“She’s at the paddock,” Archie said. “The ferals must be feeding at the middle of the lake, they are not ’ere yet. Go, Gran, while it’s safe in the water! Go!” She shoved her hands at him as though to push him away. Houndstooth noted that her eyes had filled with tears.

“Wait!” Houndstooth shouted. “Hero—you promised—”

Carter doubled back and raced past them, emerging with Hero in his arms.

“I’m sorry, Archie! I’ll see you again! I swear it!” Carter shouted as he bounded down the stairs. “I’ll see you again!”

They watched him leave; then, Archie wiped her eyes and looked down at herself. She was covered in Carter’s blood from where he had held her.

“Well,” she said, laughing. “I ’ave forgotten what I was going to say to you, ’oundstooth. About your grief and your fear and about not being in your right mind.” She plucked at her wet, bloody shirt. “I suppose we should get dressed, and then we should start detonating, oui?”

Houndstooth grinned at her. “Let’s blow up the Harriet.”

Chapter 13

ARCHIE AND HOUNDSTOOTH made their way to the hippo paddock in silence as the stars began to wink out. When they arrived at the paddock, Ruby, Rosa, Abigail, and Betsy were already nosing at each other, competing for attention at the dock.

Archie pulled up short.

“’Oundstooth?” She said. “What—ah, what should we do about Abigail and Betsy?”

“We can’t leave them,” he replied. “Hero will want to see Abigail when they wake up.”

“Do you think they’ll follow us, like Stasia and Zahra?”

“If they do, they’ll make a decent rear guard, if any ferals try to sneak up on us. I suppose there’s only one way to find out.” He shrugged. Archie looked at him strangely. “What?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “I’ve just never seen you shrug before. It does not look right on you, ’oundstooth.”

Fortunately, Abigail and Betsy did indeed trail behind Ruby and Rosa as they made their way to the Gate—following the trail of apples that Houndstooth dropped into the water every few minutes. Archie stifled a laugh when she noticed him doing it.

“Where did you get those?” she asked.

“I like to be prepared, Archie,” he replied, his voice dripping with condescension.

“ . . . Did you steal them from my saddlebag?”

Houndstooth took his time before answering. “Hero ate all my pears,” he said in an even tone. Then he snapped the side of Ruby’s harness, and the two of them sped ahead toward the Gate.

* * *

“So: we open the Gate, we hit the detonator. The ferals flood the Gate while we watch from a safe distance. We close the Gate. Très facile.” Archie had repeated the plan six or seven times on the way over. Every time, she proclaimed how easy it would be to execute.