Page 35 of Truth
I plopped down in the chair, “So we have two possible locations. How certain are we?”
Michelle squeezed onto the couch next to Horo, “I am positive that the location I provided is accurate.”
“If you’re wrong,” Ellis chimed in, “You’ll fuck us all.”
“Come now Ellis, you seem like you love a good fucking, anyway.” Michelle cooed, and I fucking loved that someone is giving him shit for once, “I want to see her safe as much as the rest of you, she’s the best friend I’ve got.”
Oak cleared his throat, “That leaves us with just one more possible location.”
“Can we do a triangle projection like the properties we used to find the necklace?” I asked. The worked sucked, but I was willing to put it in if it meant getting our location.
“There is no way of knowing where the end point would be. Even if you had two locations the exact distance apart, there is no telling how near or far the third location would be from that point. Have you consulted the book?” Ellis asked Oak.
“Nothing new has been added. Nothing since Lenin’s last vision.” His brows scrunched together, “It confirms we must do this though. I haven’t quite understood the whys of it, but it must be done. If the book deems it important, we must trust it.”
“Why put so much faith in a damn book?” Justice grumbled.
“The book led us to you.” Ellis shot back to him.
Justice itched at the short crop of hair on his head, “Yeah, point taken.”
The sound of the heavy door scraping alerted us that Lenin and Liberty were back. They hadn’t been gone as long as I had thought they would be, which puts a wrench in our conversation. No one wanted to discuss if Liberty should stay or if she should go when she was around. Everyone feared her reaction. The heavy footfall of the giant ogre was echoed by the light tap of Liberty’s feet as they walked together toward the Library.
The door flung open and Liberty’s eyes shined bright on all of us, making us wonder what exactly the two of them were up to. She licked her lips and all eyes in the room followed the movement, “Have you found anything?”
The room was silent, not a single man willing to talk, which was probably why Michelle spoke up, “The men folk were just arguing about how they couldn’t get you to stay behind and stay safe, and how we are one destination short.”
“I won’t stay behind.” Liberty nearly growled.
“Yeah, we’ve concluded that.” I clarified.
She walked over to the pile of books left open, dragging the ogre with her as she skimmed them. He peered over her shoulder as they read in unison. “I do not feel this information pertains to our situation.”
No fucking duh. “Thanks for stating the obvious.” Ellis mumbled, “That’s why we are stuck. Do you have things to offer?”
The ogre tilted his head for a moment, “history often repeats itself. Sometimes the easiest way to lie is to speak as close to the truth as possible.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked as I ran my fingers over my hair, pulling at the tips.
“I think-“ Liberty bit her lip again as she peered up at the ogre, “I think he means sometimes it's not as complicated as we may think. It’s easier to keep track of facts if you stay as close to the truth as possible. So maybe we are looking too hard outside of the truths and not hard enough inside.”
“You spend thirty minutes with the ogre and you are already speaking in code just like him.” Ellis groaned.
Liberty stuck her tongue out at Ellis and my body stiffened, remembering just how good her tongue feels on my body. I swallowed hard as she spoke, “Where’s the tablet?”
Oak magically produced the piece of equipment, handing it over to her as he leaned over the shoulder Lenin wasn’t occupying. She pulled out the chair and sat before she began typing away. Oak mumbled something, followed by a simple, “I get it now.”
Then the room was silent for what felt like an eternity. That is, until Liberty declared, “I think I’ve got something.”
Oak’s head nodded slowly until he finished reading, “I agree. The similarities between truth and lies are strong.”
She turned the tablet to face the room, “GRETA BÖSEL.”
The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it, “Who was she?” Or maybe the question I should ask is “what is she?”, because it was obvious that they felt the current Greta and the person on that page were one and the same.
Oak turned the tablet back to himself, “She was a trained German nurse who became a camp guard at Ravensbrück.”
“I highly doubt someone like her would ever lower themselves to a camp guard.” Ellis commented.