Page 44 of Lies That Blemish
Tetra nodded. “Let’s find out which it is. Together.”
Taking a steadying breath, I nodded, and we lifted the lid.
Right from the beginning, I knew this box was different. Inside was a metal box the same size as the cardboard, only slightly smaller to fit inside.
“Interesting. It’s a safe or something.” Tetra reached in and heaved it out, grunting as I pulled away the outer shell.
When it was on the floor, I noticed the front had a key lock.
“Dang, no key,” I growled.
Tetra rolled her eyes. “We arenotletting that stop us. I’ll be right back.”
When she came back, she was holding a crowbar from the storage shed. I gave her an impressed look as she wedged it between the lock and the box.
“Don’t wake the girls. That’s the last thing I need right now.”
She grunted, moving left and right, until finally, with a crack that caused both of us to freeze, the lock busted open.
My pulse raced as Tetra removed the twisted lock and opened the metal lid. Safes were for keeping secrets. What secrets did my father want to hide in here? I wondered.
Tetra began to pull out files and maps and papers and we sat down, both a little more serious than before.
I peered at one map, confused by what I was seeing, until I realized it was a map of the old train station that ran under Emberlane Park. With it was a table of times. Circled were the busiest times when thousands would be on board coming from work in the city and going home out into the suburbs. The next was a paper showing the transformers that ran our city’s lighting system and the giant ember that fueled it.
“Aisling…” Tetra’s voice broke, and I peered up to see horror written on her expression. She handed me a stack of papers with a shaky fist, and I pulled them from her.
What in the world?
It was directions on how to make a homemade bomb.
Why would my dad have maps of the subway? And the lighting system, and how to make a bomb? My heart beat so wildly that dizziness washed over me. Then I found a piece of paper in my father’s handwriting.
We can call it the Great Blackout. Blame Imbria. Kill Badshah. Take over. Double our land.
I screamed, throwing the paper as I fell backward.
“What?” Tetra leaned forward, picking up the paper and reading it. As she did, I watched a mask of anger slide over her face.
“Aisling, if your dad killed thousands of his own people… that’s unforgivable.”
“I know.” I barely recognized my own voice. Kohen was right—he’d been right all along.
Her mask of anger softened. “I’m sorry.” She reached for me, but I pulled back. I felt dirty. I was a byproduct of him. His spawn. What if I turned evil, too? Maybe I already was. I’d killed the red rider in a sick way that I still couldn’t wipe from my mind.
Tetra grabbed the sides of my face and forced me to look at her. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re nothing like him.”
My bottom lip shook. “What if I am?” I asked.
Tetra shook her head. “You’re not. You and your sisters are not.”
There was a finality in her tone. She had spoken, and that was that.
She released me. “Ash, you know what this means, right?”
My hands shook. I was still processing everything.
“Kohen was right.” My voice felt foreign to my own ears. “I called his father a terrorist.” Tears leaked from my eyes. I couldn’t believe how much I’d cried the past few months. More than in my whole life.
