“I’m not sure—”

“Please, Niklas. This is important.”

A heavy silence settles over our table. Niklas fidgets with the ring on his index finger, spinning it around and around with the opposite hand.

Finally he looks up without quite meeting my gaze. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Niklas leaves the table and I feel as if I’ve swallowed a brick. It’s more than I should ask of him. But I can’t ask anything less. Tessa bites her lip. “I don’t like this,” she says.

“Do you think I’m making a mistake by trying to find Latham’s shop?”

“No, of course not.” Tessa massages her temples. “I just didn’t think we’d have a plan quite this … morally ambiguous.”

I put an arm around Tessa’s shoulders. “We don’t all have to go, you know. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t come along.”

She leans into me. “Of course I’m coming. I just wish we had a better option.”

“So do I.”

And it’s true. I feel as if I’ve spent my whole life wishing for better options.

Three long days pass while Niklas tries to get his hands on the climbing equipment. The entire time, I’m so impatient that I want to crawl out of my skin. But finally he comes through with six sets of grips fashioned from the bones of black bears and shaped like claws.

We’re gathered in the room Tessa and I share, staring at the window. The horizon is just visible in the predawn sky. We decided to leave in the wee hours of the morning. The instructors are more vigilant at night when they expect rebellious apprentices might attempt to sneak out. I doubt they’d anticipate an escape at dawn. And our presence in town is less likely to cause suspicion in daylight. If we can manage a clean getaway, it will give us a few hours before we’re expected to be anywhere.

But now I’m second-guessing myself. The ground is alarmingly far away.

“These are called descenders,” Niklas says, handing a set to each of us. “You’ll want to make sure at least one stays in contact with the outside wall at all times. And don’t look down.”

“You’re sure they work?” Talon asks. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “I’d really rather not die today.”

“As sure as I can be, considering I’ve never tested them,” Niklas says.

Talon’s eyes bulge. He swallows. “A simple yes would have sufficed.”