Chapter 5: Talking to the Dead

“Oh, my goodness,” Cadence sighed.

“I never believed that was possible. Don’t ask me why. I mean, with all of the things you and I have both seen in our lifetimes, why not? Right? But… after your grandfather died, well I had to give it a try. I wanted to see him again.”

“And… did it work?”

“Yes,” Janette replied.

Cadence’s eyes widened. “You mean, you’ve been able to speak to Grandpa—after he died?”

“Yes, but only on these rare occasions when the moon is blue, the sky is clear, and the portal is willing to open. It doesn’t always work, darling.”

Cadence could hardly believe her ears. She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands. “Why didn’t… why didn’t anyone ever tell me?”

“Well, I didn’t say anything because… I suppose there’s a reason Aaron didn’t want you to know, dear.”

“But… if there’s a way that I can see Elliott, talk to him again, why would he want to keep that from me?” Janette pursed her lips, her hands folded in her lap, and Cadence knew immediately there was something else, something she wasn’t saying. “Grandma?”

“It’s a portal, darling. You know what that means, right?”

“Are you saying—it’s a doorway?”

Janette nodded her head once.

Cadence jumped up off of the sofa and spun to face her grandmother. “It’s a doorway! He can come back?”

“Calm down, dear!”

Cadence ran her hands through her long brown hair, tangling her hands at the roots, and began to pull. “Oh, my God! Grandma! Why? Why would Aaron keep this from me? You’re telling me that Elliott could actually come back—walk through a portal from the afterlife—like nothing ever happened—and no one bothered to tell me?”

“Darling, it’s not that simple,” Janette replied, her voice still calm and even.

Twirling around to face away from her, Cadence shot back, “Seems pretty damn simple to me.”

“Cadence Josephine, watch your language,” Grandma Janette scolded.

Taking a deep breath and crossing her arms, Cadence tried to calm herself. “I’m sorry, Grandma,” she said, slowly turning around to face her. “I guess, I just don’t understand why Aaron wouldn’t tell me this. What in the world could possibly keep him from telling me that we can bring Elliott back? Is there any reason in the world that he wouldn’t want him to come back?”

“I think that Aaron will have to answer that question for you, sweetheart.”

Cadence couldn’t think of anything—not one thing—in the whole world that could possibly prevent her from bringing Elliott back if it were possible. And yet, she had to believe there must be something. She collapsed onto the sofa next to her grandma, careful not to jar her, and leaned her head back, staring up at the wide wooden beams of her grandmother’s living room ceiling.

It took her a few moments before she finally collected herself enough to turn her attention back to her grandma. “So… why didn’t Grandpa ever come through?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, he is quite happy over there,” Janette said with a smile. “One thing I didn’t tell you that’s very important is that, once a Guardian comes through, they can never go back. This old fellow I was telling you about, he decided he wanted to go back after a while, and nothing would kill him. Not even a Hunter’s bullet. Nothing. So… while it was possible for your grandfather to come back, I would die eventually, even if I didn’t re-Transform, and then we’d never be together. No, it’s better this way. I can still see him every so often, and he gets to stay on the other side.”

Cadence nodded; that made sense. Her grandfather had died before she was born, but her grandma was already very old, and Hunters knew they would die eventually—unlike Guardians which could live forever so long as a Hunter didn’t kill them. “Do you think that’s why Aaron didn’t want me to know? He was afraid I’d talk Elliott into something he didn’t want to do?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Janette said quickly. “I doubt he’d be too concerned about that. Elliott is capable of making his own decision.”

“Is there something else then?” Cadence asked, still unable to believe that Aaron would keep this from her.

“I told you, you need to ask him that.”

Realizing she’d get nothing else out of her grandma about this particular topic, Cadence nodded. “All right. Well, I better get on my way. I still need to stop by and check on Cassidy before I head home, and it’s already past noon.” Her grandmother gave her a nod and a smile, clearly happy not to have to say more. “Do you want me to put the album away for you, Grandma?”

“No, darling,” Janette replied. “I like to look at it more and more these days.”

“You miss Grandpa a lot, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” Janette said, tears forming in her eyes. “People say it gets easier with time, but not for me it hasn’t. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss him more.”

Cadence didn’t know exactly how that must feel, but she had experienced her own loss; she’d even lost Aaron for a few hours, so she could imagine. She reached over and hugged her grandma, realizing she felt even more frail now than the last time she’d been by to visit, which hadn’t been that long ago. “I love you, Grandma. Very much.”

“I love you, too Cadence, and I always will. Don’t ever forget that.”

While Cadence thought her grandma’s statement was a bit odd, she didn’t question her. Kissing her on the cheek, she slipped the letter into her jacket pocket, and made her way out to the driveway and climbed on her F4CC, planning to stop by and visit her family before she headed back to headquarters with a million questions to ask her fiancé.