Chapter Eight
Later, back at the safe house in the dirty, dilapidated outlands...
The safe house was quiet when they arrived. The younger kids were already asleep in the mattresses and cots. The older kids gathered in small groups, talking in subdued tones. No one was playing or laughing. The atmosphere in the place was like the refugee camps that had popped up all over the city during the war. Petra's stomach roiled. It was all her fault.
Lux frowned around at the kids and shook her head. "Beth isn't here.”
Petra scowled. "Damnit. Where is she?"
"She's probably with the Uprising. That's good. She'll be able to tell us when she gets back if the rebels have the prince."
"Call her. I want to know."
Lux rolled her eyes. "No. It's safer not to alert the rebels that we're looking for him. We never have known for sure that Beth doesn't tell them what we know. If he's still out there in the streets somewhere, we don't want to risk them finding out about it."
"Beth is trustworthy. She doesn't tell them what we tell her."
Lux lifted an eyebrow. "Don't be naïve, Petra. The Uprising considers this a war. Beth is part of it. She believes in their cause, and she does what she has to. She isn't going to keep things from her people to be loyal to children."
"If she had told them, they would have come for Grey when he was at the compound."
"Not necessarily. They might have been waiting to see what was going to happen. And they might know he's out there now in the outlands somewhere."
"I trust Beth."
"Fine. Then you can speak to her when she gets home. It should be anytime; she usually comes home before it gets too dangerous out there in the streets."
It wasn't as good as Petra had hoped, but it was as good as she was going to get. She nodded and spun away from Lux before her disappointment could get the best of her. She couldn't just sit there, safe in the old warehouse while Grey was out there alone, while everyone in the city was searching for him. While someone wanted him deadvery badly. She climbed the stairs to the private office two at a time. She wasn't sure what she planned to do, but she needed a few moments alone. She needed time to think.
The light was off in the office. When she flipped it on, she realized someone was already inside. Petra jumped in surprise. It was a young man with dark, shoulder-length hair. His clothes looked dirty and torn. There was blood on them. She almost didn't recognize him until he spun to face her. She gasped. "Grey?"
He didn't say anything for a moment. He looked back at her with an expression of such profound uncertainty, such terrible defeat, her stomach lurched. There were fresh bruises on his face. She ignored the state of him. She rushed at him and threw her arms around his neck. He staggered slightly backward with the force of her weight, but he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back with a fierceness that took her by surprise.
"I was so worried!" she told him in a rush. She didn't release him. Instead, she tightened her arms around him and buried her face in his dark hair. "I thought something had happened to you."
She pulled back suddenly to look at him. His expression was so serious, her pulse leapt. "My father--" he began. At the same moment, she said, "Your father--"
"Where have you been?" she demanded.
He sighed and stepped away from her. "Remembering. Figuring out who I was and why someone wants to kill me." He sat down on the rickety chair in front of the desk. His expression was grimmer than Petra had ever seen it. "It wasn't too hard to figure out once I remembered."
Her breath hissed out through her teeth. "Do you remember everything now?"
He hung his head. "Yeah. Most of it. Not everything, I think. Just...enough. Bits and pieces." He looked up at her with haunted eyes. "I don't want to remember the rest. It hit me like a shot. I think...I think I might have been trying to avoid remembering before." He sighed. "I really wanted to believe I was one of you, Petra."
She was surprised. "You would prefer it to being the prince?"
He snorted wryly. "Prince? Yeah. I would have preferred to have been a decent person, not who I was. I would rather have been poor and orphaned. At least you made me believe I was good."
She didn't know what to say to this. He looked different than she'd ever seen him. A terrible storm raged behind his grey eyes. She didn't know what was going on in his head. She'd almost thought she knew him once. She understood now she didn't know anything about him at all. Grey was gone. She wondered if he was still there somewhere, in the back of Dante's mind. She hoped he was.
"So what happened? I thought you went home. Why are you back here?" Her stomach flipped a little. Had he missed her? Had he wanted to see her?
"Before it all came back, I remembered my father. I remembered him threatening me. He said he would rather see me dead than see me turn into the man I had become. I didn't know it was my father then, but now I understand. I think I was trying to tell myself something then. I shouldn't have gone back there before I understood everything."
"Do you understand it now?”
He shook his head. "No. Not really, but I think I'm starting to. He wanted me to be more...like him. He wanted me to work with him and learn what he does all day. I refused. I didn't want....well, I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted to be free. I wanted to drink and gamble and..." He sighed. "I think we both know what kind of person I was, or you wouldn't have done what you did."
