said stay away from the truck, that there were good reasons to stay away from the truck.
In fact, I caught a glimpse of Frederick moving steadily away from the truck, moving with a purpose toward the castle itself even though this time, he wasn’t carrying any boxes. I headed to intercept him.
The truck exploded behind us.
The force of the blast threw me forward, and I slammed hard into the dirt. I was dazed, my ears ringing, when I sat up. The camp turned to chaos all around me.
Ahead of us, I saw Frederick climb to his feet. The look he flashed me was pure hatred, and he bent down to pull something from his boot. Silver flickered in his hand as he headed toward me. Knife. He must not recognize me in uniform from the few minutes he’d spent following Silas and me.
I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be convinced if I said I was one of the good guys. I got up and ran toward the castle building.
I had to find Silas. If things were turning to chaos, I was sure he’d be at the nexus.
As I ran, I realized it wasn’t just the truck that had detonated. The boxes had too. A bunch of guards lay prostrate on the ground, clutching tattered shells of boxes; most of them had lost a significant part of their chests and heads. Horror washed through me at the sense that could’ve been me with my head blown off.
Frederick must have given up on recreationally murdering me after all, because he was breaking open the exterior locks on barracks buildings. Prisoners piled out, and began to fight the guards, armed with whatever they could find.
“Initiate the camp shutdown,” the warden shouted.
We had to get everyone out. I’d been trying to find the shut-off for the camp immolation, and I ran the rest of the way to the castle, determined to get there first. Someone had to activate the mechanism, and I’d stop them to make sure there was time to free all the prisoners.
Then I spotted Silas standing on the steps, hands in his pockets, looking relaxed.
“We’ve got to do something,” I told Silas, seizing his arm. “The warden ordered a camp shutdown.”
He was watching the chaos of guards and magicians battling with a relaxed look on his face as if he were watching a polo match or something. He turned to me and raised a finger to his lips to shush me.
“I already have,” he said.
A prisoner hit a guard and the guard turned with baton, then fell to his knees, a shocked look on his face, as if the prisoner’s punch had killed him.
Silas flipped a bottle to me, and I caught it against my chest.
“What’s this?” I demanded. It was a mason jar, the small kind, and I unscrewed the lid even as I regarded Silas skeptically.
“Antidote,” he said.
“To what?” I demanded, “And also, you threw it at me?”
“Drink it,” he said with a smile.
I glared at him but I drained the glass anyway. “What the hell would’ve happened if I didn’t, Silas?”
All around us, bodies were dropping around camp. Prisoners stared in surprise at the guards that fell before they could even jump them. What had been a desperate fight was turning into a rout.
He’d been up to something the whole time. It’s a good thing I’m not your charge anymore.
Silas tucked his hands in his pockets and walked off whistling to find Frederick, in the chaos of the camp he’d just saved as if it were nothing.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Silas
* * *
When I walked into her room, Keen had obviously thrown herself out of bed to join the fight, but she hadn’t been able to reach the door. She looked up at me with the kind of dignity written across her face that someone only has when they are embarrassed.
There was a dead guard on the floor with her.
“You’ve never shied away from a fight in your life,” I said, “I guess you couldn’t leave resist helping us one last time.”
She huffed. “I recognize your work, Silas Zip.”
I smiled as I picked her up—she’d been muscular and strong in life and even now that her body was wasting away, she was heavier than I expected. I carried her back to the bed and laid her in it. “Until we’re ready to go.”
“I’m ready to go,” she said. “I don’t want you all to spend another moment trapped here.”
“Do you think I could get your advice one last time?”
“You’re