Grandfather (27 page)

I was stunned. I didn’t
know what to do. Cornelius looked down at me, confused at first. He
then grabbed my hand and pulled it up into the air. The spectators
quit chanting my name and cheered loudly.

I was famous. It was
amazing, and awkward, and uncomfortable, and scary. I felt more
like them than ever.

We walked down the pathway
until we reached the same long white vehicle. The driver opened a
door for us, and closed it once we were inside.

Cornelius didn’t wait for
us to get comfortable. “You fool!” he bellowed as he raised a hand
and slapped me.

I felt his ring dig into
my cheek. Water blurred my vision as my right cheek throbbed in
pain. I held it with my hand. I wanted to hit him back, but it
wasn’t worth it. That would have gotten us nowhere. I hoped
somebody saw everything. Of course not. The windows were very
tinted . . . very dark.

“
You think you’re clever,
don’t you?”

I said nothing.

“Just give it a few days,”
he said.

I’ll find a way out before
then
, I wanted to say. “Take them out of
their cells,” I said.

Before he could answer,
his phone rang. Cornelius dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out
his phone. He touched the screen and held it to his ear.

“Mr. Harrison,” he said
surprised, his eyes growing wide.

I didn’t know who this Mr.
Harrison was, but he must’ve been important, even for
Cornelius.

“
How are you . . . thank
you . . . thank you . . . I’m looking forward to it . . . should be
the best fundraiser we have . . . Carsyn?” He frowned heavily. “Of
course all three will be there . . . of course . . . I look forward
to it too.” He took the phone away from his ear and glared at me
again. “You have screwed everything up,” he barked. “I’m attending
a fundraiser Mr. Harrison is holding two nights from now. He
expects to see you and your little friends there.” He slammed a
fist against the window.

I would’ve laughed if the
window shattered.

It didn’t.

“
It’s the only way I can
get his support for anything I want to do.” He sounded like he was
talking more to himself than me.

I grinned. He noticed,
raised a hand, and went to slap me again. I ducked this time. His
hand swished over me. I rose back up to see him taking a deep
breath.

“I just have to be
patient.” He took his phone back out, brought the transparent
screen to life, and dialed another number. “Take them out of their
damn cells,” he said and then hung up.

“That’s all I wanted,” I
said with satisfaction.

“You’ve got me in a mess.
Meeko should have known not to ask you any more questions about the
outside.”

I raised my chin in the
air. “You didn’t say I wasn’t allowed to mention what happens
outside of the wall.”

“I shouldn’t have had to,”
he said, looking as if he would throw another swing at me at any
moment. “People outside any city wall were probably listening. I
can’t have them getting all hopeful. I’ll have to take their damn
radios away from them next.”

I laughed.

“You think it’s funny,
now,” he said. “Look at yourself.” He pointed at my clothing. I
looked down to see what I was wearing. “You’re one of us now.
“

“
No, I’m
not one of you rich people,” I argued.

“
But you are,” he said. “I
just hope those outside see it too. Maybe they’ll hate you for
it.”

“
I hope they riot,” I said.
“I hope they protest.”

“They’ll be arrested. I’ll
leave it to your imagination for what happens to them after
that.”

I said nothing, again,
thinking of Marley’s dad. I stuck my hand in my pocket, clutching
the necklace. He noticed this and jerked my hand out. I gripped the
necklace in my fist. He overpowered me, forcing my hand open. He
took the necklace and placed it back into his jacket
pocket.

“You’ll get it before the
fundraiser,” he said. “And you’ll wear it.”

“Is it true?” I
asked.

He didn’t
respond.

“Is. It. True?”

He shook his head. “I know
the truth. Even if I planned on telling you before, that little
show you put on messed that up.”

I couldn’t do anything. I
watched us pass by the thousands of people and hundreds of
different shops. Ashton and Marley would be out of their cells. We
could be together again. At least I had
something
to look forward
to.

We’d have to plan an
escape. I knew Cornelius probably had people listening to us or
recording devices hidden around the room. It would be difficult.
Very difficult. We had to find a way. It was only a matter of time
before Cornelius figured out a way to get rid of us.

Chapter Twelve

O
nce we reached the Presidential Tower, I followed Cornelius
inside the building and to the elevator. In the elevator, I watched
again as I towered above the people, and eventually the buildings.
The elevator stopped. I knew where I was. We rounded the corner to
where my suite was. There, waiting at the door, were two officers.
It wasn’t they who caught my attention. It was the two standing
behind them.

Ashton and
Marley.

Marley ran, throwing her
arms around me. “You’re okay!”

Ashton joined us. “We were
worried,” he said, patting my shoulder, giving Cornelius a dirty
look.

“You’re going to look at
me like that?” Cornelius said. “After I let you out of your cells,
gave you each a nice room to stay in.” He motioned to the two doors
next to mine.

“What’s going on?” Ashton
asked. “What did you do with Carsyn? Where did you take
him?”

“Get inside,” Cornelius
said, motioning us inside my room. “Now.”

“It’s okay,” I assured
them. “I’ve been safe.”

We gathered around the
sofa in my room. Cornelius slammed the door shut. “You can thank
Carsyn for getting you out,” he said. “Foolish.”

“What happened?” Marley
asked me.

“I’ll tell you
later.”

“You still think it’s
funny,” Cornelius said. “Wait after a week. I’ll get what’s in that
safe, get the location of these people you’re with, and then you’ll
be dead. All three of you.”

