explained what going up to the Spire again means to us.”
I crawled onto the spare mattress and looked up at her. “Do explain,” I said.
She pursed her lips for a moment, and then began. “Deryn worked for the state guard, like I do now, but he was stationed on the Spire after my father built the skycar. Even though what they found up there was supposed to be a state secret, he told me and I of course told Father.”
“What did they find?” I asked, leaning forward.
“It is something hard to explain,” she said. “But rest assured, it would change everything about this country if we were able to use it.”
I leaned in further, my ears piqued.
“Anyway. Deryn and twelve others were in the Spire two years ago. What was strange about the crash is that every single one of them was in the car when it hit the ground. Not one survived.”
Kewyn swallowed hard, and I waited as patiently as I could. I had heard none of this, and from the way the blonde talked it seemed like very few were privy to this knowledge.
“When I found out that there would be no formal investigation, I was a mess. I was sure it was more than just a malfunction, but most everyone just wanted to forget it as a terrible accident.
“Father did not let me see the wreck, but being a guard has its privileges. I investigated the remains of the skycar before it was sent to be deconstructed. That’s when I found all the proof I needed.”
The blonde stood, pacing the room. “The cable that holds up a skycar is not something trivial,” she said. “It is half a foot thick, made of braided metal. So, you have to imagine how surprised I was to find that it was not that the car had detached from the cable, but the cable that had been snapped in two.”
“You’re kidding,” I said.
“No, but that’s not it either. It was the way the cable had been destroyed that made me so sure about what had done it,” she said. “The Spire had no furnace or means to heat anything more than the troop’s dinners, but the cable had been completely melted through.”
“’Melted’?” I made a face.
“I know. But of course you must have known what my mind went to next.”