“I agree. It’d be easier for the Warden to hide them in a place where he has total control,” Charlie said. “But we can’t get down there without dooming ourselves. No one ever gets out of Cellblock 9, and with those crystals, the Warden could keep us there forever. We have to be smart if we want to break them out.”
I nodded. “Agreed. And we have to tell Ivy and the rest of them they can’t win the Darke Games, because otherwise, they’ll be taken by the Underground, too.”
“Oh great,” Kallie grumbled. “They’re gonnalovethat. They can’t back out now that they signed up.”
“So how do we get them out?” Charlie asked.
“We start with blueprints,” I said. “Having a layout of the prison is a good place to start. We might be able to find a secret way in and out of Cellblock 9. I don’t know where we could get them, though. They wouldn’t be in the library. Students wouldn’t be allowed access to them, because it’d be too easy to plan a way out.”
“I still have access to the Warden’s office from when I was with the Dead Men,” Marcus said. “It’s my last potion, though. Once I use it, it’s done. Bones never gave me the recipe, and I don’t know how to replicate it.”
“Use it,” Charlie said. “Alice and the others are in there because of us. We owe it to them to get them out.”
Marcus gave a resolute nod. Kallie got up and gave a nervous glance out the door. “We can’t skip lunch, they’ll notice. Come on.”
The cafeteria food seemed even blander than normal as we contemplated what horrible things Alice and her teammates could be going through right now. When we were done eating, we got up to return to class, but on our way out, a guard grabbed my arm.
By instinct, I tried to yank away. “Hey! Let me go!”
Charlie immediately moved to do something, but the guard growled, “You’ve got a call, Mitoh. It’s your old man.”
“Then let me go talk to him.” I wrenched my arm away from the guard.
He sneered. Charlie shoved him out of the way— a risky move, but the guard didn’t retaliate, only spat at our feet as we passed.
“Charlie, be careful,” I murmured. I put a hand on his arm, trying to get him to calm down.
His shoulders hunched. “I don’t like when people touch you.”
“Well, neither do I.” I frowned. “Thanks for defending me, though. See you guys later.”
Oberi changed into a unicorn and trotted off after me.You can’t blame yourself for what happened to the other team, she began.
I huffed. “Like Charlie can’t blame himself for what happened to Bones? Face it, Oberi. We’re all responsible.”
She was quiet, then. The guard at the phone booth today was the same one who had cornered Ivy and I after our trip back from The Devil’s Playground. “Farthest phone on the left,” he said as I passed.
I picked up the phone. “Hel—”
“AVA-MARIE MITOH, I DIDNOTSEND YOU TO PRISON SO YOU COULD BECOME A STRIPPER!!!”
I had to hold the receiver away from my ear. “How’d you find out about that?” I gaped.
“There was a video sent to my work email this morning, ofyoudressedvery inappropriatelydoingvery inappropriate things,” Daddy hissed. “And now I have to scrub my eyeballs with bleach.”
Avideo? That meant someone had snuck into the club and taken footage of me dancing. And instead of showing it to the Warden, they’d sent it straight off to my father, as if they’d known that would bother me more than an infraction would. Seriously, who would be thatpetty?
Daddy was still going on about it. “I can’t believe you chose to— and thoselyrics! Good to know those dance lessons I paid for were put to good use!”
“Ancestors, Daddy, you’re ranting.” I had no time for this. People were in danger, and my dad was more concerned about my one-time performance doing a striptease. “Don’t you have more important things to do than scold me?”
“I canceled all my meetings. I’m not in the mood,” Daddy grumbled. “I have to become accustomed to the fact that my little girl decided to become an exotic dancer.”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t take ajob.Ivy just offered me the opportunity to dance on opening night, so I could get back at Charlie for acting like a major dick.”
“Oh, ancestors, you’re just like your mother.” Daddy sounded horrified.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I threw up my hand.
