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If Prince Azure is dead, will his father tell Internment it was Judas Hensley? Say it was another act of treason?
Moonlight, so familiar and beautiful e ht of it It’s trapped in a shi before the plu for players to come and follow their rules Pen and I run across the court, which is scuffed froet h our wrists are bound, and no one is there to stop us Pen’s plan is alh a row of shrubs, scratching s, and face as I do Pen winces at the sound of fabric tearing When I look at her, I see the lace fro in the shrub She tries to free it, but it won’t come loose, and she has to leave it behind
The clock tower is located in a wooded area, not far from where Sections One and Two meet I know exactly where we are My apartht in Section Two I allowseveral paces away, partially hidden by its neighbors Lights are still on in some of the apartments It isn’t too late for people to be awake, but the streets are e ra the clock tower are occupied, but there will be plentyfor word to spread that the prince has been attacked We have to move quickly We have to be invisible
Down alleyways and through the woods, we move It’s only e reach the charred flower shop that Pen asks, "Why are we here?"
"It’s where theto hide the bitterness in my voice If she hadn’t hurt the prince, possibly killed hio ho catches a bit of starlight and I know she’ll never see her betrothed again After what she’s done, she can never be safe in this city She’d be declared irrational if she weren’t dispatched for her crime I have to take her with round
She’s quiet and contrite, because she knows it too
I pry back the fah theWithout full range ofhard on isters I catch Pen as she tumbles in on top of ers in this place, and htined that the fire would destroy as et noing I can never go back
When I was little, e for me on the train ride home from the academy It was a map of Internment Only, instead of the real city, he’d drawn a castle for the clock tower And the buildings were all different soe he drew a ladder that went down and disappeared into the clouds It was theready for ht, I discovered that the o out and look for it, but my mother told me the sweepers had already cootten-about things and it would be co new
I looked for it the next day, anyway, to no avail I couldn’t believe such a wonderful thing could be destroyed so si could be destroyed
"There’s a machine in here?" Pen asks
"Under here" I’ to crawl, until I find the door that will take us underground
This poses a new problem There are several locks on the other side of it, and even if I h them, I’ll be faced with the pulleys and ropes of the lift; there’s no way I’ll be able to operate them whileto cut the twine," I say
"I can’t see anything," Pen says "Therethrough what’s left of drawers and cabinets "Careful," I remind Pen But I say this asound as one of the cabinets gives way and crashes to the ground Glass and metal fall around our feet
"Sorry!" she says "But there’s probably a glass shard we can use now"
Carefully, I crouch a sharp, and I hear Pen rustling about beside me for a few moments before she stops "Listen," she says "Did you hear that?"
I stop fu and creaking noises co the lift
Hurriedly I crawl for the door, scraping h cracks in the floorboards, and ue
The noise stops, and next I hear the pound of shoes on the metal ladder A voice says, "Who’s there?"
"Judas?" I say
Latches being hastily unlocked The door is pushed open, granting a square of candlelight to coround before starting to hoist himself up But Basil pushes past hih--and in a beat I’m in his ar me, but I can’t, and so I buryon Intern with hiht your friend" Judas’s voice is dry
Pen stares aside into the darkness I know she’s thinking about what she’s done, about the boy soaked in blood in the clock tower
"I had no choice," I say, reluctantly drawing back when Basil notices e
"We were coht, and there were too many patroloing to start a fire this tiured it couldn’t hurt our reputation Everyone already thinks we started this one"
Violence is the only way to achieve freedoht so before all of this My escape plan was a more peaceful one, but I kno that it wouldn’t have been successful
Judas draws a knife froh our restraints It isn’t as much of a relief as I’d hoped for The pain is still there, tightening around the bones like bloody phantorinning
"Look at that," Judas says "We’ve justin co the rickety ride down in the lift, I press ainst Basil’s I pretend that we’re in a shuttle on the way to the acade down into a place where the stars won’t find us
Pen gasps when she sees a side of the ht "It’s really here," she says