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She said none of this to her father. But when she looked at him, she could see a lie forming on his tongue so easily.
He...
Without thought, the words fell from her mouth. “You know.”
Her father looked surprised. “What do I know?”
“About them.” She shouldn’t even be saying this.
What if he didn’t know? What if she was letting her father know about this secret species and suddenly all of this might be her fault?
Could she trust her father with the knowledge that Imber’s people existed? Would he run to the General and let that terrible man know that there were other things they had to worry about, and things that didn’t have to do with structural integrity?
Her father slumped even more in his chair and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alys, I’m only going to ask this once, and I need you to tell me the truth. Where have you been going all these afternoons?”
A little bell of a voice in her head said that she should lie. He didn’t need to know where she was going. What if this was a trick? A trap? What if they locked her up, and they refused to let her see Imber again?
But this was her father. And she loved him. Trusted him. Even though he had done some questionable things as of late, she knew, in his heart, he was a good man.
“I’ve been meeting with the sea,” she replied quietly. She stared into his gaze, hoping he knew what that meant.
“Exploring?”
“Talking,” she corrected. “And exploring, I suppose. But mostly talking.”
She could see that he understood what she was saying. He knew that she meant she had conversed with the people under the sea and the spark of adventure in his eyes was so familiar it made her heart thud in her chest.
“How?” he asked.
“Beta.”
“A translation chip? But we know nothing about their language.”
Alys shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “I gave him a copy of Beta. And he brought it home with him.”
“He?”
She nodded.
Her father let out a long breath. “So he brought Beta home and spoke with it?”
“For days on end, I assume. It’s not a complete mapping of their language, and I did only have Beta create one before it turned itself offline because I didn’t want anyone else getting their hands on the language without knowing what they might do with it.” Strangely, she felt rather defensive about her plan. “I thought of everything, Dad.”
“I can tell.” He stood from his desk and then held out his hand for her to take. “I need you to see something.”
That pit in her stomach continued to tighten as she followed him out of his office. Together, they left their home and walked down the boardwalks that brought them closer to the city. Not that it was much of a city anymore. They had a small gathering of the richer folks here, while everyone else had tried to live in the mountain towns.
It hadn’t worked to save them. The air was even thinner up there, filled with ash and dust from the volcanoes. At least the storms didn’t hit them like they hit the people on thecoastlines, though. That’s why they all lived in floating houses. Theoretically, their houses rode the waves that came in.
She’d still seen people lose their houses time and time again, though. And their lives.
Her father brought her to one of the homes that she’d always thought was storage and then pulled out a set of keys. Quickly, he unlocked the building while looking around them like someone might be following them.
Or perhaps that they would get in trouble if anyone caught them.
“Come on,” he said, hastening her with his tone. “Let’s go, Alys.”
Together, they snuck into the darkness of the building. She was shocked to see what was beyond.
