Page 91 of The Verdant Cage
David’s face sharpens at that. “Stop Jarek? The two of us?”
Thoughts are crashing into each other. “It’s not just the two of us. There are others. With you on our side, we stand a chance. You’re still the Record Keeper. You’re still in charge of our rules.”
He shakes his head sadly, gesturing toward his disheveled state, his foot still cast in plaster. It satisfies me now to realize it probably wasn’t an animal trap that got him, that his limb was more likely crushed by the Verdant Beast.
“Look at me, Rose,” he says. “Who’s going to follow this man?”
I grab his shirt. “If we tell them the truth about Jarek,everyone! With him gone, we can have a clean start within. We’ll avoid Eden’s Gate until we find a way to destroy the Beast, and once we’re safe again, we’ll review all the Valley’s laws, hang on to the ones that work and reconsider the rest. Without the Guardians in your way, you could make it happen!”
I’m talking too fast. I think I may have lost him when suddenly his face lights up. “You really think we can stop Jarek?”
I nod.
To my surprise, David chuckles. “He’s not too smart, you know? Strong, certainly, good at forming an army. Clever, even.” He indicates a stack of books, their covers garish and unfamiliar. “According to one of these, it’s the sneaky leader you have to watch out for. The show-off, obvious brute who has nothing but strength on his side?” The Record Keeper grins, having made up his mind. “He can be defeated.”
I match his smile, feeling instantly lighter. With the Record Keeper of all people on our side, we may be able to defeat Jarek without destroying the tablet and basket, meaning I could return to the Valley with Jonas. Even if he’s no longer alive, I can bring his body back down.
The Verdant Beast cannot have my brother.
Suddenly, I remember something David glossed over. “The secret room. The vault with the new weapons.” I speak with a voice that brooks no argument, one I wouldn’t dare have used against him just a week ago. “Show it to me.”
Annoyance flashes across David’s face, but he must sense that I won’t be backing down today. He slides his thumb into a nearly invisible indent inside the closest bookcase. “I tripped the mechanism by accident,” he says. “Hayes hid it well. That woman thought of everything.” He says the last bit with a puff of pride.
I’m about to remind him that he may not even be a blood relative to Hayes, given our marrying rules, when the case swings open, revealing a room nearly as large as the full cottage above.
My jaw drops.Sun and Soil, just how big is this place?
Before he can stop me, I step inside. The walls are lined with shelves, overflowing with tools I don’t understand and more types of food than I recognize. I walk over to them, marveling at the sheer volume of stuff left over, even with David and the Guardians pillaging the Warden’s supply. I spy an enormous metallic container labelled “canned ham.” I do not know what ham is, but the unnervingly realistic painting on its face looks just like the loaf of pink meat the Tzus served us the other night.
“It has everything but an exit,” David says. “Nearly a hundred twenty years to the day since the Valley’s founding, and Korr said that we’d open to the world by then. But if there’s a door, I haven’t seen it.” His voice grows heavy. “I’m sorry, Rose. But I think it’s one more lie he told the public.”
My eyes scour the shelves.I’m looking for what, exactly?Weapons I can use to save my brother. Plus any herbicide Jarek hasn’t already taken. Unfortunately for me, the combat items are picked clean. I see only food and tools and a singular patch of goblin’s gold on the floor on the far side of the room. The luminous moss is typically found in caves—Mom had the Stonemasons collect it from the quarry sometimes for its microbial properties.
I turn toward David. “It doesn’t change anything,” I say.
“What?”
“This secret room.” I indicate the stores lining the walls. “It doesn’t matter that it’s here, or even that there is no exit. What matters is that we stop Jarek and kill the Verdant Beast.” With a sinking feeling, I see I’ve already lost him. In the last couple minutes, the fire that’d momentarily sprung into his eyes has been snuffed out. “David?”
He takes another swig of pruno. “I need some time alone. To think.”
“But—”
“Give me time,” he barks, clearly ready for me to leave.
I’ve used up all my goodwill. Now I can only pray that I’ve convinced him. I follow David’s lead as he weaves back to the main chamber, toward his pruno contraption, and fills up his flask. I worry he’s going to drink himself into a stupor, but short of tying him up and destroying the still, I don’t know what I can do but hope he comes through for us. I consider seeking out the other two Councilmembers—Alexandra and Nero—but think better of it. They were fine covering up Peter’s cause of death and have been accomplices to Jarek’s sudden and oppressive changes to Valley law. The only person I can truly trust is myself.
Or maybe not. After all, we’re descended from monsters here.Cannibals. Murderers.
I’m halfway up the stairs when David calls out to me, his voice unbearably weary. “You’ll be hungry to tell the others what you discovered down here,” he says. “How we’re the spawn of evildoers, doomed to wither on the tendrils of a vine. You’ll burn to share this heaviness with someone,anyone. Learn from me, Rose. Don’t tell anyone. It’ll only make them as miserable as you are right now.”
57
So sing me a story, dear, I’m down on my knees,
Praying to Heaven, bring me back, please.
So sleep, my darling, don’t you be scared,
