Nada's Escape

68- Heist.

bungalow. Given agency over food prep, Willow has obviously decided to use my place's bigger kitchen, leaving a mess of unwashed trays and bowls in the sink for decoration. Josie's AWOL, probably busy with Macie or some such, but two out of three musketeers is better than nothing.

I've warned them to be ready for a hard and fast adventure to the archives and I feel like we're all buzzing. Our clothes are not suspicious on their own; green and brown block colour T-shirts, shorts and skirts, but when you remember the Huntsmen's strange interest in pastels and whites, we're practically wearing camo. Still, Macie catches us at the entrance to the Warrior Circle.

"So, good news." She hails us, shifting a cardboard box onto her hip. "We've almost set the groundwork for the sleepover tomorrow night." She winks and I try not to cringe as a woman behind Macie catches my eye and nods politely. Busy Norgara is an annoying Norgara.

"That's good, I'm sure looking forward to that sleepover with all the girls." I say but it sounds forced. Very forced.

Six of fourteen of our escapees are still sleeping outside the Warrior Circle, and we want nothing to get in the way of making sure Penny and Liza, and Stacey and Lily are in the right place to the right time to escape with us. So it was Macie's stroke of genius to have a pretend gala night sleepover to keep them out of trouble. She's been twisting Percival's words all day so that he believes he came up with the idea and organising with the girls' sponsors to let them stay over tomorrow.

"How are Penny and Liza feeling about the sleepover?" I ask, fidgeting terribly as another group of Huntsmen head down the street. Whilst the other girls, as a part of YWS, are all on board about the escape we've so far kept it a secret from Liza and Penny, unsure how they would feel about it. I'm especially nervous about Penny, who's still enthralled to Henry despite the fact that Finley and I have broken her sweethearts oath. It's a stalling block for all my plans, a problem I cannot dissolve with logistics, stealth or strength.

"I think we're going to work on them tomorrow." Macie bounces the box on her hip and checks out the street behind her. It's empty, but for how long? "We may just have to drag Penny along when it comes down to it." I furrow my brow, an unwelcome fog of indecision swirling through my mind.

"Are you about to do something crazy?" Macie crashes through my thoughts, and I bunch up all my focus on keeping my expression innocent.

"Noo, why would you ask that?" I reply and Laura, stretching out her shoulders on my left me, quickly drops her arms into a casual I'm-not-preparing-for-a-heist pose. If such a thing exists.

"Hmm..." Macie hums and gives us an intense visual evaluation. "No reason. You just naturally look dodgy I guess." She shrugs and takes her box up before her again, "I'll catch you later."

It takes me a little while to retrace Darcell's crazy steps to the archives. I try not to shiver as I pass the entrance to the sanctuary, hidden somewhere in the lavender field. I can't help thinking about the dark caverns below our feet. We chatter, a little jittery, about what we're going to wear tomorrow and what the Huntsmen's shows will be like.

As we enter the rainforest, a cool wet dark falls over us, hushing the conversation. As the archive wall looms, I lead them up into the giant fig tree beside it, flicking away tiny spiders and disturbing rotting leaves. My shoulders and tiny shards of my back ache from the earlier exercise, increasing the difficulty of the climb. Or maybe Darcell had just made it look easy. I lag back at the top of the wall, seeking to keep the others close so that we work as a single unit.

We drop like cats onto the leaf-strewn ground inside the compound, padding towards the building. Deserted. I test the handle; stiff but unlocked. I guess the walls are the main deterrent for snoopers. Flowing through the door we find the room packed and dusty, ghosts of sweeping footsteps crossing the floor. I analyse the patterns for a second, pointing them out with my hand.