CHAPTER 13
Incinerator
When Brynn rushed into the laundry room and toward the incinerator with Sasha's hand in her own, Inej was gone. She'd probably already gone up the shaft. Wylan, Matthias, and Jesper waited at the base of the incinerator, each of them expressing their nervousness in separate ways. Wylan was picking at his nails, Matthias kept on glancing around him, and Jesper bounced from foot to foot, always needing to move.
"Where have you been?" he demanded when she hurried into the room. "And who is that?" Jesper pointed at her younger, scarred sister.
"This is my sister," Brynn explained, then switched to Kaelish. "Sasha, this is Wylan, Matthias, and Jesper. We're pulling off an impossible heist that will most likely get us all killed. Inej is up the shaft."
Sasha frowned. "So you're a criminal, now?"
"In the right country, I've always been a criminal."
Jesper blinked. "I thought your sister was dead."
Brynn shrugged, switching back to Kerch to talk to them. "I did, too. Apparently not."
"What happened to her face?" asked Wylan.
"I'm not actually sure," she said, frowning. "But if we make it out of here alive, that's the first thing I want to know. We just really don't have the time right now."
A rope dropped down in the incinerator shaft, then came Inej's voice, "The rope is secured! Climb up!"
After translating to Sasha, Brynn watched Wylan take a coil of rope and climb up first. Next was Matthias, who made progress up the rope much faster than the merchling. While they waited, Jesper turned to her.
"I'm not sure it's such a good idea to bring an extra prisoner along with us, Brynn," he said. "Kaz won't like it, that's for sure."
Brynn rolled her eyes. "He wouldn't like it if I decided to show some kindness to a little old lady trying to cross the street. Not everything he doesn't like is well-justified. And besides, I'm not leaving Sasha again. She doesn't deserve that."
She stepped up to the incinerator and told Sasha to climb. She jumped and grabbed the rope, swinging slightly before beginning the tiring climb. Brynn wrapped her arms around herself.
"She should be thirteen, now," she said. "I missed four years of her life. Four years, she's been locked up in this prison, the only comfort for her being our song that she taught to the other prisoners." Brynn let out a shaky breath. "A long time ago, I promised her I would always be there for her, and I let her rot away in a prison, looking like that."
"I never had siblings," said Jesper after a moment. "But I saw the looks she gave you. You might have missed four years of her life, but she missed four years of yours. You're both nothing like you were before you ran away from the Wandering Isle, Brynn. You can't beat yourself up too much about that."
Brynn sighed. "I know, I just can't help it."
Sasha called down, "I'm up!"
Jesper nodded to the shaft. "I'll wait for Kaz and Nina. You go up."
"When he gets here, make sure to punch him in the face for me."
She grabbed the rope, muscles tensing, and started to climb. It was tiring work, but Brynn occupied her mind with thoughts of her sister instead.
Sasha was alive. Brynn didn't think that fact had completely sunk in yet. For a total of four years, she thought her entire village was dead, her entire family included. But when she heard their song, the hope she had in the bottom of her heart came crawling back.
Even though Brynn was hurt that Sasha shared their song with random criminals, the feeling was overpowered by the feeling of happiness and relief that she felt as seeing her sister again.
But why was she locked up in the first place? The thought only now occurred to Brynn. What if Sasha had actually done something worthy of getting locked away? What if she'd killed someone?
Brynn shook her head. That couldn't have been. Sasha was sweet, incapable of stooping down that low. Maybe she stole something? That also didn't seem very likely. Brynn could never get Sasha to even lie to their parents, what made her think she was able to steal?
Finally, Brynn reached the roof, and Matthias helped pull her out. She returned Sasha's brief hug just as the clang of bells rang through the Ice Court, reverberating through the walls.
That was Yellow Protocol. Brynn had forced herself to remember each of the alarms, just in case something happened to go wrong. Sasha covered her ears with her hands, but Brynn grabbed her arm to pull her towards the embassy roof where Inej should already have been. It was obvious that the girl was very much out of shape, just a little more than Brynn herself.
