out from across the street.
She was walking toward us. I didn’t know how I’d missed the sound of her hooves on the cobblestones. My best chance of getting out of here was about to disappear. I choked on my words, scrambling for an excuse that might buy me a few more minutes with Hawk.
With another long stare, Hawk turned to Mertie. “I called her over. Now mind your business.”
Mertie ducked her head, nodding, and walked back to the building. She didn’t go in but hovered by the door, watching.
“Don’t look, but there is a large tree down the way.” Hawk lowered his voice as if he wanted to make sure it didn’t carry to Mertie.
I knew which tree he was talking about. I’d been staring at it all day from the window in the factory. Its trunk was whitish grey and its leaves were all black. The thing was huge, and appeared to be some kind of cross between an oak and a weeping willow if it had been grown in hell.
“Be there at two a.m.”
“You’ll help me?” Adrenaline mixed with hope and shot through my veins. I swallowed hard, trying to keep the excitement from spreading to my face and tipping off a spying Mertie.
“Maybe.” He was back to sounding indifferent.
My heart jumped as I forced the rest of my body to stay languid. He was going to give me a chance. I had a chance.
He walked away, and I turned back to Mertie, planting a contrite face on as she watched my every step. I walked in the factory, and Mertie followed me, yelling, “Get back to work, you lazy Whimsy witch!”
“I’m sorry. I got woozy. I’m not used to all this strong magic. I thought the cold air would help, and then Hawk called me over.” I tried to muster up a few tears for her benefit. I failed miserably. I’d never been good at crying on demand, or crying at all.
“It wasn’t break time,” Mertie said. “You’re not getting your dinner now.” She stopped outside the factory room I’d been assigned to, pointing. “Get back to work and don’t let me see you out of that chair again, or Marvin will be hearing about it, and you won’t like what comes next.”
I nodded, keeping my head down until I took a seat by Rabbit.
“What happened? I saw you talking to him,” she whispered as soon as Mertie disappeared.
“Nothing. He didn’t want to talk to me,” I lied, watching as she chewed on her lip and fidgeted.
5
The room was filled with soft snores at one thirty as I climbed down out of my bunk, pausing every time the metal creaked or there was a hitch in someone’s breathing. I had a feeling Rabbit would try to keep my secret, despite my lying to her, if she woke, but the other two girls in the room hadn’t even introduced themselves. They were part of the clique that sat near the fireplace, and I had no delusions about how loud they’d scream if I got caught.
I tiptoed out into the common room, then made my way to the bathroom. I’d opened the window earlier tonight to see if it would set off any sort of alarm, or if it would open at all. With the lack of security in this place, it was surprising anyone stayed.
As soon as I climbed out of the window, I broke into a jog. Hawk was there already, leaning against the tree, waiting.
He straightened before I finished getting to him and began walking.
“Where are we—”
He spun, putting a finger to my lips, and then took off walking again at a pace that was brisk enough that I was winded. If I’d met a strange man like this a few days ago in Salem, I would’ve been afraid of where he was taking me and what he might do to me. I’d had to nearly stalk him to get a meeting, but fear of him trying to abduct me had vanished. Even now, he didn’t seem overly concerned about me having second thoughts. What was the worst thing that could happen? Maybe he’d abduct me and dump me somewhere I wanted to be more than here? If he took me somewhere other than Xest, my odds of survival increased. Made me wish for abduction.
Then he took a turn down a dark alley. I paused. Maybe abduction wasn’t such a good idea. I glanced back down the road, in the direction of the factory and barracks.
He