room.” He disappeared again, returning with a bundle of clothes and a pail of water.
Heedson looked at Grace dubiously over the lantern’s glare. “Can she dress herself?”
“Doubtful,” Thornhollow said, hiccupping into his hand. “Reed, take her into the surgery and burn the filthy rags she’s wearing.”
Grace let Reed take her by the hand, his touch cool and light. He shut the door behind them and laid a bundle of fresh clothes along with a pair of shoes onto the table.
“I snagged them from the laundry this morning,” Reed said, pitching his voice low. “The shoes may rub a bit, but they’ll do in a pinch. Go on then, make it a quick wash. I’ll not look.”
Grace took a minute to resurface, letting her body know she needed it to perform a duty again. Feeling returned. The warmth of the lantern was a welcome thing, slipping past the darkness of the basement that had permeated her skin. She stripped the nightgown away, scratching her nails along the filth that coated her arms. A ragged cloth and a bar of heavy white soap floated in the pail. The water was cold, but Grace welcomed it the same. She brought a froth from the soap and dragged the cloth over her skin, passing over the sag of her belly with care.
It was quick indeed, nothing like the steaming baths at home, where she had taken care to clean under her nails, scrubbing imagined dirt away. She’d never known what it was like to be truly dirty until she came here, and she washed away the asylum as best she could in the dark with a stranger only a few feet away.
The dress was a shapeless thing but clean, and she held her breath against the smell of the laundry’s soap, too familiar after her wrapping. The top was too big in the shoulders, the sleeves passed well below her fingertips, and the shoes did pinch. But she had on real clothes, her footsteps rang when she walked once more, and there was no layer of dirt on her skin.
“You can turn,” she said softly, and Reed faced her in the lamplight, offering his hand to lead her back out. She took it, but her mind had retreated before she’d even finished the gesture, the darkness always more welcome than the light.
They emerged into the cell block, where Thornhollow was slouched against the wall, his eyes closed in a half daze. Heedson raised the lantern to give Grace one more inspection. “You’d best change these bandages before you go, Thornhollow. She’s apt to bleed right through them on the road.”
“No need for that,” Thornhollow said, pulling himself to his feet. “The early morning hours are the darkest, and the best ones for secreting the girl away. If she dies on the road it’s all the same to you and lends truth to your tale.”
“Here she is, then, Dr. Thornhollow,” Reed said. “Have a safe journey and take care of the girl. I’d like to believe that lost ones such as this find a good end, no matter how unlikely.”
“A lovely thought, Reed,” Heedson said. “But I’ll be happy to never see that face again, pretty as it is.”
“I’ll keep her from harm. That’s all I can promise,” Thornhollow said. “To claim that any who follow in my footsteps will find something good isn’t a safe bet.”
Thornhollow peered into Grace’s eyes and shook his head. “How I’ve found myself the guardian of a young woman, I’m not sure I’ll ever know.” But he took her hand and they climbed the stairs together, her steps ringing out strong and sure beside his own.
The night air was clean and sharp, almost painful for her to breathe in. Grace gasped at the stab of fresh air, and Thornhollow rounded on her in the street.
“Quiet,” he warned with a hiss. “I’ve got a horse and carriage along the alley, with a blanket or two inside. What you’re wearing won’t keep you warm for long in this weather.”
The horse nickered at their approach and Grace reached up to touch its velvety nose. “In, in,” Thornhollow urged, brushing her hand away.
She climbed into the carriage and wrapped herself in the blanket he’d promised. He clicked to the horse and they were moving in an instant, the clip-clop of hooves and the swaying of the carriage lulling Grace into a stupor. She slipped onto her side and pulled the blanket over herself, the smell of clean air mixing with the scent of