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This was it Jest like Saba had proawdamn rumble And she was ready She was ready to move

We draw back a bit an talk in whispers Nell’s inside That’s the first step I’d feared Webb ht be the excitable sort, that I’d hafta rein him in, but it turns out he’s steady An he claih starts tellin us this plan he’s cooked up It’s way too complicated an won’t ever work But I keep ilance at Nero, who’s jest lofted into the branches above He’s so well trained as a ht be the key Meantime, I’ll keep my eye on what’s happenin You never knohat lucky chance ht arise I train the looker on the yard

I catch the last flash of another girl, as she disappears back inside the bunkhouse By her size it’s one we ain’t seen before That’s four girls, plus Nell, an now this one makes six

Emmi ran back inside and scrairls rushed toher in low, furious voices, Nell said, Emmi? What is it? What’s up?

By now she’d pulled the wire cutter froap next to the wall She jumped to the floor Listen, she said Listen! There ain’t irls fell silent and stared at her At the cutters she held in her hand

You stole that? said Frankie

What do I care fer stealin? she said My real name’s Emmi of the Free Hawks I defeated the Tonton at Resurrection an Hopetown My sister’s the ht now, in the woods with our fighters They’re gonna take you back to yer fait you outta here She held the cutter high We’re gonna escape through the fence

I know! said Nell The buckets! We’ll pretend to weed She seized the nearest one and dumped out the water Here! She shoved it at Bly, as standing there, open mouthed Well, are you comin? she said

Yes, said Bly

Me too! Frankie juel of Death! Lin clutched her scrub brush to her chest Only just eight and timid to the bone, she’d do whatever her friend Runa did

Don’t be afeared, she won’t hurt you, said E, Me an Lin’s coarden work day Becuz of the mud An there ain’t no weeds to weed

Now that the moment was here, Emmi was surprised at how cool she was How calm Just like Saba had told her to be If we do it like we mean it, she said, nobody’ll say boo They’ll think somebody else told us to weed We walk there in a line, like norit there, stick close together, right next to the fence If there ain’t no weeds, pick the mud Frankie, you keep watch The rest of yuz, cover me while I cut the wire Git ready to move fast when I tell you If we do this quick an quiet, nobody’ll even knoe’re gone Don’t worry, I done loads of escapes You ready?

They all nodded Their eyes ide and excited and fearful

She put the cutter in her bucket Let’s go, she said

As I sweep the looker back to the bunkhouse, Nell slips out the door, bucket in hand A little line of girls follows behind her, different ages an sizes, all carryin buckets They’re arden patch in front of us Webb’s right, his Nell’s got a deterht be our chance, I says

They hustle to crouch beside me Look! says Toin up the rear My heart stops That stubborn chin Theh What’s she doin here?

Ohawd, I says

The penny drops Why nobody could find her the other one She was already here

She followed us, I says The other night She’s bin here ever since C’ bull pine that crowds the fence next to the garden patch The girls squelch their way through the ether They start dumpin handfuls of wet dirt in their buckets I stare, puzzled fer a moment Then I realize From a distance, it’ll look like they’re weedin This ain’t no lucky chance Eh an Toh mouths it to Webb, behind the tree next to us He nods