Chapter 21
“The vault isn't in there.”
Matilda turned.
“What?”
“The mine was bait, remember?”
“Then what are they burning?”
Elias stared at the smoke.
“Copies.”
A deep rumble came from within the mountain.
Jedodiah's face changed.
“Back!”
He grabbed Matilda.
The ground shook.
A blast erupted from the mine entrance.
Snow and timber exploded outward.
Everyone fell.
Matilda's ears rang.
She lifted her head.
Elias was shouting something.
She couldn't hear.
Then she saw Thomas.
Pinned beneath a fallen beam.
Matilda crawled toward him.
“Thomas!”
He was conscious but pale.
“Mattie…”
Jedodiah heaved the timber aside.
Thomas gasped.
Bl/o/od darkened his shirt.
Matilda pressed both hands over the w/o/und.
“No.”
Thomas smiled weakly.
“You used to make that same face when you scraped your knee.”
“Don't talk.”
“Always hated seeing you hurt.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You betrayed Mother.”
“Yes.”
“I am still angry.”
“You should be.”
His hand found hers.
“But you were my father.”
Thomas's eyes filled.
“Was I?”
Matilda stared at him.
Then nodded.
“In all the ways that mattered when I was little.”
A tear slipped down his cheek.
“That's more mercy than I deserve.”
Jedodiah looked toward the road.
“Wagon coming!”
But Thomas grabbed Matilda tighter.
“Listen.”
“What?”
“The blast wasn't meant for the mine.”
She frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Thomas coughed.
“They're going after the real archive.”
Elias went rigid.
“What real archive?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Margaret moved it.”
Elias stared.
“When?”
“Before she left Leadville.”
Matilda's heart pounded.
“Where?”
Thomas looked at her.
“You already know.”
“I don't.”
“Yes, you do.”
His breathing weakened.
“Your mother gave you the answer every night when you were a child.”
Matilda's mind raced.
Then she remembered.
A lullaby.
Her mother had sung the same strange verse for years.
Where the black pine bends to water,
Where the winter sun falls low,
Beneath the stone that bears no name,
Truth sleeps where wild roses grow.
Matilda whispered the final line.
Thomas smiled.
“Yes.”
Elias stared at her.
“I know that place.”
Jedodiah looked toward the western ridge.
“So does Abigail.”
PART 6 — THE GRAVE WITH NO NAME
They left Thomas under the care of Doctor Hale and rode west before darkness could close over the ridge.
Matilda's fear for him followed every hoofbeat.
He was alive when they left.
Barely.
She had wanted to stay.
Thomas had refused.
“Finish what your mother started.”