Grandfather (15 page)

“It was quick thinking,”
he said, for once grinning at me.

Belladonna carefully took
one of the briefcases and slowly opened it. “Sub X,” she whispered,
her eyes gazing at the dangerous vials. “We can’t let anybody know
this exists,” she said. “I know just the place to hide
it.”

“Agreed,” Edgar
said.

“Where?” I asked,
curious.

She took one of the vials
and examined it. “The fewer that know, the better.”

Edgar agreed. “If
Grandfather ever gets a hold of any of us, we truly won’t know
where it’s at. Best few know.”

Made sense.

Belladonna, who was
frantic when we walked in, was now back to her calm self. I
supposed after listening to the radio, she suspected something bad
had happened to us. But seeing everybody was fine and that we had
succeeded in the mission, all was well.

“I’m guessing Cornelius
didn’t tell you why he needs you, did he?” Belladonna asked. “Or
else you would’ve told us.” She placed the vial back into the
briefcase and locked it away.

“He didn’t,” I answered.
“But he said I’d find out soon enough.”

“That was when he thought
we weren’t getting away,” Ashton said.

I agreed. “You guys were
right,” I said. “All of you. President Cornelius is their Grand
Imperial. It seemed so impossible earlier. I mean, I had no idea
who you people were and you told me that he needed me. I knew
nobody. You have to see why it was so hard for me to
believe.”

Edgar and Robert seemed
satisfied.

Belladonna offered a
genuine smile. “I knew you needed time,” she said. “You were right
as well. It’s best to prove something with your own ears and
eyes.”

Everyone stared at the
table in silence. I replayed the meeting with Cornelius. It was all
true, and I was still in disbelief. And now that I knew it was all
true, I wanted to know more. Why did Cornelius need me? And what
was their next plan? Those people underground . . . they weren’t
just a bunch of lunatics. Yeah, maybe Edgar was odd and really
annoying. But he wasn’t crazy. I didn’t think.

I didn’t know a lot about
Grandfather, so my mind was still everywhere. What exactly was
Grandfather doing? Was the tracking law actually their idea?
Whatever they were all about, it couldn’t be good, and these people
underground really believed they could expose him. Whether or not I
liked it, I was now involved. No turning back. I had to learn more
and find out how I played a role in it.

“
I think we all need
sleep,” Belladonna said slowly. She touched one of the briefcases.
“I’ll lock these away in the morning.”

I yawned. Everything that
had happened did make me tired. Before Ashton and I left, I turned
to Belladonna. “Thanks for letting me go,” I told her. “That’s what
I wanted; to find out on my own.”

She grinned at me. “I’m
glad you’re with us. You’re going to come in handy one
day.”

Ashton and I were quiet
until we approached my room. I expected him to keep walking. He
didn’t. He stopped at my door. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said
tiredly. “I get carried away.”

“
It’s fine,” I said. “You
were right anyways.”

“
Yeah, but you were right,
too. Belladonna is right. It’s best to discover something yourself
. . . don’t believe random people you don’t know.”

Ashton placed a hand on my
shoulder. “Let’s start over. There aren’t a whole lot of people our
age down here. Maybe we can be friends.”

I agreed.

Just as I was about to
walk in my room, I heard a girl yell out, “You’re back!” We both
turned to find Marley standing in the distance. “And you’re safe.”
She ran toward both of us and hugged us tightly. It was kind of
awkward. We barely knew each other, yet she hugged me as if we had
known each other our entire lives.

Marley wanted to know
everything, and there was no way she was waiting until morning. I
allowed them both into my room so Ashton and I could fill her in. I
really hoped they wouldn’t see that as an invitation to be knocking
on my door all of the time.

Marley was upset we got so
close to Grandfather’s leader but glad we were safe and I now
believed.

“
And the way he took out
Cornelius,” Ashton told her. “It was perfect. Man I really
underestimated you. I wish I could’ve seen Cornelius’s face when he
came to.”

I didn’t know how to
respond, so I just laughed. People never bragged on me or
complimented me on anything. It was weird.

They left me alone. I
didn’t go to bed right away. My mind was racing, replaying
everything. I couldn’t believe Cornelius knew me. How did he know
me? As I had told Edgar before, I knew nobody, and nobody knew me.
Or at least I thought nobody knew me. Cornelius knew who I was, and
I promised myself I would get an answer soon. But until then, I was
going to have to get some sleep.

Chapter Seven

T
he next day, once word got out, there was a lot of talk.
People wouldn’t leave me alone, approaching me everywhere I went,
asking me what it was like to be around Cornelius. I couldn’t get
away, so I stayed in my room until Marley and Ashton
came.

“Trying to hide?” Ashton
asked. Apparently, people wouldn’t leave him alone
either.

“Yeah,” I told
him.

“I know where we can go to
get away from all of this,” Marley said.

I knew what she meant
right away.

We all went to the hill
where we sat in mostly silence. Ashton mentioned how he would never
see the city the same way. “Everything is so different inside,” he
told Marley. “The people, too.”

I told Marley that aside
meeting Cornelius and everything going wrong, I still thought the
city was spectacular. Now that we had the time, we told Marley
about the good things in the city. We mentioned the technology, the
vehicles, and definitely the Starbucks. “Best drink I’ve ever had,”
Ashton told her.

Marley wasn’t as thrilled.
She pretended to be, but her excitement was obviously forced.
Ashton must have also noticed this because he asked her if anything
was wrong.

“No,” She said, forcing
another smile. “I did, though, always want to see the
city.”

I suddenly felt bad.
Ashton and I had gotten carried away in our excitement that we
never thought Marley would’ve been upset. I apologized.

