Searching (Gatekeeper Series Book 2)

Code Breaker

I parked my bike right outside the window at Haven Care Home where my grandma liked to sit. Ever since what happened at the Hale house, I'd been visiting my grandma every day. Partly because she knew so much about the Nemeton's history and partly because I was struggling to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Peter killing Kate or Derek killing Peter. I found myself working out a lot more, practicing my knife throwing, anything to exhaust me enough to pass out as soon as my head hit my pillow. This also meant I was getting around 3 to 4 hours of sleep now. 

"Hi Beth," I greeted as I signed in at the front desk. Everything looked the same as always: like a hospital. The walls were all white. They had ceiling lights everywhere. The front desk had a laminated white satin finish with an LED downlight. There were white wooden grid shelves behind her where guest's belongings would go. 

"Hey, Rose. How are you doing?" She had her dirt-blonde hair in a ponytail and was wearing her light blue scrubs, brightening her already bright blue eyes. 

"Great. Just been really busy," I lied. I was saying this so much it was like I was trying to convince myself that it was true.

"Yet you still made time to see your grandma. She'll be happy to know that." She smiled as I lay my bag on the desk and took out the box of shortbread cookies I had brought.

"I don't come empty-handed this time. Would you like one?" I offered and she took one.

"Thanks, Rose. Eirene is lucky to have you as a granddaughter." 

I smiled and made my way to our spot with the cookie box in hand. She wasn't there yet so I sat down at my usual seat and took a bite of a cookie.  The lounge area was a little less hospital-like. There was a flat-screen TV hung on the wall which had the local news on. The volume was on mute but the subtitles were on and it was talking about Kate Argent being responsible for the Hale fire. As I stared at the image of Kate on the screen, my mind went back to the moment where Peter had his claws on her throat. Could I have done more to save her life? Did I want to? She killed people I cared about, people who were like family to me. But Allison had to watch her die and Allison was my friend. For that reason alone I know I should've done something but I didn't. That makes me just as guilty as Peter.

"If you keep frowning like that you'll get wrinkles before you're fifty." I looked away from the TV and saw my grandma had already arrived and was sat across from me smiling. She had on her long red floral dress and her hair was in two cornrows flowing past her shoulders.

"Hi, Grandma. I like what you did to your hair."

"Learning to cornrow your hair will save you a lot of time, believe me. Have you been sleeping well?" 

She had been asking me this every day and I would usually try and tell her I was fine but there was no tricking my grandma. "I'm...getting there."

She nodded, accepting my answer for the first time. I was even more grateful that she didn't push for more information. "So what's the special occasion?"

I gave her a puzzled look and she grabbed a shortbread cookie and took a bite. "Can't a caring granddaughter bring her grandma her favorite cookies?"

"Not without wanting something in return. I was your age once, I know how you think. So...spit it out."

I sighed and shook my head. Nothing gets past her. "You've been teaching me a lot about the Nemeton's history. But you've never explained how you know all this information. It's not something you can just read up in a book."

She took a bite of another shortbread and I waited until she spoke. "Do you know what word means wise oak in Gaelic?"

"I don't know what anything is in Gaelic."