A Reunion of Lips

XV

"I can get you into the palace."

A room full of wide eyes turned to him. Mitch gulped.

The meeting had called to order less than an hour ago. Cleo and Kaedi had reached out to the group of loyalists, and now Mitch sat in the middle of 25 anxious people. Cleo had gotten a warm, tearful welcome, but Mitch had gotten nothing but questioning glares and the uneasy feeling that he was being sized up. People had gotten friendlier—a bit, at least—after Cleo explained about their imprisonment together, and now he found himself squished between Kaedi and a girl named Kaylah on the couch. Cleo was leaning on the wall, framed by Hannah on one side, and—to Mitch's horror and surprise—Brunet Dude on the other, who was apparently some guy named Darien, a loyalist spy working to find out information from the rebels at the Manor since Cleo had gone missing.

Cleo pushed off the wall. "And how do you propose to do that?"

Mitch chose his words carefully. "I live in the Capital, and I've been in the palace once or twice. I'm familiar with the area and can help you blend in."

"And I suppose you're just gonna walk in?" A guy perched on the kitchen counter snorted.

Mitch crossed his arms. "If you try to go through with scheduling a meeting with the king, you're gonna end up wasting your time. If you want to get the information to him quickly, you're gonna have to bring it straight to him, immediately."

"So you're proposing that you would come with us and help us get into the palace without getting arrested?" Kaylah sounded pretty apprehensive.

Mitch nodded. "Honestly, I think the hardest part would be to get to the Capital without the rebels stopping us."

"And I suppose you're not going to tell us how you plan to break into the palace? Let alone confront the king?" Darien sighed.

Mitch grinned. "Nope." Throwback to the last time he had been accused of breaking into the palace. There was no way he was going to give up his chance to get back to the Capital by telling them about the guard rotations he had slowly memorized, side doors he knew were left unlocked, hallways that were unfrequented, where Scott could typically be found—

Hannah crossed her arms. "Alright, does anyone else have a different suggestion then?"

She waited as everyone glanced around at each other, but no one spoke up.

"Then let's take a vote. You," she pointed at Mitch, "don't get a vote."

He leaned back against the couch and glared at her. He understood he wasn't part of the group, but hey. He was fairly involved, was he not?

"All those in favor of sending a group to go request a meeting with the king to present him with the evidence of treasonous rebel activity and the upcoming visit from the Duke and Duchess to the Alluvian Manor?"

Twelve people in the room raised their hands, including Hannah and Kaedi.

"All those in favor of sending a group to break into the palace to demand a meeting with the king to present him with the evidence of treasonous rebel activity and the upcoming visit from the Duke and Duchess to the Alluvian Manor?"

Twelve people raised their hands, including Kaylah, Darien, and the guy sitting on the counter. Only one person other than Mitch hadn't raised their hand, and all the eyes turned to Cleo as she stared Mitch down. He couldn't quite place the look in her eye, but he held her gaze as she sighed and slowly raised her hand.

"Okay," Hannah nodded. "Majority votes for breaking and entering." She turned to Mitch. "How big of a group can you get in?"

"The smaller the better. The group needs to be able to blend in with the upper-citizens enough to not draw attention on the way there, too."

"Charlotte?" Hannah turned to a girl sitting on the floor near the door.

"I'd say four. Mitch and Cleo for sure, in case the rebels in Alluvia come looking for them. Maybe you too, Hannah. You've been working on this forever; no one is more dedicated or knows more than you do." Charlotte picked at the carpet.

Darien raised his hand. "I could come with you. I'm familiar with the rebels, and I might be able to help you avoid them."

Hannah considered the room for a second. "Any objections to the group?"

There was some whispering, but it seemed like everyone agreed with Charlotte's recommendation.

"Then we'll leave tomorrow. The trip to the Capital from Alluvia takes about two days, but if we're going to be careful, then let's split it up into three days. Sammi," Hannah turned to a person sipping a cup of coffee, "we'll contact you when we get to the Capital. If you don't hear from us within, let's say five days, meet and discuss sending another group. While I'm gone," she turned back to the room, "Sammi and Charlotte are in charge. Don't try anything extreme. Be careful."

This seemed to end the meeting. People started exchanging hugs and whispered conversations as they filtered out the door. Kaylah patted Mitch's arm and whispered, "Good luck," before she followed a group out the door. Kaedi hugged Hannah for a long time before she shook Cleo's hand and followed Kaylah. A few minutes later, it was just Hannah, Darien, Cleo, Mitch, Sammi, and Charlotte in the room.

They slowly started piecing together a detailed plan to get to the Capital via train starting the next day. Mitch found himself losing his struggle to keep his eyes open, and he could see Cleo doing the same.

Sammi seemed to notice their exhaustion. "You two should go get some sleep." They were met with nods from Hannah and Darien. "We can finish planning now and go over it with you in the morning before you leave."

Cleo looked to Hannah before she got up, but at her nod, led Mitch down the hallway and gestured to a guest room for him before she stumbled farther down the hallway to another room.

Mitch was so tired that he only had one thought before he fell asleep. Scott was only three more days away.