Counterfeit ✓

Chapter 19

AFTER THE DISCUSSION with Amy, Mila hadn't seen her again, nor had she slept in the treehouse. Wondering what she'd done so wrong, she pulled on her coat and stepped over to Oliver's tree house. She knocked on the door, took a step back, and waited for him to let her in.

He opened the door with a big smile. "I expected you already."

"I have your coat." Mila smiled back. "I can't use it forever."

"Come on in. I'll make tea."

Nodding, Mila entered Oliver's tree house. A bookcase with hundreds of books immediately caught her eye. She hadn't seen a book for years: in the past, every book was burned at the behest of the President. Remembering how terrible it was for her, she rubbed the spines of the books with her thumb.

"You can take some with you."

"Where did you find them? The President burned everything."

"I found them during one of our missions." Oliver placed the cup on the table. "It was strange."

"Thank you. I'll pick one. How's Amy? She didn't sleep in our tree house last night."

Oliver shrugged. "Stubborn. She'll come around again. She's mad at the world."

"Perhaps she has every reason to. She was tortured. Elody was part of it."

"Perhaps." Oliver drank his tea. "We'll prepare for the next steps."

"The next steps?"

"You want to go home, don't you?"

Mila rested her elbows on her knees. "Of course!"

Grinning, Oliver unfolded the card and placed it on the side table. He had marked some new points that Mila had no idea what they meant. Leaning forward, she pointed to one of them. Oliver didn't answer, the tree house door creaked and Thomas entered.

"We need you," he announced. "There are problems on the farm."

"I'm coming." He looked at Mila. "I wrote everything down in the notebook. Look at it."

Oliver left hastily. Mila took the leather notebook, opened it, and saw some scribbles. Frowning, she tried to decipher his writing, though it was nearly impossible. She closed it again, stared at the map, and tilted her head.

"Why did you mark some points?" she whispered to herself. "Is there a reason for this?"

She looked at the map in all directions. Mila even moved to the other side of the table to see if she could find a new clue. At the sight of the size, her stomach turned. It would take her years to find out if there was a way out, and she didn't have that much time.

Her thoughts were interrupted. Once again, someone entered the tree house. Mila looked up and saw Amy standing there with her arms crossed. She closed the map, stood up, and smiled at her friend. Somehow she hoped to patch things up, they couldn't ignore each other forever.

"Oliver is on the farm."

"Okay."

"Wait," Mila said as Amy started to open the door. "Why do you hate me? We could talk-"

"You even dare to ask."

"I didn't know Elody was torturing you. I'd never offered to take her here with that knowledge."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Of course."

"You're a friend. I'd like to speak normally again."

"You don't even know what the real problem is, Mila. You think you're twirling everyone around your finger and making sure we get out of this forest. Have you ever considered that some don't want it?" Amy blinked. "No, because you only think of yourself as if all that matters is your family."