The Knowledge of the Hidden

Chapter 26

The three of us take off toward Erica's tent, keeping along the edge of camp as to not be spotted by any of the gathering people. We approach and stop in front of it. It looks small, no bigger than one of the group tents that we stay in, but one step inside reveals that we were severely misled.

The tent extends backward, so, while its front appears small and squashed between other tents, it is actually quite spacious, especially considering only one person lives there. It is filled with furniture, at first I think it is the crafted kind from Eximius, but a closer look reveals that it is unfinished and rough around the edges. She must have carved it herself with her powers, or convinced someone else with those powers to do so.

Pictures, both on paper and in frames, line the walls and shelves. I pause at a few, realizing as I look closer that they are all of the same people: Erica, two young kids (one of which I assume is Griffin), and a man with kind eyes and a wide smile who must have been her husband.

"You guys," I say, quietly. Sienna and Josh come up behind me, gazing at the picture.

"So that's Griffin," I say, pointing to the boy.

"Yeah," Sienna says. I stare hard at the other person in the photo.

"But who's the girl?" I can't help but feeling a sense of familiarity when I look at her.

"Her daughter. Don't know what happened to her. Some people say she's still in Eximius," Sienna says.

"And the guy, her husband? What happened to him?"

"Killed during the experiments," Sienna says offhandedly.

"The what?" I ask.

"The experiments," Sienna repeats. "You know, all the testing and such that the Eximius government has done on people with powers. It was really awful from what I've heard. Most people didn't make it through them."

"I," I begin, unsure of what to say. "That's awful. I mean, I remember reading that they did testing but..."

"You read about it?" Josh asks me, looking confused. "Where? I've read every book in the school tent here and never once have I even seen that mentioned."

"Of course you have," Sienna rolls her eyes. "And you wouldn't. There was no formal documentation of it because the Eximius government was hiding it from everyone. And it's not like the people here had a giant printing press in their stick shelters. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen it anywhere, just heard stories passed from the leaders over time." She pauses for a moment, looking at me. "Where did you read it?"

I think of the page, the way it just fell out of the book of fairy tales. Suddenly I'm not so keen to share. "Oh, I don't remember," I say vaguely. "Maybe I just overheard it from someone."

This seems to satisfy Sienna, who shrugs and returns to her search of the tent. Josh seems more skeptical, but he too has more important things on his mind. He looks at the picture again, frowning deeply.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us about Albert before," he says to Sienna. He seems lost in thought, considering some theory most likely.

Sienna frowns, looking up at us. "I thought you knew," she said. "I thought everyone did."

"Well we didn't," I say. "And that's kind of an important piece of information. It means that Erica has a personal..."

"Wait," Josh says, cutting me off. I give him a look of annoyance, but he doesn't seem to notice. "The experiments happened at the time of the revolution, right? That was over a hundred years ago."

"You don't think that was the end of them do you?" Sienna says, as if scoffing at our naivety, "The government won the war. Why would they stop the experiments?"