Anyone looking for us would be able to follow the drag marks and footsteps in the dust to the cupboard. I’d have to lay a false trail.
I pushed my weight against the half-collapsed wall in front of the cupboard room. It creaked, then crashed onto the cracked tile of the floor, covering my drag marks. A storm of dust exploded into the air and I coughed. I climbed over the debris and snatched a moldy blanket.
In the hall I used the blanket to fake more drag marks as I headed away from the room and to the other side of the building. I found another boarded-up door and rammed it down. It spilled me into an alley. This one, though, had a canal running along the end of it.
I dragged the blanket after me, creating an extended trail of dust. Then I lobbed the blanket into the canal’s waters.
The abandoned building was easy to scale, even with my shoulder and its fresh pain, and I dashed as fast as possible to the roof to keep my false trail intact.
In the square, a troop of lawmen made their way toward the scene of the fight. I’d run out of time.
I raced across the roof and scurried down into the alley, recklessly jumping the last story. The hard cobblestones jarred my ankles and back. I leaped into the house as the light in the alley dimmed from the lawmen’s entrance.
When I reached Les, still hidden in the cupboard, I climbed in with him, pulling his long legs against me so the cupboard door could close on our tangled bodies.
The air and dust were thick inside. The gods themselves had to hear the beating of my heart as I tried to keep us quiet and still.
Les groaned beside me. I covered his mouth with my hands, the hair on his face sharp against my burned palm.
Shocked shouts drifted in from the alley. The lawmen had found the bodies.
They rushed into the building. I drew Les tight against me and kept my hand over his mouth.
My breath against my mask sounded like bellows pumping in my ears. They’d hear me. They couldn’t not hear me. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on Les’s warm breath against my hand.
“Look!” a voice came. “Over here!”
Footsteps pounded through the building, and then silence again. I swallowed, my throat like a desert.
More footsteps, casual this time, as if the person strolled along a park instead of an abandoned building.
All my life I’d fought and killed people but had never experienced fear as I did then, hiding in the cupboard, praying we wouldn’t be discovered.
The man whistled. My blood turned to ash. Lefevre.
He knew he was looking for me. Knew I was responsible for the dead men. His dead men.
He paused and hummed to himself, as if he’d found something interesting. He had to be examining the collapsed wall, and if he looked too closely, he would see the cupboard hidden in the dark corner.
I clutched the key around my neck.
The floorboards creaked. Then more footsteps arrived, less frantic this time.
“Couchier found a blanket in the canal,” the new speaker announced. “Looks as if they fled that way.”
“Show me,” Lefevre said. They left the building.
I nearly collapsed with relief. We weren’t safe yet, but they’d bought my ruse.
Alessio groaned again. “Don’t leave me, Lea.” His words were quiet and slow.
I whispered in his ear, pulling him tighter against me, trying to keep him still. If we could hide here until the lawmen left, we could escape to somewhere safer.
I closed my eyes.
At this point, anywhere would be safer.
twenty-six
WE HID IN THE CUPBOARD LONG PAST THE TIME WHEN the alley emptied. I didn’t trust that the building wasn’t being watched. I didn’t trust that Lefevre would let this go.
Finally, we had to take our chances. We couldn’t stay hidden in this cramped cupboard. Les kept falling in and out of consciousness. He needed help.
I pushed the door open and tumbled into the dusty room.
My limbs and joints screamed at the sudden freedom. I struggled to my feet, groaning and stretching before I pulled Les out.
He grunted and stirred. “Where are we?” He barely opened his eyes.
“We were hiding.” I crouched and helped him to stand. He hunched over, hands on his knees.
“We have to go now. It’s not safe, Alessio.” I ducked my head beneath his so he had to focus on me. “I need you to help me now. I need you to stay awake.”
He moaned and we trudged through the home, his feet tangling in debris.
We were close to my safe house, only a few blocks away. But I couldn’t convince Les to climb to the roofs, and there was no way I could get him there alone. That left only one place.
We reached the other side of the building. I released Les and left him to lean against a wall while I scouted our path.
A cart vendor selling fish blocked the front of the empty alley. Finally, a bit of luck.