Grandfather

  I woke up around noon the next day. Everybody but Belladonna and Robert was at our lunch table. Ashton had a pair of crutches which he propped up against the table to his left. His ankle was freshly bandaged and it seemed he was going to be okay.

  “Dr. Mac says that the gel he used will have me healed in just a few days,” Ashton told me.

  “Lucky, too,” Edgar said. “In my day, it took a lot longer.”

  By the time we finished eating, Belladonna and Robert arrived, leading some young guy to our table. He had to of been just a few years older than me. He was much taller and had bright blond hair. What stood out the most was a bright silver ring on his finger. They approached the table.

  “Edgar,” Robert said. “We want you to meet Cain.”

  Edgar stood up and shook his hand.

  “This is the one we were talking about,” Belladonna whispered. “He figured out a way to identify everybody in Grandfather.”

  “You were in Grandfather?” Ashton asked, his voice dark and harsh. He still wasn’t going to trust the guy. I didn’t blame him.

  Marley lightly slapped his arm.

  Cain looked at Belladonna nervously.

  “Yes,” she said. “He actually still is.”

  I was pretty sure there was nothing worse Belladonna could’ve said. I thought Ashton was going to punch the guy. But that would have required him standing up, which he obviously couldn’t do. But I wasn’t about to put it past him trying. Edgar wasn’t either. He placed a hand on Ashton’s shoulder and whispered, “This is not the place.” People around us didn’t notice the tension.

  “You killed a lot of people yesterday,” Ashton said. “Thousands died because of Grandfather.”

  “Ashton,” Mae said in her soft voice.

  I would’ve been on Ashton’s side, but I trusted Belladonna. She seemed to trust this Cain guy. Therefore, I did. She had mentioned earlier that there was somebody with Robert who used to be with Grandfather.

  “He came with Robert,” she said. “He’s technically still a part of Grandfather, but he disagrees with what they do.”

  “Exactly,” Robert said. “He can help us.”

  “How can you trust him?” Ashton asked.

  “I’ve been with him and talked to him these past few days,” Robert said. “Trust me, I know.” Belladonna glanced at Robert. She seemed nervous. Was she having a hard time trusting Cain? I sure hoped not.

  “There’s only one way to find out if he can be trusted,” Edgar said. “Give us every member of Grandfather.”

  Cain grinned. He took off his silver ring. “I can do better than that,” he said, dropping it onto the table. It rolled around a few inches before falling flat next to Mae. She took it and moved it around with her fingers. “It’s very nice,” she said, setting it back onto the table.

  I gave it a closer look. As I mentioned, it was silver, but there was one other thing I noticed. It would’ve been impossible to see unless you were close. A small letter ‘G’ was engraved on it. Beside it was what seemed to be a tiny black hole.

  “Just before they arrived, Cain spoke with Cornelius,” Belladonna said slowly, as if making sure you got every word right. “Yes, Edgar, he could give us the name of every single Grandfather supporter. But this . . .” she pointed at the ring. “This is better.”

  “How?” I asked

  “It’s just some overpriced ring,” Ashton smeared. “How is a ring going to help us?”

  “Explain it to them,” Belladonna said. Robert took out a phone and handed it to Cain. Robert apparently had a phone too. Why did nobody tell me anything?

  “I had this ring made a while back from a rich friend of mine,” Cain started slowly. He looked at Belladonna who urged him to continue.

  “I’ve been against Cornelius for a while. I brought up the idea to him that he give every single one of his followers a ring just like this one. And it . . .” Cain paused for a second, thinking. He looked at Belladonna.

  “He thought it was a great idea for one reason,” Belladonna said. “Cain proposed to him that each of the rings have a tracking device installed so that Cornelius can keep track of his followers.”

  I looked at the ring on the table. If they all contained a GPS, that meant Cornelius could track down all of the rings, including this one. I jumped out of my seat and got right up in Cain’s face.

  I snapped. “You’re luring him here,” I said pretty loudly. People nearby went silent and looked up at us. Ashton also realized the problem and was trying to stand up, but failed because of his ankle.

  “Sit down,” Robert demanded. “We have nothing to worry about.”

  “He’s luring Cornelius here,” I growled. “This ring has a GPS in it. Cornelius can track this one down.”

  “No,” Belladonna said.

  I didn’t say anything. Surely Belladonna knew what she was talking about. I stepped back from Cain, who looked very frightened. I thought that was kind of funny because he was a lot bigger than me. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You just said they all have one in them so that Cornelius can track everybody.”

  “All except this one,” Cain said. “I’m not stupid.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Ashton said. “You did join Grandfather.”

  “Dammit, Ashton,” Edgar said. “Listen to the boy.”

  Ashton rolled his eyes. Edgar, of course, noticed this. I could tell he wanted to argue with him, but Ashton would have kept on going. He urged Cain to continue.

  “This one doesn’t have a GPS in it,” Cain confirmed.

  “And how do we know you’re not lying?” I asked.

  “See for yourself,” he said, touching Robert’s phone screen, bringing it to life. He swiped his hand a few times and clicked a few buttons without touching the screen. Then, a map of New Dawn appeared. There were a few hundred red dots scattered throughout the city.

  “Cornelius gave them the rings it appears,” Belladonna said.

