The Untamed: Untold Lies

Chapter 5: Fury at Sea

   “I can’t believe the whole time it was a fake,” Anya whispered.

   “And I can’t believe I took it seriously,” Clyde added.

   The half-moon had risen and the stars twinkled in the inky sky. Kane had gone to his cabin to call it a day, leaving Clyde and Anya alone on the starboard. Seyth had been in his cabin the entire day and nothing else pleased Clyde more.

   However, disappointment was coursing through Clyde, otherwise he would have behaved quite differently in the time he had with Anya.

   It was freezing where they stood, but Clyde didn’t care. He stared down at the black water scurrying around the boat as it zipped across. All the while, an occasional spray of water made its way to Clyde’s icy face. The fog around them emitted some sort of eerie beauty.

   “And I was really starting to think we were on to something,” Anya continued. “I mean how did we not realize that sooner? Someone’s diary in a library?”

   Clyde couldn’t have felt any more foolish at the moment.

   “How many people do you think fell for that?”

   “Who cares?” said Clyde miserably.

   It was true that he no longer had the book and it was true that he didn’t care much for it after Krone took it. But looking back, he realized just how much it meant to him to have, what he thought, was Bane’s very own diary in his possession.

   And then he snapped suddenly.

   “How did Krone know we had the book in the first place?”

   Anya stared at him questioningly.

   “I mean not even Kassy knew that we had it, remember? It was just you and me – so how did Krone know?”

   The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. Was Krone aware that the diary was a fake? So then why not give it back to Clyde afterward?

   Maybe he just forgot, Clyde thought. He probably just threw it somewhere…

   Or…

   “Do you think Krone really wanted the diary?” he finally asked.

   “Slow down,” Anya huffed, waving her hands. “Let’s answer one question at a time. I’m not sure how Krone knew we had the book, but I really doubt he thinks its Bane’s diary.”

   “But wasn’t this planned only between Kane and Zane?” Clyde continued earnestly. “Besides, if you think about it, he could have easily lured us to the vault without asking for the book.”

   “True, but –”

   “And, he never gave it back,” Clyde interrupted.

   “You’re thinking too much into it,” Anya sighed in dismay. “Besides, why should we care anyway? It’s just a stupid fake.”

   Still, it just didn’t make sense how Krone knew about the diary in the first place…

   “Do you think Bane ever found anything about Balthazar?” said Anya, abruptly changing the subject. “Maybe he did, but he just never wrote it down…”

   “Either way,” said Clyde, still thinking about Krone, “it doesn’t matter now. Bane’s dead, and along with him, everything he knew.”

   As he said this, Clyde felt his stomach lurch uncomfortably. Ever since the day Zane told Clyde about Bane, the boy was captivated by his story. By the sound of it, Bane was a genius that had everything going for him until he met his unexpected end.