Chapter 9 - The Ledger of Blood and Gold
Lily ran all the way home, her lungs burning. She tore into the apartment, locked the deadbolt, and pulled the brass key out from under her mattress. She remembered that her mother kept an old wooden trunk locked in the back of her closet—a trunk Clara had forbidden Lily ever to open. Lily rushed to the closet, dragged the heavy trunk out, and inserted the brass key into the lock. It clicked seamlessly. Inside lay not clothes or jewelry, but a thick, leather-bound notebook marked with the same initials: H.V.R.—Henry Von Rosenthal, Lily’s grandfather who had mysteriously vanished years ago.