  The red dots moved around slowly. Cain moved his hand to the bottom of the screen, and, without touching it, he scrolled outside of the city to the mountains.

  “This is where we are now,” Robert said.

  “No red dots,” Cain said, glaring at me. “Trust me now?”

  I said nothing. He was right, but I wasn’t so sure if I fully trusted him yet. Edgar seemed to, probably because Belladonna did. But people sometimes misjudged.

  “You see,” Belladonna said. “Cornelius now has access to view the location of them all.”

  “But what he doesn’t know is that we have that access, too,” Robert said.

  Edgar smiled. “Nice,” he said.

  “Yeah,” Belladonna said. “This means that it’ll be easier for us to attack.”

  “Which I believe we can do this week,” Cain said.

  Why on earth was Cain telling us when we should attack? He had just gotten there. He had no authority.

  “What makes you say that?” Edgar curiously asked.

  “Well,” Cain started. “They’re having a special meeting. Seven of the most loyal Grandfather members will be there. They’re considered Cornelius’s council. The leaders.”

  “And we can find out where they’re meeting with one of these,” Edgar said, looking at the ring on the table. He picked it up and examined it.

  “Exactly,” Belladonna enthusiastically replied. “I think we should attack. Knowing their location gives us the advantage of surprise. They don’t know we know their location. And because of that, Cornelius won’t have an army waiting for us. Which means that . . .”

  “We can attack the leaders of Grandfather without a huge fight,” Edgar said in awe.

  “Exactly,” she said. “There will be seven of them. We surprise them with fourteen of us. Take them out.”

  “Take out the leadership, and there’s nobody for the followers to follow,” Robert added.

  It did make some sense. I mean, taking
out leaders meant that there would be nobody to lead, obviously. Edgar seemed to disagree with this.

  “That’s not true,” Edgar said. “As long as members of Grandfather exist, there is hope that they can rise again. That’s what happened before.”

  We were all silent for a few seconds before Belladonna spoke. “You’re right,” she said. “But don’t forget, we’ll have access to each of their locations.” She pointed at the ring in Edgar’s hand. “We’ll find them.”

  “Once the system is back to normal, we could have them tried in court,” Edgar said.

  Well, I had another question. They were talking about just bombarding Grandfather and killing them. “Why not take the seven leaders to court,” I asked. “Why kill them?” I didn’t care what happened to them as long as they were stopped. I was just curious as to why we would kill seven and arrest the others.

  “We’re not going to be able to arrest the leaders,” Edgar said. “They’re going to fight back.”

  That made sense. Cornelius definitely wasn’t one to just give up.

  “You see,” Edgar said. “We’ll defend ourselves and win. When they’re gone, we’ll present the proof to the courts that Cornelius was the Grand Imperial and that each of these red dots represent the members left.”

  I understood. Once the leaders were dead and proof was given to the courts, it would be easier to arrest the others.

  Cain zoomed out of the map, revealing the entire country. There were red dots in all four regions but not as many as in the capitol. “Good,” Edgar said when he noticed it. “Grandfather hasn’t spread much outside of New Dawn.”

  “When do they meet?” Marley asked Cain. “The seven leaders?”

  “Friday,” he said.

  That was in two days. Wow, I hadn’t been expecting it to happen so quickly. Cornelius had no idea that the end was coming. But they just planned on killing him. Honestly, after everything that had happened in the city, I didn’t care if he was killed or not. I still don’t know if that makes me a bad person. But what I did know was that I kind of wanted him to stay alive if he was the only one to know the truth about my parents. Yeah, I still hadn’t given up on that. But hey, you can’t blame me.

  “It’s finally come,” Belladonna said, still excited. “Their time is finally coming to an end.”

  “Then another president will have to be elected,” I said.

  “Yes, of course,” Belladonna said quickly. “Which could be difficult.”

  Why?” Marley asked.

  “Because people are going to have trust issues,” Mae answered.

  “Right,” Edgar said. “I listened to the radio this morning. City’s hectic. People don’t like their homes being searched and people don’t like the damn curfew.”

  “I’d say it’s about half and half,” Robert said. “Half don’t trust Cornelius while the other half stand by him, thinking there’s no way he’s involved.”

  Man, peoples’ trust issues were just going to keep on getting worse when the truth was revealed about Cornelius. But Edgar seemed pretty optimistic, which didn’t really match his personality.

  “We’ll get through that,” Edgar said. “What time’s the meeting?”

  “Midnight,” Belladonna answered.

  Nobody said anything. I was sure they were thinking about the same thing as I was: the curfew. There was no way we could just waltz into the city past curfew, unless we went earlier that day and found a place to hide. But I had no idea where we could all hide. And even then, leaving the hiding place to reach Cornelius would be difficult. There would just be too many soldiers out there.

  Edgar was the one to bring it up. “How we going to do that past curfew?”

  Nobody said anything at first. Then, Robert spoke. “Didn’t say it would be easy.”

  “I knew it wasn’t gonna to be easy,” Edgar said a bit annoyed. “I want it to be possible. Just want to know how the hell we’re gonna get past the damn soldiers scattered across the entire city.”

  “That, Edgar,” Belladonna started, “That’s something we have to figure out soon.”

