“Ari, most of our supplies…” Florence shifted uneasily from foot to foot. “I lost them in the accident in the caves.”
“We didn’t have that much anyway.” She brushed off the girl’s concerns, focusing on what was important—the fact that she was all right. “Plus, I’ve had five days here waiting for you. What do you think I’ve been doing?”
“I should’ve never doubted you.” Florence laughed, but it was a hollow sound that served only to hide a wince.
“No, never,” Ari teased. The world was right with Florence at her side again. She’d spent most of her life without the girl. But now she couldn’t imagine a world that didn’t have her in it, and she would fight tooth and nail to keep her there.
Cvareh led them back to the place they had made their home. It was a small stretch of fabric suspended between some crates that offered little protection from the elements. Curled underneath it were her two filthy prison birds—thin, worse for wear, but in one piece. Helen’s eyes rose and grew wide as she realized who she was looking at.
“Oh, you made it,” she said dryly.
“You should’ve never had any doubt,” Ari proclaimed, heaping on an equal portion of her own brand of arrogance. Doing so made her guilt potable. Florence had been forced to stay in this squalor for days while she had been sleeping in relative comfort in the abandoned store she’d broken into.
“Well, now that our little family is finally back together, what’s the plan?” Will looked at Arianna.
“You did your part.” She wasn’t going to bury the lede. “As far as we’re concerned, your freedom has been earned and you owe me nothing further.” Boon aside, she didn’t actually enjoy the feeling of people owing debts to her. She didn’t want anything from anyone.
“We’re leaving for Keel on the next airship we can find,” Florence explained.
Her two friends shared a look.
“You are,” Helen agreed. “But we’ve been talking, and since your teacher will not be hunting us down, we’re going to head back into the Underground.”
“What? Why?” Florence looked frantically between her friends.
“We’re not bad at this whole ‘moving people’ business,” Will started.
“And we think it can be a business,” Helen interjected.
“Minus dealing with the Wretched.” Arianna couldn’t stop herself.
“Yes, well… When we’re moving things—people—we’ll do so on our own terms. We’ve learned every time we’ve maneuvered down there.”
“You’re not joining us?” Florence couldn’t seem to process it.
Will shook his head. “Flor, we’ve always ridden in separate trikes. Sometimes we can ride side by side, but our destinations are different.”
“Unless you want to join us, instead?” Helen asked hopefully. “We need a Revo for protection, just in case. You really are brilliant with gunpowder.”
Florence fought to hide a smile at the well-deserved flattery.
“Plus, you could help ferry more people out of the Guilds, just like you, to live a free life doing whatever they choose.”
It would be a noble cause, Arianna admitted. One that would resonate strongly with Florence as someone who had used that method herself to avoid the fatal outcomes of failing the Dragon tests. Florence had every reason to say yes.
And yet, Arianna desperately wished she wouldn’t. If Florence disappeared with these two, she would likely never see her again. Florence would become her own White Wraith, operating outside the law and in the greatest secrecy possible. She would be at constant risk.
Arianna wanted to be happy for the girl. She wanted to support blindly. But the panic the very thought put in her made her tongue act differently.
“You could stay,” she said softly. Florence looked at her in shock—shock Ari hoped wasn’t stemming from excitement and relief. “But you should come with us to the Alchemists first. You won’t last long without being transitioned to a full Chimera, even less without Dragon blood.”
If the girl leaves these two, the chances of her ever rejoining them decreases greatly, a nagging voice in the back of Arianna’s mind assured her. She only wanted what was best for Florence. She hadn’t lied.
Florence looked between Ari and the two Ravens. She desperately wished she knew what was going through the girl’s head.
“I can’t.” Florence shook her head. “Will, Helen, I can’t go with you.”
“You’re sure? Will you meet us after you become a Chimera?” Helen squinted at Ari skeptically while the Wraith fought to keep a triumphant smile off her lips.
“I don’t know… But Arianna is right. I need to go for that, at the very least.” There was no room for hesitation in Florence’s words and Arianna was pleased to note that her student clearly thought of the whole matter as her idea. “I’ve come this far. I need to see Cvareh through to the Alchemists. And even after that, who will make Ari’s canisters for her?”