It took Caledonia a second to understand that Gloriana was offering the help she needed to save her crew and all she was asking for was a way out. She turned toward the unruly stacks of books, letting her fingers run over their cracked covers as she gathered her thoughts.

“Why did you bring me to Sister’s tower?” she asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gloriana laughed softly. “We needed a place to speak privately, and this is it. No one comes down here. Not even Sister herself.” She paused, looking around the room. “Learning to read is required, but books are forbidden. I’ve never really understood why.”

Caledonia turned slowly. These books were a treasure. They were history, information, stories, and Aric knew that collectively, they wielded more power than he ever could. So he locked them away. Everything he did came back to a careful balance of starvation and abundance. Only here, in the roots of Sister’s tower, did Caledonia understand that he feared the mind of every Bullet in his army. He fed them Silt to keep them dull, to curb the appetite of their intellect.

This was one more piece of Aric’s power. Knowing it calmed her and gave her a sense of possibility. When power revealed itself completely, it could be dismantled.

“All right, Gloriana,” she said. “I’ll give you a ride out of here if you help me.”

Gloriana nodded, trying to contain her relief. She’d been more nervous than she’d let on. “Good. I’ll do whatever you need me to, but I hope you have a plan because getting your crew out of East Keep isn’t going to be easy.”

No, it wasn’t.

Now that she knew the layout of town and where the girls were being held, it was easy for Caledonia to let her mind walk through different scenarios. Her previous tensions and fears were still there, but they were quiet now, held down by the familiar comfort of forming a plan.

No matter how they did it, getting the girls from East Keep all the way through town and aboard the Beacon would foil any chances of getting out of the harbor. Either they succeeded in sneaking them out of prison and risked a conspicuous mile-long trek through town, or they blasted them out of their cells and were discovered much sooner. Regardless of how it happened, the second an alarm sounded, the harbor walls would lock together and after that, the only way out was on foot, which did them no good.

“I’m not going to get them out of East Keep,” she said, feeling certain that she’d found her footing. “I’m going to let Sister get them out of Slipmark for me.”

Gloriana’s pale brown eyes widened. “The tide cans.”

“Exactly. Once they’re past the jetty walls, I can get to them without risking so much exposure.”

“Then what do you need from me?”