sadness out of his voice.
“At all?” I raise an
eyebrow.
Ben shrugs. “Well, once
upon a time I did, obviously. My parents worked on a fishing boat
and were both killed in a storm at sea. Saul was five years old,
and I was only one. He’s been taking care of me ever
since.”
“From the time he was
five?” I gaze at him disbelievingly.
“No. We had to live in an
orphanage. But when Saul turned ten, he took me with him to the
manor house. He didn’t feel like leaving me behind in Newexter, and
I wanted to leave. The caretakers at the orphanage didn’t like me
much. I was too short-tempered for their taste.”
And that ten-year-old boy
who had to take care of his younger brother from a very early age
made himself leader of the manor house. No wonder Saul turned into
a power-hungry dictator. He’d always been powerless against the
difficult things life had flung his way.
“So I’m having a hard time
looking at your mother being all sweet to you,” he adds softly. “I
know I can’t really miss something I never had in the first place.
But still.”
I suddenly feel the urge to
hug Ben, so I fling my arm around his shoulder. “I think your
brother loves you very much.”
“My brother is a
criminal.”
I fall silent. “Are you
afraid of him?” I ask.
Ben slowly nods. “I
think he’s afraid of him, too.”
We eat the rest of our food
quietly after that.
After breakfast, we walk to
the Bookkeeper’s residence. I don’t have to ring the doorbell,
because he’s already waiting for us outside. Daryl is there too, as
well as Carl, head of the shipyard in Walt’s father’s absence.
Nathan has clearly taken my suggestion seriously if he asked those
two to attend our meeting.
“Let’s cut to the chase,”
the Bookkeeper opens the meeting, once we’re all seated at his
round meeting table. “Ben, you said the easterners have a harbor
too, which we can use as a second shipyard. Will there be enough
material to work with? Is the place near a forest?”
Ben nods. “Trees galore.
You can cut down whatever you need.”
“Why do we need to go all
the way east to continue our work?” Carl wants to know. “We built
the Explorer in secret too, and we did that near St Martin.”
“Yeah, but everybody knows
about that now,” Daryl comments. “So that’s the first place Phileas
is going to look once he notices we’re no longer building ships in
Hope Harbor.”
“Why don’t we do both?” I
blurt out.
All heads turns my way.
“What do you mean?” Nathan asks.
I bite my lip. “Well, if we
really want to use the eastern part of the island to build our
ships, we need to give Phileas a bone to chew on. He won’t look
further if he thinks he’s discovered our secret, so let’s give him
one to distract him. Carl, you need to assemble a team to start
building a second ship at St Martin. They don’t have to actually do
a lot, just pretend they’re working on something. It needs to look
convincing so Phileas will take the bait. You can keep him busy
sabotaging our ‘secret’ project, while another team works on the
actual fleet on the other side of the island.”
Daryl starts to laugh. “You
devious, brilliant girl,” he grins.
“It’s a solid idea, but I
do need to consider carefully who to ask on the Newexter team,”
Carl adds, a frown on his deeply tanned face. “We only need one
Philean rat to blab to his leader and the whole plan goes
bust.”
“In that case, I’d take my
sweet time thinking about who you trust the most,” Nathan says.
“And the people who give you a bad vibe can be a part of the St
Martin work team. That way we’ll know for sure Phileas will find
out about that secret location.”
“Why don’t you install
border patrol?” Ben suggests. “So you’ll know exactly who travels
from west to east? Phileas can’t find out what we’re up to if he
can’t cross the Wall.”
“There’s a few guards
keeping an eye on the gate as we speak,” I say.
“But
“At all?” I raise an
eyebrow.
Ben shrugs. “Well, once
upon a time I did, obviously. My parents worked on a fishing boat
and were both killed in a storm at sea. Saul was five years old,
and I was only one. He’s been taking care of me ever
since.”
“From the time he was
five?” I gaze at him disbelievingly.
“No. We had to live in an
orphanage. But when Saul turned ten, he took me with him to the
manor house. He didn’t feel like leaving me behind in Newexter, and
I wanted to leave. The caretakers at the orphanage didn’t like me
much. I was too short-tempered for their taste.”
And that ten-year-old boy
who had to take care of his younger brother from a very early age
made himself leader of the manor house. No wonder Saul turned into
a power-hungry dictator. He’d always been powerless against the
difficult things life had flung his way.
“So I’m having a hard time
looking at your mother being all sweet to you,” he adds softly. “I
know I can’t really miss something I never had in the first place.
But still.”
I suddenly feel the urge to
hug Ben, so I fling my arm around his shoulder. “I think your
brother loves you very much.”
“My brother is a
criminal.”
I fall silent. “Are you
afraid of him?” I ask.
Ben slowly nods. “I
think he’s afraid of him, too.”
We eat the rest of our food
quietly after that.
After breakfast, we walk to
the Bookkeeper’s residence. I don’t have to ring the doorbell,
because he’s already waiting for us outside. Daryl is there too, as
well as Carl, head of the shipyard in Walt’s father’s absence.
Nathan has clearly taken my suggestion seriously if he asked those
two to attend our meeting.
“Let’s cut to the chase,”
the Bookkeeper opens the meeting, once we’re all seated at his
round meeting table. “Ben, you said the easterners have a harbor
too, which we can use as a second shipyard. Will there be enough
material to work with? Is the place near a forest?”
Ben nods. “Trees galore.
You can cut down whatever you need.”
“Why do we need to go all
the way east to continue our work?” Carl wants to know. “We built
the Explorer in secret too, and we did that near St Martin.”
“Yeah, but everybody knows
about that now,” Daryl comments. “So that’s the first place Phileas
is going to look once he notices we’re no longer building ships in
Hope Harbor.”
“Why don’t we do both?” I
blurt out.
All heads turns my way.
“What do you mean?” Nathan asks.
I bite my lip. “Well, if we
really want to use the eastern part of the island to build our
ships, we need to give Phileas a bone to chew on. He won’t look
further if he thinks he’s discovered our secret, so let’s give him
one to distract him. Carl, you need to assemble a team to start
building a second ship at St Martin. They don’t have to actually do
a lot, just pretend they’re working on something. It needs to look
convincing so Phileas will take the bait. You can keep him busy
sabotaging our ‘secret’ project, while another team works on the
actual fleet on the other side of the island.”
Daryl starts to laugh. “You
devious, brilliant girl,” he grins.
“It’s a solid idea, but I
do need to consider carefully who to ask on the Newexter team,”
Carl adds, a frown on his deeply tanned face. “We only need one
Philean rat to blab to his leader and the whole plan goes
bust.”
“In that case, I’d take my
sweet time thinking about who you trust the most,” Nathan says.
“And the people who give you a bad vibe can be a part of the St
Martin work team. That way we’ll know for sure Phileas will find
out about that secret location.”
“Why don’t you install
border patrol?” Ben suggests. “So you’ll know exactly who travels
from west to east? Phileas can’t find out what we’re up to if he
can’t cross the Wall.”
“There’s a few guards
keeping an eye on the gate as we speak,” I say.
“But
Similar Books
