still wearing Wolf’s coat. I had half a mind to take it off and throw it across the room.
“Caroline?”
I looked outside the cell door again. “Alex?”
“Jesus. Thank God. It is you. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m all right.” The biggest lie in the history of mankind. My body felt like it was freezing and burning up at the same time. My heart had been split in half like a ripe peach.
“God, I thought they were torturing you up there.”
My screaming. “No. I was just…” I choked on a sob and tried to swallow it. “Wolf…”
“What? Is he hurt?”
I shook my head as though Alex could see me. “He’s a traitor.”
“What?”
“He led us here. He was…on their side. All along.”
“He’s working for them?”
Not thinking, I nodded and said nothing.
Alex took my silence as a yes. “That son of a bitch. But…we saved his life!”
I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Where’s Marianne?”
“She’s in here with me, hiding under my coat.”
I leaned back against the curved wall of the cell and wiped tears out of my eyes. Time to be strong. I couldn’t crack now. We had to find a way out of here.
“Marianne?” I called. She didn’t respond. “Marianne, I’m so sorry honey. I’m not a very good Guardian, am I? I keep getting you into all these awful situations.”
A meek voice barely made it to my ears. “It’s not your fault.”
I almost started crying again, but managed to keep it under control. “I should have listened to you about the wolves.”
For a long time we were silent. The only sound the crackling of fire torches and the occasional shuffle of a werewolf passing by.
Then Marianne said, “My mama used to say to me that sometimes bad things happened because they had to. Otherwise we wouldn’t know anything. She said it’s because of the bad things that we learn.”
I almost smiled. Wise little fairy ring girl. I stared out through the wooden slats.
“Your mama is a smart woman,” I told her. We’re going to get out of here. I’m going to get us out of here if it’s the last thing I do. The old witch’s words echoed in my ears. “You will stop reaching for the stars and wait until the end of time and cry in the dark. Or perhaps the opposite will be true.”
Well I certainly wasn’t going to sit and cry in the dark. No one was coming for me. Fine. I was used to being on my own as it was. Besides, I was Marianne’s Guardian, damn it, and I was going to do things right for once.
I rummaged through the pockets in Wolf’s coat. Each one seemed to have something. His map. A length of twine. Wilted lavawort. Dried gum leaves. My matches. The bastard stole them! Pieces of jerky wrapped in an oil-stained cloth. The small pouch of iron filings.
I gazed around the cell. It had a domed shape, made of stone aside from the door. The door itself looked old, but not old enough. I got up to rap on the wood. Sturdy. No amount of brute force would work on it. In the far corner sat a trough of murky water that had probably been there since the place was constructed. I went over the items in my mind. A crazy, half-baked plan began forming. I had no idea whether or not it would work, but figured I had no other choice but to try. I pressed my face against the wood slats. Neither Alex nor I had guards. All I needed was for the werewolves to stop patrolling or whatever it was they were doing. A passing werewolf snarled at me. I gave him the finger.
The moment the area was clear, I pulled out the matches and lit one. I held it under the wood of the door. If I could get the whole thing on fire, they’d have to let me out. And if they didn’t, the door would burn down and I could get through. Absurd, but it was all I had.
Except the wood refused to burn. Under the weak flame of the match, it charred but didn’t catch. I swore to myself. There had to be some way of getting this to work. I needed a stronger flame, a more sustained burn. Cloth! The dried lavawort and gum leaves!
I started going through the coat again when a set of werewolves showed up. The lock to Alex’s door opened.