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Vivienne immediately stepped in front of Conall and pulled the door open. Cassie stood there, her hair pulled away from her pinched face. “Cassie?”
“Viv, what are you doing here?”
Reaching forward, Vivienne hugged her close, glad her sister was safe. Although her mother hadn’t mentioned anything about Cassie today, Vivienne knew that Evelyn had gone upstairs to use whatever powers she could to locate Cassie.
Cassie sighed and placed her chin against Vivienne’s shoulder, closing her eyes. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter. I might as well tell you, too.”
“Tell me what?” Vivienne asked in confusion, stepping back so that Cassie could enter the house. As soon as she stepped through, she closed the door behind her and braced her against it.
“Where’s Mom? Dad? I think they’ll want to be here to hear this,” she muttered, shaking her head and rolling eyes that, on closer inspection, looked bloodshot.
“Mom’s upstairs. Dad’s in Maryland.” When she’d asked her mother about her father being incommunicado, she’d found out that her great-aunt was ill.
Cassie’s eyes narrowed, and her brows pinched. “Maryland?”
“Aunt Sophie is ill. Did something happen to you? Are you sick?” Vivienne interrupted, staring at her sister for any tell tale signs of a problem. She thought that perhaps the people chasing her had gotten to Cassie but her twin was acting too normal, although still in the strange category of normal, to have encountered trackers.
“Cassandre!” Evelyn came down the staircase quickly, rushing over to Cassie and pulling her into her arms. She clasped both hands to Cassie’s cheeks and said, “Ma chère, you must answer your phone. That is why I purchased it for you.”
“Sorry, Mom. I was busy, and then I was—I—” She broke off suddenly as her gaze lifted and landed on something behind Vivienne. “Who are you?”
“Conall,” he replied, obviously unaffected by the bluntness of the question.
Vivienne felt her face flush. He was her, oh God, how to describe him. Conall was…Conall. He’d called her his mate, and she didn’t really know what the word meant, although just moments before, she’d almost ripped off his clothing and satisfied both of their hungers. She forced a smile, hoping her sister would leave it alone, but Cassie did no such thing.
“Are you Vivienne’s boyfriend?” Her expression was genuinely puzzled. “You have a boyfriend and you didn’t tell me?”
As she squirmed and looked uncomfortable, feeling as if the signs of Conall’s kisses and caresses were visible to Cassie, Evelyn placed an arm around Cassie’s shoulder.
“Come, ma chère—”
“No! Wait a second! It’s got to be serious if he’s standing here. He’s met Mom before me? H-how long have you two been together? Probably before our birthdays, and you didn’t tell me when we went camping?” Now she sounded hurt, and as she stared at Vivienne, her sister could do no more than shake her head and look extremely flustered.
“It’s not like that, Cassie.”
Cassie suddenly pulled out of her mother’s grip and threw up her arms, “You know what? Doesn’t even matter! Nothing matters anymore. It’s not like I’m ever going to be able to go to your eco-friendly wedding or your children’s birthdays or your anniversaries or anything else for that matter, because I’m going to be locked in a padded white cell.” She gave three nods in rapid-fire succession. “That’s right, everyone including the guy who my sister never mentioned, I’m insane.” When they all stared at her slack-jawed, Cassie nodded again and laughed, hysteria clearly setting in. “Not just insane, I’m freakin’ certifiable.”
Chapter Ten
Everyone but Cassie froze. She continued bobbing her head. Conall passed a confused look to Vivienne, who was staring from Cassie to Evelyn and back. Evelyn was the first to recover.
“What are you talking about, Cassandre?” Evelyn spoke to her softly, carefully.
“Oh, just the usual. I’m going crazy, this time for real.” When Evelyn sighed and gave her a motherly pat on the hand before reaching for her again, Cassie pulled away and stared at them all, wide-eyed and frantic.
“I’m not joking, Mom! I just told you, I’m losing it. I’m having weird dreams, I’m seeing things that don’t exist, and I’m being commanded by these voices that will not stop.” She broke off and drew in a ragged breath, running her hand across her face as she shook her head. “Alexander told me this would happen. He told me, but I didn’t know I was crazy yet. I know what it is, too: paranoid schizophrenia. I researched it. I was at work, hearing these voices, the commands, the chants. I’m going insane and there’s nothing anyone can do to help it. I’m sorry I’m crazy.” As if defeated, she slouched back against the door and closed her eyes. “I want to go back to sleep. I want to go back to the beach—dream beach. I don’t care. I just want…peace.”
