Grandfather (13 page)

“
And stay together,” Robert
added, handing me a flashlight. He didn’t give Ashton
one.

Great. Now we
had
to stick together if
we both wanted to see in the dark. Of course I could’ve just left
Ashton in the dark. But I wasn’t going to be
that
mean. We left the room and
walked toward the elevator without saying a word. I looked at the
tubes again, wondering what was being experimented on. Perhaps it
was a special kind of medicine. Or another virus.

I noticed a hall leading
to another room. I pointed at it. Ashton didn’t say anything. It
was the same as the previous room: machines everywhere and tables
filled with tubes of liquid.

After a few minutes,
Ashton finally said something. “This all looks pretty suspicious.
You still don’t believe after seeing all of this?”

I didn’t want to get into
it again, so I ignored him. I shined the light up and down the
tables.

“
Okay, okay,” he said.
“I’ll be quiet.”

“
Please do,” I snapped. I
knew I should have just kept my mouth shut.

“
So what is it?” he asked.
“What is keeping you in denial like this?”

I didn’t say
anything.

“
I don’t even know why
Edgar and Belladonna want to help you,” he said. “You’re basically
a lost cause.”

I stopped in front of
another elevator and turned to Ashton, flashing the light directly
in his eye. He closed them and swung his hand at mine, knocking the
flashlight onto the ground. It flickered off, leaving us in the
dark.

“
Why does it kill you that
I don’t believe in Grandfather?” I asked, trying my best to stay
calm. I didn’t even bother getting the flashlight. I didn’t want to
see him.

“
Because you’re sleeping on
our beds, drinking our water, and eating our food,” Ashton growled.
“That stuff should only be for those who want to help. You don’t
deserve to be one of us.”

“
What happened to you?” I
asked angrily. “Why are you always so angry? I bet it has something
to do with the scar.”

Oh, bad idea. Ashton’s
hands squeezed my shoulder tightly, as if he was ready to pick me
up and throw me across the room. I mean, my whole arm went numb. I
cringed, moving downward, trying to pull away. Finally, he let go,
and I exhaled, rotating my shoulder around to rub off the
pain.

“
Never, ever, ask me that
again,” he said slowly. “Where’s the flashlight?”

Whoa. Honestly, Ashton
probably could’ve hurt me right then and there. He was bigger than
me, and that grip of his told me he was extremely strong. I wasn’t
complaining. He let me go. I was about to bend down and look for
the flashlight when I heard footsteps. Two shadows walked in our
direction. Ashton and I faced them.

“
It’s about time,” Ashton
said.

A hand reached around my
body and covered my mouth. My first reaction was to jump forward
and turn around, but whoever it was, they were strong. I tried
elbowing them, but failed, once again. Ashton was struggling too,
his feet scuffling against the floor while he tried to free
himself. These people were too strong for him too. With nothing
else to do, I looked back at the first two shadows we had seen.
They were tall officers dressed in black uniforms, pointing a gun
at us. “Come with us,” one of them said, tapping the elevator
button pointing up.

Oops. We weren’t
along.

Who were these people? And
more importantly, where was Edgar and Robert?

Chapter Six

I
tried screaming for Edgar and Robert, but the hand was pushed
too hard against my mouth. They dragged us into the elevator and
tapped the button for the top floor. Once the doors shut and we
started to move, they released us.

My first reaction was to
scream for Edgar and Robert. But once I thought things through, I
realized there was a chance Edgar and Robert hadn’t been discovered
yet. I didn’t want these officers knowing there were others. Thank
God Ashton didn’t scream for help, either.

I turned around to get a
good look at the two men who released us. They were officers as
well, dressed in black uniforms, guns on their waist. One of them
had short red hair, and the other had long brown hair.

“What are you guys doing
down here?” the man who had been behind me asked.

“Nothing,” Ashton said.
“We were just messing around.”

“And broke in?” the other
officer asked. We didn’t say anything. “I don’t think so. You’re up
to something.”

“No, we’re not,” I
pleaded. My voice cracked.

Great.

They didn’t believe me.
“There’s only one way you could’ve gotten in,” one of the officers
behind us said. “Somebody gave you the code. You
are
up to
something.”

“We’re not,” Ashton and I
said in unison.

They watched us closely.
Ashton was giving one of the officers a nervous look, which made it
so obvious we were lying.

“You’ll have to take it up
with him,” the red-headed man said.

Him? Man, this night was
not turning out so great. I thought of Edgar and Robert. I wondered
if they’d realized we were gone yet. I waited impatiently, not
knowing who we were about to meet.

The elevator stopped at
the tenth floor. The doors slid open with another ding. There,
standing feet wide apart, arms crossed, was a tall man. His brown
eyes beamed at us while he gave us a crooked smile. This man was
quite different from the others. He wore a full gray suit with a
black tie that looked far better than any suit I had seen. Light
bounced off his bald head. I saw the time change to 8:48 on his
fancy golden watch.

“Hello,” he said in his
deep voice. “Come.”

He motioned for us to
follow him down a particular hall. Ashton and I exchanged looks.
There was nothing else we could do. We followed the tall,
bald-headed man with the two officers staying close behind us,
making it impossible for us to make a run for it.

Ashton and I kept our
distance from the man, until he stopped at a particular door,
opened it, and waved us through. We walked in and
stopped.

Like everything else, the
office was clean, elaborate, and organized. In the middle, there
was a dark, mahogany desk with a clock that ticked quietly, several
green plants, and a lamp so shiny my reflection bounced off it. A
huge, white cushiony chair sat behind the desk. Across from it were
two black chairs.