  Belladonna and Robert didn’t stay much longer. They led Cain away, which was good. Ashton still didn’t like him, even though what he had given us was really helpful. Edgar, still annoyed, followed them. I assumed they were going to plan. They were going to need to.

  Ashton complained about how he didn’t like having somebody who was a member of Grandfather nearby. I just wanted to know if this Cain guy actually helped plan the explosions. If so, that was just something I couldn’t overlook or simply forgive.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But I still think we should take them to court.”

  Ashton laughed. “Of course you do,” he said.

  I bet he could kill Cornelius easily. Heck, I probably could have too. But like I said before, killing was something you didn’t know about until the actual time came.

  “Sweetie, this is war,” Mae said. “And unfortunately, death comes with war.”

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was right. “I guess that means I’ll never learn the truth.”

  Marley shook her head, knowing I was thinking about my parents. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I believe there will be other ways to find out.”

  Maybe she was right, but I didn’t want to wait to find out another way. It took nearly seventeen years to find one person who knew the truth. I didn’t want to wait another seventeen years. I guessed I had to wait. Or maybe I didn’t. Perhaps there was a way.

  “What do you think will happen after this is over?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t fool Marley. She observed me, frowning. I tried not looking suspicious, but I knew it was pretty obvious. She knew something else was going on, but she didn’t question me. I didn’t doubt she would later.

  Ashton and Mae thought about the question. I could tell that they hadn’t thought about that question. Now, they were forced to, because Grandfather would be destroyed in just days.

  “Belladonna says there will be a rough transition after all this is over with,” Mae said. “I think she’s right, but I still want to try and create a home for Marley and I. I don’t know where we’ll go, but I want us to live normal lives.”

  I wished I could’ve said I wanted to live a normal life. I didn’t even know what a normal life was. In fact, I was pretty sure that nobody in the country was living a normal life. Everything was just so turned around.

  “Me?” Ashton said. “I have no idea.”

  Belladonna had told me that she and Edgar could help me reach my potential by using their resources. She also told me that it would take time to figure out what it was I wanted to do. I still didn’t know. Honestly, I hadn’t been thinking about it much. There was always some sort of distraction, like being held hostage by Cornelius.

  “You know,” Ashton said. “It doesn’t end when Grandfather is gone. If they fall down, that doesn’t mean city walls will fall too.”

  The separation. We had talked about it before. Yeah, the rich people had begun to question the walls. I guess I could thank myself for that, because for some reason, it was me who got several people questioning the separation to begin with. For some reason, people liked me. I still didn’t know why. I did know that if all walls around every city were going to fall, it was going to need more than just Grandfather being destroyed. More people were going to have to realize how unbalanced, unequal, and unfair the walls made things.

  “You’re right,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Ashton said. “I don’t think we’re done until every wall is torn down.”

  I agreed. At least that would give me more time to figure out what I wanted to do. I wondered what Belladonna and Edgar planned on doing after the meeting in two days. Hopefully they planned on destroying the separation. Then they could help me do whatever I chose to do. I made a mental note to come up with a plan. I suppose you could have called it a life plan.

  Some of the medici
ne that Dr. Mac had given Ashton was making him drowsy, so he went back to his room to get some sleep. Mae went to meet Edgar to see how he was doing. Marley and I decided we were going to go to our secret spot. I was sure not to mention it around Ashton because he wouldn’t have been able to get up the ladder. And I knew he would have wanted to go.

  As we walked through the tunnels, I told Marley more about what happened when we all went into the city. I told her some of the things we had left out, such as Edgar having a phone and Edgar telling Mr. Harrison to give him a call.

  “You think he will?” Marley asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I hope so,” I said. “But then again, do we really need him anymore?” Now that we had a plan in place, it seemed as if we didn’t need Mr. Harrison’s help. Of course, he could always help us with getting people to believe the walls were holding us back. Mr. Harrison was a reputable man. People would probably listen to him.

  “I do like Momma’s plan,” Marley said. “I do want to settle down and have a home like normal people.” She paused.

  “But,” I said slowly. “You . . .”

  “I don’t want to now,” Marley said. “I want to help bring the walls down. I want to help Belladonna and Edgar and you and Ashton.”

  I explained to her how she should talk to her mom about it, and I told her that Mae would probably understand. Mae seemed to be that kind of person. Marley didn’t want to, but she knew I was right.

  We soon reached the small room with the ladder. I climbed out of the ground first and made sure Marley made it up safely. Then, I looked at the city.

  This time, I didn’t just see buildings as before. Several square aircrafts hovered over one particular area.

  “I’m guessing that’s where it happened?” Marley asked quietly.

  I nodded, picturing what the explosions and falling building would’ve looked like from the ledge. My eyes stayed fixed on the Presidential Tower, standing proud and tall. I pictured Cornelius smirking as he watched the explosions from the very top of the tower. I bet anything that’s where he was.

  Marley and I sat down at the edge of the cliff. I was careful not to fall off. I didn’t want to be on crutches too.

  “Belladonna said only fourteen or so people would need to go,” Marley said.

  I nodded. “Yeah. One of them will be me.”

  “I . . . I don’t think they’ll let you,” Marley said. “Why would you even want to?”

  “I don’t care if they let me or not,” I snapped. “After everything I’ve seen, I’ll see Cornelius’s end. And . . .”

