Read Online House of Ravens by Keary Taylor - Free Book Online Page A

Henry would have another way out
of his lab. He always had an escape route. And an alternate way to
get from his lab into the rest of his house, without opening up the
whole damn floor in the ballroom.
    I look down at myself and see what a mess
I’ve made of my clothes, brushing up against the dirt walls in the
narrow passageway. Carefully, I make my way back to the lab door,
and pull it closed behind me, staying in the tunnel. I can’t go
back into my father’s sterile lab coated in dirt. Besides, I’m not
sure what else to look for in there. I have yet to find any
clues.
    It’s kind of comforting, walking through
these underground tunnels. It’s easy to pretend that time doesn’t
exist. I could be in the twenty-first century, or the eighteenth
one, when Henry had them dug. I could be here before the world wars
or the Civil.
    And as far as I know, I’m the only one who
knows of their existence. I have an escape if I need one. Some
place I can go to be alone where no one will find me.
    Except maybe Henry.
    Suddenly, I stop, looking back the direction
to the edge of the property.
    My heart stills.
    I’ve lived here at the Conrath Estate for
ten months. With this passageway, Henry could have easily gained
access to his lab.
    Thinking of that picture,
the one of my boarding the plane, it had to have been placed in the
lab after Henry
“died.” After I
arrived here at the Conrath Estate.
    We’ve been in this house at the same
time.
    Henry is alive.
    My heart races. Thunders. Blood rushes
through my ears.
    I’m so close. So close to meeting my father.
To reconnecting with a piece of me that’s been missing my entire
life.
    I look over my shoulder once more and
continue walking down the tunnel. I don’t have to go far before a
set of stone stairs begins ascending. Up the back of the house, and
finally, breaking out onto a small landing.
    I pause behind the painting for at least a
minute, listening hard for sounds of life in my bedroom. When I
hear none, absolutely certain of it, I push one edge of the
painting forward, opening the doorway, and step into my room.
    Not wasting any time, I cross into my
bathroom, stripping off my filthy clothes, and burying them beneath
other items of clothing so that Ian will not see them and question
me about how I got so filthy.
    With a little smile, I start the hot water
and step into the shower.
    I’m just a little closer to discovering
Henry’s secrets.

 
     
     
     
    THE DAYS BEGIN TO MOVE FAST.
    There’s so much work to be done.
    Anna and Ian take control of security. She’s
tense about it, angry and hostile. This is her job. But she
recognizes Ian’s ability to hunt, and she doesn’t have much choice
but to accept it. And in the end, I think she recognizes we are
better for it.
    Everyone goes out in shifts of three. Two to
constantly patrol town, one to always be checking the property for
signs of spies or intruders. With nineteen members, dividing them
into teams of three leaves no one too heavily burdened with
four-hour shifts. Every team gets one shift per twenty-four hour
period.
    It makes the air feel tense. It sets us all
on edge. And the curse that still hangs in the air isn’t helping.
But it makes them ready. Prepared.
    But to balance it out with some normalcy, at
least somewhat, is the rearrangement of the living situations.
    It’s not an easy thing, balancing who will
live where. I don’t want anyone feeling as if they’re less
important because they have to live at the Institute, but while we
have thirteen bedrooms here at the Estate, it is not enough to
house everyone.
    In the end, it works itself out quite
nicely.
    It’s only natural to give Lillian
stewardship over the Institute. Even if she is not the House
leader, someone needs to be the head of the household because I
cannot be there all of the time. She’s given the master
bedroom.
    I’m not surprised at all when Nial is torn.
He’s unfailingly loyal to me, my name, and this House. But it’s