House of Leights (Secret Keepers #3)(16)

I was still far from being okay with everything I’d learned here today, but I felt some of my natural resilience reasserting itself.

“I’m ready to go back,” I told my mom, and she linked her arm through mine.

We left the bathroom, rejoining the room of suits and my family. “So, what’s the plan?” I asked the moment my butt hit the seat. “How are we going to stop him from getting his hands on me?”

Peter blinked, and it almost looked like I’d taken him by surprise. His forehead even crinkled slightly. “We’re transferring you and your family to a more secure safe house. You’ll be under the protection of very powerful Daelighters. Leaders of their houses.”

I tried not to show how much that shook me, knowing I’d be seeing these Daelighters soon … it was a lot. I couldn’t even imagine what they looked like, I mean, surely they weren’t little green men. They had to look like us. Otherwise they’d never blend in with the human population.

Peter was still talking: “…they’re going to try and use your blood to find the final secret keeper. If we can find her first, we should be able to find the stone.”

“And move it before this Laous gets his hands on it,” I finished.

He nodded. “We’ll move and protect it. The old way is flawed, as we’ve all come to realize, so it’s time to rework the treaty and make it even more secure. But we need to find it first.”

“Wouldn’t her parents be part of this government organization? I know that it’s secret and all, but couldn’t you just round up all one hundred families and inform them of what has happened. She will come forward then…”

Peter nodded, but his expression wasn’t as positive. “It’s true that all secret keepers and their families are part of our government sector, but they were given the option to fall off the grid. To hide. Your family were the only ones to stay close and active. As for the others, we had only one way to track them, with a stone that was entrusted to the first secret keeper…”

“And Laous has it now?” I guessed.

He nodded, confirming my thoughts.

“How would you have found the first, then, if she fell off the grid?”

Probably all useless information, but I needed the entire picture. I wanted to know it all.

“I knew who the first was,” my father said, startling me. I was sad to see his eyes so tired and puffy. It had been a long night for us all. “I volunteered to hold that information, because I wanted to know if the first was compromised. If she was compromised, then I knew you would soon be after. Somehow, though, I missed the signs. We grew complacent…”

His voice broke. Peter quickly added, “All of the families were required to check in on occasion through a secure, encrypted phone line. But none made the last call.”

Slumping back into my chair, I let this information roll over me. Movement from across the table caught my eye and I realized it was Brad, staring at me like he’d never seen me before. “Why did you let Brad hear all of this?” I asked, sounding disconnected. “Now he has no choice but to be part of this.”

“They’ve seen him,” Peter said simply. “He’s been compromised. Until we can sort this situation out, it’s safer for him to be part of it. He’ll be going with you to the safe house.”

I’m sorry, I mouthed to him, and some of the shock cleared from his face as he fiercely shook his head.

“I chose this,” he said to me, ignoring everyone else. “You gave me the option to stay behind. This was my decision.”

Yeah, but he’d had no idea what he was getting into. That sticking with me might turn out to be utterly life changing for him. I was pretty thankful, though, that Gracie hadn’t been with me. She might go on to live a normal life, no matter what happened here.

Brad asked the next question: “Will I be able to talk to my parents, at least let them know I’m okay?”

“They’ve already been informed,” the director told him as he got to his feet. “Your transport will be here in twenty minutes. Only a select few will know your new location. It’s not going through the normal channels, so you should be safe there. I’ll be in touch.”

With those final words he left the room, not looking back. The other suits followed; none of them had spoken a word during the entire meeting, and I wondered what the point of them had been. Probably they were the ones behind the scenes organizing things.

When it was just my parents, Brad, and me, we all sat in silence. I was exhausted, scared, and confused, wondering if I’d stumbled into some sort of alternate reality. Or maybe I was dreaming.

Like I’d be that lucky.

“I owe you the hugest of apologies,” my dad said to me. His eyes were red, and he seemed smaller than normal. “When the first call went out in our group, I was so proud that I had a child to provide for the cause. But that was before you were born, before I knew the vibrant, funny, clever child who should be free to go out into the world and leave her mark on it.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry that I never took into consideration how it might affect you. Your life. It was selfish of me.”

Pushing myself up, I moved around the table to hug him. “It’s okay, Dad,” I mumbled against his chest. “Things have been fine for the first eighteen years. I’ve had more than most kids get.” And the truth was, I’d never felt “normal,” I’d always been empty and searching. I’d thought it was because of my absent parents, but maybe it had been more to do with the world I was born in but never knew about.