Dyo and Orion ushered Athena into an abandoned shop on a quiet side street. The writing on the bottle green sign outside had faded to the point that it has become illegible. Empty wooden bookcases filled the window displays, blocking the inside from view completely. More bookcases had been arranged on the other side of the door, creating a corridor which led into the central space. Anyone who wanted to see what was going on in the shop would have to venture quite far inside to do so. The corridor was dark and Athena could see nothing more than the shelves on either side of her and the subtle blinking red lights of what must have been Ismene’s security cameras. As they turned another corner, the darkness was abated and a gloom begin to filter through. Once they rounded the final bend Athena had to blink to shield her eyes from the startling glare of the brightly lit room. The shelves had been arranged with extreme precision; outside, the shop had appeared dark and uninhabited.
From the further shelves lining the walls, some occupied by the occasional dusty novel, Athena surmised they were in a disused bookshop. The tills had been moved aside and replaced by Ismene’s surveillance gear, which showed the surrounding streets and the makeshift corridor Athena had just travelled through.
Bree and her usual shadow, Don, were stood beside one of the bookcases, deep in conversation. Ismene was talking to Ajax by the till.
“What the Hell happened?” Bree demanded as soon as she saw them. Her hair was pulled back in a hasty, dishevelled bun and matched the bluish tinge visible beneath her eyes. No one had made it to bed before the news broke.
“We don’t know any more than you, Bree.” Dyo sounded just as exhausted. “Orion and I had missed calls when we left here, but neither of us could get through to her. Athena couldn’t either. We only discovered what had happened from the feed blast, same as you.” Athena took his hand in hers and squeezed it.
“We should never have let her go in on her own.” Bree’s head was in her hands, Don’s arm wrapped around her shoulder. She looked younger; no longer their fearless leader, but a young woman feeling out of her depth. “What are we going to do?”
“We will get her out,” Dyo replied, simply. “But we are going to have to do it fast. Have you worked out where she is being held?”
Ajax nodded before replying. “She’s in a holding prison close to the Tower. I’ve been speaking to Artemis, who’s always in and out of the legal buildings with lecture students, and she doesn’t think that the security around her will be too tight. But we need to get to her before she is tried. I think we can safely assume that she will be found guilty and be transfered - we’ve got no chance of rescuing her from the Tower, or one of the high security facilities outside of the capital.”
“Could Artemis get us in to the holding prison?” Dyo asked. He sounded hopeful for the first time since the blast.
“That’s what we’re about to find out,” Ajax said,just as a group call came across on their glasses and Artemis’ face appeared. Her keen brown eyes were wide awake, although her grey-flecked hair was slightly unruly, suggesting that she, at least, had been asleep before the news broke.
“I’ve just finished speaking to an old friend who works in the holding prison. She confirmed we should definitely be able to go in.”
“Wasn’t she confused why you were calling so late?” Dyo’s brow was creased.
“She works the night shift, so was up anyway. I told her I had a seminar tour planned and wanted to check straight away so that I had time to plan something else for the session before the morning. She’s used to me planning lectures at 3am, so didn’t find it suspicious.”
“Okay,” Dyo continued. Athena shot Bree a quick glance; Dyo was definitely taking charge and she wasn’t sure their leader would be happy about it. But to Athena’s surprise, Bree was still stood with Don, watching Dyo with a mildly relieved look on her features. “What would normally happen on on of your tours, in case anyone asks what we’re there to do?”
“The tours give an overview of how the system works. I explain how trials are conducted over the feeds and what happens to prisoners next. We chat to some of the guards about their experiences and then look around the cells themselves, talking to a few low-level detainees about their prospects. From what my friend was saying about the ‘buzz’” Artemis pulled a face as she spoke, “in the prison, I should be able to get us right to Ariadne’s cell as they will expect us to be interested in seeing her. She's their prime exhibit...”
“Won’t there be guards with us?”
Artemis laughed. “I’ve been taking students in and out of the prison for almost three decades. They gave up on escorting me around when they realised I had more experience in the prison than anyone who was actually working there.”
“What about guards outside the cells?”
“As with our society in general, far too much confidence is placed in technology. There are no guards outside the cells. They stay sat in a control room watching the prisoners via cameras. I believe Ismene is planning to help us with those…”
“Absolutely,” Ismene answered, her face resolute. “I can hack into their security system.” Her fingers were darting across a wireless keyboard while she scanned something else on her glasses. “I’ve been snooping around since we found out where they have Ariadne. Because it’s only a holding prison, the security isn’t too tight. I’m certain I can take care of it.”
“When the cameras are down and the gates are open, we’ll get Ariadne out as quickly as possible. Then we just need to get her away from the capital until everything dies down,” Bree supplied, finally seeming to regain some of her composure as she came over to join them.
