Caledonia turned slowly in the water. She counted all fourteen of her team and tracked the last of Sledge’s toward the propellers where they would gain entry. They were ready.

“Go,” she whispered.

Pine loosed the arrow with a wet snap. It flew upward, dragg-ing the rope like a snake’s tail. It landed with a thunk, and they all held their breath as Pine gave the rope a sharp tug. It held, latched in place where the tines of the grapple had found a home among those terrible spikes.

“After you,” Pine said with a satisfied smile, holding the rope for Caledonia.

Caledonia gripped the rope with numb fingers and hauled herself out of the water. She climbed, forcing her frigid limbs to move faster with each pull and ignoring the burn in her palms. Every muscle in her arms and legs strained as she methodically heaved herself up the rough rope. By the time the spikes of the railing were within reach, she was no longer frozen, and beads of sweat itched beneath the mud at her temples.

The spikes were bracketed against the railing at irregular intervals, some of them pointed outward while others turned their dangerous tips inward.

Caledonia hung just below the lip of the railing for a moment, forcing her breath and heart to calm as she listened for a sign that their grapple had been spotted. She shifted her grip away from the rope to the spike directly overhead. And that’s when she heard it.

Footsteps. The clearing of a throat. A soft curse against the cold. A sentry.

Cold metal burned beneath her fingers, but she didn’t dare return her grip to the rope. Caledonia hung, an open target dangling off the side of a Bullet ship. She focused on the sound of the guard’s footsteps. If he was sharp enough to pick her hands out from between the detritus decorating the spikes, her only option would be to drop. Their attack would end before it had ever begun.

A shuffling sounded directly above her head. Sweat slipped down her spine, the muscles in her arms trembled, and she feared her fingers would soon be too numb to hold on.

Breathe, she reminded herself, drawing a controlled breath deep inside her lungs.

Below her, she could sense the Blades’ tension. They knew why she paused. She could almost hear Pine’s nervous thoughts about the Youth Moon.

Silence.

The guard had stopped, but had he seen her?

Her arms trembled and now her fingers were slipping from the cold metal. She was out of time.

In a single motion, she swung her body forward, catching a second spike beneath her knees. Here, her size was her advantage. Trusting her legs to catch her, she released the spike she’d been holding and curled her body forward to catch the next. She pulled herself into a seated position, and in another second she was over the railing.