60

The attic floorboards creak as they seem accustomed to doing, the only slight interruption to the heavy silence. It probably lasts no more than a few seconds, but it all fades into a blur as you take in your name on the family tree.

This is something you never knew—something you're not even sure how to process.

But one thought you can't get out of your mind is:

Why? Something this big, this important—surely it's the kind of thing she would have wanted you to know. Why would she never tell you this part of your family's history?

And if she would keep this from you—what else doesn't she want you to know?

"Huknock…"

Robin's voice is awed, and after a moment, you manage to look at him. His face is lit with a beaming smile, and you think you can even see tears in his eyes.

"Selene Corvina's diary—and you—her…" He counts the generations on the family tree. "Her great-great-great-grandchild. This is probably the biggest discovery anybody's ever made about her. If we brought this to the archives…"

His face clouds over for a moment as he imagines what might happen. Soon, however, he blinks and looks down at the sheet of notes in your grandma's handwriting.

"It looks like your grandma spent a long time trying to decipher whatever was written in there," Robin murmurs. "Even if it's not your grandma's diary, it's obviously something Selene Corvina never wanted to be read. Should we…"

He gazes at the diary, conflicted.

In the end, however, he sighs and turns to you.

"I think it should be up to you," he says eventually. "It belongs to you, really. She's your family. Do you think we should read it?"

You run your fingers over the diary's soft cover. You don't know what might be in there—you only know that your grandma wanted to read it herself, badly enough that she went through the trouble of cracking Selene Corvina's code. There must be something in here that was worth putting into code—and worth breaking out of it.

After a long pause, you take a deep breath and say: