Bonds That Tie Us

Seventeen

~Eric~

After the madness my dear Sister had pulled the other day, she'd been scarce and hid in her room for most of the days that followed.

Probably from the shame, I'd hope.

I'd never been involved in such a mess- it was one surprise, after another, and had taken a lot of drinks to get over.

Alicent now knew about Adam, who'd been secretly living in our home for a few days now, as he worked hard to translate and decode the words before him.

"How much longer?" I ask him, as I sit in my lounging chair.

"Just...a while." Adam says, focusing hard as he's sat at my desk, writing and reading away.

"A while?" I echoe, and he nods. "Well, no breaks for you today then." I joke.

He frowns at me, "Are you still mad at me because of the other day, Sir?"

I wasn't mad at all, but I nod dramatically anyway.

"Of course I am." I scoff, and Adam finds my performance fascinating and amusing apparently as he turns in the chair to watch me.

"You left that chair, and showed yourself to entire room full of angry adults," I add. "When you're supposed to be staying here in secrecy."

He winces, "I'm sorry."

I wave a dismissive hand.

"It's not a problem- I dealt with it." I assure him. "Now, get back to work."

He nods and turns away, as I get up and study myself in the mirror. My top hat was missing.

I glanced around the room to find it near Adam on the desk.

But I can't bring myself to put it on anymore. The sense- the feeling that it was crooked, and that Fredrickson would appear from the shadows and do what he always did when it was crooked. Beat me till I learned to be presentable.

I look away from the hat. It was ridiculous of course. The old man was dead. Six feet under. But still, I didn't touch the hat.

"I can't figure out these words." Adam says, sheepishly as I approached the desk. "They are a bit hard. I didn't learn these ones."

He points to a handful of words around the sheet.

"You've done enough- I'm sure we can figure it out, if you're done?" I ask, and he nods.

"I think I am." He looks nervous as I take the paper he'd been scribbling on.

The first few, confusing and unfinished lines, were descriptions of what rocks were actually code for. The words new, ice and gem were decoded.

I looked up at Adam, who had been watching me expectantly.

Diamonds.

New diamonds? That's what the rocks were.

"You're sure this is correct?" I ask him and he hesitates but nods anyway.

I look back down at the paper. Reading more rough sentences.

The explanation that these rocks- or diamonds really, were rare to find. Brought in especially for the owner. My Step Father...

Some lines didn't make sense, and others were guesses on my part. But the rocks were within Fredricksons grasp. And the final few lines that had been decoded by Adam, stated one thing.

There was a way to find the rocks, and it was on a coordinated sheet.

A map.

"Where could that be though?" I flip the paper around. "How am I supposed to find it?"