Masquerade ✔

Chapter 17

All Clara wanted to do when she got home was explode to Amyeliana about everything that had happened. Clara needed to tell someone, and her sister was the only person who even had an idea about what was going on. But when Clara entered through the front door, all thoughts of spilling the drama slipped away.

It was quiet. Far too quiet. Ezra sat in the living area, but the other three were out of sight, presumably in the sleeping room. Ezra had several papers in his hands, and he shuffled through them.

"What happened?" Clara asked quietly, not wanting the other three to overhear. "Emme's alright, yes?"

Ezra nodded. "Yes, yes, of course, she's fine." He handed her the papers. "You should look at these."

Clara accepted them from him and flipped through the sheets. She bit her lip. "They're destroying all of these buildings?" she asked.

"And the dwellings in the area," Ezra said. "All in the next few days."

Clara sat down on the floor next to him. "Do they know?" she asked, nodding toward the sleeping room.

He nodded.

"What do you think?"

"I think that something big is happening, but no one is going to tell us what," Ezra said. "And I think they're concerned that if all of these dwellings are getting wiped out, that ours might be next."

"Where are all these people supposed to go?" Clara tried to picture the areas described in the area, and could think of at least three sizeable dwellings in the region.

"I doubt the people destroying their homes have given it that much thought," Ezra said, a scowl on his face. "But I don't know. They'll have to find someplace."

"You're worried about losing this place, too, aren't you?" Ezra was never exactly a relaxed person, but Clara rarely saw him so agitated.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know what's going on, so I can't exactly predict what's going to happen. But, Clara, what if we do? What would we do? What could we do?"

"You can't think like that, Ezra." But Clara had to admit, the thought made her feel sick.

"We don't have any savings," Ezra continued. "We wouldn't be able to afford to find a new home, at least not right away. And Emme can't survive living on the surface."

"Ezra." Clara gripped his hand. "Nothing has indicated that we're going to lose this place. And if we do, we'll at least have a little bit of a head start." She held up the notices still in her hand. "And we will figure something out. We always do."

"I know. I know we do. But that doesn't mean that we can't start preparing for the worst."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know the new projects going up? Tower and Bridge?"

Clara nodded slowly. "Yes, I know."

"I told you that there's been talk about new jobs and better pay. Well, it turns out all of that is true."

"What type of jobs is it?" Clara asked.

"Factory stuff," Ezra replied. "Putting together some type of machines. Probably for the great new thing for the rich and their air manors. But it pays almost double from what I get now."

"Double?" Clara asked in disbelief. "That seems too good to be true, don't you think?"

"Yes," Ezra admitted. "But it's double, Clara. That means we'll have enough for Emme's medicine next time. That means if we have to move, we'll have more options in finding a new place. We might even be able to save enough to get Emme to a proper doctor."