Inej sat on the embassy roof, cradling her feet. Brynn's eyes widened at the rubber on her feet where her shoes should have been and she rushed forward.
"What happened?"
"They ran the incinerator this afternoon," the Suli girl explained. "The heat melted my shoes. Who's that?" She nodded at Sasha.
"My sister." At the girl's confused expression, Brynn added, "I'll explain later. I don't even know the whole story myself. Now, I can't do much about your feet, but let me see your hands."
Inej took off her gloves that looked somewhat familiar, then held out her blistered hands. Brynn hesitated before taking them in her own. This was the first time she'd have to heal someone else without gloves on.
She touched burnt flesh and Brynn lurched back. Her heart was racing, her eyes wide. She looked back at Inej's hands. They looked normal, only a few blisters, but they were definitely not burned.
Avoiding Inej's inquisitive gaze, Brynn took her hands back, ignoring the urge to get as far away from them as she possibly could. The process of healing Inej's hands was simple and fast. When she was done, Brynn stood up quickly.
From behind her, Nina hurried to Inej. Brynn frowned, staring at the gloves next to the Suli girl. She picked them up as Nina fussed over Inej, and her suspicions were confirmed. These were Kaz's gloves.
"They're back," Sasha told her.
Brynn looked up at four figures approaching them on top of the embassy roof. She could easily make out each of them—Jesper with his lanky figure, Matthias being the tallest and biggest of them, Wylan with his familiar ruddy gold curls, and Kaz with his all-too famous limp. When they were within earshot, Nina spoke.
"I can't get all the rubber off her heels."
Kaz looked at Jesper. "Help her."
"Me?" asked the Zemeni sharpshooter. "You don't mean—"
"Do it."
Jesper scrambled over to the girls to get a better look at Inej. Then he hovered his hands over Inej's feet, closing his eyes in concentration. Brynn took a moment to glance at Kaz.
His shirt was covered in blood, his dark hair a mess. When Kaz looked over at Brynn, she quickly averted her gaze to watch Jesper work.
"You're a Fabrikator?" asked Nina in shock.
Jesper winced. "Would you believe me if I said no?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked?"
Nina clenched her jaw. "Jesper—"
"Just leave it alone, Nina," interrupted Jesper. "Saints."
Grimacing, Inej sat up on her elbows. "That bad?"
"No, you just have really ugly feet."
"Ugly feet that got you on this roof."
"But are we stuck here?" asked Nina. The Elderclock stopped ringing and everyone let out a sigh of relief, some louder than others. "Finally."
"What happened at the prison?" wondered Wylan with panic in his voice. "What triggered the alarm?"
"I ran into two guards," said Nina.
Brynn frowned. "You didn't put them down?"
"I did. But one of them got off a few shots. Another guard came running. That was when the bells started."
"So that's what set off the alarm?"
"Maybe," she said. "Where were you, Kaz? I wouldn't have been in the stairwell if I hadn't wasted time looking for you. Why didn't you meet me on the landing?"
"I decided to search the cells on the fifth floor, too," he answered calmly. Brynn felt her temper rising, but Jesper voiced his frustrations before she could.
"What is this?" he said. "You take off before Matthias and I get back, then you just decide to expand your search and leave Nina thinking you're in trouble?"
"There was something I needed to take care of."
Brynn folded her arms. "Not good enough."
"I had a hunch. I followed it."
Nina stared at him in disbelief. "A hunch?"
"I made a mistake," he growled. "All right?"
"No, you owe us an explanation," Brynn said.
Kaz was silent for a moment before he said, "I went looking for Pekka Rollins." Brynn met his gaze. She hadn't missed how he ruthlessly went after the man, the contempt in his voice whenever he said that name. It confused her, but after she heard Sasha's four-year story, she was going to find out exactly what happened between the two.
"For Saints' sake, why?" breathed Nina.
"I wanted to know who in the Dregs leaked information to him."
A pause, then Jesper asked, "And?"
"I couldn't find him."
