Grandfather (32 page)

Before we had a chance to
try and get comfortable, a voice came out of the ceiling. My first
thought was it was Cornelius and the entire escape was a prank
planned by him and Mr. Harrison. But seconds later, I knew it was
the driver.

“
Are you guys okay?” he
asked.

“
Uh . . . yeah,” I said, my
heart still racing.

“
Which way do I go?” he
asked.

We glanced at each other,
not sure if we should answer.

“
Hurry,” he said. “Before
they realize you’re missing.”

“
He can get us close,”
Marley whispered. Then, she looked ahead. “Toward Columbia. We’ll
tell you when to stop.”

The man took a sharp turn,
shoving me into Marley. She yelped as my elbow jammed into her
side. I went to apologize, but Ashton was already speaking to the
driver.

“Stop by the nearest news
station first.”

Marley and I looked at him
as if he was speaking an entirely different language. The driver
didn’t answer straight away, so he must’ve been just as
stumped.

“I need to hurry and get
you far away from here,” the driver said.

“Take me to the nearest
one,” Ashton demanded. “It’s important and will only take a few
seconds.”

The driver sighed. “Which
one?”

“The biggest one,” Ashton
answered immediately.

Another sharp turn sent
Marley slamming into me, and this time, her elbow shoved
into
my
side.
Man, it hurt, but I didn’t say anything. I was too confused by
Ashton’s actions.

“What are you doing?” I
whispered.

“We need to get away,”
Marley said in the most serious tone I had heard from
her.

Ashton shook his head.
“I’ll tell you later.” He nodded his head toward the
driver.

Right, we didn’t know if
we could trust the driver yet, even though he seemed pretty
trustworthy. This entire escape didn’t seem like a prank, but we
couldn’t take chances. Whatever Ashton was up to, he thought it
best nobody else knew.

I kept glancing back,
afraid to see Cornelius’s white vehicle chasing us down. Once we
reached the center, surrounded by vehicles, honking horns, and
pedestrians, I forced myself to quit looking back.

Soon, the vehicle pulled
to the side, coming to a stop in front of a skyscraper. Just above
the door was a sign reading
News
10
.

Ashton didn’t move. He
kept a hand in his pocket, searching the surroundings.

“What are we doing?” I
asked.

“I can’t get out,” he
said. “Cameras or something may see me.”

That was true, but I
wasn’t worried about that part. He took out a tiny black box and a
neatly folded piece of paper, which I
was
worried about. It was killing
me, being left in the dark, and Marley cringing in her seat told me
she was just as eager.

“I need to get you out of
here,” the driver said again.

Ashton ignored him, ready
to jump out of the door. He pulled the handle, but the door didn’t
budge.

“I can’t let you out,” the
driver said.

Ashton’s face was getting
red.

“I need to get something
inside of there,” he said through gritted teeth.

The driver began
complaining again but stopped when Ashton gasped. Just outside the
door was a woman dressed in all orange, including her hair. She had
a headpiece around her head, waving somebody in the distance to
her. Seconds later, a man carrying a camera ran to her.

That’s when I remembered
that I actually knew who the woman was.

Well, I didn’t
know
her know her. But I
saw her several times on TV, reporting the news.

Ashton crumbled up the
piece of paper, and not giving us any warning, put the window down
slightly.

He took the black device
and tossed it, hitting the news reporter in the chest. As she
yelped, Ashton tossed the small wad of paper just as our driver
floored it again. Ashton put the window up immediately, glancing at
us with a sparkling smile on his face.

I was ready to kill him,
and Marley had already begun, punching him several times in the
shoulder.

“Ow!” he yelled, holding
his hands out to protect himself.

“They could’ve seen us!”
she yelled.

“It was worth it,” Ashton
said. “Trust me.”

I expected the driver to
complain or at least ask questions, but he didn’t say a word. He
did, however, drive faster.

We left the city, soon
going through the wall. Just as we were about to pass the road that
led to the orphanage, I yelled at the driver to stop. At first he
didn’t, but when I said it was our destination, he slammed on the
breaks, sending the vehicle in fish tails. I thought for sure he
was going to lose control of the vehicle, but thankfully, it came
to a stop in the middle of the road.

“This is it?” the driver
asked.

“Yeah,” I said, opening
the door.

He had already unlocked
them, and we piled out quickly. We stood on the side of the road as
the driver turned the vehicle around. Just before heading back to
the city, he rowed his window down. “Are you sure you want to be
dropped off here?”

We assured him we were
fine and waited until he was out of site before making the long
journey back to the forest. I was actually excited to get back. I
didn’t feel the same about having to listen to Edgar yell at me,
but you know what, I would be safe again, and that’s all I wanted
at that moment.

“What was that about?”
Marley shouted, slapping Ashton on the shoulder. “Don’t keep
secrets!”

Ashton couldn’t help but
laugh. “I found it on the first night we got our fancy rooms. I
didn’t know if Cornelius was listening so I kept it a
secret.”

“
Kept what a secret?” I
asked.

“Grandfather is going
down,” he said. “You have no idea.”

“
What did you do?” Marley
shouted impatiently.

Ashton flinched, expecting
her to hit him again.

“I snuck out and found my
way to Cornelius’s office late the first night. And I found
proof.”

I had no idea what Ashton
was talking about. I was even more puzzled how he even made it to
Cornelius’s office. “What kind?” I asked.

“Well,” he started. “A
recording talking about setting off an explosion in the
city.”

“What!?” Marley and I
shouted together. “Cornelius’s voice?”

“No,” he said. “The men
talking don’t give Cornelius’s name, but they do mention
Grandfather.”

