Nada's Escape: Fighters' lies

4.4 Farewell

Soon Penny is looking better, asleep on the bathroom floor as Macie forces the second initiate, Liza, to drink a glass of water. She too is looking a little sickly and worried at the thought that the chicken may have been under-cooked, as Macie claims. I am not sure how long it takes for food poisoning to take effect but I'm pretty sure it occurs in those who eat the food and leaves those who refuse to eat untouched. The opposite here has happened. And all the Huntsmen, Macie assures me, are worried but as healthy as they've ever been.

A knock sounds at the door and I tense for action, perhaps expecting an artillery assault next. I open the door, which is unlocked anyway, leaving a gap just wide enough to see who it is. Finley. I am not going to deal with his shenanigans on top of this.

I am halfway to slamming the door again when he pushes a couple of coat hangers through.

"I'm sorry. I went and got some spare clothes and a few cloths. Hopefully they'll help clean this up." He says.

I take them slowly, hissing. "Where were you yesterday?"

I'd been ready for Finley to come again with more of his hints, more lies. I'd been ready to hit him, take out my anger for the enthralment the day before, to finally get him to stay away from me. Or help me. Either way I'd been disappointed.

He winces, "The wardens though it best that I let you cool down... and I had some things to organise, so I let them bully me."

I roll my eyes. "So you had Macie do your dirty work?"

I glance over my shoulder, but she's whispering with Liza. Good.

"I well..." He has the sense of mind to look embarrassed. "It worked didn't it? You got my note didn't you?"

What?

"Oh... you didn't look in the hat did you?"

"No, I..." I left it on the table in the middle of all those Huntsmen. Shit.

"It's alright. I just wasn't sure we'd get the chance to talk..."

"Well it's a good thing we won't." I slam the door on his face, huffing quietly to myself. Secret notes in hats! What next? A heist?

Macie frowns at me and calls after Finley. "Thank you!"

So she was the one who orchestrated that little delivery. I want to be annoyed at Macie for bossing everyone around... except that she isn't acting like a worm today. She is acting like a survivor. Only a fighter would be suspicious enough to guess that a worm fainting was due to Huntsmen poison.

Ten minutes later, Fern slips in on orders from Amy.

"How are we supposed to stake out the bathroom when its full of you-know-who?" She hissed to me.

I simply shake my head, calling off my ingenious plan. With a poisoner on the loose it doesn't feel like the best time to be kidnapping people. Well it's the perfect time to be kidnapping people, I just don't know how. Instead I whisper to Fern that she and the others should fill the Huntsmen's glasses to the brim with the suspect lemonade. I want to be sure they are immune.

After an hour with no more clarity on the poisoning I carry Penny, angelically asleep in a clean pink polka-dotted dress, towards the gate. Macie has insisted that we walk in a line, Penny and I in the middle, to highlight our 'united strength despite adversity'. Seeing the four of them, our sponsors, lined in front of the gate with the sun behind them, it feels like we are the leaders of some near-defeated army coming to treat with the enemy for our meagre lives. I guess we kind of are.

When we reach them Henry steps forward as if to take Penny but I halt out of reach. I meet his eye with steel in my gaze.

"I'll take care of her," he whispers.

"Make sure you do," I reply, though the statement is entirely inadequate. I glance at Penny's tiny, curling eyelashes and feel her quiet warmth against my torso. I want to pick Henry up and shake him until he realises just how serious the welfare of this little girl is. Instead I watch his teeth silently worry into his lip at her form and I carefully pass her over. He nods to me and then begins a slow stroll out to the open gates.

Macie gives the Liza a big hug in front of me, whispering how proud she is in her ear. When they break apart her sponsor holds out his hand and she moves to take it but I stop her. Maybe she isn't as helpless as Penny but I feel like I can't let her slip away into the hands of someone who could take advantage of her. I press her into a hug and whisper.

"Don't take his hand. Don't let him touch you. Ever." I pull back and can see a question hanging from her lips. I press a finger to her mouth.

"Trust me. Stay safe," I say and let her go. She doesn't take her sponsor's hand but follows him out through the gates without a fuss.

Now there are four.

I glance at Finley and then look away. Macie's ancient sponsor has a strangle-hold on her hand and she is nodding silently at the nonsense story he is spouting. She senses my gaze and turns to cough behind her hand, making a disgusted face at Finley and I before turning innocently back to her sponsor.

I smile ruefully. Finley's face is touched with amusement too but when he looks at me it is like he is trying to tell me something more than that. Like he is happy for me?

He reaches his arm out before him, holding up the cream hat I'd left at the luncheon table. The sun dips low enough to get in my eyes and I squint at him, measuring. I take the hat, my fingertips sliding against the weave.

"Goodbye." I say, intoning each syllable slowly so that he can't misinterpret me. Leave me alone. I mean to swirl away from him then but something sticks me in an awkward half turn to leave. I glance at him once more but am merely dazzled by the setting sun.

"See you tomorrow," he replies too late, clinging to my future with words. I leave without reply, turning my back on the wide open gate for a few more locked doors. I wonder after today if they'll restamp my file. A fighter or a lady?

I run my finger around the inside of the hat brim until it catches on a piece of paper. I'm halfway back and when I turn only Macie and her sponsor are left at the gate. I slide the note out and unfurl it.

| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |

| I have allies who can help us. With their help, we can save all the girls from right under the |

| council's noses. |

| I promise. I can tell you more once you've met with them. | |______________________________________________________________________________|

My eyebrows shoot up at the words. All those hints the other day, the first note and now this? My heart flutters with hope, despite my attempts to strangle that dangerous emotion. Yes, he's promising, but he's vague. It's a trap; a distraction.

But its a lot of effort to go to merely to distract me from escape plans. On the other hand hasn't Finley had three years to hone his strategies? I breath in a cold dose of reality. I can't respect words, even those secreted away from the council's eyes and ears. I can only respect actions.

I secret the note back into its hiding place just as Macie extricates herself from her sponsor and walks towards me.

"I pray I never find myself tied into that green ribbon," she sighs once she's caught up. Two days ago I would have been surprised, but Macie has proved herself to me today.

"Ditto for red," I laugh. We have more things in common than I'd ever thought. Maybe one day she'll be a fighter after all.