for a shred of kindness.
“Please to excuse?” Nina said in a ridiculously thick Ravkan accent.
The guard held his weapon at the ready but didn’t look particularly concerned. “You shouldn’t be here at night.”
Nina murmured something, looking up at him with big green eyes. Inej had no idea she could look so thoroughly wholesome.
“What was that?” said the guard, stepping closer.
Inej made her move. She lit the long fuse on the low-grade flash bomb Wylan had given them, then loped for the fence, keeping well away from that pool of light, climbing silently. She was almost directly behind the guard and Nina, then above them. She could hear their voices as she slipped easily between the coils of razor wire.
“I come for job, yes?” Nina said. “To make sugar.”
“We don’t make it here, just store it. You’ll want to go to one of the processing plants.”
“But I need job. I … I …”
“Oh, hey now, don’t cry. There, there.”
Inej restrained a snort and dropped soundlessly to the ground on the other side of the fence. Through it, she could see the sandbags Kaz had mentioned stacked against the back wall of the guardhouse, and the corner of what must be the net he’d planned for her to use.
“Your … uh … your fella looking for work too?” the guard was asking.
“I have no … how you say? Fella? ”
The gate beside the guardhouse didn’t lock from the inside, so Inej pushed it open, leaving it just barely ajar for Nina, and hurried to the shadows at the base of the nearest silo.
She heard Nina say her goodbyes and walk off in the direction opposite their lookout. Then Inej waited. The minutes passed, and just as she became convinced the bomb was defective, a loud pop sounded and a bright flash of light crackled from the warehouse they’d used to spy on the guards. The guard emerged again, rifle raised, and took a few paces toward the warehouse.
“Hello?” he shouted.
Nina slipped from the shadows behind him and was inside the gate in a matter of moments. She closed it securely and headed for the second silo, disappearing into the dark. From there, she would be able to signal Inej as the guards made their rounds.
The guard returned to his post, walking backward in case some threat still waited in the warehouses beyond. Finally, he turned and gave the gate a shake to make sure it was locked, then headed inside the guardhouse.
Inej waited for the signal from Nina, then scampered up the rungs welded to the side of the silo. One story, two stories, ten. At the carnival, her uncle would have kept the audience entertained during her ascent. No trick like this has ever been attempted before, and certainly never by one so young! Above you, behold the terrifying high wire. A spotlight would come on, lighting the wire so that it looked like the frailest skein of cobweb strung across the tent. Gentlemen, take your lady’s hand in yours. See how slender her fingers are? Now imagine if you will, trying to walk across something so slender, so fragile as that! Who would dare such a thing? Who would dare to defy death itself?
Then Inej would stand at the top of the pole and, hands on hips, shout, “I will!”
And the crowd would gasp.
But wait, no, this can’t be right , her uncle would say, a little girl?
At this point, the crowd would always go wild. Women would swoon. Sometimes one of the men would try to stop the show.
There was no crowd tonight, only the wind, the cold metal beneath her fingers, the bright face of the moon.
Inej reached the top of the silo and looked out over the city below. Ketterdam gleamed with golden light, lanterns moving slowly across the canals, candles left burning in windows, shops and taverns still shining bright for the evening’s business. She could make out the glittering spangle of the Lid, the colorful lanterns and showy cascade bulbs of the Staves. In just a few short days, Van Eck’s fortunes would be ruined and she would be free of her contract with Per Haskell. Free. To live as she wished. To seek forgiveness for her sins. To pursue her purpose. Would she miss this place? This crowded mess of a city she’d come to know so well, that had somehow become her home? She felt certain she would. So tonight, she would perform for her city, for the citizens of Ketterdam, even if