Chapter 442

I slammed the door behind me and put my back against it. I allowed a few more sobs to escape my mouth before I let a smile dance across my lips. I grabbed the box of letters and walked up the stairs, sealing the house with a few words as I went. I would get to these letters later, but I had a little girl wanting to spend some time with me.

I grabbed the box full of Rick’s mutterings and managed to finagle the doors open to the cabin. I put the box of my letters on my bed, promising myself that I would read them tonight, or at least a few of them, before I carried Rick’s box down the stairs.

I looked around and found… no one. “Hello?” I dropped the box on the living room floor and then headed outside. “Hello?”

“Punch. Kick. Twist under. Good!” I heard my mom calling out, and I turned the corner, only to see her training Carly. Toya and Wendy were sparring with each other a little off to the side, but Carly was red-faced and smiling.

I watched for a few minutes, observing her form and listening to her little grunts. It brought me back to when my dad was training me. “Kick, baby girl. Higher. Good.” His smile always made me feel like I had overcome a mountain.

Carly was cheering as she landed a high kick. “I did it!” I clapped, and she whirled around. “Amy!” She ran over to me and jumped into my arms. “Did you see? Did you see me?”

I hugged her close. “I did. You did really great.” I put her on the ground.

She looked between my mom and me. “Are you ready to do paperwork?” She looked antsy, like she had to pee. I just laughed.

“Go finish your training. I can work by myself until you are finished.” I tugged on her hair.

She bit her lip. “Are you sure? I did promise to help you.” She bounced on her toes.

I dropped down into a crouch. “I’m sure. Training is important. Paperwork can wait.”

Still, she looked unsure. “But paperwork is important.”

I pinched her cheek. “It is, but I can handle it on my own for a little while. Now, get back to Grandma Ainsley and finish your training.” I leaned in and kissed her forehead before I stood back up and pushed her back toward my mom.

She looked at me, and I watched her eyes tighten. She mouthed, ‘You okay?’ I nodded and turned back to the house. “One second, baby.” I heard footsteps running after me, and my mom spun me around. “I know you said you’re okay, but your eyes are red and puffy.”

I smiled. “I had to give a little performance, is all.” I kissed her cheek. “I’m okay. Really. Go back to Carly. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

She looked at me for a moment before she agreed. “If you’re sure.”

“I am.” I nodded before I went back inside. I grabbed a quick drink of water, then went back into the living room and dug into the box.

I pulled everything out and started to organize again, but this time I took a different approach. I sorted the code from the random mutterings. I didn’t read anything. I just focused on separating code from non-code.

I don’t know how long I was there, but everyone came in after a while. Carly came over. “What can I do?”

I pulled her next to me. “You can do what I’m doing so that I can start reading.” I pulled out two pieces of paper. “This one,” I showed her a line of code, “see how it has these random squiggles that aren’t letters and random numbers?”

“Yeah.” She looked at the paper.

I showed her the second paper. “And this one is just a random sentence.”

“Yeah.” She looked between the two piles. “So, the weird stuff goes in one, and the normal words in another?” She looked back at me to make sure she was right.

“Exactly.” I pushed the big stack over to her, and her eyes grew round.

“Holy.” She looked over the papers and then back to the other piles. “Okay!” She started in, and I pulled the code to me.

I figured if there was going to be a hidden message, it would be in the code. My mom sat down and started reading the regular notes, figuring she could at least tell me if there was something weird about it. We searched for hours and found nothing. I sat back and rubbed my eyes. What were we missing?

My mom furrowed her brow. “What the heck does this mean?” She handed me a paper with random letters on it. I looked at it and saw ‘gur cnffjbq sbe gur onpxqbbe vf bcny’. I furrowed my brow for a second.

“It’s a code.” I stared at it for a moment, going through all the secret codes Rick taught me as a joke. I ripped a paper and went through all of them until one made sense. “The password for the backdoor is opal.”