“I’ll help you escape,” Eleanor said, her voice hoarse. “If we get my friends out of the dungeon, I can get all of us out of here.”

Twelve

“Your friends are in the west cells in the dungeon. There are Empty guards on the doors. Only one way in or out. I don’t see how we’re going to manage it,” Ash said. They were all sitting together on the ground under the tree in the garden, the kitten-of-ashes wandering around chasing specks of dust and leaving tiny scorch marks in the grass.

“Can you get in?” Eleanor asked.

“We’re not permitted,” Ash said. “And if they spot you, the Empty will send up an alarm.”

She could open a portal into the dungeon—maybe. But even escaping the throne room had left her exhausted. What if she got them into the dungeon and couldn’t get them back out?

Eleanor bit her lip, thinking. Usually she had Pip and Otto to bounce ideas around with and come up with a plan. Without them, her mind felt blank. Blank like the Empty.

Eleanor looked at Thea. Her bright, shiny hair tumbled around her shoulders—but Eleanor knew it was an illusion. “Melia, can you make us look like we’re Empty with your illusions?” Eleanor asked.

Melia considered. “I could make us look right, but they’d still know. If we actually want to fool them, I have to Empty us. Not all the way. We’d recover. But it wouldn’t be pleasant.”

“If Thea can handle it, so can I,” Eleanor said.

“That still leaves the problem of getting them all out,” Ash said.

“If you can get us in, I can get us out,” Eleanor said with more confidence than she felt.

“How?” Melia asked, leaning forward with bright interest in her eyes.

“I’ll show you once we have my friends,” Eleanor said.

“And you’re certain it will work? We will only have one chance at this,” Ash said.

“How long do we have before your parents decide to Empty one of my friends, or turn them into weapons?” Eleanor asked.

“Not long,” Ash acknowledged.

She gave him a stubborn look. “Then I’m certain.”

“We’ll need time to prepare for the journey,” Melia said, getting to her feet. “I’ll Empty the three of you. I can’t Empty myself. What is taken from you, you can get back. But what you take from yourself is gone forever. If I Empty myself, I’ll be Empty forever.”

“So I have to do it for her,” Ash said. He swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m not as good at it. If I get it wrong, I’ll take the wrong things—things that won’t grow back.”

“You’ll be fine,” Melia told him, unbothered. “I need to get ready. Get my things. Ash, make sure she doesn’t run off.”