“Well, don’t apologize,”
She said. “I’m actually glad I wasn’t there because I would’ve
freaked out after you guys were caught. But one day, I’ll see the
city.”

“It wasn’t that great,”
Ashton said, trying to make her feel better.

“Yeah,” I
agreed.

Marley smiled, this one
real, and then asked how it was to be away with Edgar and Robert. I
told her how Edgar seemed like a changed man, and we all agreed it
was because the city was for Edgar, seeing as to how that’s where
he used to live.

“Probably brought back
some memories,” Marley said.

I pictured Edgar walking
on the sidewalk with everybody else, dressed in a fancy suit, on
the phone, drinking some Starbucks. Then after a long day of work,
going back home to his . . . did he have a family? I asked Marley
if she knew.

“He used to have a wife,”
Marley said. “I don’t know what happened to her.”

I wondered what
happened.

“Just don’t ask him,”
Ashton said, frowning. “People like to keep some things to
themselves.”

I knew Ashton was
referring to his scar. I changed the subject. “I can’t help but
wonder if the rich people know what we outside of the wall have to
go through. It’s not fair.”

Ashton and Marley were
silent at first. Yeah, everything we had seen was amazing and
different, but it just wasn’t fair that only the rich could enjoy
it. Actually, the more I compared the inside to the places and
people around the orphanage, it made me angry.

“I know,” Ashton said
roughly. “I hate the wall so much. I just hope that after all of
this is over with, it’ll come down.”

I pictured what it would
be like coming down. It was so big. I couldn’t imagine. I don’t
even know how people would react, and that was including those
outside of it.

That evening we went to
the dining hall to find Belladonna, Edgar, and Robert gathered
around the radio up front. I assumed Cornelius was making another
address. I wondered if he would mention what had happened the
previous night. I was sure he would. By the time everyone had their
sandwiches, Belladonna had found the right station.
From it, a high-pitched woman spoke about her
upcoming interview with Cornelius. She was very excited about it
and mentioned how it was a last minute thing and how he had
something important to say. That really built up some
curiosity.

“We’ll be back with
President Cornelius after these messages,” the woman said.
Advertisements for vehicles, food, and even Starbucks played. While
we waited, Mae talked about the previous night.

“I’m just glad you guys
are okay,” she said. “It was dangerous, but you all did a great
deed.” Her eyes moved from me to Ashton. Mae then started
chuckling. “I still can’t believe you knocked him out. Now, we all
know that had to hurt. I remember getting hit in the head by a vase
when I was a kid.
Boy did it hurt! Let’s
hope Cornelius learned a lesson.”

“Hopefully,” I
added.

Soon, the commercials were
over and the woman’s high-pitched voice returned. “Please welcome
our president,” she was saying. Loud applause came in through the
radio. I wondered how many people were there to see him. It sounded
like hundreds.

“Thank you Karen,” the
calm but strong low-pitched voice said, sounding the same as before
. . . as if nothing had happened.

“I want to start off by
congratulating you on passing the
Bill of
Border Control
. I do believe it goes into
effect next Tuesday . . . five days.”

I had completely forgotten
about the tracking law. With everything going on, I guess I just
didn’t realize it officially passed. Of course the way everybody
had talked, it was going to happen eventually. That’s probably why
nobody around me seemed all that surprised.

“That’s right,” Cornelius
said. “We’ve got a lot of improvement coming, and this bill is only
the start.”

“It sure does sound
exciting,” the woman – Karen – said. “Even with the controversy
behind it.”

Cornelius chuckled. “You
know, Karen. I’ve heard a lot of people call it the tracking law,
thinking we’re doing it to just keep people organized in the four
regions. It’s mostly those outside the wall who believe
this.”

“That’s right,” Karen
said. “But they also can’t help it.”

“Exactly,” Cornelius said.
“They don’t get to see a lot of things we see, so they don’t
understand.”

“Maybe if you didn’t
separate all of us,” I heard Mae whisper.

“But they still feel
pretty strongly about the bill,” Karen said.

“They do,” Cornelius
answered. “But all I’m doing is taking a step to lower crime. You
can’t fight against facts. Data tells us that most crime committed
is indeed committed by those from other regions. It’s a sad truth
in today’s society.”

“Very sad, indeed,” Karen
said. “but many would say we already have the lowest crime rate in
history.”

“
That may be,” Cornelius
snapped, though he didn’t exactly sound angry. “But we can make
that number even lower. Always room for improvement. Never
settle.”

“
Oh, absolutely,” Karen
said. “I think we can all agree that less crime would make this
world a better place.”

“I sure do hope so,”
Cornelius said. “And that’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve.
People will adapt to it and in just a few years they’ll see it was
the right choice to make.”

There was a pause while
Karen cleared her throat. She continued, “I don’t mean to switch
directions completely, but I want to move on to something even more
recent. The biggest news we’ve all been hearing is about the
incident from last night.”

“Ah yes,” Cornelius said,
still sounding as if nothing happened. “It was an interesting night
to say the least.”

Ashton and I exchanged
looks. We were both wondering if he would mention us. Probably not.
He would avoid the truth, especially about Sub X.

“What exactly happened?”
Karen said. “The fire trucks showed up, but there was no fire, is
that correct?

“Thankfully it’s true,”
Cornelius said.

I snorted. Edgar said he
definitely caught the basement on fire. But Cornelius couldn’t just
come out and say that. He’d be afraid that word would get out about
the virus.

He continued, still
sounding as if it was no big deal. “A couple of kids thought it
would be funny to break in and set off the fire alarm.”