  “Your parents,” she whispered, looking down off of the cliff.

  I didn’t say anything. She was absolutely right. Yeah, I wanted to be there just because I wanted to see Cornelius get what he deserved. But at the same time, I was hopeful that there was a chance I could learn the truth just before his death. More importantly, I was sure Edgar and Belladonna would find out about this safe. I wanted to be there to see what was inside, especially since I was the only one capable of opening it.

  “They can tell me no all they want,” I said. “I’m going. If I have to sneak out, then I will.”

  I knew Marley didn’t agree, even if she didn’t say anything to me. We just watched the city in silence. More aircrafts joined the others. Sometimes, one of them would get close to the ground. Something would drop down from the bottom, pick something up, take it back up and then glide away. I wondered what they were picking up. Probably people they were finding. Ugh, the thought gave me chills. It still does.

  We stayed up there for another hour before going back. Close to my room, I found Edgar carrying several guns. He even had a gun strapped around his shoulder. He seemed to get more and more excited as he inspected the weapons. When he saw us, he gestured for me and Marley to go to him. We did so.

  “Ever shoot a gun?” he asked, handing me a small black handgun.

  “Seriously?” I asked. “You know I haven’t.”

  “Oh yeah,” he said. “You been at the orphanage.” He turned to Marley and handed her a silver handgun. She took it slowly. “What about you, missy?”

  Marley shook her head. “Momma wouldn’t like me shooting one.”

  Edgar looked around with this sneaky look on his face. Nobody was around. “Follow me,” he said. I was a bit uncomfortable holding a gun, and I know Marley was too. But we still followed him through the dining room and out of the cave we used to get Ashton in. We exited the cave, entering the woods.

  “Where are we going?” I asked Edgar.

  He snickered. “Don’t start on those damn questions again.”

  I should have known. We followed him for another ten minutes before he stopped with a satisfied look on his face. “Good spot,” he said, setting his other guns down and taking the gun off his shoulder. He cocked it and pointed it at a tree. He gave me and Marley no time to prepare. He shot it. I dropped my handgun to cover my ears from the loud boom. Birds flew out of the trees all around us, rushing to get as far away as possible. The bullet hit the tree, sending bark flying in every direction. Edgar turned to us and started laughing. Marley also had her ears covered.

  We uncovered them.

  “Somebody could have heard that,” I shouted.

  He laughed more. “We’re far away from Grandfather.” He pointed at the guns on the ground. “Stress reliever. Pick it up. Come here.”

  I did so. He made Marley do the same thing. “Now,” Edgar started. “Stand here.” He pointed at the spot to his left. He had Marley stand on his right. “You first, Carsyn.”

  He showed me how to load the gun and prepare it to fire. Before he would let me pull the trigger, he had me load the gun several times. Finally, he pointed at the tree. “Aim,” he said.

  I took a stance and held the gun straight toward the same tree Edgar shot earlier. I closed one eye, aiming with the other one.

  “Take a deep breath,” Edgar said.

  I did so.

  “Slowly let it out, focus, and then shoot.”

  I did this a few times without shooting. I aimed as best as I could. Then, on the third try, I pulled the trigger. A vibration ran up both my arms to my neck. Smoke left the gun. Edgar was laughing hysterically.

  “Not bad,” he said. “You hit the wrong tree, but not bad.”

  A large spot of bark on a nearby tree had exploded. Maybe I didn’t hit my target, but Edgar was right. It was a lot of fun, and it definitely relieved stress.

  “Your turn, missy,” Edgar said turning to Marley.

  “I don’t know,” Marley said. “Momma might get mad.”

  “Maebelle won’t find out,” Edgar said. “And if she does, blame it on me. I can handle her.”

  Marley thought for a few seconds. Then, she grinned. “It does look fun.”

  “There ya go,” Edgar shouted. He had her load the gun several times and told her the same things he told me before letting her shoot.

  She shot the gun, and the bullet hit the tree she was actually aiming for. It had to be beginner’s luck. That didn’t stop Marley from gloating. “Beat that,” she said. “I bet I can do that every time. Can you?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh and take that as a challenge. I took out my gun and got it ready as Edgar had taught me. I aimed for the tree again and shot. Yeah, I missed again, which gave Marley a good laugh. But I got my share of laughing in, because when she shot again, she completely missed. It took me one more try before I actually hit the target. Edgar congratulated me and took the guns away.

  “Gettin’ a little too trigger happy,” he said. “That’s enough for today.”

  Something told me that Edgar was a gun person. I bet anything that he had a lot of guns when he used to live in the city. Sure, guns were outlawed for ordinary citizens, but something told me that never stopped him.

  “I might’ve had one or two lying around,” he said with a guilty grin.

  He led us back to the cave entra
nce. When we reached the dining room, I heard a ring. That threw me off guard. Marley was just as surprised. Edgar stopped and looked down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

  “First call I’ve gotten in months,” he said, answering it. He took a seat at one of the tables.

  Marley and I were curious so we joined him.

  “Mr. Harrison,” Edgar said.

  That caught my attention. I scooted even closer, hoping to be able to hear Mr. Harrison talk. All I could hear was a voice too faint to make out words.

  “Yeah,” Edgar said. “Two days . . . no . . . hell, we hope so . . .underground? . . . where?”