“Which gives people proof
they’re back!” Marley shouted even louder, throwing her hands up in
the air. “This is great!”

Yeah, it was great. But it
was also bad. “So there’s going to be an explosion?” I asked.
“That’s not good. That just means people will die.”

Our excitement left
quickly.

“
Did they say when?” she
asked.

Ashton shook his head.
“No. But hopefully they can be stopped before it comes to
that.”

I nodded. “And what about
the piece of paper you had?”

Ashton looked as if he had
forgotten about that. “It mentions Vice President McCall as a
member of Grandfather,” he said. “Just a note to the Grand Imperial
from him, saying that the plans for the explosion are almost
complete, and that Grandfather will have complete control
soon.”

Things had taken a turn. I
just wasn’t sure if they were for the best or worse. Yeah, it was
great that we had proof of Grandfather and could expose them. But
there was a planned explosion. What kind of explosion? Where at? I
thought about what the press would do when they listened to the
recording. They had probably already listened to it and read the
note. If they made a big deal out of me, they would surely make a
huge deal over this. People would begin to distrust the government.
Finally, I grinned. “You did it,” I told Ashton. “Mr. Harrison is
right. Something big is about to happen.”

“
And it’ll be starting any
minute now,” Ashton added in a tone of excitement. “They’re going
down!”

We reached the edge of the
forest and continued walking. I was afraid that somebody in one of
the passing vehicles would’ve recognized me and stopped. But they
didn’t, thankfully. We passed the time talking about what we
thought would happen when the press revealed the recording. We all
agreed that if a few people were starting to reconsider the wall
because of what I said, people would really start to reconsider
Grandfather’s return. I wondered how Cornelius would get his way
out. That was the only problem. I had no doubt that Cornelius would
do everything in his power to get out of the situation. If he
succeeded, a lot of people would continue to follow him. I guess
that didn’t matter because all we needed was a large number to
distrust and go against him. It would be hard for Grandfather to
succeed with the rich fighting the rich. A civil war within the
wall? Now that could change things. I just couldn’t wait to tell
Belladonna, Edgar, Robert, and Mae. I couldn’t wait for everybody
to figure out what Ashton did. Perhaps that would be enough to
cancel out their anger with us.

I hoped.

I was actually surprised
when we reached the tree with the arrow engraved on it. The walk
had gone by so quickly. “This is it,” I told them. It was now
completely dark I didn’t see any headlights in either direction, so
we entered the forest and walked slowly.

“
I hate it that I lost the
dress Momma got me,” Marley said. “I don’t like this one. Cornelius
had me wear it.”

I didn’t blame her.
Everything that we had experienced the last couple of days was
nothing but stylish. But unfortunately, it was given to us by
Cornelius. That took everything good about it away.

Soon, we approached the
trap door and climbed down the ladder. Dark and muggy, just as I
remembered. And just our luck, we didn’t have a flashlight. We
stayed side-by-side, walking slowly down the passageway. Ashton and
I stayed to the left and the right of Marley, feeling for the walls
. . . knowing they would guide us to the meeting room.

It was rather difficult
and took more time to reach the door where Belladonna normally was.
Light shined from the cracks of the door. Marley lifted a fist up
and hesitated before knocking twice.

No answer.

Ashton knocked twice, and
when there was still no answer I wiggled the door knob.

Locked.

I placed my ear against
the door to hear nothing.

“
Maybe they’re in the
dining hall,” Marley said.

We lined up as before and
walked further down the hall until we reached the familiar hall lit
up by torches on the wall. I saw nobody. I glanced at the door to
my room. It felt like it had been months since I had seen the
place. I was actually glad to see it. I’d be able to sleep
comfortably, unafraid of what would happen to me, Ashton, and
Marley the next day.

I could hear a faint noise
as we approached the dining hall. The three of us listened but were
unable to make out anything. Once we reached the doors, I could
tell that it was the radio.

“
Here we go,” Ashton said,
taking a deep breath.

“
Momma is gonna be mad,”
Marley said, being the first one to walk in.

Everybody was sitting at
the tables, whispering amongst themselves. Belladonna, Edgar, and
Mae were gathered around the radio, discussing something. I looked
around for Robert. He wasn’t there. I definitely wasn’t going to be
the one to interrupt. Ashton and Marley didn’t say anything, so I’m
guessing they felt the same, so we listened to the man on the radio
speaking.

“
It’s proof,” he was
saying. “And now we’re all left here, not knowing who to trust and
who is involved.”

Ashton was the happiest I
had ever seen him. And Marley was back to herself, showing off the
dimples. The press had listened to the recording and was already
reporting Grandfather’s return. Everybody had gathered in the
dining hall to hear it.

We stayed put at the
doorway, listening to the radio. The beautiful Belladonna was
locked onto it. Mae grinned at the news, but it was weak. I could
see the bags under her eyes. I knew she had probably spent most of
her time worrying about Marley.

Edgar glanced away from
the radio, and he examined the crowd, smiling at their
excitement.

“
It does appear as if
Grandfather has returned,” a woman was saying over the radio. She
didn’t sound happy at all.

Edgar eventually saw us.
His eyes grew wide and started chuckling. He stood up, gently
pushing on Mae’s shoulder. She looked at Edgar, who pointed a
finger in our direction. Mae’s face lit up when she saw us. Her
weak smile immediately turned strong.

“
Marley!”
she screamed, running in our direction. Belladonna quickly turned
around, spotting us. Immediately, her happy facial expression
turned dark and cold. She was
not
happy. Marley ran to meet Mae half way, and they
embraced each other.