"Grey--"
"It's okay, Petra. You don't have to explain. I understand all too well now."
"What happened?"
"I went home to talk to my father. I don't know what I planned to do. I thought it would all make sense if I just went home. But I was attacked as soon as I arrived."
Petra lifted her eyebrows. "By your father?"
"No. I didn't see his face. He came at me in the dark, but I would have known my father if it had been home. It was the man who attacked me in the alley. The one who came looking for me at the compound. I'm sure. "
"His name is Saer."
"Saer?" He frowned as though he knew the name. "I've heard of him. I think I've heard of him."
"Do you know who he is?" Her pale eyes were intense. Grey stared back at her with an equally grim expression.
Finally, he nodded. "I know who he is."
"I'm sorry, Grey. He works for your father."
"Yeah." He closed his eyes in resignation. "I know what you're trying to say, Petra. It's okay. I had already worked it out. I don't think there was any way he could have gotten into the house past the Marshals."
"What are we going to do?"
He shook his head. "I don't know.” He smiled wanly. “Any ideas?"
She sighed. "We need some kind of proof. But...I don't know what good it will do. Your father owns everyone. He owns the city. It's not like we can take it to a higher authority. He's the only game in town."
"But...if it's enough...maybe we can get enough and then we can let everyone know. We can turn the entire city against him. Even his own people. There are enough of them. If they all move against him, he will not be able to withstand it, even with his Marshals and Nobles."
She lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "But how? We'll need a lot of proof. People know what he is. It only makes them more afraid to do anything about it."
Grey looked at her seriously. "You're the one who can find anything, aren't you? Can't you come up with something that will change their minds? Something they have to do something about?"
Petra frowned. "Maybe. If he records things on his computer, there might be an electronic trail."
Grey considered this. "There could be. He does a lot of work on the computer. He's always in front of it when he isn't out in the streets doing press conferences."
"I've trued to get into his system and see his files, but I haven't been able to crack them," she admitted. "He has some very serious security."
"What if I can help?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know abou
t him. I know a little about the system, though I didn't spend much time at all actually learning about it. Still, I might be able to give you enough information you'll be able to get in."
"It's worth a try, anyway."
He sighed and stood up. He pushed his hands through his long, dark hair. "Petra, this is dangerous. I still shouldn't be here. I'm putting you all in danger by being here. And if my father's people catch you..."
She moved toward him and clutched his hand in hers. "I know what the risk is, but I'm not letting you go again. Saer found you again. In your own home. You could have died. You're not safe there, and you really aren't safe in the streets." She tugged on his hand to pull him closer and laid a hand on his cheek. For a moment, he flinched back from her. Her breath caught, and she dropped her hand. Her stomach sank a little. Then he gripped her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She sighed. "Grey, when you disappeared, I thought the rebels might have you. If you leave here, they could get their hands on you. And they will do much, much worse to you than I....than I planned to do."
She braced herself for his renewed outrage, but it didn't come. Instead, his brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Who is it, Petra? Who did father take away from you? They must be important if you would go so far as to kidnap me to trade for them."
"My brother. Ren. He was put away for treason."
"He was innocent, wasn't he?"
"Yes. He was innocent. Most of them are innocent."
Grey nodded. "If we do this--expose my father--I will help you get him back. I'll help you get everyone back. What's happening in this city isn't right. It shouldn't be this way. No one should make people live this way, in terror for their lives for making the wrong move or annoying the wrong person. My father...he is horrible." He looked away. His jaw worked, and he looked so unhappy, her heart lurched. "I was horrible, Petra. I understand that now. I don't blame you for what you did. I can't really even blame the people who want me dead."
She shook her head fiercely. "That isn't you now. It's not the way you are now. You understand now. You're different than you were."
He chuckled wryly. "Imagine a blow to the head fixing all my personality problems."
She didn't smile. "I wish it were that simple."
"It helped me get perspective, anyway. I know now that we have to do something about all this."
"But not at the expense of your life."
"From what I remember, before I lost my memory, before you and all of this--thinking I was one of you--my life wasn't worth much. Even my own father didn't think it was worth anything."
Petra sighed. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She expected him to flinch away from her again, but he didn't. He pulled her into a hug and rested his cheek against her hair. "Okay. Let's do it. If there is something to find, we'll find it."
She drew away from him and sat down on the floor. She pulled her laptop toward her and flipped it open. She smirked at him.
"If someone's going to bring down King Scarlet, it's going to be us. Let's get to work."
Rebel Grey Page 20