  It was killing me. I squirmed around in my seat, wanting to know what they were talking about so badly. It must’ve been some good news because Edgar was smiling. He jumped up and ran off. I mean he actually ran. And he was pretty quick too. Marley and I jumped up and chased him. He led us to the meeting room. We burst inside. Belladonna and Robert jumped off of the same sofa, caught off guard.

  “We’ll get it,” Edgar was saying. “Seven of them and fourteen of us . . . okay . . . damn soldiers can’t stop us now . . . I’ll tell him.” Edgar hung up the phone and turned to me.

  “What was it?” I asked. “What did he say? Is it good news?”

  “Damn questions,” he said. But this time, he wasn’t angry with me. “Mr. Harrison says he’s glad you got away,” He looked at Belladonna and Robert. “There’s a way into the city without having to get past Cornelius’s soldiers.”

  Belladonna’s ears perked. “How?” she asked impatiently.

  “I’m meeting up with Mr. Harrison later today,” Edgar said. “I told him I’d give a call to get a location.”

  “What did he say?” Robert asked, also impatient.

  “There’s an old subway tunnel that isn’t used anymore,” Edgar told them. “Mr. Harrison said there’s a way to get inside the damn thing outside the wall.”

  “And where will it come out at?” Belladonna asked. “We still have to watch out for soldiers when we get back to the streets.”

  “Yeah,” Edgar said. “Don’t have all the answers yet. But I suppose I will after I meet up with him.”

  We were all silent for a second. Belladonna looked at the ceiling in deep thought. Then, she grinned. “This is a good start,” she said. “It’s better than nothing, and it will work.”

  “Right,” Robert agreed. “We’ve also decided who all is going with us.”

  Edgar asked for the list of names.

  “You, Robert, and I will go,” Belladonna answered. Then she named eleven other names I didn’t recognize except for Cain’s.

  I could feel Marley’s eyes running straight through me. She hoped I wouldn’t say anything. But I just couldn’t do that. “And me,” I said.

  “No,” Belladonna and Robert answered immediately.

  “Um, yes,” I declared.

  “This is the one thing that you can absolutely have nothing to do with,” Belladonna said. “I’m serious. We can’t have you getting killed.”

  I could tell that she was serious by her facial expression. I could actually see fear. I supposed it made sense because it was going to be dangerous. But I still wanted to go. I expressed this to her.

  “I’m afraid I’m with Belladonna on this,” Edgar said. “You’ve only shot a gun a few times. This could get messy.”

  “Messy?” I asked. “There’s going to be fourteen of you and seven of them. I can go and not be in danger.”

  “Son, you never know what will happen,” Edgar snapped.

  “I’m going,” I declared again.

  “I’ll lock you up if I have too,” Edgar shouted. “Don’t think I won’t. Now, after this is done, you can help catch the others all you want.”

  “I want to help now,” I said.

  “Carsyn,” Belladonna said in her soft, soothing voice. The fear completely left her face. “Carsyn . . . the one thing you lack is patience. But please . . . trust me when I say that this is the one mission you do not need to go on. When we return, you can do whatever you want. And as I had promised when you first arrived, I’ll help you in doing whatever it is you want to do.”

  I said nothing. Man, I really wanted to go. Marley had a sympathetic look. I felt her hand graze my arm, which actually seemed to calm me down.

  “If I can’t go on this, then you have to help me get these walls torn down afterwards.”

  Belladonna smiled. “So you’ve found something you want to do?”

  I nodded. “I realized that destroying Grandfather won’t destroy the walls.”

  “Well,” Belladonna said slowly, walking toward me. She placed a hand on my shoulder. “As I promised before, I’ll help you . . . if that’s what you want.” She took her hand off and walked back to Robert’s side. “And I’ll continue helping you until you’re right where you need to be.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Edgar patted me on the back. “Sorry son,” he said. “But like you said, destroying Grandfather won’t destroy the walls. There’s a lot more work to be done, and you can help do that all you want.”

  Marley agreed. “And the people love you. You’re the perfect person to do it.”

  Would people still be obsessed with my story once they found out that I was faking everything? I didn’t know, but I sure did hope so. Not because I liked the fame. It would just make things easier if they would listen to me. Maybe I’d meet up with Olivia and have her write my story. I knew she would love that.

  “Can you promise me one other thing?” I asked.

  “What?” Belladonna and Edgar asked at the same time.

  “You think you can find out whether or not Cornelius was lying about my parents? And what’s in the safe? Does it have anything to do with me?”

  I asked again when nobody answered me.

  “Is that what this is about?” Edgar asked. “That’s why you want to go?”

  I expressed my concerns with killing the only one person who claimed to know the truth about my parents. Belladonna said exactly what Marley had said about finding another way.

  Edgar could tell that I wasn’t too satisfied. “I can try,” he said. “I’ll do everything I can to help you find the truth.”

  I wanted to accept that, but I couldn’t. I didn’t tell Edgar that. I just nodded, making him think that I was okay with his answer. Did they honestly think they could keep me away? As I had told Marley, I’d sneak out and follow them. They didn’t have to know that. I wasn’t going to remind Marley that I would sneak out if they didn’t let me go. With any luck, she wouldn’t remember. I didn’t want her trying to prevent me from going. More importantly, I didn’t want her trying to go with me. That sounded like something she would do.

