The big girl crawled inside, panting. Her hands worked up Chidi’s midsection, guided their way up her arms.
“I’ve come to free—ah, whew, that stinks!” Ellie said. She slid her hands down to Chidi’s wrists. “Here we go!”
The pressure eased as the cuffs fell off. Is this a dream?
“I’m here to free you,” Ellie said. “We have to hurry though! Come on!”
Chidi flexed her fingers to speed the bloodflow’s return. She winced when she began to feel it.
Ellie dragged her to the edge by her ankle.
Chidi filled her nostrils with the scent of fresh air. She exhaled and opened her eyes to see the night sky. Thank you, she offered to whomever had answered her prayers and sent Ellie.
Ellie yanked Chidi to her feet. “Come on, you have to walk. We don’t have much time.”
“Ellie—”
“Come on, Chidi! Do you want to be free or not?”
Ellie hunched over the Silkstealer’s body. Unconscious and without his cowboy hat, he did not seem near as intimidating. Chidi thought he looked sad in unconscious sleep.
She gasped at the one lain beside the Silkstealer; the one whose skin tone marked him as an Orc.
Chidi saw past that. She saw one who would awaken far from home, enslaved to a world he could never truly come back from. “Garrett Weaver,” she said, her tone hushed.
“You know,” said Ellie. “I’ve never been this close to an Orcinian before. He’s not light, I’ll tell you that.”
“But…what are you doing with them?”
“They’re coming with us, back to the Salt—” Ellie smiled at Chidi. “You aren’t.”
“What?”
“Time to run, sister. Tonight. Now.”
“But I—I can’t. Henry will come for me,” Chidi gushed.
“That’s why we’re sending you help.” Ellie whistled.
Racer hopped out of the bus, shouldering Zymon’s canvas pack. “Hiya, Chidi.”
“Racer, stop talking! You’ll have time for that later!” Ellie said. “Help me put the Orc and Silkstealer in here.”
They’re insane…Chidi watched them work. They’ve both gone mad!
Together, Racer and Ellie lifted Garrett into the cell where Chidi had been held captive. Racer climbed inside to drag their newest prisoner under his arms. He lay Garrett’s head down next to the other teens, then proceeded to shackle his wrists while Ellie fastened his ankles.
“Ugh!” Racer said. “Chidi, did you die in here or that smell from the dead one?”
“You want to complain or be free, pup?” Ellie shouted at him. “Keep moving!”
“You’re actually taking him?” Chidi asked. “Why?”
“Lenny says they have to,” Racer said. “It gives us a better chance to escape.”
“Us?”
Racer grinned. “I’m running with you.”
“Not if you don’t hurry,” Ellie huffed. She dropped six pairs of clanking shackles inside the cell. “Here! When you’re done with these, get those other chains—the heavy ones—and put them on him too! I’m going to steal that SUV for you.”
Racer reached for the other shackles and clasped them to Garrett’s arms. “I’ll put these on him, but not the chains. I should be in a hurry, remember?”
“Fine, fine, whatever! I’ll put the chains on him later. Chidi, come with me!” Ellie thrust a ring of keys into her hands. “Unlock Allambee and Zymon. Don’t free the Leper until I’m back, though!”
Chidi stood with the keys in hand, unable to move.
Ellie sprinted across the street for the jail’s front entrance.
Meanwhile, Racer had already finished with Garrett’s arms and worked to shackle the Silkstealer. “Come on, Chidi! Why aren’t you moving?”
“I—I don’t—I don’t. Why are you both doing this?”
“Lenny told us to. Guess he’s not so tough after all. Well, that or he wants to stick it to Oscar. Take your pick,” Racer shrugged. “Anyway, he thinks Oscar won’t waste his time chasing us down. The Crayfish will never have to know about these Drybacks that Oscar wanted to enslave. Besides, he’ll be more than happy having an Orc and the Silkstealer to sell.”
“But Racer, if you run…your father…August will kill him—”
“Did you not listen to me back at the zoo? My father told me to run if I had the chance, Chidi!” Racer’s earrings flashed. “Come on. Let’s get Allambee and Zymon out of those chains. Lenny says we’re moving too slow.”
