The Stone Key (The Novel Adventures of Nimrod Vale Book 2) by Brown Natasha

Author:Brown, Natasha [Brown, Natasha]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-05-23T04:00:00+00:00

The Book of Secrets

Bardrick groaned from ten feet away. “Ow.”

My heartbeat thundered in my ears. I swallowed as I turned around to face the person who’d caught us. A teenaged girl with a braid hanging over her shoulder was hunched over, staring at the picks dangling from the lock.

“Kyrah?” I asked, caught off guard. “What are you doing here?”

She straightened up and said, “Well, I live here. What’s your excuse?”

Pepper anchored her fists onto her hips and stepped between the two of us. “You’re the duchess?”

Kyrah pinched up her face in response. “I hate being called that. Just call me Kyrah.”

“I’m Pepper,” she said and held out her hand with a smile.

I struggled to pull out the picks from the lock. Finally, they were free, and I shoved them back into their pouch. This was clearly where our night ended. If we could just get out of there and return home, that was our best option. I realized both of the girls were looking at me expectantly. I got the feeling I was missing something.

“Well, I guess we’ll be leaving. Nice to see you again, Kyrah,” I said and threw my backpack over my shoulder.

“Seriously?” Kyrah asked with a laugh. When I didn’t answer, she folded her arms across her chest and said, “You walked in on the aqueducts, tried all those keys and whatever else you were just doing, and you’re going to just walk away—empty handed?”

“Wait, you were watching us the whole time?” I asked, feeling a chill run down my spine.

Bardrick limped over to us, his hand holding his low back. When he saw the duchess, he straightened up, his eyes wide. “Duchess Kyrah, I uh…”

Her brow wrinkled as she pointed to his head. “You’ve got leaves in your hair.”

He brushed them away quickly, looking sheepish.

“Mother and Father hate how unladylike I am. I thought I was the only one who ran the aqueducts. I see I was wrong,” Kyrah said in wonder of Bardrick, then returned her attention to me. “I’m here to find answers. That’s why you’re here, I assume? That’s why anyone comes to the Hall of Records.”

I didn’t need to answer, because Pepper started in like a lawyer arguing her case. “I don’t understand why everyone’s so ready to leave this amazing place without doing everything they can to solve the problem first. Why do adults always think they know what’s best—what if they don’t?”

Her voice wavered at the end of her speech, and I suspected the only reason she stopped talking was because she couldn’t get the words out. I stood awkwardly beside her, not knowing how to make her feel better. Patting her shoulder might have worked if the thought of it didn’t make me feel so weird. So, I looked between the others, noticing how upset they all appeared.

“We came here to find my grandfather’s building records—his journal from when he helped build the aqueducts. Yes, we’re looking for answers,” Bardrick said in Kyrah’s direction without actually looking her in the eye.

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