  Later, Edgar gave Mr. Harrison a call and they agreed to meet a few minutes outside of the wall. Marley and I went to see Ashton. He wasn’t too happy that his ankle would prevent him from going to Cornelius’s meeting. “I’d sneak out if I could,” he told us. I didn’t say anything. I could feel Marley watching me, but she never said anything.

  “It’ll be healed in a few days,” I assured him.

  He knew I was right. He even claimed that he could already move it even more. “It’s not as painful as before either.”

  Edgar got back from meeting Mr. Harrison right after dinner. We all gathered around the table in the meeting room while he laid a map across it, pointing at an area just outside of the wall. “Long ago, there used to be buildings here,” Edgar said, completely business. “Gone now, but the subway that ran underground is still there.”

  “Does it run into any of the new subway tunnels?” Belladonna said.

  “We don’t want to be inside a working subway and get run over,” Robert said.

  Edgar understood their concerns. “The empty subway tunnel runs in a straight line across the entire city,” Edgar said. “It does connect with a working one. But we’ll only be in i
t for a couple of minutes before we reach an exit.”

  Mae didn’t seem too happy with the plan. “That’s dangerous for you guys,” she said, placing a hand on Edgar’s shoulder. “What if you’re in there when a subway train goes by? Why not just use the empty subway tunnel the entire time?”

  “Because all of the exits for the empty one were destroyed,” Edgar answered. His finger followed the long red line that I assumed was the empty tunnel. He stopped at a point where a black line intersected the red line. “This is the working one we have to use,” he said. “We’ll enter here. And besides, it won’t be that dangerous. Remember the curfew? Subway trains probably won’t be running.” His finger moved an inch down the black line.”

  “Where will we exit?” Belladonna asked. “We have to remember the soldiers They’re more dangerous than those officers.”

  “That’s where we’re in luck,” Edgar said. “Damn exit leads us just yards away from Cornelius’s tower. Cain said that’s where the meeting is, right?”

  “That’s right,” Belladonna said.

  “We have stun guns,” Edgar said. “We’ll have to use them either way for any of the soldiers we do meet.”

  “Good,” Belladonna said, growing excited. “That won’t draw attention to us.”

  “Exactly,” Edgar said, smiling at each of us. “I think we got it.”

  Belladonna squeezed her hands together, agreeing with him in excitement. “I’ve waited for so long,” she said. “Finally. This. Is. It! Everything will change!”

  I had never seen Belladonna so excited before. She couldn’t even stay still in her seat. Robert rubbed her back, which was kind of awkward. But he was excited too, just like the rest of us. And when they would leave, I’d be right behind them. I couldn’t believe I was going back so soon.

  I would have to steal a stun gun first, just in case I ran into any soldiers. But in my mind, if I was following their path, they would get any soldiers before I even got to that point. Pretty solid plan if you had asked me. There was one more question, but I was pretty sure it had the same answer. “What about those inside the tower?” I asked.

  “Same thing,” Edgar said. “Stun gun.”

  “Oh,” I said. Yeah, I figured.

  Belladonna’s excitement kept growing until she decided to leave in order to get rest. Robert stayed for a bit longer before taking Edgar’s map to aid in explaining the plan to Cain and the others that would be going.

  During lunch the next day, Edgar explained the plan to everybody. “We’ll be free to leave this damn mountain,” Edgar told them, and they all applauded and cried out in joy. I imagined that a lot of them were happy that Grandfather would be destroyed without a war. At the same time, there were probably some like Ashton who had been looking forward to taking out a few Grandfather members. I mean, that was why they had chosen to live under a freaking mountain. But I guess what mattered the most was that everybody would be able to leave to start their lives again in comfort hopefully, eating better meals and living in safety.

  The next days were exciting. Everybody was telling each other their plans after leaving the mountain. Some planned on staying in touch with friends they had made there, and some even planned on going to the same place to start their new lives together. There was even a couple in their late twenties who planned on getting married and starting a family once they left. I thought that was pretty neat. I only hoped that they didn’t have to deal with the inequality between the poor and rich. I supposed that would be up to me and some others. I wondered if I could just blow up the walls the same way Cornelius blew up those people in the city. Now that was an idea, but it was obviously not possible for every city in the nation. At least it wasn’t possible to do alone. I didn’t know what I was going to do yet, but Ashton told me that he would be there to help. Marley wanted to as well. She just had to run it by Mae. Mae would probably be sad that they wouldn’t be settling down, but she would be happy and would help us out too.

  The day of the meeting was the most exciting. Everybody was celebrating. And I mean everybody. There was so much singing and laughter going on. Some people were even packing the little belongings they had. Edgar, Belladonna, and Robert along with Cain and the other ten spent the entire day practicing their shooting and going over the plan.

  When nobody was looking, I snuck a handgun similar to the one Edgar had let me shoot. Along with that, I stole a stun gun, just in case. I didn’t want to make a lot of noise shooting behind the others. They would find me, and Edgar and Belladonna would’ve been pretty angry. So angry that they would lead me back to the mountain, I’m sure.

