Page 257 of Alchemised
“Fine.” She swallowed. “For Luc.”
“For Luc. Come on.”
Helena wanted very much to corner Purnell and interrogate her about exactly what Crowther knew, and how he expected the mission to unfold, but Purnell was constantly in motion, moving around the room, staying out of reach.
“How do you know all this?” Helena asked pointedly, after she was told about the location of the prison and how there was a floodwater cathedral that they would use to reach it.
“I know people who use them. The scouts—and others, when they need escape routes and safe places to go,” Purnell said.
“Why aren’t they more patrolled?”
Purnell shrugged. “It’s a maze. The greys can’t see in the dark, or they get lost, and the Undying don’t like crawling in sewer water.”
Helena’s own throat convulsed at the thought. “I see.”
“It won’t be bad, though. It’s flood season now,” Purnell said. “The water will mostly be mountain water. It’ll be cold, but nothing like it is in the summer.”
Small mercies. Helena was well acquainted with how cold the river snowmelt was; the mere thought of crawling through it was enough to make her bones ache. “And these tunnels are connected to where Luc is?”
Purnell was avoiding Helena’s eyes again. “A lot of old access points to the sewers were built over, but they’re easy to reopen if you have the building schematics. Someone investigated it a few months ago. It’s very high-level compared with the other prisons, but almost completely empty. Like it’s being reserved for something.”
“If Luc’s there, then this means his capture is something they’ve been working towards for a long time,” Sebastian said in a tight voice.
Fear sliced down Helena’s spine. “Why are you so sure Luc’s there?”
“If it’s a secret they have him, they’d have to put him in a secret place,” was all Purnell said.
Helena couldn’t help but feel that the girl’s involvement had already destroyed Crowther’s chance at plausible deniability. Surely he could afford to be less opaque.
“If he’s not there, no one will even know we went in,” Soren said. “We have to go tonight. Ascendance is tomorrow; the floodwaters are already high, and none of us will be clearheaded enough to go. We’d have to wait two more days, and Luc can’t afford that.”
Helena hadn’t considered that aspect. They captured Luc just before Ascendance. Why? Just to increase the complexity of the rescue efforts? Or was it a coincidence?
The plan was only the vaguest shape of a plan. Get in, find Luc, get out.
Helena’s job was to keep Purnell close and out of the way. The others would deal with any fighting. When they found Luc, she’d examine him, make sure he was still alive, and, if necessary, heal him as rapidly as possible. Then she would get him out. Purnell would help her carry him if he couldn’t walk on his own.
Helena’s job was getting him back to the East Island by any means possible. If she had to leave everyone else behind, she was to do that. Once Luc was safe, the others would scatter and regroup.
“Let’s go,” Soren said, pulling on his armour as Alister and Penny snapped to attention.
“Wait!” Helena said, fighting to keep her voice steady, overwhelmed with the feeling that the plan was wrong. “I need to get my medical kit.”
Soren’s eye narrowed with suspicion. “Don’t you just use your hands?”
She shook her head. “No. If Luc’s really hurt, there’s elixirs and salves, restoratives that will make him recover faster. Relying on vivimancy would—drain him or me. If I have my medicines, we’ll have a better chance of him making it out if he’s badly hurt.”
Soren relaxed marginally. “All right. Go fast. If you don’t come back in fifteen minutes, we’ll leave without you.”
She ran out the door, straight to Headquarters and the Alchemy Tower. The lift had never felt so slow as it cranked upwards.
“Please be there, Shiseo,” she prayed as the doors opened and she hurried to her lab, beginning to doubt whether she was making the right decision.
Shiseo was there, synthesising chelators when she burst in.
“I need your help,” she said as she rushed to her satchel. She went to the cabinet filled with all her medicine and snatched up vial after vial, enough doses for everyone twice. She found needles, bandages, manual medical tools, then packed everything she could into waxed, water-sealed bags and put all of it into her satchel until it was full to bursting.
Then she opened a small drawer that held her knives and started strapping them on.
