Read Online The August 5 by Jenna Helland - Free Book Online

was arrested, but I’d had so much root tea, I can’t remember everything he said.”
    â€œAre you sure you want to talk about this?” he asked. “When a bad thing happens to me, Mama tells me to think happy thoughts.”
    â€œThat’s good advice,” Tamsin agreed. “But I need to know what happened to Papa. What happened on the last day of the Rising?”
    â€œThey brought cannons on rovers,” Navid told her. “They hit the building over and over, even after the fires started. The Zunft had the building surrounded, and when the first man tried to flee the smoke and flames, they shot him.”
    â€œWho was that?” Tamsin asked. Mr. Leahy hadn’t told her that part of the story.
    â€œChristopher Stevens. Jack’s son.”
    â€œDid he die?” Tamsin asked.
    â€œRight there on the street,” Navid said.
    Tamsin felt sick. Jack was one of her father’s friends and another journalist. His son, Christopher, had been a childhood playmate and her first crush—although she’d never told anyone but Eliza. She hadn’t seen Christopher in four years, but she remembered how they’d dodged fireflies on summer evenings and raced with the other children along Miller’s Road. She and Christopher had been the same age, but she was faster and would leave him gasping in the dust, yelling at her to slow down and wait.
    â€œWhat happened then?” Tamsin asked.
    â€œThe fire engulfed the roof. It was about to cave in. They must have split up because they came out in two groups, one group out the east door and another through the north door. They tried to take cover but the soldiers had them surrounded on all sides. There were sparks flying everywhere so I had to run while they were still shooting.”
    â€œDid you see my father?”
    â€œYes, he came out the east side.”
    â€œDid he have a gun?”
    â€œNo, none of our side had guns,” Navid said.
    â€œWhat happened then?”
    â€œYour father led his group away from the customs house while the soldiers shot at them,” Navid said. “They couldn’t get down the alley because they were blocked by the flames.”
    Mr. Leahy had told her this part. Nine were killed on the spot. Five escaped death, including her father. The soldiers had arrested the survivors. Her father was in the hands of the Zunft. His trial would be a farce to humiliate the rebels and condemn the cottagers. Michael Henry would be found guilty and executed. There would be no justice for the cottagers—the August Rising had failed. Fighting off a sense of hopelessness, Tamsin reached out and gently squeezed the boy’s hand.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Navid said. “I like your papa. And your mama, too. She made me a toy rabbit the last time we were on Aeren.”
    â€œI remember,” Tamsin said. “Do you still have him? Can I see him?”
    Navid’s face brightened. “Sure, but don’t tell the fellows. I’m too old for toys.”
    â€œRun and get him for me. I could use a bit of home.”
    As Navid ran to his tiny room at the other end of the corridor, Tamsin wiped the tears from her eyes. Navid returned, clutching the fuzzy rabbit whose soft ears had been well loved.
    â€œYou can sleep with him until you’re better,” Navid said. When he handed the toy to her, Tamsin saw that his palms were a mass of angry red scars.
    â€œWhat happened to you?” Tamsin asked.
    Navid shrugged. “I got caught by a soldier on top of a warehouse. He glued my hands to the roof and left me there. When I tore free, it took all the skin. I can’t feel as much with them anymore.”
    â€œThat’s horrible, Navid,” Tamsin said.
    â€œYeah, it was,” Navid agreed. “I wish I could take all the Zunft and put them on a faraway island so they can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
    â€œMe, too,” Tamsin said, hugging the