"What about the blood on your shirt?" Matthias asked.
"Run-in with a guard." Kaz's gaze broke away from hers and Brynn knew he was lying. Yet another thing she was going to ask him about. He ran his hand over his face. "I screwed up. I made a bad call, and I deserve the blame for it. But that doesn't change our situation."
Nina looked at Matthias. "What is our situation? What will they do now?"
"The alarm was Yellow Protocol, a sector disturbance," he answered.
Jesper let out an exasperated breath. "I don't remember what that means."
"My guess is that they think someone's attempting a prison break. That sector is already sealed off from the rest of the Ice Court, so they'll authorize a search, probably try to figure out who's missing from the cells."
"They'll find the people we knocked out in the women's and men's holding areas," said Wylan. "We need to get out of here. Forget Bo Yul-Bayur."
Matthias waved a hand through the air, dismissing the idea. "It's too late. If the guards think there's a prison break in progress, the checkpoints will be on high alert. They're not going to let anyone just walk through."
"We could still try," said Jesper. "We get Inej's feet patched up—"
Inej flexed her feet, then stood as she tested her bare soles on the gravel of the embassy roof. "They feel all right. My calluses are gone, though."
"I'll give you an address where you can mail your complaints," Brynn said with a grin.
"Okay, the Wraith is ambulatory," Jesper said. "We find a cozy room to bash some partygoers on the head and waltz out of this place decked in their finest."
"Past the embassy gate and two checkpoints?" asked Brynn skeptically.
"They don't know anyone escaped the prison sector—" Jesper began.
Nina raised her hand, then pointed to Sasha. "Actually, I think they do."
"Who is she?" wondered Kaz.
"My sister," said Brynn. She cut him off when he opened his mouth to speak again. "Don't ask. Also, she has no idea what we're saying." Turning to Sasha, she switched to Kaelish. "The scary kid with blood on his shirt is Kaz, and that lovely girl over by Inej is Nina."
"I might not know Kerch, but I know names," she shot back.
Brynn rolled her eyes. "I was just letting you know." She switched to Kerch again. "Before anyone says anything, she's coming with us. I lost her once, I am not losing her again."
Jesper nodded. "Even if they do figure out she's out of her cell, they won't be looking for hoodlums in prison clothes, not sweet-smelling diplos in fancy dress. We have to do this before they get wise to the fact that eight people are on the loose in the outer circle."
"Forget it," said Nina. "I came here to find Bo Yul-Bayur, and I'm not leaving without him." Brynn nodded, agreeing with her.
"What's the point?" asked Wylan. "Even if you manage to get to the White Island and find Yul-Bayur, we'll have no way out. Jesper's right: We should go now while we still have the chance."
Nina crossed her arms. "If I have to cross the White Island alone, I will."
"That may not be an option," said Matthias. "Look."
Gathering around the base of the glass dome on the embassy roof, they looked at the festivities below. People drank and laughed with each other, fancy clothes on that were mostly too revealing for the many visiting women. A group of new guards pushed into the room, forming the crowd into lines.
"They're adding another checkpoint," Matthias said. "They're going to review everyone's identification again before they allow people access to the glass bridge."
"Because of Yellow Protocol," said Jesper.
"Probably. A precaution."
Brynn exhaled, her last bit of hope draining like sand in an hourglass.
"Then that decides it," Jesper said. "We cut our losses and try to get out now."
"I know a way," said Inej quietly. Everyone turned to look at her and hear her idea. "We can get through that checkpoint and onto the White Island." She pointed down to the people in the room. Brynn followed her finger to the girls in even more revealing dresses, the tattoos of the Blue Iris displayed on their forearms, and blue flowers in their hair. "The West Stave delegations have started to arrive. We can get in."
"Inej—" began Brynn.
"Brynn, Nina, and I can get inside," she continued with determination. "We enter with the Menagerie."
a/n— Kinda a boring chapter, but it will get better, I promise! Plenty of exciting stuff is going to be happening next, so don't give up yet! Let me know what you think so far!