secrets. The only thing you’ll gain by bringing him back is becoming his murderer.”
“Then Lawrence,” my father said. “If you truly think that was him, he must know something. I doubt he’s as strong-willed as his father.”
As much as I was desperate for a cure, I didn’t know that I could stand to see my father torturing Lawrence the way he had Atticus. Even if Lawrence didn’t remember me… I remembered him. Hot tears prickled the corners of my eyes. Damn, I remember him.
My father exhaled in aggravation as the mutants disappeared into the trees. He began pacing up and down. “Well,” he seethed, “we’ve done one thing for sure: blown our cover. Now they know that members of The Shadow League are here, and they know we know there’s something special about the trees, and now…”
Now I couldn’t help but wonder if it had been Lawrence on the other end of the phone Atticus had been holding when we’d first spotted him. Based on the snippet of conversation we’d heard, it sounded like it was Lawrence managing this whole Aviary operation, the way Atticus had asked him for a briefing. Could he really be? Horror filled me at the thought that Lawrence could be just as evil as his father. Maybe forgetting who he was before had been a good thing, and not something we should have ever tried to counteract…
“Lucas, I think we’re going to have to resort to your idea.”
My consciousness surfaced back to the present at my father’s words.
My grandfather Derek locked eyes with his brother Lucas. “Are you up for returning to The Shade and gathering an army?” Derek asked. “Only one of us needs to go, but it has to be someone who can travel fast, which means either Ben, Horatio or you. But it would be wiser to keep Horatio here with us for protection.”
“You’re going to launch a full-on attack?” I choked.
“Grace,” my father said, clutching my forearm. “We’ve got to stop them destroying these trees as soon as superhumanly possible. For all we know, Atticus could already be scheming to bomb this whole place and eradicate these trees within the next few hours. You heard him mention ‘the tree count isn’t large’ on the phone, didn’t you? What else could he be referring to but the poisonous trees? We’ve no choice but to rid Aviary of these hunters… and wreck as few trees as possible in the process.”
“What about Atticus’ laptop?” I stammered. I was hardly thinking straight. I just wanted to divert our attention to anything other than all-out war. “If he’s here now, he might’ve brought it with him, with those files.”
“I can guarantee you that anything he might have had on his laptop will be wiped the second he gets the chance,” Lucas said, shaking his head. “And by the way, we checked the caravan. There was no laptop there. If he’d brought it with him, it should have been there, since he mentioned on the phone that he’d only just arrived in Aviary.” Lucas’ voice trailed off as his eyes trained on the distance, where the mutants had dipped out of view. “It looks like they are headed toward Aviary city now.”
“We have to act quickly,” my grandfather said. “Lucas”—he nodded grimly to his brother—“go. You know what to do.”
Lucas nodded back, then sped away in the direction of the portal.
More bloodshed, I thought weakly. I had been hoping against hope that all this would not end in more bloodshed. But with the IBSI involved, how could I really expect anything different?
Grace
A t least the machinery had been meddled with, which would make it difficult for the IBSI to transport any explosives to get them where they needed them—assuming they did hold explosives here to begin with.
In spite of our hideout having been discovered, Horatio suggested we stay in the same cave and wait for Lucas, to avoid delays in him and our new recruits finding us. We shouldn’t be waiting long anyway, given Lucas’ supernatural speed.
But
“Then Lawrence,” my father said. “If you truly think that was him, he must know something. I doubt he’s as strong-willed as his father.”
As much as I was desperate for a cure, I didn’t know that I could stand to see my father torturing Lawrence the way he had Atticus. Even if Lawrence didn’t remember me… I remembered him. Hot tears prickled the corners of my eyes. Damn, I remember him.
My father exhaled in aggravation as the mutants disappeared into the trees. He began pacing up and down. “Well,” he seethed, “we’ve done one thing for sure: blown our cover. Now they know that members of The Shadow League are here, and they know we know there’s something special about the trees, and now…”
Now I couldn’t help but wonder if it had been Lawrence on the other end of the phone Atticus had been holding when we’d first spotted him. Based on the snippet of conversation we’d heard, it sounded like it was Lawrence managing this whole Aviary operation, the way Atticus had asked him for a briefing. Could he really be? Horror filled me at the thought that Lawrence could be just as evil as his father. Maybe forgetting who he was before had been a good thing, and not something we should have ever tried to counteract…
“Lucas, I think we’re going to have to resort to your idea.”
My consciousness surfaced back to the present at my father’s words.
My grandfather Derek locked eyes with his brother Lucas. “Are you up for returning to The Shade and gathering an army?” Derek asked. “Only one of us needs to go, but it has to be someone who can travel fast, which means either Ben, Horatio or you. But it would be wiser to keep Horatio here with us for protection.”
“You’re going to launch a full-on attack?” I choked.
“Grace,” my father said, clutching my forearm. “We’ve got to stop them destroying these trees as soon as superhumanly possible. For all we know, Atticus could already be scheming to bomb this whole place and eradicate these trees within the next few hours. You heard him mention ‘the tree count isn’t large’ on the phone, didn’t you? What else could he be referring to but the poisonous trees? We’ve no choice but to rid Aviary of these hunters… and wreck as few trees as possible in the process.”
“What about Atticus’ laptop?” I stammered. I was hardly thinking straight. I just wanted to divert our attention to anything other than all-out war. “If he’s here now, he might’ve brought it with him, with those files.”
“I can guarantee you that anything he might have had on his laptop will be wiped the second he gets the chance,” Lucas said, shaking his head. “And by the way, we checked the caravan. There was no laptop there. If he’d brought it with him, it should have been there, since he mentioned on the phone that he’d only just arrived in Aviary.” Lucas’ voice trailed off as his eyes trained on the distance, where the mutants had dipped out of view. “It looks like they are headed toward Aviary city now.”
“We have to act quickly,” my grandfather said. “Lucas”—he nodded grimly to his brother—“go. You know what to do.”
Lucas nodded back, then sped away in the direction of the portal.
More bloodshed, I thought weakly. I had been hoping against hope that all this would not end in more bloodshed. But with the IBSI involved, how could I really expect anything different?
Grace
A t least the machinery had been meddled with, which would make it difficult for the IBSI to transport any explosives to get them where they needed them—assuming they did hold explosives here to begin with.
In spite of our hideout having been discovered, Horatio suggested we stay in the same cave and wait for Lucas, to avoid delays in him and our new recruits finding us. We shouldn’t be waiting long anyway, given Lucas’ supernatural speed.
But
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