After all, getting into a prison is never the hard part.

I’ve never been to this area of the prison district before; I’ve never had a reason to. The enormous turbines that define this region are against the outer wall in the distance, still churning, and the sound of their groaning gears mixes with the slosh of water as they turn. My eyes scan the rest of the space.

Identical, dilapidated stone complexes line the interior of the prison in gray blocks, housing quarters for most of the workers here. There are turbine factories, and from where I stoop, I can catch a glimpse through the windows of workers sweating as they churn the pedals by foot, making the turbines turn. Other buildings are giant storage sheds, their doors swung open. One contains a large water turbine that is being fixed by what looks like teams of prison workers. I can’t see what’s inside the second one from where I stand.

Then, farther down the road, I see a narrower building looming. It’s of the same gray stone, except with a small sign hanging outside over its entrance. The hospital, where they take injured workers to fix them enough so they can continue their labor.

A sick feeling settles in my stomach. I’d thought that perhaps they might have kept Talin’s mother in a prison hospital because of her skill set. But she’s probably there because she’s the patient, healing from her injuries.

A moment later, I see Jeran signing to me from the roof of one of the living complexes. He’s warning me to take better cover.

I dart away from the wall and into the shadowed alley between complexes right as two guards walk by from the area of the hospital. As they go, I glance up to see Jeran turning his head pointedly toward the hospital complex. Right as he does, I feel a hand tap me on my shoulder.

I whirl around, ready to strike, but a hand clamps down hard on my wrist before I do. I find myself staring into Adena’s dark eyes. She gives me a quick grin.

She is dressed like a Karensan soldier. Moments later, Aramin appears beside her, dressed the same way.

“Guess who stitches these uniforms,” she whispers, glancing around at the complexes.

“There are Ghosts everywhere in here,” Aramin adds as he nods down the path. “Especially around the hospital. Talin’s mother is being held in there.”

“You saw her?” I whisper.

Aramin nods. “Through a window. She’s being kept on the second floor of it, in her own cell.”

Cell. The hospitals in the prison district aren’t equipped with typical rooms. They are full of jail cells, the patients behind bars. And Talin’s mother must be kept in one crawling with guards.

Up above, Jeran signs down to us.

When he finishes, Adena looks at me. “Can you scale the side of the hospital?”

I nod. If there’s anything my strength is still good for, it is for doing something like that tirelessly.