Page 69 of City of Stone and Silence

The back of the closet swings open on noiseless hinges. Karuko, who is about twelve years old, blinks at us from behind round spectacles, her eyes big and owlish. I smile at her and climb through the narrow opening, Garo behind me.

“Where’s Hasaka?” I ask her, as she shuts the secret door and locks it.

“In the storeroom, watching the tunnel,” she says. “I should stay here and keep watch.”

“I’ll go right there,” I promise her.

“Is Grandma okay?” Karuko says.

I nod, trying to look cheerful. Blessed, I hope so.

Most of the sanctuary’s population seems to be out in the halls or in the common room. We pass dozens of children, and even a few of the old men have left their upstairs rooms to see what’s happening. Old Sewa blinks at me from a seat on a staircase. At least he’s not trying to set me on fire this time. The hospital must have had some warning, because I recognize some patients who normally live on the other side of the secret tunnel.

Questions are shouted at me from all directions. I can do nothing more than wave as I pass, jogging toward the storeroom, where the tunnel exit emerges. I hurry down into lantern-lit darkness. Most of the stores have been moved to the center of the room, creating a barricade of bags of rice and crates of dried meat. Hasaka sits on the dirt floor behind it, with Jakibsa and a dozen others.

“Tori!” he says, standing up as I enter. “And Garo. Oh, thank the Blessed. I was sure they’d got you.”

He advances to hug me. When he pulls back, I tell him, “We were away. I saw the Ward Guard, and went up on Karan’s roof to have a look.”

“I had enough time to get a few people over to this side,” he says. “Grandma stayed behind to try to talk to them, but they’ve arrested her, and Kosura, and everyone else who—”

“It’s not just the Ward Guard,” I blurt out. “The Immortals are here.”

“What?” Hasaka hisses.

“I saw them from the roof, going into the hospital.”

There’s a chorus of alarmed swearing. Hasaka buries his head in his hands.

“Oh, Blessed’s rotting balls,” he moans. “We’re all rotted.”

“They might not find the tunnel,” Jakibsa says. “If we stay quiet—”

“They’ll find it eventually,” I say. “We have to get out of here.”

“And go where?” someone says.

I catch Hasaka’s eye. “There’s a backup. A safe house.”

“There?” he says. “That place isn’t a safe house. It’s just a hole. There’s no food, no beds—”

“Grandma told me to go there,” I say, “if anything like this happened. She must have had a plan.”

“I don’t think she ever planned to get arrested by Immortals—”

Jakibsa puts one of his mutilated hands on his lover’s arm. “Hasa,” he says. “She’s right. If they’ve sent the Immortals, they know we’re here. Eventually they’ll find us.”

Garo nods agreement. Hasaka’s lip twists for a moment, but then he gives a sigh.

“All right,” he says. “We’ll get everyone ready, and take as much food as we can. Maybe some of Grandma’s friends can help us once the heat comes off.” He turns to one of the waiting men. “Tano, go upstairs and start getting the kids together. Try not to panic anyone.”

Tano, barely more than a kid himself, gives a nod and hurries upstairs.

“You’d better go with him,” Hasaka says to me. “People will listen to you. See if you can organize something to help the old men move faster—stretchers or chairs.”

“I can do that.” Something to do will help keep my mind occupied. The fact that Grandma has been arrested—the polestar of my world, casually removed—still hasn’t settled into my mind, churning as it is with thoughts of Isoka. “What about—”

My Kindre senses give me a flicker of warning. One moment the tunnel beyond the secret door seems empty. The next there are a dozen minds in there, burnished with determination and the copper tang of violent intent. I shout a warning—