Firebrand by Antony John Read Free Book Online Page B

due north,” she explained, running a finger across it. “There are buildings, some of them big, so I’m guessing we’re just below this row of barrier islands here.”
    I stared at the dull gray land. “I’ll take your word for it.”
    She measured the remaining distance to Charleston. “We could be there tomorrow, Thom. Just one more day, that’s all we need.”
    She was about to refold the map when I stopped her. “Wait. What are those?” I pointed to a row of markings heading north from Hatteras.
    Alice smiled. “Oh, that’s right—you don’t know yet, do you.”
    â€œKnow what?”
    She wandered off, knowing that I’d follow. “You need to see something. Your younger brother has been a very busy boy.”
    Â»Â«
    Alice pulled the key from her pocket and, checking the corridor was still empty, unlocked the door to Dare’s cabin. “I’ll say this for Griffin,” she whispered. “I go missing for a moment, everyone wants to know where I am. Griffin disappears for a couple strikes and no one notices.” She eased the door open. “Which is pretty useful.”
    Griffin was seated on a crate at Dare’s desk. He smiled when he saw me, but didn’t get up. He looked tired. Sunlight poured through the window, but there was a melted candle beside him too.
    â€œHow long has he been here?” I asked.
    â€œMost of the night.”
    â€œBut the door was locked. What if he needed to get out?”
    â€œLower your voice.” She grabbed my arm—no pain, except for her fingers digging into my skin—and pulled me over to the desk. “What do you see?” she demanded.
    I was tired of playing along with her questions. “My brother. Imprisoned. By you.”
    She flared her nostrils, but then her lips pursed, and she snorted with laughter. “A little dramatic, don’t you think?” She placed a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t even seem to notice, he was so engrossed. “I see someone who’s trying to discover why he’s the solution, and what it means. I see someone who has just about finished plotting Dare’s course for the past two weeks. And who has discovered the startling fact that, until a month ago, Dare hadn’t thought about the solution in two years.”
    She leaned against the edge of the desk and folded her arms, giving the words time to sink in.
    â€œTwo
years
?” I repeated.
    â€œYes. It’s like Dare forgot the solution even existed.”
    â€œOr maybe he realized it
didn’t
exist.”
    â€œMaybe,” she allowed. Her eyes were narrowed again, a determined look that said she wasn’t close to done. “But then, what made him change his mind? Why’d he remember suddenly? Landing on Hatteras wasn’t an accident. He knew what he was after, and never doubted for a moment that it was Griffin.”
    As if responding to his name, Griffin slid the last of the logbooks over to me and opened it to the most recent entry. I wanted to ask him how he felt about being the solution, and if he blamed me for not telling him the truth about that. But he was focused on the task before him. While Alice reattached the map to the wall, he rested a finger beside the mysterious row of numbers at the top of the page:
35°54'N 75°35'W Y:18 D:36.
    We had already worked out that the last two numbers were a date, but the others were a mystery.
    Griffin lifted the logbook and compared the numbers on it to those on the right-hand side of the map:
35°53'
and
35°54'
. There were numbers running along the top of the map too:
75°35'
and
75°36'
. Finally, he handed me the logbook and ran his fingers down and across the map in imaginary lines. They intersected at a point I recognized all too well.
    â€œIt’s our colony on Hatteras,” I said, struggling to keep my voice low. “The numbers mark a