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My mother sat at the other end of the table She used to be a soldier, but her time as a POW left her with a permanent limp She was softer now, her brown hair braided and pinned at the nape of her neck Her eyes were brown like ether I was just now beginning to understand how much it had cost her

Grandma Frida sat beside Mo on the floor of the motor pool with little model cars, and Grandma Frida, who still had so softly as she worked on soine oil and rubber and thought ht Grandma

Fa I could to keep theet

"Victoria Tremaine knoe are," I said

The words hit the table like a pile of bricks Arabella paled Catalina bit her lip Bern became very still Leon, oblivious, frowned at the pinched expressions he saw Nobody spoke

Truthseeker talents like mine were very rare There were only three truthseeker Houses in the United States House Tremaine was the smallest and the most feared It had only onefor us

"How sure are you?" Moe"

Moe," Leon said

"House Montgoe on our business," Bernard said patiently "The an bought it"

"To bring everyone up to speed," I said before they could go off on a tangent, "Dad was Victoria’s only child He was born without h school, met Mom, and lived quietly, so she never found him But now she knows She’s the only member of her family Once she dies, House Tremaine will die with her"

"How did I not know this?" Leon asked "Auys knew and didn’t tell me?"

I raised my hand "The point is, Victoria Tre Pri," Bern said quietly "She needs you and the girls to qualify as Primes so she can keep her House alive"

"Question!" Leon said "If she is the only Prime, how can she still be a House?"

"Every tiistered, the Office of Records checks to see if the fa Primes, the family is recertified as a House They don’t take away the family’s rank until the last Prime alive at the last certification dies"

My sister had been reading up on Houses

"You knohat I can do," I said

I could do plenty Being able to detect a lie was the least of my talents I could crack a hue I needed out of it And I didn’t have to leave theI do andout the extent of ic since she could hold chalk in her hand She has power, money, and troops we don’t She’ll do whatever she has to do to gain control of me and Catalina at the very least"

Grandma Frida put her hand over her mouth

Bernard was usually calht now his eyes were full of fear "She can do things with Catalina’s talent"

Unspeakable, ugly things Things that would htful, kind sister hate herself

"And if Arabella’s ic is discovered" I didn’t finish

I didn’t even want to go there They would lock her away and keep her sedated for the rest of her life She would never get to see the sun She’d never laugh again, never love, never live

My grandet her claws on my sisters I wouldn’t let it happen