I said nothing. With luck,
we’d find a way to escape. Ugh, I hated relying on luck.

“
You three will be
attending the fundraiser, unfortunately. Any smart moves there will
lead to a painful death, only after a series of painful torture
schemes.”

Ashton and Marley glanced
at each other, probably wondering why they were going to a
fundraiser.

“While you’re here, don’t
mention Grandfather,” Cornelius said, walking closer to us. “You
dare tell somebody here about me, your limbs will be torn off one
by one.”

Whoa, Cornelius was losing
it. This guy wasn’t playing around.

Did that also mean that
not everybody in the building knew about Grandfather? Were all of
his councilmen and councilwomen aware?

“Are. We.
Clear?”

We nodded quickly.
Cornelius was serious. We’d have to be careful.

“Enjoy it while you can,”
he told Ashton and Marley. “As I told Carsyn, you’re one of us for
now. But you won’t have this for much longer.”

“I’ll never be one of
you,” Ashton shouted. “Never.”

Cornelius grinned.
“Unfortunately, if you want to survive, you’re going to have to be
one of us these next few days. You
will
act like one of us at the
fundraiser.”

Ashton’s face was covered
with anger as Cornelius left the room. Once the door was completely
shut, he kicked the sofa as hard as he could. It scooted a few
inches. “Why doesn’t he just kill us now?” he shouted. “We might as
well tell everybody about him. I mean, we’re going to die either
way.”

I explained to him how
we’d have to find some way to escape.

“But they’re probably
spying on us now,” he said.

I nodded. “I’m sure of
it,” I whispered. “We’ll figure it out later.”

Marley placed a hand on my
cheek. Her skin was cold to the touch. “It’s red,” she said,
indicating the spot where Cornelius had slapped me. “What
happened?”

We sat down on the sofa,
and I told them everything that’d happened once I was taken away.
They were surprised that I was on TV and also wondered if everybody
in the dining hall listened.

They agreed that everybody
would have known I was faking everything. As I talked about all of
the nice things I had been around, they looked at the room with
amazement.

“I can’t believe you
mentioned the separation,” Ashton said with a grin.
“Brilliant.”

“You think they’ll do
anything?” Marley asked, also excited.

“Don’t know,” I told them.
“I was only thinking of making Cornelius angry.”

“And you just know they
broadcasted it nationwide,” Ashton added. “This is
great.”

I told them more about the
interview and how everybody treated me like I was a hero. I also
showed them around the place, showing them how to use the TV and
the remote. Just as I was, they were amazed by the technology.
Never had they seen anything like it outside the wall. I turned the
channel to another news station. They were discussing the interview
and replaying mine and Cornelius’s entrance.

“Wow,” Marley said in awe.
“You’re famous.”

After looking at
everything suspiciously, Ashton said, “I don’t like
this.”

“What do you mean?” Marley
asked. “This is incredible!”

“It may be, but it’s not
right.”

I understood him
immediately. “The only problem is that it makes me feel like I’m
one of them. Especially when I’m all over the TV and people are
cheering for me. Look at me.” I pointed at the suit and my perfect
hair.

“It’s ridiculous,” Ashton
said. “I don’t even want to be close to one of them. He walked to
the glass wall overlooking the city. Marley and I followed
him.

The tall wall in the
distance grabbed my attention again. I imagined what the city would
be like if it didn’t exist. I imagined what it would be like if
every wall in the nation never existed. Those outside a city wall
would have a chance. They would be able to get the knowledge,
education, and technology the rich have.

I never really thought
about it until I saw what was inside.

Marley walked to the TV
and turned the volume up just in time. We all turned our attention
to the TV. They were replaying the segment when I was asked what I
wanted to do in the future. I watched again as everybody stood up,
applauding me.

“
Wow,” Marley
whispered.

The screen switched to a
reporter who was interviewing a man outside of the Presidential
Tower. His gray, slicked back hair matched his suit. He didn’t look
old in the face at all.

“He seems to be a great
boy,” the man was saying to the reporter. “He’s got dreams; he’s
got the power to do anything he wants. I feel like he will be able
to do great things with the president’s help. And he’s from the
other side! It makes me wonder if there are others like him who
could really do something with our help, and –”

The screen went blank
before the man could continue. We all glanced at each
other.

“What happened?” Marley
asked.

The screen immediately
came back alive, only this time it displayed the
weather.

We all glanced at each
other. “They’re afraid,” I said. “Cornelius is scared.”

“Wow,” Ashton said with a
huge smile. “If we can get people from within the wall to believe
the separation isn’t right, we can really destroy Grandfather.
Think about it! We could do a lot more than destroy
Grandfather.”

“We can tear down city
walls,” Marley finished for Ashton, her eyes glistening. “I wish
Momma could’ve heard that.”

The man hadn’t said much.
But we hoped it was enough to put the idea into people’s head. That
would be enough.

They liked me. I mean, the
people within the wall actually liked me! I wasn’t even thinking
about that during the interview. I was focused on keeping Marley
and Ashton safe. And Cornelius from getting angry, of
course.

Was it possible that I,
without knowing, was changing things?

Now all we had to do was
get people to believe Cornelius was the Grand Imperial. Then things
could really turn around.

Having nothing else to do,
we sat on the couch and watched the TV. We didn’t care too much for
it because we couldn’t get it out of our mind that we were doing
the same thing the rich people did.

Finally, Ashton was the
one to say something, making sure he whispered. “What are we going
to do . . . about getting out?”