“Lenny says—You’re talking to him right now?”
“Not really. He just asks about our progress, then yells at me when I say we haven’t left yet.”
Racer leapt from inside the hold, ran to the first hold, and opened the hatch.
Chidi saw Allambee and Zymon bound together. She ran to Allambee’s side to help with the locks. Which one of them did this to you?
Racer tore Zymon’s blindfold off and yanked down his gag.
“Help! Someone—”
Racer clamped a hand over Zymon’s mouth. “Shut up! I’m here to free you, do you understand? I’ll free you. Nod if you get me.”
Chidi watched Racer’s earrings light up each time he spoke. Those are Lenny’s words he’s using…Lenny’s telling Racer what to say right now!
Zymon’s eyes darted back and forth, his breath rapid. After a minute, he nodded.
“Good,” Racer said. “You know anybody who can help take suits off?”
Zymon nodded.
“Okay then, here’s the deal,” Racer said in his best impression of Lenny. “I’ll set you and your Leper free, but we’re coming with you. We all run together. Once we get you back to Chicago, you get us out of our sealskins and into hiding. Agreed?”
Zymon nodded.
“Okay. I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. You yell again for help though and I’ll leave you here for them to take back to the Salt.” Racer took his hand away.
Zymon opened and closed his jaw, working out the stiffness. He looked at Chidi. “Je to pravda?”
“Yes, he’s telling you the truth,” she answered his question. “They’ll free you, if you agree to help us.”
“That I offer gladly,” Zymon spoke English. “If you see me safely home, my friends will become yours. I swear it on my daughter’s life.”
Racer unlocked Zymon’s shackles. “Agreed.”
Bright lights bathed them.
Chidi cringed, like a startled cat, believing them caught.
Ellie killed the Silkstealer’s SUV headlights. “You don’t have them free yet?”
“I’m working on it!” Racer said.
“Work faster!”
Ellie ran to the two unconscious teens. She lifted them like an ox under its yoke and carried them to the vehicle. “Chidi, get the trunk open for me!”
Chidi obeyed and saw Ellie had already lain the third row down to accommodate the bodies. Can this be? Or am I still inside the bus, locked away and dreaming?
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
Ellie hauled the two living teens into the back and closed the trunk. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“But they’ll punish you.”
“I’ve been whipped before,” Ellie said. “Least this time it’ll be worth it.”
“What about Paulo? Lenny?”
“Paulo doesn’t know,” Ellie said. “He’s a horrible liar. He means well, but he would give us away without meaning to.”
Thunder from an incoming storm rumbled in the distance, warning them to leave.
“And Lenny?” Chidi asked.
Ellie laughed. “Lenny’s fine with it, trust me. Men are always quick to follow a plan so long as it was their idea.”
“Right…” Chidi agreed, trying to comprehend how this all occurred.
Ellie handed Chidi three wallets. “Here. They belong to those Drybacks. I’d drop them off somewhere soon before they wake up, not near here though.”
Chidi looked back a
t the hold she had shared with them.
They had left the dead one on the cold slab of steel next to Garrett.
“What will you do with him?”
“Does it matter? His problems are over,” Ellie said. “We have to think about ours.”
The sound of scratching and pounding echoed from inside the bus. Racer bounded out of Allambee and Zymon’s cell and over to the Leper’s.
Allambee climbed out. He groggily leaned against the side. Zymon stretched his back and rubbed his wrists, watching them.
Ellie scooted in front of Chidi to where Zymon could not see. “Take this too.”
She shoved a tranquilizer gun in Chidi’s pocket. “Lenny used the last tranq to knock out the Orc. There’s no rounds left, but you can always pretend if those two try anything.”
The Leper growled from his cell.
Zymon rushed to the edge of the pen. “I am here, Wotjek. Lie still my friend! They have come to free us, but we must hurry.”
Ellie’s earrings sparkled. She looked at the jail. “It’s past time you all left.”