At the center of the desk
was a computer much similar to the ones I had seen at the
Starbucks. The only difference was this didn’t have the hologram
shining from the box and into the air. It must’ve been turned
off.

Pictures of landmarks and
people I had never seen were displayed all around the room, and
several shelves matching the mahogany desk stood firm alongside the
walls, holding a few books, small boxes similar to the computers,
and many majestic figurines. The one that caught my attention the
most was a porcelain giraffe that looked as if was made of
gold.

The door slammed behind
us, causing me to gasp.

The bald-headed man passed
us and went to his white chair. Before seating himself, he
motioned, again with his hand, for us to have a seat.

Ashton and I took a seat
and watched the man get comfortable in his white chair. Once he’d
situated himself, he clasped his hands together, sat them on the
table, and said, “I’m President Cornelius.”

Immediately, I looked at
Ashton who looked more frightened than I did. He knew the guy as
the Grand Imperial. I was still figuring it out. But there was one
thing for sure. Edgar was wrong: there were people inside the
building. We were definitely in trouble.

“
Surprised?” he asked,
snickering to himself.

My heart was pounding so
hard, I couldn’t get one single word out.

“What are two young boys
such as yourselves doing in one of my office buildings?” Cornelius
asked.

“We were just messing
around,” Ashton answered a little too quickly.

“Oh?” Not giving us a
chance to prepare, Cornelius shouted for the guards standing
outside the door. Again, I thought my heart was going to explode. I
nearly fell out of my seat.

The door opened
immediately.

“
Go see if there are any
others,” Cornelius said.

“Are you sure, sir?” the
red-headed asked.

“I can be alone with these
two,” he said. “They can’t do anything.” The officer obeyed,
shutting the door behind them.

“What’re your names?”
Cornelius asked, looking at Ashton first.

“Ashton,” he replied
slowly.

Cornelius turned to look
at me. “And you?”

I remembered what Edgar
had told me. I was in danger of Grandfather. If President Cornelius
really was the Grand Imperial, then I didn’t want them knowing who
I was. I gave him the first name that came to mind. “Jim,” I said,
stumbling over the name. “I’m Jim.”

Cornelius smiled at me. He
glanced at Ashton, whose eyes were flickering between Cornelius and
me. “Tell me,” Cornelius started. “What’s your real
name?”

“That
is
my real name,” I answered too
quickly. It was obvious I was lying.

“
I’ve told many lies in my
lifetime,” he said, glaring at me. “I’m quite good at it, so do
believe me when I tell you I know when somebody is lying to
me.”

Ashton and I stayed
silent. He’d caught us. But that didn’t mean I was going to give
him my real name.

“Who helped you get in?”
Cornelius asked. “I know you didn’t do it alone.”

“
I
already told you, sir,” Ashton said. “We broke in. We thought it
would be funny.”

Cornelius chuckled and
shrugged his shoulders. “If you say so, Ashton. I guess we’ll find
out when my security gets back.” He got into a desk drawer,
shuffled something around, stood up, and made his way to the door.
“Don’t bother trying to get out,” he said. “I’ll know.” He left the
room, shutting the door behind him. Ashton waited a few seconds
before saying anything.

“Don’t give anything
away,” he told me.

“
Do you really think I’m
gonna give something away?” I asked. “Do you think I’m
stupid?”

“
Well, who knows about
you?”

“
Just be quiet,” I
said.

We were silent for a few
seconds. “I just hope they don’t find Edgar and Robert,” I
said.

“They won’t,” Ashton said,
glancing around at the door. “Come on.” He stood up.

“Ashton, he’s going to
know,” I said, staying seated, remembering what Cornelius had
said.

“What’s he going to do,
Carsyn?” he argued. “I’m not just going to sit here when the leader
of Grandfather is here. We have to get out.”

Ashton walked to the door.
I couldn’t stop him, so I had to join him. I followed his lead. He
opened the door and walked out. We didn’t get far.

“Where you
going?”

We both jumped, looking to
our right to see Cornelius walking toward us, smiling. He was
amused.

We froze.

“Get back in there,” he
said calmly.

We didn’t move.

“
Now!” he shouted, causing
my body to jolt. We did so quickly, and sat down in the same
chairs.

Cornelius shut the door
behind us and reclaimed his seat. “You know,” he started, “you guys
aren’t from around here, are you?” He shuffled through the same
drawer and took out a clear device. It looked like a piece of
glass. It looked very similar to what I saw people using on the
streets around the coffee shop. Cornelius touched the screen and it
lit up.

“
We’re from here,” Ashton
insisted.

“
Oh, really?” he
asked.

Ashton and I
nodded.

“
Tell me, what is this?”
Cornelius pointed at the device he had just taken out.

Ashton didn’t
respond.

“
A phone,” I
said.

Cornelius nodded. “Surely
you have one. Everyone inside any city wall has one.”

Ashton responded slowly.
”We lost ours.”

Cornelius chuckled. He
pushed a large green button, and I heard a recording of Ashton’s
voice, followed by mine. It was everything we had just said after
Cornelius left the office, including my actual name. Ashton dipped
his head down in defeat.

“Edgar and Robert,”
Cornelius repeated once the recording stopped. “I had a feeling
there was somebody else with you.” He sat the phone onto his desk.
The screen disappeared.

Cornelius’s gaze settled
upon me. He had the same crooked smirk. “How interesting,” he said.
“Who would’ve guessed that you, Carsyn, would come to me?” He
leaned back in his seat, crossed his legs, and clasped his hands
together. I noticed a huge black ring on his finger. It was plain.
Didn’t even shine. It was kind of ugly.