“What is it?”
“One of Raske’s new inventions.”
Wylan’s head popped up. “I thought he did demo work.”
“He does everything,” said Jesper.
“Wedge it between your back teeth,” Kaz said as he handed the disks to the others. “But don’t bite dow—”
Wylan started to sputter and cough, clawing at his mouth. A transparent film had spread over his lips; it bulged like a frog’s gullet as he tried to breathe, eyes darting left and right in panic.
Jesper started laughing, and Kaz just shook his head. “I told you not to bite down, Wylan. Breathe through your nose.”
The boy took deep inhales, nostrils flaring.
“Easy,” said Jesper. “You’re going to make yourself pass out.”
“What is this?” asked Matthias, still holding the tiny disk in his palm.
Kaz pushed his deep into his mouth, wiggling it between his teeth. “Baleen. I’d planned to save these, but after that ambush, I don’t know what kind of trouble we may run into on the open sea. If you go over and can’t come up for air, wiggle it free and bite down. It will buy you ten minutes of breathing time. Less if you panic,” he said with a meaningful look at Wylan. He gave the boy another piece of baleen. “Be careful with that one.” Then he tapped the Ice Court plans.
“Names, Helvar. All of them.”
Reluctantly, Matthias picked up the pen and ink Wylan had laid out and began to scratch in the names of the buildings and surrounding roads. Somehow doing it himself felt even more treasonous.
Part of him wondered if he could simply find a way to separate from the group once they got there, reveal their location, and thereby win his way back into the good graces of his government. Would anyone at the Ice Court even recognise him? He was probably believed to be dead, drowned in the shipwreck that had killed his closest friends and Commander Brum. He had no proof of his true identity. He would be a stranger who had no business in the Ice Court, and by the time he got anyone to listen—
“You’re holding back,” Brekker said, his dark eyes trained on Matthias.
Matthias ignored the shiver that passed through him. Sometimes it was like the demon could read minds. “I’m telling you what I know.”
“Your conscience is interfering with your memory. Remember the terms of our deal, Helvar.”
“All right,” Matthias said, his anger rising. “You want my expertise? Your plan won’t work.”
“You don’t even know my plan.”
“In through the prison, out through the embassy?”
“As a start.”
“It can’t be done. The prison sector is completely isolated from the rest of the Ice Court. It isn’t connected to the embassy. There’s no way to reach it from there.”
“It has a roof, doesn’t it?”
“You can’t get to the roof,” Matthias said with satisfaction. “The drüskelle spend three months working with Grisha prisoners and guards as part of our training. I’ve been in the prison, and there’s no access to the roof for exactly that reason – if someone manages to get out of his cell, we don’t want him running around the Ice Court. The prison is totally sealed off from the other two sectors in the outer circle. Once you’re in, you’re in.”
“There’s always a way out.” Kaz pulled the prison plan from the stack. “Five floors, right?
Processing area, and four levels of cells. So what’s here? In the basement?”
“Nothing. A laundry and the incinerator.”
“The incinerator.”
“Yes, where they burn the convicts’ clothes when they arrive. It’s a plague precaution but—” As soon as the words left Matthias’ mouth he understood what Brekker had in mind. “Sweet Djel, you want us to climb six storeys up an incinerator shaft?”
“When does the incinerator run?”
“If I remember right, early morning, but even without the heat, we—”
“He doesn’t mean for us to climb it,” said Nina, emerging from belowdecks.
Kaz sat up straighter. “Who’s watching Inej?”
“Rotty,” she said. “I’ll go back in a minute. I just needed some air. And don’t feign concern for Inej when you’re planning to send her climbing up six storeys of chimney with only a rope and a prayer.”
“The Wraith can manage it.”
“The Wraith is a sixteen-year-old girl currently lying unconscious on a table. She may not even survive the night.”
“She will,” said Kaz, and something savage flashed in his eyes. Matthias suspected that Brekker would drag the girl back from hell himself if he had to.
Jesper picked up his rifle, running a soft cloth over it. “Why are we talking about scaling chimneys when we’ve got a bigger problem?”
“And what’s that?” Kaz asked, though Matthias had the distinct impression he knew.