“That’s all?” Orion asked, grinning.
“It sounds a bit too simple.” Dyo didn’t look as happy as his friend.
Bree shrugged. “Sometimes it’s best to be uncomplicated. Besides, it’s the only chance we’ve got. It has to work.”
Athena could tell from the tension on Dyo’s face that he didn’t believe getting Ariadne out would be simple at all and Athena had to agree that she thought they were being naive about the difficulty of the task. But Orion appeared so lifted by the news that there was no way either of them would point this out.
“Thanks for your help, Artemis,” Ajax said.
“I’ve been joking for years that I’ll take over that place one day. I guess I’ll get my chance in a few hours time… See you soon!” She grinned and ended the call.
“All we can do now is go home and try to get some sleep,” Bree told them, taking charge once more. “Ismene and Ajax are going to hold down the fort here and let everyone else know what’s going on. You, Orion, Don, Athena and I will meet Artemis outside of the holding prison at seven am sharp and we will bring Ariadne home before anything can happen to her.”
Dyo nodded. “Come on, Athena, I’ll get you home. You need to change before we go to the prison; a pop party dress from the night before might attract a little too much attention.”
Athena looked down at herself, remembering the for the first time that she still hadn’t changed. Cress was doing to kill her: the bottom of the dress had turned an inky black from where Athena had sat down on the floor and the coat wasn’t faring much better. At least her boots were more practical for the walk home than the strappy heels Cress insisted she wore to the party.
“Orion, are you ready to come, or would you rather stay here?”
Orion was restless, wandering around the room, his hands twitching nervously. “I’ll stay here for a bit. There’s no way I could sleep right now. I would rather be useful.”
Dyo nodded at his friend and led Athena back through the bookshelf corridor and out onto the street.
“What do you think?” Athena asked, even though she was pretty certain she knew what he was going to say.
“There is no way rescuing Ariadne is going to be as easy as they think. They are underestimating how much this is blowing up on the feeds. The Freedom Institute will be desperate to turn the situation to their advantage and use it as a big publicity display for the current camp.”
“How do we know they’ll need to ‘turn’ anything,” Athena replied, thinking back over the messages they had read on the feed earlier. “They were the ones that accused her of planting the bomb. Maybe it has been them on the feed too, stirring up trouble and inciting anger. It all fits perfectly into their agenda.”
Dyo squeezed Athena’s hand. “You’ve clearly been spending too much time with me - you’ve become even more disillusioned and distrusting than I am! I think you make a terrifyingly good point though.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair again. It was becoming a nervous tick and Athena had to fight the urge to flatten it back down, settling instead for a quick, hopefully comforting, kiss to his cheek.
“You were with Castor this evening,” Dyo continued. His voice sounded strained. He was looking at her outfit again.
“Only because I’m trying to not completely abandon my friends!” Athena couldn’t keep the defencive tone from her voice. “I didn’t want to be at that stupid camp party.”
“I know that,” Dyo replied quickly, his voice soothing. He let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist instead, drawing her in closer to him. “I just wanted to ask you how he seemed. Do you think he knew about Ariadne? Do you think he was planning anything?”
Athena tried to think back to the party. Had it really only been a few hours ago? It felt like days had passed. “He seemed like his normal self: pushing the current camp agenda, schmoozing with the pop voters. He did vanish at one point though - I remember him telling Cress that he had to reply to some messages. He was gone for quite a while; Cress kept complaining to me that he hadn’t returned. She acted all mock upset when he finally came back in.”
“Had his behaviour changed at all when he returned?”
“I don’t remember. I’m sorry. I really wish that I could.”
“It’s okay,” Dyo said, kissing the top of her head.
“No it’s not. Nothing about this situation is okay, Dyo. They want to kill her!”
“They’re idiotic internet trolls and we won’t let them get their way. By this time tomorrow Ariadne will be free and will be laughing about her near miss over a drink.”
Athena had the strongest sensation that he was humouring her, just as he had tried to keep Orion calm in the bookshop. They walked the rest of the way back to Athena’s flat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
Dyo stopped at the street entrance, seeming reluctant to go inside. “I’ll meet you here at seven. Try to get some sleep in the meantime. I know it will be hard. And wear something green for the ‘tour’ - we need to look like good little pop voters.”
Athena nodded, her insides feeling numb. She turned to go, but his mention of ‘good little pop voters’ reminded her of her friends, and the conversation they’d had that afternoon. “Dyo, what’s your surname? It doesn’t show up on the feed, which is really odd. I didn’t realise you could block it.”
Dyo smiled, but it seemed strained. “Ismene’s not the only one who knows her tech. I think we’ve got enough going on right now though - how about we save your question for a less dramatic day.” And with that, he turned and left, leaving Athena even more confused than she had been before.