  Dinner was the most exciting. It was just hours before leaving to meet up with Cornelius. Edgar went up to the front of the dining room. Belladonna and Robert stood beside him. Unlike the others, Robert wore a suit. Belladonna was also dressed nicely for the occasion. Her hair was pinned into a bun, only a long red pin holding it up. She was very beautiful. I figured she would’ve been worried about getting her nice clothes dirty if things turned ugly. But I guessed that since Cornelius would be outnumbered by many, she probably wouldn’t have to do much. The other soldiers, including Cain, stood in a line behind them, armed. I sat with Marley, Ashton, and Mae.

  “Folks,” Edgar started. “For two damn years, we’ve stayed hidden under this mountain. For two damn years, we’ve spent a lot of time gathering information on Grandfather, trying to learn their plans. And for two damn years, we’ve waited for the right time to take down these bastards.”

  Edgar examined the entire the crowd. They watched him, smiling. Edgar continued. “We’ve been a step behind Grandfather these past two years. Well, tonight, that’s changed. Grandfather doesn’t know what’s coming. They’re no longer a step ahead of us. This will be their last night. Tonight, we are steps ahead.” Edgar motioned at somebody toward the back door.

  We all turned around to see several men walk in, carrying crates of bottles filled with something. Man, there was so much. Where in the world did all of that come from? Everybody began cheering and some threw their hats into the air. I thought it was kind of funny when quite a few jumped up, yelling out “wine”.

  “We celebrate the end of these bastards!” Edgar yelled out. He walked up and took an entire bottle of wine from one of the men. He popped the cork and drank straight from the bottle. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

  The bottles were sat down on a table and even more were brought in. Everybody grabbed a glass and filled it up. Even Mae grabbed one for her and allowed Marley to sip on one.

  Edgar returned to the table, carrying two additional glasses. “Celebrate,” he said, shoving one at me and the other at Ashton. We took it.

  I had never tasted wine before. I had never had any kind of alcohol before. I saw it plenty of time because the houseladies at the orphanage would sneak some inside and drink all the time. That was probably why they didn’t seem to care for anything going on there. I did have to say that the wine was a pretty red color. I took a small swig. The dry liquid with a hint of apple slid down my tongue and down my throat. My chest warmed up.

  “Now Edgar,” Mae said as Edgar started on another glass. “Don’t be drinking too much of that.”

  “Ah, Mae,” he said laughing. He stood behind her and patted her on the shoulder.

  “You wouldn’t want to be impaired on such an important journey.”

  Edgar laughed again, but then sat his glass down. “As usual, you’re right, Maebelle.”

  Mae laughed. “Oh, of course I am.”

  The dining hall was filled with laughter and eventually singing. I even caught Dr. Mac doing some sort of dance. I was pretty sure it wasn’t an actual dance because it looked like he was just jumping in every direction. It was pretty funny, and a couple of people didn’t let him do it alone. I had never seen so many happy people before. They were even happier than the rich people – at least the rich people before they learned of Grandfather.


  I finished my glass of wine and even had another small one. I felt more relaxed and knew that was when I should quit, especially since I would be sneaking out. Marley stuck with her one glass while Ashton grabbed a few more.

  Belladonna, Edgar, Robert, and the others were to leave at 9:30 since the whole trip would be made on foot. By the time 8:30 came, they began getting ready, growing more serious. Other people in the dining hall took breaks from their good times in order to wish luck to those going on the mission.

  By 9:00, the wine forced Ashton to go to bed. It was funny to see him stumble around while on crutches. Mae was so scared that he was going to fall over, but he made it. Right before 9:30, Edgar came up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Carsyn,” he said, letting out a quiet burp.

  “Manners!” Mae said, though not sounding upset at all as she sipped on her drink.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Edgar said, smiling at her. He turned his attention back at me and grew serious. “Son, you’ve come a long way in such a short period of time.”

  I said nothing, returning the eye contact.

  “Before, ya didn’t want to have anything to do with Grandfather. Said it had nothing to do with ya.” Edgar chuckled. “Learned how wrong you were, didn’t you?”

  I nodded.

  “You were annoying too.” He laughed. “Boy, you asked so many damn questions, I thought I was gonna lock you up in a room ‘till this was all over.”

  I had to laugh with him, remembering all of the questions I asked and how angry Edgar would get. Sometimes, I think I did it on purpose, just to see him Cringe.

  “Grown on me, you have,” Edgar said. “Glad you’re here . . . and I think you got a lot of potential. Anxious to see what’s in store for ya.”

  Then, he hugged me. It was the second time he had ever hugged me. It was still hard for me to believe that a man like Edgar could be a tiny bit sentimental. Perhaps it was the wine. Either way, I hugged back. Just as I annoyed him before, he annoyed me. Just as I had grown on him, he had grown on me.

  Edgar let go and turned around. “Let’s take them down!” he screamed, spit flying out of his mouth. Edgar, Belladonna, Robert, and the other soldiers marched to the door leading to the cave exit. For a second, everybody quit their singing, laughing, and dancing, and they applauded, bursting out in cheers.

  “Take them down!” I heard a man scream.

  “End it!” a woman screamed.

  They went through the door and were gone. The laughter and singing continued. I turned to look at Marley and Mae who were just as happy. I wanted to stay, but I couldn’t. It was time to seem a little buzzed from the wine.

  “I think Ashton’s got the right idea,” I said, standing up. “Goin’ to bed. Will you wake me up in a couple of hours?”

