A Host of Fallen Dreams - After the Rising Book 1

Chapter 29

Jace

The Wasteland

Jace understood Lukas was feeling a lot of pain and anger at the situation he found himself in. It wasn't ideal. It wasn't fair. But there was little anyone could do about it. Safety at the Mansion was their paramount concern, no matter how daft the threat appeared to be. However, he wouldn't, couldn't, hold Lukas's behaviour against him.

When he left him on the second evening, he had headed downstairs and got the investigation under way. The following morning he sent out a hand-picked team that would rendezvous with their contacts in The City and find out what they could about Liam Rezzo, which was Lukas's assumed identity. There was little point trying to discover anything under his real name, seeing as though he had had the sense early on to drop it.

The Mansion was filled with an excitable atmosphere after the news of their latest guest had spread. The majority of the residents were quiet and reserved, with only a minority speaking out either in favour of him being a danger and a spy, or against any such stupid notion, as Rashida was telling anyone who would listen to her.

Jace tried to remain as impartial as he could, but he also knew it was his responsibility to make sure Lukas was all right while they waited for this proof to turn up. He visited him twice a day, the first being in the morning for a chat, the second before bed for a walk under the sky. Soon other people from the house were joining them, and it was good to see others were willing to give Lukas a chance.

As for he and Kami, Jace hadn't spent a night alone since their first one together. Some nights they crashed in his room, other nights hers. And it wasn't just her night-time company he was enjoying. He liked being with her, talking to her as if they were a couple. Naturally, they hadn't had any quite so serious conversations about where they were heading yet, for which he was thankful because he hadn't quite got his head around it. Around them. He also hadn't worked out what it meant for him and Lyra.

At some point he and Kami were going to have to sit down and talk, but he was scared. Of ruining things. Of ruining their friendship. Of letting Lyra go. He didn't even know if he wanted to let Lyra go. He still loved her. Still believed in their dreams. However, the world in which those dreams were born no longer existed. The whole thing was a messy knot he couldn't untangle, and so, for the time, he pretended there wasn't a problem and that he didn't have to do anything quite so extreme as make a choice.

Instead, he focused on Lukas. He had got to know Lukas fairly well from their daily chats, and he liked him. Was there are part of him that was looking out for Lukas to alleviate some of the guilt he felt towards Lyra? Jace hoped not. He genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for the right reasons.

Time seemed to pass quickly, and though the winter seemed longer out in the Wasteland than it had in The City, they could all feel the changing season approach. From the last three winters they had been in the Mansion, they knew that before the winter left them, more snow, heavier than what they had already seen earlier in the season, would fall. Then it would be cold but bright and sunny which would inevitably lead to melting snow. They had to be prepared for hazardous conditions outside and the potential flooding of at least the roads and grounds, if not the lower floors of their home. For two weeks the previous winter, they had been cut off from the outside world thanks to snow melt flash flooding. Although they had only little contact with the outside world, even that had ceased.

Jace spent much of his time overseeing their preparations for this potential disastrous turn of events. This had involved the strategic placing of sandbags, hundreds of which they had filled back in the summer when the weather had been warm and balmy but not baking hot, around the outside of the building. Inside, things which could be stored on the upper floors without interfering with the day-to-day running of the house, were moved. Emergency supplies and kits were distributed throughout the Mansion, and evacuation drills were carried out. It was a busy time. It was a chaotic time. But they were better prepared for it. If it turned out that wasn't needed this time, the procedures would already be in place for the winters that followed.

Lukas had almost been at the Mansion a month when the news they were waiting for arrived. Jace's hand-picked team had returned from The City. The leader of the squad had come straight to Jace's office with the news, knowing how important it was.

Jace didn't know where it had come from, but he suddenly was overcome with a feeling of anticipation. He firmly believed in Lukas's innocence but what if their contacts hadn't been able to find anything about Liam Rezzo? Would the cloud of suspicion hang over Lukas for a good while yet? He fervently hoped that wouldn't be the case.

Jace opened the enveloped and skimmed over the pages inside, a smile spreading across his face. Kami, who had been sitting in the corner, reading through an inventory list, had rushed up to him to read the verdict over his shoulder.

'That's fantastic.'

Jace hugged Kami and then the man who had brought them the information. 'I know a young man who is going to be pleased he's got his life back,' Jace had said, shaking the man's hand. 'You've done a great job.' Then hugging Kami again, he said, 'We can start letting everyone know. Let's go and break the news to Mr Ridgeway.'

Jace and Kami led the way to Lukas's room. News that something important was going on spread quickly around the Mansion, as it always did, and soon a crowd had gathered behind them.

Jace knocked on Lukas's door. 'Want to hear some good news?' he asked as soon as Lukas appeared. 'Leave the door open. The more who hear this better. You are not a spy. You are not a traitor. Do you know how we know?'

Lukas shook his head. He was holding himself up by leaning on the back of chair, and he looked a little unsteady.

'The day after you fled The City, the Territorial Police, along with one of the cities armed task forces, turned up at your last known address. They were hunting down a Liam Rezzo, passing around sketches that looked just like you,' Jace said, showing one that had been sent back to them. 'And it appears they had orders to shoot you on sight. If you were a spy they wanted to kill, they would have sent an assassin or the task force only. No point in sending the police to arrest a dead body, is there? What's more, they are still looking for you, which they wouldn't be doing if they had sent you to infiltrate us. They would know exactly where you were.

'Now, I'm going back down to the office to make a copy of this,' Jace said waving the envelope with the report in it. 'Then, anyone who wants to read it, can. All right? I want a line drawn under this.' Then he turned to Lukas and said, 'Welcome to the Mansion, my friend. You're now a free man.'

* * *

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So the proof that Lukas isn't a traitor or a spy has been found and sent back to the Underground. Lukas is now free. Woohoo! Will this proof be enough for those who doubted him? Let's hope so. He's already been through so much...

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