Nada's Escape

22- Nowhere.

I walk until I find the edge of everything. The earth drops away in front of me in one severe line while the sky on all sides flies out to form the most impossible dome, so large as to be unreachable. It's the flat top of a bluff I realise, raised above the desert plain. It starts at my feet with the red-brown so definitive of the outback and then it spreads and spreads.

The land ends not with an explosion but with a line; the horizon like the end of infinity. Even with the horizon in sight the space between is so vast my anger is diminutive by comparison. I breathe slowly in and out, letting all my feelings slip away, diluted in the awesome atmosphere.

I know it's late, passing lunchtime, when hunger begins to gnaw at me. I make my way back to the site of the party, mind on the silly little sandwiches they were serving. The return trip feels wholly different, knowing that all the English greenery around me is artificial for the desert, held together by some Huntsmen concoction of sprinklers and magic. Before I reach the meadow I find Finley, wandering alone. He looks contrite.

"Are we good?" He asks, extending an invisible hand of friendship this time. I review our circumstances: the risk of enthralment, or whatever that weirdness had been is worse than ever. So I ignore his question and square my shoulders to him.

"The middle of an Australian desert?" I berate. When he looks at me quizzically I continue, "You're distracting me playing nice with Huntsmen, feeding hopes of escape when there's all that nothingness out there to beat."

"You're going to be fine," he lies. The physical distance between us gapes at me awkwardly. "Especially when you hear that it worked. You've convinced my associates to let you in on the big plan." I fold my arms, raising my eyes to the sky with derision. What associates? Finley ignores my expression and ploughs onward with an explanation.

"When Huntsmen make oaths and pledges they have to be sealed by some physical object, like a knotted ribbon. Any ordinary ribbon will do. But if the ribbon has a counter spell sewn into it the oath magic won't stick. So the people I'm working with want to release you all from Seven without being forced into an oath by making new ribbons with counter spells sewn in.

"Four of the people you met today are part of this small rebellion against Seven's imprisonment. Today you proved to them that you can keep their secret in public and so they released me from my vow of silence. So the plan is for all the girls to look as though they've submitted, but really you'll all be free."

I chew this over, narrowing my eyes at him. That's surprisingly legit for a distraction. But then how would I know how the Huntsmen's magic works? I have no way to verify if what he says is true. I almost wish I'd met Darcell after this conversation so I could ask to confirm.

"That's very tricky," I reply, "But at best it's only half a plan." Even if we make it out of Seven, there's still leagues of desert to traverse.

"At least you'll all be safe." He replies, sadness touching his eyes before I flick my head away, taking proper notice of the leaf strewn path around me.

"What happened here?" I raise an eyebrow in surprise, noticing a parasol half stuck in the hedge behind Finley.

"An insane storm blew by after you left. Broke the party up into chaos. Wish you'd been there to see it." I tug the parasol from its leafy setting, imagining that it might have impaled some person passing in secret within the hedges.

"Yeah I don't know." I reply thinking I'd been better off by myself. "But now. You promised to show me things. To these garages." Finley glances nervously at the sky, deserted and mid-afternoon. I point the end of the parasol at him imperiously. I feel a lot more enthused after hearing that nature has gotten her own back on these Huntsmen.

"You're going to teach me to drive."

Finley plays along with my plan without further questions. Actually he's so content with this whim that I suspect he might be telling the truth about helping us escape. Still there isn't a chance for any driving. A warden loiters in the cavernous garage, washing cars and fussing. He's not keen on lending Finley keys, especially after I glare at him. We carry on having a glaring match as Finley shows me the melamine wall cabinet that keeps the keys and the selection of vehicles.

There are five trucks with canvas covered backs for moving several tons of people or goods and an assortment of functional and beastly four-wheel drives. They don't look like the sort of thing that would be easy to learn, but at least I know that these vehicles have capability to carry us all out of here.

"If you wanted to go undetected for longer the four-wheel drives are the best bet." Finley offers.

"And how would I know where to go?" I press. Finley opens an unlocked car door and gestures for me to enter. I climb up into the driver's seat and notice a little sat nav screen stuck to the wind screen. Instantly I have both hands examining the sides for the power button. Where are we? While the brightness of the loading screen greets my gaze I hear Finley jump in the passenger side.

"Can't we just hot-wire this?" I ask.

"Maybe. Get away to the main road in about an hour and a half, Alice in four more. I don't have any money but I could probably enthral you a ticket on a plane out of there. If we don't get caught." He says like a question. Running like Boreas, I realise, is a stupid rule. I cannot leave the rest of them behind. There are no certain escape strategies, for any of us.

I am distracted by the map flashing up on the sat nav. A pop up asking to download updates obscures my view. I click cancel but just as I do the name of one of the updates burns itself into my retina. Seven Falls. Is Seven Falls a place? The map shows our location, marked simply as home, surrounded by terrain unmarred by civilisation. I start typing a destination to verify Finley's quick travel plan but the screen glitches. Pixels distort for a second and then the screen goes dark.

"They don't work very well here. Too much magic keeping the gardens together, but once you get out past the bluff it should be fine." Finley explains, obviously trying to be helpful. I was so close. I slam my open palm against the steering wheel.

"It's okay. I know the way." Finley replies to my frustrated growl. I shake my head at him. When he doesn't respond, but just waits patiently, I realise he's not joking. He's actually offering to drive me out of here.

"I'm not leaving without the others. Just eight days left remember?" I say viciously, putting his misinterpretations to rest.

"Good," he replies just as viciously, like he doesn't really want to release me. Of course he doesn't, I remind myself, he's a Huntsmen. Take, take, take. We both stare through the windscreen for a silent moment. An almost comfortable moment.