Chidi approached Allambee. What do I say? How do I tell him what we’re doing, or even why? She caught him watching her. Perhaps he had been since being released.
Allambee stood to greet her. “Hello, Chidi,” he said. “You seem sad when you should be happy.”
“I am happy…to see you again. I was afraid—”
“Because you left me?”
“Yes,” Chidi said.
Allambee grinned. “And yet you have come back. Why did you fear for me?”
“Because you’re still just a boy. You shouldn’t have had to see these things. No one should.”
“My mutha says we are all but children in de Creator’s eyes. In my village, de wise men say a boy runs from fear. A man draws it close to him and takes its strength for his own,” Allambee paused. “I see you are stronger now also.”
“Uh…Chidi…” Racer tapped her. “We need to go.”
Chidi took Allambee by the hand. “Come on. Let’s go be free.”
Together, they turned toward the others. Wotjek stood close to Zymon, like he thought his master’s release a ruse.
Racer walked to Ellie—sitting in the hold with Garrett Weaver—and took a knee.
Chidi could not understand why. She could see Garrett’s tennis shoes pointed upward, locked in place by iron fetters. He’s taking my place. Lenny’s plan frees seven at the cost of one.
Chidi knew she should be grateful, but could not fight the nagging feeling she sinned by leaving Garrett to the life she had suffered through. But when she looked back on him again, shackled where she lay not ten minutes ago, she could not bring herself to trade places with him.
“Will you tell him—”
“Tell who what?” Ellie asked.
“Him…” Chidi pointed to Garrett’s body. “Tell him what he did. That we’re free because of him.”
“It’s not like he made this decision, Chidi,” Racer said.
Zymon appeared beside her. “Come. Let us leave this place before the others return and learn what has happened here.”
“Please tell him, Ellie,” Chidi begged.
“I can’t.”
“He will know someday,” Zymon comforted her. “When he swims in Fiddler’s Green, the Ancients will sing to him on what his sacrifice amounted to this day.”
Racer stood and Chidi saw that he had shackled Ellie’s legs with a long iron fetter. He picked up a second one and raised it like a baseball hat.
Ellie trembled as she rolled to her stomach. She took a crawling position, like she would if she had been hunched to fit in the narrow space while shackling Garrett.
“Al-all right…Let’s get this over with.”
Chidi watched the fetter’s end sway back and forth in Racer’s nervous hands. “What are you doing?”
“It h-has to look real…” Racer’s voice cracked. “Oscar has to think I-I knocked her out when we brought him back.”
Chidi grasped Racer’s plan. “No! You can’t! You could kill Ellie if you hit her in the wrong place with that thing!”
“Do it, pup,” Ellie’s voice cracked with fearful resolve. “Hit me.”
Racer drew a deep breath. The edge of the fetter twitched.
Chidi started forward.
Zymon restrained her.
“Racer…don’t…”
Tears fell down Racer’s cheeks. “I have to…Oscar won’t believe her if I don’t!”
“Wotjek,” Zymon said softly. “To zrobić.”
Wotjek strode forward, tore the fetter from Racer’s hands, and rained a blow across the back of Ellie’s head.
She slumped beside Garrett.
“No!” Chidi cried. “You killed her!”
Zymon held her close. “Wotjek did a necessary thing. But he knows how to kill and when not to. He meant your friend no ill will, nor did he harm her much.”
Racer touched the sides of Ellie’s neck for a pulse. “She’s okay. Bleeding and knocked out, but she’s alive.”
Zymon released Chidi. “It has to look real and for that it must hurt. Now we must go, or your friend’s sacrifice will be in vain.”
Wotjek slammed the hold door shut, hiding what he had done. He kept the blunt weapon as he jogged to the SUV. He got in and started the engine.
Chidi numbly stared at the closed hold.
Zymon touched Racer’s ears. “My friend…how can you ever be free when others fill your head with their thoughts?”
Racer pulled the crystal studs from his ears. He threw them at the bus.
Chidi heard two light clanks when they hit the side.
“Come on, Chidi,” he tugged at her. “Let’s go.”
