Part 7: The Greatest Treasure

The address was in Blackbrook: The closest city to mine but it would take days to get there on foot. Fortunately for me, I knew a better way. I pulled down the planks Lorena had used to block off the door to the attic's stairwell, then traced the door glyph on its frame.

In my early years as a thief for hire, I had pulled a few jobs in Blackbrook and even considered moving to the city. There turned out to be too many guilds and territorial gangs for my liking, and I didn't have the skills to protect myself from them like I do now.

Back then, I had used an abandoned lighthouse as a hideout for a few weeks. A much bigger one had been built down the docks. I learned from studying the glyph catalog that if I was familiar with the location I needed to get to, or a person I needed to see, I could will the door glyph to let me out close to that person or place. When I passed through the attic door, I found the smaller lighthouse was still standing and still abandoned. There were signs that other people had squatted there from time to time, but no one was there at the time and I was able to exit the building through a window on the lower level.

Blackbrook always seemed one step ahead of The City in its industrialism, wealth and corruption. I had read once that the two had gone to war hundreds of years ago and had an uneasy relationship ever since. Lorena often found jobs here, which told me the war was still waging, only on a more covert level.

I wasn't as familiar with its streets as I was my own city's so I had to stop and steal a map from the local customs house. The address was located in Blackbrook's industrial district. That certainly didn't sound like the kind of place to leave an infant and it made sense that Lorena would feel guilty. While working my way across the rooftops, I told myself that I would find her baby and bring it to Scribe and Six to raise as their own. Considering who it came from, I was sure they wouldn't mind taking on the new addition to their budding family.

The address belonged to a boarding house connected to a factory: A work house, where children were sent to make themselves useful. This kind of place wouldn't have accommodations for an infant, but Lorena may have come here to give it away or sell it. Perhaps I would find a clue in their files. I slipped into the boarding house through an attic window to work my way down to the office.

There was a long, thin hallway in the attic that was lined with doors: Their idea of solitary confinement for the ones who didn't meet their quota for the day. I could hear chains rattling and children whimpering behind a few of the doors, but there was a boy humming as well. I looked through the keyhole of his room and saw him sitting with his back to the door, playing with something. Beneath the humming, it sounded like he was trying to pick a lock but whatever he was using was inefficient for the job.

His humming broke into an exasperated sigh and he dropped his tool to his right: The sunflower brooch. He tried using the pin of the brooch as a lockpick and it was bent out of shape. How did he get it in the first place? He had to have stolen it off of Lorena's baby.

I picked the lock of his cell easily and closed the door after I slipped in. He had hidden the brooch by then, possibly in his worn jacket or a pants pocket, and turned around to look up from where he sat. He seemed more curious than afraid of the fact that I was there. I crouched down to his level and pointed at the vague bulge I finally spotted in his right jacket pocket. "Where did you get that?"

He was quiet for a long time, studying the part of my face he could see above my mask. After a while, he finally said, "From the lady who visited me a few times. She said if I kept it safe, something good would happen to me."

Now it was my turn to stare quietly for a while. The longer I studied his features, the more I could see subtle details that were familiar to Lorena's face. His eyebrows were thicker than hers, though, and his eyes were brown.

Like mine.

I settled all the way down on the floor then. Lorena and I had slept together a long time ago, long enough that—

We had lost touch. Anything could have happened. He didn't have to be mine just because of that. Brown eyes and dark hair were very common in The City and we were never exclusive to each other, especially not back then.

"This might be for you," he said as he pulled a crumpled envelope out of his right pocket. It was still sealed but I quickly tore it open and read the letter it held.

Garrett—

I didn't want to admit how I felt about you because I knew that saying it out loud would ruin what we had, but you don't know how much my heart hurt when I saw you die in front of me. I thought I had lost the one thing I had begun to look forward to when I returned from doing the only thing I seem to know how to do anymore. My heart ached again when you walked away from me in the graveyard, but I knew it wasn't because you didn't care for me. You and I have learned to keep moving forward so that feelings like this won't cause us to stumble. That is why I need your help tying up this loose end.

The boy is my son. Years ago I was put in prison here in Blackbrook and didn't know that I was pregnant at the time. After I gave birth to him, they took him away from me. I tried to find him once I escaped but as my career developed, I realized it wouldn't be a good idea for him to be with me, and I left him to his fate. I still don't believe it would be an ideal situation for him to live with me. I am not ashamed of the lives I have taken, but he is too young to understand that my life is not something to aspire to. Please help him escape from here. I don't know if he's yours or not, but I trust you to do what's best for him.

I'm not ready to talk about what happened at your funeral. In fact, I feel it's best we moved on from it. After you've helped him, I would appreciate at least knowing that it was done.

Sincerely,

Lorena

She found her son but couldn't bring herself to take him with her. I put a hand on his short head of hair just to see what it felt like but drew it back almost in the same second. He was understandably confused by the gesture but I wasn't about to explain it to him. I couldn't even explain it to myself. Then I looked down at the cuff around his ankle. He was chained to the wall like a dog. All of the children had to be, but I wasn't about to take them all with me. I had to focus on Lorena's boy.

"What's your name," I asked him.

"Rory."

"A good name." I picked the lock on his cuff in the same breath. "Rory, you're coming with me."

He took a moment to rub his ankle. "Am I being kidnapped?"

I gestured to our surroundings. "Would you rather stay here?"

He took one look around before telling me, "I think I'd rather be kidnapped." Whether he was mine or not, he at least had my wit.

I had to mark his forehead with the glyph that allowed Rumor and Jenivere to enter the clock tower, but after that I opened the door of his cell to the bottom level. Rory was fascinated by every part we passed on our way up to my hideout. I didn't think he would ever fall asleep for how energized he was by his curiosity, but after some food, he was out like a candle. I left him sleeping in my bed, because even though the sun was rising on another day, my thoughts were too active to let me close my eyes.

While her son slept, I went back to Lorena's attic to take care of her things. I needed the time to myself to figure out what to do next. I burned all of her records and disguises, keeping a few ornate masks to divide with Scribe and Six. They would want something to remember her and for my own reasons, I did as well. Whatever money and valuables she had, I put them together in a bag so I could sell the goods to Basso and give the money to Rory. Maybe he was my son but I wasn't going to keep him with me—I had decided that while we ate together. As young as he was, he would probably learn everything I had to teach him, but Lorena wanted me to do what was best for him, and that was getting him out of The City.