Gecko woke, despondent. Another day in detention.
The cells and the white tiles were grimier than their previous quarters, but the lights were just as bright, and the air just as stale. It was still cold. There was a blanket, but it was thin. He lay on his rack with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling, painted white and sloping roughly down to a central point, as if collapsing in on him. The others were quiet or asleep.
An hour later the main door clanged open: new inmates being shown to their cells. The guards quickly bundled the prisoners into their new homes and undid their shackles. The main door clanged shut and they were alone again.
Gecko jumped up and looked out from his cell. “Hello?”
The woman in the cell diagonally across from him came to her door, her talons lightly grasping the bars. “Hello,” she said gracefully. Her face feathers shimmered in the light. “I am Vermilion. May I know you?”
“Gecko. And that’s Tortoise beside you.” Tortoise came to the bars of his cell rubbing his eyes.
“Hello,” a deep, mellow voice rumbled out of sight to Gecko’s left. “I’m Indira.”
“A pleasure—I only wish I could see you, Indira,” he said. “To be honest, no disrespect to my dear friend Tortoise, it’s good to have some more company.”
“How long have you been here?” Vermilion asked.
“Quite some time, unfortunately. This is the maximum security wing.”
“About a month,” Tortoise said. “What about you?”
“Since yesterday,” Vermilion said. “We tried to escape this morning.”
“Excellent!” Gecko said. “What went wrong?”
“A dead end. We didn’t get far.”
“Everyone goes the wrong way the first time. I think they designed it that way.”
“How many ways are there?” Indira asked.
Tortoise was chatting quietly with Indira. It was late, and Gecko and Vermilion had gone to bed. Gecko had been sleeping a lot lately. Tortoise liked Indira: she was easy to talk to. She seemed very relaxed for someone in prison, but then he didn’t suppose there was much that could faze her.
“Why were you arrested?” Tortoise asked, leaning against the cool bars. They hadn’t spoken about much else besides escape before the others turned in.
Indira shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “One minute we were in the forest on the way to Sündalǚ, and then we woke in this place. We’re really not sure what happened—it’s hard to remember. And you?”
“The same thing. We think we must’ve been drugged—everyone’s memories of that night are fuzzy. There were seven of us but they split us up after we arrived. We’re fairly sure they’re still here though. One of the gaolers mentioned a couple of them recently.”
“You did nothing wrong?”
“No, we were just on the road as well—they surprised us one night. We’ve all been charged with something. Well, I think Gecko’s been charged with more. But we don’t know what the charges are, exactly. Apparently we’ll find out soon, if we’re lucky.”
“The gaolers said that?”
“No, the advocate. She visited us a couple of times early on. We haven’t seen her since we were moved here though.”
“The advocate? Who is she?”
Gecko woke to the gaolers bringing the daily meal in a trolley. Gruel again.
Hank gave Gecko his bowl, then spooned out the steaming gruel.
The gaoler leaned in, slipping him a small package, and whispered: “A lotta the lads think you were set up. There’s a lot of support. Things are starting to move… I’ll keep you posted.”
“What were you two whispering about?” Vermilion asked, after the two gaolers had left.
“I’ve got a friend or two,” Gecko replied, casually scratching his head. “To be honest, I’m not sure they’re going to be of much help.”
“Something is better than nothing,” Indira said. “Would he bring something in for you?”
“Yes, he might do,” Gecko said. “I’ll sound him out next time.”
They ate their gruel in the usual silence.
Tortoise woke one morning—if that’s what it was—to find the others talking animatedly. Gecko had learned they were going to be moved the following day.
“Yes, but how would the rest of us know when?” Vee asked. “And what about the other gaoler?”
“What’s going on?” Tortoise asked, coming to the bars of his cell.
“We have an idea,” Indira said languidly. “It might even be a good one.”
“We’d have to trust that he wouldn’t notice for a minute or two,” Gecko continued. “But I think we can.”
“And then what?”
Next episode: The Plan