Wicked Games

Chapter 19

LISA

The days blur. An exhausting haze of training, the bathhouse, eating—food, not Roseanne, sadly—going through the house and packing the last few boxes, and researching. With a week to go, Jennie has already sourced all the supplies we need for the hike across the city. Food, sleeping and kit bags, medical supplies from Roseanne and weapons. Hyeri has located Old Palace schematics that are newer than the ones the Queen gave us and located a tunnel we can use to enter below the palace. Roseanne thinks we should be undetected, and Jisoo also gave the thumbs up. Which means we have an entry point for the mission. Jennie and I don't, however, have a house to go to once the mission is complete. The unease creeping into my gut is growing into an ugly noose. I'm sure we can sofa surf for a few days when we're back, but after that, we're going to need to sort a new place to live.

Between some Border Walker Jennie knows and Jisoo's knowledge of the palace, Hyeri is busy deciding the best route to break in and get out, as well as how to combat the security runes both on the inside and the outside of the palace.

Taehyung, however, is having less luck. Given he spends most of his time racing, he doesn't have any contacts inside the Border, so getting accurate information is trickier for him.

This evening I find him with an array of spanners and bolts surrounding him, his hands surrounded by pearlescent flames deep in my bike's engine.

"Should I be worried?" I say as his head pops up.

"Upgrades, you're welcome."

"Thanks? Do I owe you beer for this, or should I purchase an upgrade on leathers and a helmet?"

"Maybe both. I had to think. I've not found much on transport. Had to put my hands to use, fixing something to give me the headspace for ideas." He grins, and I help him tidy away his tools.

"Roseanne has talked me through most of the basics. Carriages are few, most broke during The Tearing, and bikes are few and far between, too. She said it was like an EMP went off and fucked all the electrics. Which is not proving helpful to me."

"But there's hope?" I ask as I put the last tool away and we make our way inside. Jisoo sits in the corner of our planning table, her nose buried in a book with a pile next to her, and Hyeri is levitating moving cog parts made of copper thread in front of her. Jennie and Roseanne are already on the training mats.

"There's always hope. I'm thinking I'll try to salvage a carriage while you're actually inside the building. I'm not wild about splitting the team up, though."

"Hmm, me neither. But at this point, I'm not sure we have a choice."

He takes his tool box and dumps it with his belongings and joins the rest of the group in the middle of the warehouse.

"Tonight, ladies and gentleman, we're moving onto weapons training," I say and shift on the spot. This was the session I've been dreading. It's one thing practicing with arms and limbs, of which most of theirs are now a delightful mottled mosaic of purple and green bruises. But when you add weapons in, I'm expecting chaos.

"We're going to start with close combat this evening. I'm going to pair you up differently. Jisoo, you're with Roseanne. Sister, you're with Hyeri. And Taehyung, you're with me. I'm doing this because your attacker may not be the same size and weight as you, and you need to defend yourselves against whoever we're attacked by."

"Yeah, most of the militia are male, or they were when I still lived in the Borderlands," Roseanne says.

"Close combat, small blades." I roll out my blade case along the table and gesture for everyone to pick up a blade of their choice.