The List Keepers (The Justar Journal #3)

by Brandt Legg

“We’re free,” she said. “We’re at least a little free.” Fye patted her belly, four months pregnant with their child. “Grandyn Happerman is dead.” She laughed with the words – simultaneously nervous and joyous. The two of them were in a small safe house near Mount Shasta, in the California Area. They couldn’t stay long but, for now, it gave them a rare sense of normalcy. “For now,” Grandyn replied. “But there are no secrets in the Aylantik. Deuce and Munna know I’m alive, Drast knows, Nelson and Chelle . . . that’s a lot of people. The AOI will discover it soon enough. And then there’s Blaise. He may already be peddling the information to the highest bidder.” “But there are secrets,” she said. “Sure, there are plenty of secrets, but none long kept. And a secret told changes to something else. It becomes a danger.” “There are secrets long kept,” she said. “I’m one of them.” “The List Keepers?” “Yes.” “But even the List Keepers are rumored to exist. People know about them, they just haven’t proved it yet.” “List Keepers are more secret than that. Whether we exist or not isn’t the real question. List Keepers are actually more secret than secrecy itself.” She put her hand on her belly. He looked at her. “Tell me.”