Grandfather (34 page)

“And from what Robert has
learned,” Belladonna said, “They have a good number of
supporters…and weapons apparently.

Edgar was about to go on,
but Ashton interrupted him first. “What do you mean more people?”
he asked. “How do we know we can trust them?”

“We need help,” Edgar
said.

“I agree that we need
help,” Ashton argued. “But we still have to protect
ourselves.”

I agreed with Ashton. Was
it worth trusting people we didn’t know just so that we could have
an army? I guess it was worth it if they actually were on our
side.

“They don’t like Cornelius
and what he’s doing,” Edgar said. “Robert has heard from a reliable
source that they know Cornelius is the Grand Imperial
too.”

“That means we can trust
them,” Belladonna confirmed. “I trust Robert. He’s positive. He’s
not been wrong yet.”

I guess it made sense that
we could trust them if they didn’t like Cornelius. And besides, we
were going to need more people if we wanted to make our move soon.
I didn’t know what Edgar and Belladonna had in mind, but I knew
that whatever we did, it was going to probably require a large
number of people. Basically, we had to take the risk. Ashton must
have understood this too because he didn’t argue again.

“Did Cornelius say
anything while you were with him?” Edgar asked. “Anything other
than a bombing soon?”

“Anything other than a
bombing?” I asked, getting a little angry. Edgar made it sound as
if the news of a future bombing wasn’t big news. “What more do you
want?”

Nobody said
anything.

“They plan on bombing
something soon, and you want more?” I asked.

“Didn’t mean it like
that,” Edgar said. “We’re just trying to learn all we can about
them.”

“Well, they’re about to
kill a lot of people,” I snapped. “Could be today, could be next
week.”

“No, not today,”
Belladonna said. “Not even tomorrow or the next day.”

“
But how do you know?”
Marley asked.

“
They wouldn’t do that with
everything going on,” Belladonna answered.

“They’re probably trying
to figure out how they’re going to get out of all this,” Mae
said.

That made a little
sense.

“Well,” Ashton said.
“Whether it’s today or in a month, we need to do
something.”

“And we will,” Belladonna
said, sliding a ring up and down her index finger. “That’s why
Robert is gone.”

“How about you guys tell
us everything that happened when you went inside the wall,” Mae
said. “Maybe there’s something you missed.

I was sure we would’ve
caught everything, but in order to make them all happy, Marley,
Ashton, and I spent nearly an hour taking turns telling them
everything from me meeting Cornelius to us escaping. We told them
about what we thought of the city and the people at the Fundraiser,
especially Mr. Harrison and Olivia. Belladonna seemed especially
interested in Mr. Harrison.

As I was telling them
about the interview, Edgar intervened, telling me that they
listened to the whole thing on the radio. “Some good stuff,” he
told me, referring to how I mentioned the separation. “Dangerous,
but good. That’s probably where it all started.”

They were very interested
in the safe Cornelius mentioned. None of us had any idea what was
in it or how my eyes were able to open it. Edgar was angry that
there was something out there worse than Sub X. But Belladonna and
Mae assured him that it would be okay since Cornelius would need
me, and he obviously couldn’t get to me. At first, they were
surprised he didn’t cut my eyes out, which was a really painful
thought. I explained to them that I didn’t know anything about the
technology he was talking about, but my pupils had to dilate to
open the thing.

Mae asked me if Cornelius
ever told me the truth about my parents. I had been hoping none of
them asked me that, but I guess that was stupid. Of course they
were going to ask me. I hated telling her no since that was the
whole reason why we went into the city. That curiosity got us into
the trouble.

Stupid
curiosity.

Belladonna apologized that
I wasn’t able to find out more about my parents, but assured me
that there would be a better way to find out in the future. “You
have to be patient,” she told me.

Man, I really hated being
told that. But unfortunately, it was true.

Because Belladonna was
mostly interested in Mr. Harrison, she returned to him, asking more
about him.

“
He knew Cornelius was
lying,” I said, remembering how Mr. Harrison said several times
that he could always detect a lie.

“We think he’s got
something planned,” Ashton said.

“Yeah,” Marley chimed in.
“He said that he knew something was about to happen and that he had
some operations going on that would help prepare him.”

Belladonna played with her
fingers, thinking.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t
really have time to ask more questions,” I said.

“I’d say not,” Mae said.
“You were ready to get out of there.”

“Yeah,” Marley said. “But
I wish we knew. He’s very rich, you know. And everybody seems to
love him.”

Edgar nodded. “Could be
useful,” he said.

“That’s what I was
thinking,” Marley said.

Everybody was silent.
Belladonna looked at the ceiling in deep thought. Finally, she
snapped out of her trance and stood up. “He could be some help. Do
you remember where he lives?”

Of course I didn’t. I
didn’t pay attention to where we were going. And I definitely
wasn’t paying attention when we were escaping. Even if I had, I
wouldn’t have been able to remember. The city was too large. But I
remembered how popular and rich Mr. Harrison was. Marley must’ve
been thinking similar to me.

“It wouldn’t be hard to
find,” Marley said. “Everybody knows him.”

Everyone was silent again
at first. Edgar watched Belladonna who, again, was staring blankly
at the ceiling, contemplating on something.

“You know what we really
need?” She eventually asked.

We waited for her to
continue.

“We really need a way to
identify every member of Grandfather. And perhaps this Mr. Harrison
knows a bit more about them.”

“He didn’t say he for sure
believed in Grandfather,” Marley said. “He just said he knew
something was going on.”