I meant to have a plan this time, she thought.
Allambee lightly touched her arm, galvanizing her. “We must leave.”
A gust of wind whipped at her face, seeming to whisper Henry’s threat. I weel find you, Chidi…
She glanced back to the bus. I never said thank you.
“Come on, Chidi!” Racer tugged at her.
Chidi shoved him away and ran for the bus. She fell to her knees, thrust her hands in front of her, searching.
“Chidi! What—”
“Help me!” she cried. “Help me find the crystals!”
“Chidi, you’re acting crazy!”
“Help me!”
Allambee hurried to her side to help.
Wotjek gunned the engine.
“They’re going to leave us!” Racer said.
Where are they? Where are they? Where are they?
The loose pavement gravel cut at Chidi’s hands, but she would not relent.
“Chidi! I found one!” Allambee said.
Chidi snatched the crystal from his open palm. She could have kissed him in that moment. Instead, she placed it in her ear and pictured her captain.
Lenny…Lenny, are you there?
Racer dragged her away. “Come on! You can talk in the car!”
Lenny! She said. Lenny?
Allambee opened the door for her.
Chidi scooted for the middle. The boys jumped in on either side of her.
Wotjek floored the gas pedal. The tires squealed, catching traction, and sped them away.
Lenny. Come on…come on…please answer. Please! Lenny!
Lil’ busy right now, Cheeds, Lenny’s grumpy voice filled her mind. Did ya leave yet?
No, I wanted to say—
What? Whatsamatta with ya? Leave already!
Chidi bit her lip. I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for—
Are ya kiddin’ me, Lenny said. Get rid of those crystals, quit talkin’ to me, and get on the road already!
Okay, she blushed. Goodbye, Lenny.
Chidi removed the earring. She reached across Allambee, rolled the window down. See you on the other side, Lenny Dolan. She threw it out the window. Chidi leaned back, relaxed back into her seat.
“You able to reach him?” Racer asked.
“Any last words?”
“Mmm-hmm. He yelled at me.”
Racer laughed. “I’m going to miss him.”
Me too.
Chidi watched Wotjek speed through the abandoned parts of town, and turn northbound onto I-65 headed for Chicago. The road lay empty before them.
Chidi worried more about who might follow.
I weel find you, Chidi—Henry’s phantom promised. And keel ze ones you run weeth.
She glanced out the rear window, and saw nothing but darkness.
She turned back around, laying her head on Allambee’s shoulder. Chidi closed her eyes, and listened to the miles toward freedom tick away beneath her. She smiled.
No…you won’t.
LENNY
Lenny pointed his empty gun at the teen convict. “Goin’ somewhere?”
The teen glanced at the exit.
“Don’t make us chase ya,” Lenny said. “Believe me, ya don’t want that.”
“Who—who are you people? What are you?”
“Neva heard of Selkies?” Lenny shook his head. “I mean whatta’ they teachin’ in schools these days?”
“I saw th-that guy…” he pointed at Henry. “He-he was a seal. How is that possible?”
“Beats me, kid. I’m just a grunt. What’s ya name?”
“K-Kell…Kellen Winstel.” He looked to the door again.
“Don’t do it.” Lenny warned. “Ya run and Henry’ll come for ya. See what he did to the last guy?”
He jerked a thumb to the dead police officer lying in a pool of his own blood.
“Ya don’t wanna be that guy. So come on.”
Lenny ushered him to the middle of the room.
Kellen gave Paulo a wide berth.
Lenny’s earrings flashed. Paulie, I think the kid’s scared of ya.
The seal grunted at Kellen.
Should’ve let him run. Lenny cursed himself. Now Oscar’s gonna take him back. One more gift for the Crayfish.
Oscar strolled around from behind the cubicle he had used for cover. “Did everyone see my kill?”
I saw that ya coulda’ killed Marisa by shootin’ at Fosta.
Paulo prodded Lenny with a soft seal kiss. Then he lowered his massive head to the ground so Lenny could release him without having to jump.
Lenny took the Elephant Seal’s lip in hand and pulled up, then back.
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