True Son Read Online Free PDF Page B

had stolen the sketches in his journal and used them as a bartering tool with Elder Naseph. The next day, Naseph and Yens had come and taken all the books from Amma’s family’s secret library — books that would make them nearly invincible. But now all of that seemed like ages ago. All the things that had happened since then — the struggle against Naseph and Yens at the temple, The Fall, the trip to Kanjai — all of that seemed necessary somehow. Fated.
    But Taemon wasn’t sure Amma saw it that way. The loss of those books still weighed heavily on her conscience. He watched Amma’s reactions carefully. She stood stiffly, her hands clenched, but he could see no anger in her eyes. Just . . . sadness.
    “Did you have any idea?” Amma whispered. “Any idea at all of what you were doing?”
    Vangie’s eyebrows lifted, and she finally looked Amma in the eye. “No. No. I swear to you, I didn’t know they were planning to take the books. I didn’t even know what they were looking for. I had talked to Elder Othaniel a few times — my cousin arranged the meetings. Skies, my parents would have died if they knew. All he said was to look for anything unusual. Secret passageways, hidden places, things like that. And that door — when Taemon pointed it out, I started wondering. Then I found those sketches, and I thought finally I would get to go live in the city. I swear, I had no idea . . .” Her words started to sound a little squeaky, and she paused, pressing her lips together to keep from crying. “I’m so sorry.”
    Amma stepped forward and hugged Vangie. Taemon saw the girl’s shoulders shaking.
    “It’s all right,” he heard Amma whisper. “All of us made some bad choices then.”
    Elder Othaniel. That name was familiar to Taemon. If he remembered right, he was one of the high priests who worked for Elder Naseph. Most of the priests had been lying low since The Fall. They weren’t seen in public very much. Rumors were that many of them had left the church and returned to their families.
    “What happened after you went to the temple?” Taemon asked.
    “It was horrible,” Vangie said. “The food was disgusting. And they treated me like a slave. They brought in all those books, and they made us go through them, looking for certain books they wanted.”
    Amma gasped. “You saw the books? In the temple?”
    Vangie nodded. “I was one of the few people who could read. Did you know hardly anybody in the city can read? So I had to do almost all of it. Skies, there were so many books!”
    “Elder Othaniel made you do all this?”
    “Yes,” Vangie said, her eyes flashing with hatred.
    “The books.” Amma’s eyes were wide, and she was almost breathless. “What happened to the books?”
    Vangie frowned and shook her head. “So many strange things happened just before The Fall. They made us work all night sorting through the books. Then Elder Othaniel came in and told us to get a couple of hours of sleep. When we came back, the books were gone. All of them. And no one could find Elder Othaniel, either. Elder Naseph was furious, storming around, blaming everyone. Then the power went out and everybody panicked. I’m telling you, it was like an asylum in there. And that was
before
the earthquake.”
    “So the books were not in the temple when it was destroyed?” Amma asked.
    “I don’t see how they could have been,” Vangie said. “Naseph had people searching the temple from top to bottom looking for those books. They never found them.”
    Amma fell silent, her mouth agape. There was only one person who could have taken the books from Naseph: General Sarin. And Taemon would bet his last lamb that Amma was thinking of a way to get them back.
    The leaders of the colony and the city had made a habit of meeting in Hannova’s office to discuss problems and coordinate plans. Hannova called it the council, and somewhere along the way, Taemon and Amma had become part of it. Maybe it was their journey over