“It’s been interesting,” Grave told Charlotte.
“No one appreciates me.” Pip pouted. “Except Birch.”
“I think you’re brilliant company, Pip,” Scoff told her.
“You’re only saying that because I’ll drink your tonics.” She patted her green hair before she turned her attention back to Charlotte. “So when is the surprise happening? Are we just going to wait here?”
As if in answer to Pip’s question, the lift’s iron chain began to move. With creaks and groans, the elevator began to rise.
Charlotte rushed to the railing. When the basket appeared, Jack was leaning against one side, looking very pleased with himself. Seeing Charlotte on the other side of the gate, he laughed.
“Miss me that much?”
“Where were you?” Charlotte pushed aside the relief she felt now that Jack was here and obviously unhurt.
He didn’t answer as he opened the door. She kept her hands on the platform gate.
“I’m not letting you through until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Get out of the way, Charlotte.” Ash limped up beside her.
She started to protest, but when she saw that he was still bleeding from his arm and leg, she stepped back.
Ash opened the gate, and Jack hopped out of the basket. The two boys looked at each other silently until Jack gave a slight nod. Ash bowed his head, taking a long breath. Then he suddenly grabbed Jack and lifted him up in a bear hug.
“Easy there, mate,” Jack said. “You look like you belong in the infirmary.”
Ash laughed and set Jack down. “I’ll be fine.”
Jack pointed at Ash’s poorly bandaged leg. “Did the rats do that?”
Ash nodded, and Jack glanced at Charlotte. “Pocky didn’t come through?”
Before she could answer, Ash said, “Charlotte did all she could. There were just too many.”
Jack smiled grimly. “I owe you.”
“I think you’ve already made it up to me,” Ash said.
“Let’s get you patched up, friend.” Jack levered Ash against him and the two of them started for the tunnels.
Charlotte stared after them, boiling with outrage. She thought she would go mad from not knowing what they were up to.
“That wasn’t a spectacular surprise,” Pip complained. “That was just Jack.”
“But Ash was bleeding,” Scoff offered. “That’s something.”
“I suppose so,” Pip mused with a glance at Charlotte. “He’s a daring fellow, your brother.”
“Ugh.” Charlotte stamped her foot. “I hate him.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say,” Pip told her. “Especially when the rats tried to eat him.”
Charlotte ignored her, stewing in her own frustration.
“Come on, then.” Scoff waved for them to follow him off the platform. “We still need to offload and sort through the loot.”
Sulking, Charlotte shuffled her way along the passage. She wished she could go to her room and wait for Ash to find her and apologize like he should. He wouldn’t, of course. She’d wait, and he’d come and scold her for acting like a child.
Grave fell into step beside her.
“It sounds terrifying,” he said. “You must be very brave.”
She straightened up, surprised by his words. “I don’t think I’m that brave. I’d rather be out on a run than cooped up here.”
Grave glanced around the tunnel, eyes lingering on the soft blue light cast by the fungi. “I don’t mind it here. I feel safe.”
“It is safe,” Charlotte said. “But it can get a bit dull. Going out makes me feel alive. In here it’s as though the world outside doesn’t exist. And I don’t like that—though keeping away from the world is exactly the point of this place.”
“Why is that?” Grave asked. “The world sounds bad. Yesterday that thing chased me. Today I learned there are rats bred to kill and eat people. Who would do that?”
Charlotte laughed. “Britannia. The Empire.”
“Are they monsters?” he whispered.
“No, they’re people like us. Only they make the rules,” she said. “They just act like monsters when someone tries to go against them.”
“And you’re hiding from them?”
“We are.” Charlotte nodded. “Because we come from families who don’t want to live the way the Empire says they should. They’ve been fighting since the Revolution failed—at least those who weren’t captured have been.”
Grave asked, “Where are your families?”
“The Resistance has pockets all over,” Charlotte said. “I’m not exactly sure where my parents are. They move a lot, and they don’t contact us that often. It’s safer that way.”
“Do you miss your mother and father?”
She was surprised by the sudden lump in her throat. “Always.”
He nodded. “Will you see them again?”
“Yes,” she told him. “We only stay here when we’re too young to help with the Resistance. Ash turns eighteen soon, so he’ll go.”
“How old are you?”
“Sixteen,” she said with a sigh. “But I’d like to go when Ash does.”
“You’re very brave,” he said. “You want to go fight an empire.”
Charlotte fell silent. Talk of the Resistance and her supposed bravery made being angry with Ash seem silly.
She looked at Grave. “Do you remember anything today?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know my name. Or if I have parents. I don’t know why I was in the woods.”
Charlotte took his hand. “We’ll figure it out.”
8.
BIRCH SHOUTED INSTRUCTIONS as they rifled through the sacks. Sorting loot never failed to require both tenacity and endurance. Charlotte forced herself to be patient as she murmured instructions to Grave, explaining how to differentiate scrap metal from potentially working parts.
A whoop brought all of their heads up and sent Moses spiraling from Birch’s shoulder into the air.
Doing a little jig, Birch held up a small object.
“I think this will prove a good run indeed!”
“What’s that?” Grave whispered.