Family of Lies: Sebastian Read Online Free PDF

hadn’t been through. “Does he throw anything away?” Sebastian muttered after finding a dried gremlin skin under a jewelry display. Scales flaked off in his fingers, and Sebastian rubbed his hand on his pants. “Ugh.”
    “Shut up. You’re not the one going through Mother’s undergarments,” Diana hissed.
    “I found it,” Ophelia said and dangled a velvet bag bound with gold thread from her fingers. Kevin reached for it, but Ophelia held it out of his reach. “We need a key.”
    “Shit!” Diana shouted. “Something just bit me.” She pointed her wand at the drawer, but Sebastian grabbed her hand.
    “It will be hard to pretend we were never here if you kill the creature protecting Mother’s things.”
    Diana yanked her hand free and kicked the drawer shut with her foot. “Fine. Ophelia, can you sense where the key is?”
    “It’s downstairs. I think Father has it.”
    “Great, so we’re supposed to go downstairs and search him when he’s likely to wake up any minute?” Kevin asked. “I’m calling it a night.”
    “Quit being a coward. Sebastian.” Diana turned to him.
    Sebastian sensed an inconvenient task headed his way and rushed for the door. A firm grip on his hair stopped him. “Ow, ow, ow, okay, I’ll go downstairs,” he said, and Kevin released him.
    “Kevin and I will help him,” Ophelia said.
    “Why both of us?” Kevin asked.
    “Because I’m doing most of the work,” Diana said.
    When they sneaked into the dining room, the rest of the Orwells were still facedown on the table or in their bowls. Sebastian adjusted Kraven’s head so he wouldn’t drown.
    Kevin went through their father’s pockets and came up empty. “Should we strip him?”
    “No!” Sebastian hissed, knowing who would end up with the dirty job. “Ophelia.”
    “I’m searching, I’m searching,” Ophelia said as she eyed their father from head to toe.
    “Ophelia, it does not take you that long, stop being nosy,” Diana ordered.
    “Fine, check under his tongue.”
    “Sebastian’s the youngest.” Kevin stepped away.
    “You can’t make all decisions based upon who is the youngest,” Sebastian said, now standing alone after his three siblings had moved back.
    “It’s worked out for years, and you’re a wanted man. Consider this your punishment,” Kevin said.
    “What if it’s spelled?”
    “It’s not,” Ophelia promised.
    Sebastian squared his shoulders, determined to get it over with as quickly as possible. He tilted their father’s head back and pressed his fingers against lips covered in drool. “I get to open the bag,” he said as he stuck his fingers under a slimy tongue and found a wet ball of thread. He pulled out his hand and held up the thread.
    “Deal.” Diana’s mouth twisted. “And I won’t bother you during my entire stay.”
    “There’s no curiosity in the world that would have tempted me to do what you just did,” Kevin said.
    “Hurry!” Ophelia gathered her skirts and ran for the stairs.
     
     
    S EBASTIAN HOOKED the thread through the bag’s string, and an opening appeared. He stuck his hand in the bag. It disappeared into darkness, and Sebastian had to sink his arm down farther. His nails tapped silver cups and candlesticks, silks, cut jewels, pearls, and then something that crinkled like paper. “Aha!” Sebastian pulled out a roll of parchment. They scooted to a desk, and Sebastian removed the ribbon binding it.
    “Show and tell, my little friend, the secrets of your master’s sin,” Diana said over the map, and a red line appeared from neighboring kingdom, Anerith, to Larnlyon’s capital city, Trellium.
    “Was he tracking the prince?” Kevin asked.
    “No,” Ophelia said. “He was tracking someone else. Someone who took the same path as the prince.” She pointed to parts of the red line that zigzagged from Silver Lake to the inn where the prince had been found.
    “Father knows who attacked Turren,” Sebastian said. “Ophelia, break the