The Knowledge of the Hidden

Chapter 30

We are taken into custody immediately by Griffin, who shoves us ahead of him as we walk. He seems angry, much more than I would've expected by the way he spoke to Erica earlier. I was under the impression that he was simply Erica's puppet, doing whatever she asked even though he didn't agree. But the look on his face, when I catch a glimpse of it in the flame floating near us, tells me that this is personal for him.

We reach the edge of town, where Griffin leads us into the programming building, and pushes us roughly into a room with metal doors, shutting them the moment we are through. Sienna is sitting on the floor and looks up when we come in.

"Oh thank God," she exclaims, jumping to her feet and rushing over to hug us all in turn. She pauses when she gets to me, holding me at arm's length so she can look me in the eye.

"Everyone's out," I tell her before she has the chance to ask. "They're safe." She grins and hugs me hard, nearly choking me in the process.

"Then it was worth it," she says firmly. "No matter what they do to us."

"Have you seen your mom?" Xavier asks, glancing around nervously. "Maybe she can talk some sense into Erica before she decides to come down and blow our heads off herself."

"Oh, she won't do that," Sienna says, casually. "Erica needs us. We're the only ones that know where the citizens went."

"Why would she care where they went?" Xavier asks. "They're no longer a threat. We can just relocate somewhere farther and..." His voice trails off. We all sit in silence for several minutes, just staring at each other. No one knows what to say. What can you say in a situation like this?

Suddenly, we can hear arguing from somewhere outside the door. We hurry and press our ears to the door, all fighting for space.

"Empty! They took them all! Thanks to these...meddling..." Erica hisses.

"I know," comes Griffin's voice. "But there's nothing we can do about that now."

"Like Hell there isn't." There's a scuffle of feet.

"Mom," Griffin says sharply and the movement stops. "She's your granddaughter."

Xavier, Sienna, and Josh frown, looking between each other. I keep my ear pressed against the cool metal, straining to hear more.

"She's not my granddaughter," Erica snaps. "It's not my fault if Katie Anne has a habit of taking in strays..."

"If anything happened to her, you know Katie Anne would never..."

"Would never what?" Erica sounds almost insane now, her voice raising in pitch by the second. "For all we know, Katie Anne can never do anything ever again, thanks to her..."

"Mom," Griffin says again, firmly. "We'll find them. I promise. We're not giving up."

Erica ignores this. "Put her with the others," she says. "Get her out of my sight."

We hear approaching footsteps and leap out of the way just in time for Wren to stumble in. She looks up at us, her defiant expression slowly morphing to one of surprise as she takes in our presence.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asks.

Everyone is staring at her, trying to understand the conversation they just heard. Even I am unsure of exactly what just happened, and keep replaying the interaction in my mind. Sienna is the first to speak up.

"You're Erica's granddaughter?" she asks. Wren bites her lip, looking at the rest of us.

"Yes," she says quietly. "Well, her daughter adopted me and my brother after our parents died."