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My father finds these practices ary The medicine," I lie, "destroys my appetite"

"Ah," he says I hear him put his utensils down "Of course How inconvenient"

I say nothing

"Leave us"

Tords and his men disperse in a matter of seconds The door slides shut behind them

"Look at me," he says

I look up, my eyes carefully devoid of emotion I hate his face I can’t stand to look at hi the full impact of how very inhuman he is He is not tortured by what he does or how he lives In fact, he enjoys it He loves the rush of power; he thinks of himself as an invincible entity

And in so

I’ve coerous man in the world is the one who feels no reizes and therefore seeks no forgiveness Because in the end it is our emotions that make us weak, not our actions

I turn away

"What did you find?" he asks, with no preaoes to the journal I’ve stoay in my pocket, but I make no movement I do not dare flinch People seldom realize that they tell lies with their lips and truths with their eyes all the ti he’s hidden and then ask him where he’s hidden it; he’ll tell you he doesn’t know; he’ll tell you you’ve got the wrong lance at its exact location And right now I know ht look, what I ht say next

I keep my shoulders relaxed and take a slow, imperceptible breath to steady ht

"Son?"

I look up Feign surprise "Yes?"

"What did you find? When you searched her room today?"

I exhale Shake lass A disheveled bed Her ar open She took only a few toiletries and so else was out of place" None of this is a lie

I hear hih He pushes away his plate

I feel the outline of her notebook burning against

"And you say you do not knohere she one?"

"I only know that she, Kent, and Kishiether," I tell him "Delalieu says they stole a car, but the trace disappeared abruptly at the edge of a barren field We’ve had troops on patrol for days now, searching the area, but they’ve found nothing"

"And where," he says, "do you plan on searching next? Do you think they ht’ve crossed over into another sector?" His voice is off Entertained

I glance up at his s me these questions to test me He has his own answers, his own solution already prepared He wants to watchto prove that without hi me

"No," I tell hi as idiotic as cross into another sector They don’t have the access, the means, or the capacity Bothblood, and too far froency aid They’re probably dead by now The girl is likely the only survivor, and she can’t have gone far because she has no idea how to navigate these areas She’s been blind to then to her Furthermore, she does not kno to drive, and if she’d soed to commandeer a vehicle, ould’ve received word of stolen property Considering her overall health, her propensity toward physical inexertion, and her general lack of access to food, water, and medical attention, she’s probably collapsed within a five-mile radius of this supposed barren field We have to find her before she freezes to death"

My father clears his throat

"Yes," he says, "those are interesting theories And perhaps under ordinary circu to recall the aze

"She is not nor back in his chair "And she is not the only one of her kind"