A plan starts to form in my head. I squint slightly with the effort of thinking. I wish I had a pen and paper to write it all down so I don’t get snarled up in all the layers. If I get captured by the Gems tonight, Willow could still declare his love for me at the Gallows Dance tomorrow. I just need to get away from him without rousing his suspicion. Then I need to get Nate, Ash and Katie to safety before surrendering to the Gems.
This could actually work. The excitement builds on my earlier panic so that I feel like I’m about to overflow with adrenalin. I could still incite a revolution. Still go home. Still save the Imps. Hope starts as a little flower.
I snake my arms around Willow’s waist, hoping to add weight to my words. ‘There’s nothing I want more than to be with you. But I need to get my friends to safety first. Will you help?’
‘Of course.’
‘Just fly us clear of the guards, and when I know they’re in the clear, safe inside the city walls, I’ll return to the estate.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
I shake my head, remembering that lynch mob with a shudder. ‘The Imps will kill you if they figure out you’re a Gem.’ And then you can’t complete the canon, I think to myself, followed by a spike of guilt.
He sighs, giving up a little too easily perhaps. ‘Please be careful.’ He kisses me on the mouth. Only it doesn’t feel like kissing any more – it just feels like two people bumping lips.
I gently pull away. ‘I will, I promise.’
‘Quickly then.’ He crosses to the hatch.
‘Willow?’
He pauses and turns, his hand drifting above a shiny, green button.
‘How did your father know about the raid on the Meat House?’
He shrugs. ‘He didn’t say. Why?’
This has niggled at me since I heard the roar of the Gem helicopters. How could the Gems have known we were going to raid the Meat House? In canon, Willow made the raid happen. But in the current, I made it happen. Not a single Gem could have known, unless there’s a mole in our midst.
‘I was just curious,’ I say, waving a blasé hand.
He hits the button and the door pops open. He strides across to the entrance. ‘Send in the two boys, please.’
Ash and Nate emerge from the darkness. I hear the hatch swoosh as it seals behind us. After staring into Willow’s clean, perfect face, Nate and Ash look like a couple of dirty, half-dead rats, covered in grime and blood and bruises. I feel an overwhelming urge to hug them both.
‘What’s he doing here?’ Ash asks.
I shake my head, urging him to fall silent.
Willow loops an arm around my shoulder and plants a kiss on my cheek. ‘I’ll fly us away from the soldiers then.’
I’ve never seen Ash scowl quite so deeply.
But I can’t help but grin – I’ve just had an idea. I wink at Nate. ‘We just need to find a manhole cover.’
‘Manhole cover?’ Willow says.
‘Oh my God!’ Nate squeals in delight. ‘We’re going into the sewers.’
The iron rungs of the ladder feel gritty and damp beneath my fingers, like I’m grasping at wet sand, and the cylindrical walls close around us – the rhythmic peristalsis of a giant throat. I feel grateful to the circle of light hanging above, delivering a blast of fresh air, a sense of escape. But Ash begins to slide the lid back into place, and I feel anxiety taking hold. The grind of metal on concrete, the shrinking crescent which eventually clunks to black; it’s like watching a terrifying lunar eclipse. And it reminds me briefly of the Dupes, stuck in that windowless room with only a circle of ceiling removed.
I hear several splashes as Nate jumps from the ladder. The torch Willow gave him clicks on, highlighting the texture of the bricks, the jagged rungs stained red and orange by time. I follow him into the water, which soaks into my boots, thick and cold.
I survey my surroundings. A tunnel, similar to the ones in canon, arched above and flat beneath my feet, stretching endlessly in both directions. Smaller tunnels branch from it – a row of black, staring eyes. I can stand in the passage with ease, but I still feel confined, thinking about the tons of earth pushing down on us, held back only by a network of ancient, damp-mottled bricks.
Nate sloshes up to the wall and runs his finger over a yellow marking. It looks like an angle, two lines connected at a point. ‘The lovebirds never figured these out, remember? They ended up hideously lost.’
I nod. The markings were made by the rebels years ago, signalling the various exit ladders. But they were coded, a precautionary measure in case the Gems ever made their way down here. And Rose had never been told how to interpret them. Eventually, she found a rebel bolthole – an old garage with a Humvee stashed inside – but it took her several hours. They ended up crossing the rest of the city in it so they could reach the river. We need that Humvee, I think to myself.
I look at those yellow markings and can’t help but smile. It’s like the canon never gave up on us, like it knew we would catch up eventually. Just like Baba said – a story needs to unfold.
Ash pauses to examine the markings while Nate sloshes in my direction, seizing the opportunity to grill me. ‘So what was Willy doing in that hovercraft?’
‘He’s still into me,’ I whisper. ‘The canon’s back on track. If I get myself captured by the Gems, Howard Stoneback will see I make it on to the gallows, then all that needs to happen is Willow saying his lines and . . . voila!’
‘You’re serious?’
‘Nate, we can go home tomorrow.’
His face unfolds into a massive smile, the same one he used to wear when I pushed him full force on the swings. ‘Oh my God, Violet, this is immense. OK, OK, so how do we get you captured?’
‘Well, the canon seems to come good whatever we do.’
‘So we go to the river? Where Rose and Willow were finally caught?’
‘That’s what I’m thinking. We get the Humvee from the bolthole, we bust Katie out of headquarters, we head to the river, then you and the others cross to No-man’s-land. I’ll wait for the soldiers and surrender.’
‘My God, sis, check out your balls, they’re positively gleaming.’
I grin. ‘Katniss and Tris – they’re just a couple of Girl Guides.’
Nate looks thoughtful. ‘Is there time? Maybe Katie and I should find another hiding place?’
‘No-man’s-land is the safest place. If we hurry, you can easily cross the river before the soldiers arrive – we just need to navigate the sewers better than Rose, buy back some time. Can you remember where she went wrong?’
‘Maybe, these tunnels all look the same,’ he says.
Ash joins us. The movement of his legs causes a gentle wave to lap against my calves. ‘So what’s the plan?’ he asks.
‘We’re just discussing our next move,’ I say.
Ash looks at the bricks above, purposefully avoiding eye contact. ‘I thought that was what you and Willow were doing.’
‘Oh get over it, Squirrel,’ Nate snaps. ‘She wasn’t about to dick off the only person who could set us free.’
Ash exhales sharply. I can tell he isn’t convinced.
‘We find a vehicle,’ I say. ‘Get Katie, then we all cross the river to hide in No-man’s-land.’ Except for me, I think. I’ll be surrendering to those Gem soldiers.
‘There’s just one problem,’ Ash says. Even in the gloom, I can tell he’s blushing. ‘I can’t swim.’
None of the Imps can swim. I know this from canon. The only water available is filled with sewage and debris.