled at her. She chuckled and bumped her shoulder into mine. “Fine, but text me later to let me know how everything goes.”

“Will do,” I say, and just as we reach the backyard, Reese turns right and begins to walk to her house.

Here goes nothing. I walk to the back door and open it slowly. No one‘s in the foyer, good. I take careful steps to try to make my way to the staircase when I hear my grandmother's soft, gentle voice. “ You were gone for so long I thought you were going to sleep there tonight,” she said, standing at the top of the staircase and looking down at me. “I would’ve, but I didn’t have snacks,” I say jokingly. I earned a smile from her, but not a full one. I looked around, half expecting to see Grandpa come around the corner when Grandma answered my curious stare. “ He is staying late at work today.” I feel my body relax as all the tension leaves my body.

“Let’s talk, Cade,” she said And began to come downstairs. Grabbing me by the hand, she led me outside to the patio deck, and we both sat on a lounge chair, looking up at the stars. “Cade, I know after this morning, you might be mad at your grandfather, but please Don’t be too upset with him.” She asked, still holding my hand and Looking at me in the eyes. “He loves you and only wants what’s best for you, both of you.”

“ And I get that, but it doesn’t hurt me any less.” I say feeling a new wave of pain. “I just, for once, wanted to experience what High school might’ve been like. I can’t explain it, but there is this pull, a connection, that keeps tugging me to go there. I don’t know why.” I said, which was half true in a sense. Well, it wasn’t so much of the school experience that I wanted, but it was more of just wanting to be in a place my mother once inhabited.

The other part of me did feel this inexplicable pull to the school. Like something or someone was waiting there for me. We both sat there for a moment in silence when I felt Grandma‘s hand touch the pendant on my chest. Her eyes got shiny before she dropped her hand and looked me in the eyes again. And then whisper the words that I knew would change my life forever: “You can go.”

Immediately, my head snapped toward her, and my jaw dropped. Did she say I could go?

“But Grandpa said I-” she cut me off.

“ Your grandfather is not the only one who gets to say so about our grandchildren's future. I’ll talk to him. You just promised me one thing.” she said, cupping my cheek.

“Anything, Grandma,” I said on the edge of my seat, waiting for her request.

“If you ever find yourself having moments like this, where everything in your heart and your mind are just so chaotic that you can’t even form a sentence to explain what’s going on inside, That you will come to me, and we’ll work it out together. It’s what I should’ve said to your mother, and now I’m saying it to you.”

I nodded my head. Emotions choking me, but I refuse to let them take over.

“ I promise, grandma.” I hugged her with all my love for her and that moment. “ Now, go upstairs and get ready for bed. There’s a lot of work to be done starting tomorrow.” Grandma smiled, and I kissed her on her cheek. “ Yes, ma’am.” And with that I ran into the house, rushed up the stairs, and into my bedroom closing the door behind me. Once in my room, I pulled out my phone and shot a text over to Reese.

C: Grandma said I could go!!! That we could go!

R: fr?!?!

C: Yes, starting tomorrow, we have to hit the ground running

R: Hell yeah!!!!!

Flopping on my bed with the biggest smile, I was excited for the new adventure awaiting me this upcoming school year.

Amelia Dubois (Grandma) POV

“Now go upstairs and get ready for bed. There’s a lot of work to be done starting tomorrow.” Amelia finished giving Cadence a loving smile. “Yes, ma’am,” he practically sang out and kissed her on the cheek before bounding inside and up the stairs. Amelia stared at the door where her grandson ran inside, and then turned herself back to the back to the stars and prayed.

Please, please let what I did be the right decision. Amelia begged and felt a familiar pang in her chest. It seemed like yesterday when her daughter Natalia also made the same request. Natty said a strong magnet had caught her heart, pulling her to Hillcrest High. So now, when her grandson said he felt the same pull to the school as her daughter, his mother, had what else could she do?

They had tried to do everything to keep Natty away from that wretched place, from that boy, but all it did was push her away. Amelia couldn't bear the same thing happening to Cadence. He had a calling, and she had no right to interfere in something far more significant than herself, even if it meant going against her husband. So, all she could do was pray and hope her husband would find it somewhere in his heart to forgive her.