Page 35 of Abducting Sarah

I nodded. “Should be sufficient.”

Kapok and I stepped towardRegal, but Tiger hesitated. “We’re riding in that thing?”

Curse slapped the side of his ship and said, “Best ship there is, boy. You’d do well to remember that.”

“It’s floating in muck.”

Curse laughed. “The kid doesn’t know much about being sneaky, does he?”

I sighed. “He’ll learn. Come on, Tiger.”

He grumbled but followed us inside.

Nothing had changed inRegal—a vessel with none of the amenities I was used to. It was designed to run with a two-person crew and host a handful of guests who didn’t mind a rough ride. We were in the cargo hold as Curse and Patch set course for the royal prison. I hadn’t seen Patch on my way in and I didn’t expect to—he was always in his cockpit.

Tiger jolted when the ship submerged beneath the surface and rambled. “So, we get there, and then what?”

“We pull up into their sewage tunnel, park about a third of the way in,” I told him of the plan. “After that, we bribe the guards we need to bribe—”

“Or pummel them,” Kapok said with a laugh.

As much as I wanted a fight, I had to suppress the urge. “Yes, but that’s an option we should avoid. Busted faces beg questions. Anyway, we bribe, abscond with Silence, and that should be that.”

“And she would agree to go with us, why? She doesn’t know us,” Tiger pointed out.

“She knowsme,” I said.

My anger at the girl on behalf of Deacon had to be pushed aside for what was transpiring. No matter how much I wanted to wallow in it.

Regalpulled up to the sewage tunnel and Patch, pilot extraordinaire, threaded the ship into the tight passage. While he drove, we changed into old diver uniforms that covered us head to toe. They protected us from making contact with the raw sewage. Being the new guy, Tiger got to wear the pack that carried Silence’s uniform and the fake body Curse had created for her. It wasn’t a work of art or anything—if someone looked closely, they would know it wasn’t her. But all we had to do was fool them for a short time, until we had Silence safely away from the prison.

When Regal stopped, the cargo hold opened, and Tiger struggled with the scent. “How does the prison smell worse than the dump?”

Kapok laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. It gets worse. Let’s go.”

We trudged through the waist-high sewage and made our way through the first and second guard stations. They were easy to bribe. But the asshole posted at her door was less so.

He puffed out his chest. “I don’t care what the others—”

I hit him just hard enough that his head knocked against the rock wall behind him, leaving him unconscious. There was a strong sense of satisfaction in punching him, but it was soured by the worry that I had made a mistake. Tiger grabbed the guard’s hand and placed it onto the palm reader. When the door opened, I was relieved.

Silence was not.

She cowered in the back corner of her bunk in the rotten little room. A bucket of her waste sat in the other corner, and a small high window would have given her just enough light during the day to not go mad. In the night, though, there was no light, save for what fell through the doorway behind us. If I reached my arms outward, I would have hit both sides at the same time.

She began to raise her hand to defend herself.

But I pulled my hood off first. “Silence, I’m here to rescue you.”

Her perfect face melted into joy. “Jacaranda? Is that you?”

“Yes.” I yanked the pack off of Tiger, pulled out the body and tossed the uniform to her. “Put that on fast. We have to hurry.”

Then, I threw the body onto the waste bucket, where Kapok slit its throat to make it look like she’d committed suicide. Fake blood spilled over the edge, and he dropped the head in, to slow the urge to confirm her identity.

She nodded and struggled to get the uniform on over her pregnant body. Once dressed, she said, “I’m ready.”

We ran through the rock halls as quickly and quietly as we could, and knew we were close toRegalby the smell. I was impressed that Silence did not complain about the sewage tunnels or the ship. She only sat quietly once we were on board.

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