“That may be, but things
have changed since then,” Belladonna said. “With the recent proof,
perhaps he knows more. He seems to be pretending to be friends with
Cornelius. Perhaps he has a way to find out more.”

“Wait a minute,” Edgar
said, confused. “Now, I agree we’d have an advantage if we knew
everybody affiliated Grandfather. But what do you plan on doing,
Belladonna?”

We waited for Belladonna
to reply. She walked toward the table, making a ticking noise with
her mouth. “Knowing every single one of their supporters would be
helpful when the end of them comes,” she said. “But it’s difficult
not knowing which of these councilmen and councilwomen are involved
or not. For all we know, the whole government could be Grandfather
by now.”

“You and I both know
that’s not true,” Edgar said. “If so, things would be a lot worse.
They’d have a lot more power.”

Belladonna agreed. “Which
is why we need to find a way.”

Everyone was silent, I
kept my eyes closed, thinking about these past few days. I
remembered Cornelius’s bald head, his nostrils flaring when angry.
He was good at faking his position. Nobody would have believed
Cornelius was the Grand Imperial by the way he talked and treated
me at the interview. Especially when he gave me the
necklace.

“
We need something that
would identify them,” Belladonna said, thinking out
loud.

What Belladonna wanted
seemed pretty impossible. It would be way too difficult for her to
get a list of every Grandfather member. Yeah, it would be helpful,
but pretty impossible.

“Too bad we don’t know
another Grandfather member,” I said, which hit Ashton like a brick
wall.

“Why would you want to?”
Ashton asked, appalled that I’d even want something like
that.

“I mean somebody who is
pretending to be a part of Grandfather,” I amended.

Belladonna’s sparkling
eyes were on me.

“I can’t believe it,” she
whispered, more to herself.

All eyes went to her as
she gazed back at the ceiling.

“What?” Edgar asked.
”

“I guess with everything
going on, I overlooked it.”

“What?” Edgar asked again,
growing impatient

Belladonna started pacing
the floor behind the sofa.

“You think it’s possible?”
Mae asked, confused.

“Seriously,” Marley said
without much faith.

“Before Robert left, he
mentioned that a boy was forced to join Grandfather by his dad. Do
you remember?”

I could tell that Edgar
was trying hard to remember. Then, it must have clicked because he
nodded his head. “Yeah,” he said. “I remember.” It sounded like he
was just saying that.

“And now he’s with the
rebels that Robert is out to get,” Belladonna said, her smile
growing even larger. “It won’t take them long to get
back.”

“How do you know they will
agree to come?” Mae said. “Perhaps we shouldn’t get our hopes
up.”

“Oh, they will come,”
Belladonna excitedly assured, clapping her hands loudly.
“They’ll definitely come, I’m sure of
it.”

I was actually surprised
that I said something helpful. It was kind of funny how things
worked out. Apparently it’s sometimes the seemingly impossible
ideas that are actually possible. At least to Belladonna it
was.

“He can give us a list of
names,” Edgar said, joining Belladonna in her excitement.
“Brilliant.”

“When will Robert be
back?” Marley asked.

“I’d say any day now,”
Edgar said. “Hard to say for sure.”

“Later today,” Belladonna
said rather confident.

“Hope so,” Edgar
said.

“He will,” she answered
quickly, still smiling. “Trust me.”

“Okay,” Edgar said “So in
the meantime, we wait.”

“In the meantime, we go
and see this Mr. Harrison,” Belladonna said. “Let’s not forget
about him.”

Now that caught me off
guard. I knew Belladonna was interested in him, but for them to
actually go into the city to see him? Maybe I was a little bit bias
after my experience in the city. I guess it would be easier for
them to go.

Edgar seemed to like the
idea too. “I think it could be worth it.”

Everyone
agreed.

“
Why exactly do you need
him?” I asked. “You mentioned that he could get us a list of every
member. But we already have somebody now.”

“You said he has some
operations set up,” Belladonna said. “He’s prepared.”

“Maybe his operation would
be beneficial to us,” Mae added simply.

Yeah, that made sense.
“You guys should go then.”

Both Belladonna and Edgar
looked at me, confused. “You’ll be coming with us, of course,”
Belladonna said.

I almost stood up, walked
out, and locked myself in my room forever. That was the last thing
I wanted to hear. I had just gotten back, not to mention how we
were lucky to get away from Cornelius. I had no intention on going
back, and they were being absolutely ridiculous in thinking that
I’d go back. Seriously?

“No,” I said. “No, no, no,
no, no.”

“You have to,” Edgar
said.

“No I don’t,” I argued
back, standing up. “I’m staying here.” I walked toward the door,
ready to leave.

Belladonna threw herself
in front of me.

The desperate look on her
face stopped me.

“Carsyn,” she said. “I
know that after what happened, going back is the furthest thing
from your mind.”

“I never want to go back,”
I said.

“But Mr. Harrison knows
you,” she said. “He’s not going to trust us.”

“She’s right,” Edgar said.
“With just us, Mr. Harrison won’t trust us. But if you’re there . .
. well . . . we have a better chance.”

I said nothing. My head
had started to pound. It seemed as if my life had turned into a
complete headache lately. Things were more hectic than they were at
the orphanage. Since when did I get so involved with these people
and Grandfather? Funny how quickly one’s life can
change.

“I really don’t want to,”
I said again. “And besides, people will recognize me and turn me
in. I’m missing . . . remember?”

“You’ll be alright,”
Belladonna said. “Only be around the Harrisons and our
driver.”

They were set on me going.
Ashton and Marley didn’t seem too happy about the idea either. Of
course they weren’t. They had just gone through the same
thing.