“Yes! That’s her,” I said. The girl from that day I healed Oliver at the Society. I couldn’t forget the way he looked at her with concern. “I need to speak to her.”
The two men exchanged doubtful glances. “Not a good idea. You see, she works for ’im.”
“I know that,” I said. “But I don’t think she wishes to work for the Captain. She might help. Especially after the confession at the trial. He admitted to killing a friend of ours.”
They stared at me, hard. “If she tells ’im you lot are here…”
“It’s already a risk being here,” I said. “And we’re going to need their help against Captain Goode.”
I could feel the doubts on the tips of everyone’s tongues, but Arthur and William finally conceded with sighs. “All right. If you’re sure, miss.…”
“I am not. But we have to know more.”
As our group made its way up into Arthur’s and William’s office, Catherine held me back. “Evelyn.” She was beginning to issue a dire warning, I was sure.
“He’s going to die.” I turned to her, holding her with my gaze. “I have to find a way to help him.”
“I was just going to say, I agree.” She smiled a little. “It’s worth the try.”
“Oh,” I said, a pang of guilt in my chest. “Well I—thank you for constantly being sensible and … you. Even though that’s meant all these arguments.”
“It makes it all that much better when we finally agree,” she said. “Then I know we truly have a good idea.”
We followed everyone else up and found empty seats around the cozy room. Arthur opened the window, and seconds later, Eliza veered to a controlled stop outside. She carefully floated inside, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dim office.
“No!” She caught sight of us and turned to flee, but William closed the window and tried to calm her.
“They just want your help,” he said.
“You can’t be here!” She looked trapped and hovered near the ceiling, buzzing with fear and irritation.
“Eliza, do you know me? I saw you training with Oliver; he mentioned you as a friend.” She looked pained, and I pressed on. “Captain Goode killed Oliver, using Mr. Braddock. All I want is to save him, Mr. Kent, and anyone else who doesn’t want to be in the Society. Do you think you can help us? We would never harm you; we want to help. I know George doesn’t want to be there. He’s another friend of yours, right?” I tried to speak as calmly as possible, though it was probably still a nervous jumble.
Slowly Eliza lowered herself to the ground, her eyes still darting anxiously between us. “He’ll hurt my pa and sister if I try to leave.”
“He made the same threats to us when we were part of the Society,” I tried to say soothingly. “I refused to do something for him, and my sister would have died had it not been for Miss Chen here refusing her order as well. Just know that if enough people refuse him, he can’t carry out his threats.”
“But if the Captain finds out I talked to you—”
“Is he still looking for us?”
“We won’t tell ’im nuffin’.” Arthur smiled gently, his cheek dimpling as his face relaxed. The two men might have menacing disguises from Camille, but they barely covered up their gentle natures.
She bit her lip and nodded, seeming more reassured by him than me, and spoke to Arthur directly. “I heard he questioned the prisoners all night.”
Hmm. If he was asking them about where I and the others would go, Mr. Kent and Sebastian must have come up with a long list of places to search for us.
Or he was learning more about our weaknesses to keep us from stopping the execution.
“Is Captain Goode really planning an execution for tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yes, we all have to be ready at nine o’clock. He wants all Society members, including you two.” Eliza tilted her head toward Arthur and William. “Those are the orders I’m delivering to everyone right now.”
“That’s very helpful,” I smiled even as I wanted to be violently sick. He was using the execution as a trap to capture us. I paused, choosing my next questions carefully in case Captain Goode decided to question her. “Do the orders explain what’s going to happen?”
She pulled out a few rolled-up sheets of paper and set it on the desk. Arthur unfurled them, revealing written instructions and diagrams of Tower Hill.
“Do you have a map of London with this area?” I asked.
William found one on their bookshelf and opened it up on a large table in the middle of the room that we all gathered around. Using the diagram as a reference, he pointed to the gardens on the map. “The scaffold seems to be set up ’ere in the center. And looks like Society members surround it on the south, west and east. ’E wants Arthur and me to be watching the south.”
Trying to keep my hand from shaking, I pointed to the map, south of the gardens, where the Tower of London sat. “Where is he going to bring the prisoners from? Is he staying with them?”
Eliza nodded and traced a route on the map. “In the White Tower. They’re going to walk them down this way, over the moat, and up here.”
“And where is the rest of the Society coming from?” I asked.
“We’re staying in these houses here,” Eliza pointed.
“And do you know how many people there are?”
“Maybe twenty or thirty? I don’t know them all.”
“That’s all right,” I said. “Do you know if anyone else is unhappy with the Society?”
“Well, Georgie is. And my friend Shirin.”
“Can you tell me about Shirin?”
Eliza smiled a little, obviously adoring of her friend. “Shirin can control rocks. Makes them fly or shift or create neat sculptures. She’s really clever with them. She built the court at Lincoln’s Inn fields all by herself.”
“That’s remarkable,” I said, remembering that girl from their training with Oliver. “Is there anyone else?”
“I don’t … I don’t know,” she said. “Sometimes others seem to hate it, but no one says anything. It’s hard to trust anyone.”
“Don’t worry. I understand. That’s all we wanted to know.” My heart sank a little. Only three young people would maybe—maybe—be on our side.
“Eliza, you best be getting back to your duties,” Arthur said. “Are there any other questions?”
Our group was silent, not wanting to push Eliza any further. I answered for everyone. “Thank you, Eliza.”
She pursed her lips and gave a quick nod before William opened the window to let her out.
“I take it this is our plan then,” Catherine said, pointing to the map.
“So we attack from the north at the execution?” Miss Chen asked.
“Willy and I won’t warn anyone ’til it’s too late,” Arthur said.
“I will sweep up the power remover with my winds,” Miss Rao offered.
“No, we’re not attacking during the execution,” I said.
The group stared at me as though I had gone mad.
“But I … I thought you wanted to save them,” Laura’s voice was thin and high, and Emily took her hand.
“I do,” I said. “But Captain Goode wants us to as well. I think that’s why he’s making it so public and obvious. It’s another trap. To get us to attack him when he’s fully prepared and expecting it.”
“But what’s the alternative?” Catherine asked.
“We attack the Tower of London tonight,” I answered. “Captain Goode will be preparing for tomorrow and won’t be expecting us at all. It’ll be dark, Miss Chen can extinguish any lights, and we’ll stay behind the walls so he can’t see us and turn our power off from the White Tower. We’ll sneak over to where the Society members are staying and ask for their help. I know everyone won’t turn, but between our powers and the plants and rocks, we’ll be able to restrain the others without harming them.”
“But you saw how nervous this girl was,” Miss Chen said, gesturing out the window. “No one helped Mr. Braddock and Mr. Kent when they tried to expose Captain Goode. How will this be any different?”
“That was very sudden,” I said. “They barely had time to consider it.”
“And this time I’ll ask them,” Rose said.
She had such a quiet, low voice. And yet instantly everyone froze, acutely focused on my sister and her calm, monumental declaration.