I woke to a hard shake on my shoulders from Anne in the middle
of the night.
“Wha—?”
“Please, miss, you have to get up!” Her voice was frantic, worn
with terror.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“No, no. We have to get you to the basement; we’re under
attack.”
My mind was groggy; I couldn’t be sure I was hearing her right.
But I noticed behind her that Lucy was already crying.
“They’re inside?” I asked in disbelief.
Lucy’s fearful wail was all the confirmation I needed.
“What do we do?” I asked. A sudden adrenaline spike woke me
up, and I jumped out of bed. As soon as I was standing, Mary was
pushing my feet into shoes and Anne was putting a robe on me. All
I could think was
North or South? North or South?
“There’s a passage here in the corner. It’ll take you straight to
the holding room in the basement. The guards are there waiting.
The royal family should already be there and most of the girls, too.
Hurry, miss.” Anne pulled me out into the hallway and pushed on a
section of wall. It turned, like a hidden passage from some mystery
novel. Sure enough, behind the wall, a stairwell awaited me. As I
stood there, Tiny bolted from her room and scurried down the
passage.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said. Anne and Mary gaped at me. Lucy was
shaking to the point she could barely stand. “Let’s go,” I repeated.
“No, miss. We go somewhere else. You have to hurry before
they get here. Please!”
I knew at the best they’d be injured if they were found; at worst
they’d die. I couldn’t bear them being hurt. Maybe I was a little
cocky, but if Maxon had gone out of his way to do everything he’d
done thus far, maybe they would matter to him if they mattered to
me. Even if we were fighting. Perhaps it was too much generosity
to bank on, but I wasn’t leaving them here. The fear made me
move faster. I grabbed Anne’s arm and pushed her in. She
move faster. I grabbed Anne’s arm and pushed her in. She
stumbled and couldn’t stop me as I grabbed Mary and Lucy.
“Move!” I told them.
They started walking, but Anne was protesting the whole way.
“They won’t let us in, miss! This place is just for the family. . . .
They’ll just make us leave!” But I didn’t care what she said.
Whatever their hiding place was, there was no way it would be as
safe as wherever the royal family was hiding.
The stairwell was lit every few yards, but even so I nearly fell a
few times in my haste to move. My mind was blinded with worry.
How far had the rebels penetrated before? Did they know these
pathways to safety existed? Lucy was half-paralyzed, and I tugged
her down to keep us together.
I couldn’t tell how long it took for us to reach the bottom, but
finally the tiny pathway opened up to a man-made cavern. I could
see other stairways and other girls, everyone running behind what
looked to be a two-foot-thick door. We ran up to our safe place.
