Free Family (Insanity Book 7) by Cameron Jace

Lewis.”
    “What about me?”
    “You never told me the whole truth.”
    “Which part?”
    “I have no idea what we’re fighting for. I mean, I know we should stand up to Black Chess, but what is the Wonderland War really about?”
    “The most precious thing.” Lewis smiled broadly, so proud of something she didn’t understand.
    “You’re being vague again.”
    “Not at all. You’ll realize how precious the thing we’re fighting for is once it’s revealed.”
    “Why can’t you reveal it now?”
    “Many reasons,” he said. “One of them is that I believe we have a traitor among us in the Inklings, but it’s too soon to tell.”
    “If there is a possible traitor, then it would be Alice.”
    “You don’t really believe that.” Lewis patted her gently. “If it makes you feel better, I can tell about where the Six Keys are.”
    Fabiola cupped a shriek. “You know? Are you playing games with us?”
    “I don’t know exactly,” Lewis said. “However, I know who knows where they are and what they are for and what the Wonderland War is about.”
    “Puzzles and nonsense, Lewis. You have to ease up on those.”
    “How so? This is what people like about my books? Puzzles and nonsense.”
    Fabiola reached for his hands. She was surprised she could actually touch them, though he was only a spirit of his real self. “Lewis, please,” she said gently. “Tell me anything that makes sense. Just one bit of information that gives me hope. I’m not going to argue about how you don’t know while this other guy knows. But tell me who knows about the Six Keys?”
    “You want a name?”
    “That’d be a start.”
    “We used to call him Patient 14.”
     

Chapter 32
    The Radcliffe Asylum
     
    “Why would you ask a question like that?” the Pillar says with a straight stare.
    “The Chessmaster mentioned he knows my biological family,” I say. “You must know of them.”
    The Pillar’s stare doesn’t change, neither does his silence.
    “The Chessmaster is lying,” the Pillar says.
    “What do you mean he is lying? Why would he?”
    “I don’t know, Alice, but I’ve never heard of your biological family. I always assumed you were an orphan Lewis picked up and adopted or something.”
    “Now it’s you who is lying,” I burst out. “I find it hard to believe you don’t know about my family!”
    “I find it hard to believe you think I’m your father.”
    “I think you are her father,” Tom interjects. “That look in your eyes when she asked, there is something about that look.”
    “Stay out of it,” The Pillar waves him away with his cane, then approaches me. I find myself taking a step back, but he reaches for my shoulders. “I’m not your father, Luke — I mean Alice.”
    “Would you swear on it?”
    “As if I’m the kind of man who wouldn’t lie while swearing.” He rolls his eyes. “The Chessmaster probably wanted to mess with your head.”
    “Why would he do that?”
    “Because you beat him. Because he wants you to spend the rest of your life going crazy.”
    “As if I’m not losing my mind already,” I counter back.
    “Just drop it. You think this is the perfect time to discuss this?”
    “I do think that. If I’m about to die, I need to know about my family. I need to know why they’ve never contacted me, or why they’ve kept me a secret, why they never bothered to help me out of this mess I’m in.”
    “I’m sure they have a good reason,” the Pillar tries to calm me down.
    “So you know them?”
    “I don’t. I’m just assuming. The one you should ask would be Carroll himself. Maybe he knows.”
    “What about Him?” Tom sticks his nose between us like a nosey neighbor.
    “Who is Him?”
    “You must know,” I say. “The story about me joining Him to find out his weakness and kill him. The reason why I joined Black Chess.”
    “Who’s been messing with your head?” the Pillar says.
    “Other than you?” I say. “Almost everyone!”
    I find myself