  “Bed so soon?” Mae asked. “With all this excitement?”

  “Unfortunately yeah,” I told her. “Gonna . . . gonna sleep good.” My cheeks were burning. I was such a bad liar.

  Marley looked at me suspiciously. Mae agreed that she or Marley would stop by to wake me up before everybody returned. With nothing else to say, I left the dining room, looking behind me to make sure I wasn’t being followed. I wasn’t. I rushed into my room and grabbed the handgun and stun gun. I thought about changing into a suit, but the one I had was still covered in dust. Mae hadn’t gotten to cleaning it. Honestly, there wasn’t a reason to wear one. I wasn’t going to be seen by others. And I didn’t really care if I was seen or not. It didn’t really matter at that point. The stun gun was small enough to fit into my pocket. I placed the handgun under my waistband. I wanted to give Edgar and them time to get ahead of me, so I waited impatiently for ten minutes before going to the door to peak out. I looked down the hall. Nobody was there. I snuck out and ran around the corner. Thankfully, I had remembered to grab a flashlight I saw in the meeting room. I turned it on and ran toward the ladder.

  I was also thankful that I had actually taken the time to memorize the map Edgar used for the plan. That a way, I knew exactly where I would be going. Edgar and them would be ahead of me, but I knew the exact route they were taking. That would keep me from having to get too close to them.

  I reached the ladder and climbed up. After I was up, I walked toward the road. As they had marked, I didn’t walk directly alongside of the road. We didn’t want anybody driving by to see us. I stayed hidden, in the dark, within the tree lines. I was sure to turn off the flashlight so that Edgar and them didn’t catch a glimpse of the light. And I was definitely sure to stay quiet, just in case I got too close to them without knowing it. I didn’t want them to hear me. But I doubted that would happen since I couldn’t hear any of them. They were further ahead. I definitely wouldn’t be able to see them because they weren’t using any flashlights either to keep from being spotted.

  I continued walking for about another hour before I heard leaves rattling. I was moving quicker than them. Of course I was . . . there were fourteen of them and one of me. It’s always more difficult to travel in groups. I slowed down, looking to where they were. It just looked like a bunch of walking shadows. I followed them cautiously.

  This went on a while before my clumsiness got to me. I tripped over a rigid slab of concrete, nearly falling to the ground. I froze and held my breath, listening, hoping nobody heard me.

  They were a few hundred yards away from me, and I could hear mumbling. Oh no, they heard me. At least that’s what I kept thinking. I listened more closely until I finally was able to make out Edgar’s voice. “Down here,” I barely heard him say. “Hurry the hell up.” Yup, that was definitely Edgar.

  Then, I heard the very thing I didn’t want to. “They didn’t hear you,” somebody whispered behind me. I swear, I nearly fell over again. I’m pretty sure I almost yelled out too, which wouldn’t have been good. I reached for my gun as I turned around. Should have known. It was Marley. Why did this keep happening? She and Ashton were always figuring out my plan. And I was always coming up with stupid plans.

  “No,” I whispered. No, no, no. Go back.”

  “No, Carsyn,” she said. “I’m worried about you.”

  “Go back to Mae,” I said, still whispering. “Celebrate with her.”

  “She’s fine,” Marley said. “She’s talking with Dr. Mac and some others. And besides, she started dancing, which was kind of embarrassing. She’s not very good.”

  “Marley,” I snapped, forcing myself to not accidently raise my voice. “This is too dangerous. Go. Back. Now.”

  “You want me to go back?” Marley asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’d be furious with myself if something happened to you.”

  “Aww,” Marley said. “You really have changed since I first met you. You actually care for people now.”

  “Be quiet,” I griped. “There’s no time for this.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “Let’s go. Before they –”

  “Go back,” I declared again. I listened for the others. I heard nothing. They must have entered the subway tunnel.

  “If I’m going back, you’re going with me,” Marley said.

  “Um, no,” I said.

  “Well, um, you don’t have a choice,” Marley snapped with some sassy attitude. “All I have to do is start screaming for Belladonna and Edgar.”

  I said nothing. She had played me again, and it made me so angry. I honestly didn’t know what I’d do if something bad happened to her. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to face Mae. But I wasn’t going to let her stop me from going.

  “How did you know I left?” I asked.

  “Really?” she asked. “Do you think I’m that dumb? First of all, you said you were going to go. And second, you didn’t have that much wine. I knew you weren’t going to bed.”

  I should have known Marley would have figured it out. I had no choice. I shook my head at her in annoyance. “Fine,” I whispered. I took out the stun gun and gave it to her. She refused to take it. She reached into her pocket and took out her
own stun gun.

  “I’m prepared,” she said.

  I wanted to be annoyed, but it was too hard. I just grinned and shook my head.

  “Let’s go,” I told her. We walked toward the entrance. I didn’t know what it looked like, but I figured it would be pretty easy to recognize. I was right. We reached a set of steps covered in grass that had grown through the cracks. Only a few bushes and weeds covered the place up. How had nobody discovered this? I guess not many people were nearby. The wall stood tall in the distance. We were going to spend the next hour and a half walking across it from underneath. I took a deep breath, dreading the journey. This was it. And now I had Marley to worry about.

  Chapter Eighteen