Chapter 17 - Twelve DaysRaven Hill prepared for war.
Poppy prepared for a birthday party.
The contrast became increasingly absurd.
Federal agents installed surveillance equipment while Poppy argued with Ronan about balloons.
“No black.”
“They're elegant.”
“They're funeral balloons.”
Ronan looked offended.
“Black is sophisticated.”
“I'm turning eight, not becoming a vampire.”
Sadie entered.
“What are we discussing?”
“Your husband has bad birthday taste.”
Sadie nodded.
“Accurate.”
Ronan looked betrayed.
The lighter moments mattered.
Because every adult knew Charles could strike at any time.
Maeve helped federal investigators trace the Crown archive.
Daniel Hawthorne agreed to testify.
June coordinated foundation security.
Bell complained about being ordered to rest while secretly working anyway.
Eleanor spent hours with Maeve.
Twenty missing years could not be repaired in twelve days.
But they could begin.
On the fifth night, Sadie found Ronan sitting alone outside Poppy's room.
“She's asleep.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you sitting here?”
He looked at the closed door.
“What if I fail?”
Sadie sat beside him.
“You will.”
He looked at her.
“That was not the expected answer.”
“You'll fail at lots of things.”
“Comforting.”
“You burn pancakes. You buy inappropriate quantities of Christmas gifts. You think black balloons belong at children's parties.”
“They do.”
“No.”
She took his hand.
“But Poppy doesn't need you to be perfect.”
Ronan looked down.
“She already lost one father.”
“She didn't lose Elias because he failed her.”
Sadie's voice softened.
“He died loving her.”
Ronan swallowed.
“You're allowed to be scared.”
He leaned his head against the wall.
“I love her so much it makes me stupid.”
Sadie smiled.
“Welcome to parenthood.”
He looked at her.
“And you.”
“What about me?”
“You make me stupid too.”
“That might have been romantic if phrased differently.”
He kissed her.
A bedroom door opened.
Poppy stood there.
“Again?”
Sadie pulled back.
“Go to sleep.”
“You said no kissing in the hallway.”
“I have never said that.”
“You should.”
Ronan smiled.
Poppy went back inside.
Then reopened the door.
“Dad?”
Ronan's expression softened every time.
“Yes?”
“Don't sit outside. It's creepy.”
Door closed.
Sadie buried her face against Ronan's shoulder, laughing.
Day nine brought the first real breakthrough.
Maeve found Charles's escape route.
A private aircraft scheduled to depart from an airfield outside Ashport on Poppy's birthday.
“He's waiting for the archive,” Sadie said.
Maeve nodded.
When Poppy turned eight, the system would issue an authentication key.
But the key would not appear digitally.
Elias had designed it around something only Poppy could answer.
A memory.
A question from her father.
Sadie stared.
“She never met him.”
“Exactly,” Maeve said.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if the answer isn't something Elias told Poppy.”
Maeve looked at Sadie.
“It's something he told you.”
On the morning before Poppy's birthday, a package arrived.
Inside was an old audio recorder.
Elias's voice.
Sadie nearly dropped it.
“Hello, Sade.”
She closed her eyes.
“If our kid ever hears this, I hope you told them the story about the lighthouse.”
Sadie frowned.
She had never told Poppy.
Because she had forgotten.
Years earlier, Elias had taken Sadie to a lighthouse after learning she was pregnant.
He asked what she wanted their child to know if everything went wrong.
Sadie had answered:
That home is whoever comes back for you.
Elias had smiled.
Then that's the password.
Sadie opened her eyes.
The archive question would be:
WHAT IS HOME?
The answer:
WHOEVER COMES BACK FOR YOU.
Then the recorder continued.
“But if Ronan is there, tell him he's still ugly.”
Sadie burst out laughing.
Ronan stared at the recorder.
“I am going to resurrect him solely to kill him again.”
Poppy laughed so hard she fell sideways on the sofa.
For one precious minute, Elias was alive in the room again.
Then the recording clicked.
A second voice appeared.
Charles Hawthorne.
“Thank you, Sadie.”
Everyone froze.
May you like
The recorder was transmitting.
Charles now had the password.
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