The phone keeps ringing and I let it ring. My heart races at a thousand miles per hour.
I look at a map, making marks as I read of the Caelestia Kingdom. Estrella's people are neutral in Amara and Godusa's feud about dreamscreechers. They will accept her.
It's close enough that she could get there in a week by foot. It's not ideal, but no one could track there that way.
I just need to figure out the details. I would book her a hotel, or buy her an apartment myself, but I don't want my name tracked. I need to pack her money.
Ten real starcoins should do. Each starcoins, carved from Cosmo’s black stone that shines green when turned in the light,is worth a thousand false manufactured starcoins that everyone else uses. She’ll go far with just the ten.
Glaide's texts keep my phone ringing, and I glance over at them.
Do I need to come over?
Are you okay?
I roll my eyes, even though I know he only means well. I'm being unreasonable to an extent, but I honestly don't care. This is Ignatia’s survival I'm worrying about.
Now there's one thing I need to figure out. I don't have keys to get Ignatia out. No one's going to let me have access to the keys in this kingdom.
I need an escape plan.
Though it does have me thinking, what if this all goes to shit? What if… she doesn't escape? What if she dies?
My heart melts away. I can't let her die. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
I shake my head. My planwon'tfail. Come the third day, I will be waiting for them to open her jail door.
And she will be running off to Caelestia, never to be seen again.
???
It's the second day. It's nighttime, when no one will notice me here. I straighten out a black cloak, much like the ones the dreamscreecher supporters have so I wouldn't be seen so easily.
I look up at the entrance to the old dungeon near where the castle is, a few blocks away. We have kept many prisons and royal courts separated in case of emergencies. Considering the castle has been destroyed, it'd say it's a good call.
The entrance is a building with a brick arch, leading underground where the prisoners of crimes against royalty are kept. Guards dressed in white stand outside.
I may not have keys now, but I have a plan for tomorrow. She will escape then.
I planted a recorder a few steps away and covered it with leaves. I have it hooked up to my phone which will play as soon as I press the button.
I keep my steps quiet, and make sure the black hoodie covers most of my head, so the guards don't notice me in the dark. I press the button, the loud recorder setting off the scream of a woman near a bush a little ways. The guards’ eyes widen in that direction and storm towards it. As soon as they leave the entrance, I take the opportunity to sneak in.
I still keep quiet, making sure my black sneakers don't echo off the walls. The only thing helping me look through this dungeon are lanterns hung on the walls.
It's an old prison. They've preserved enough of it to be usable but it definitely needs renovating. It smells strongly of soil, with the air being thick and stuffy. The metal bars of the cells have splotches of rust. All of the prisons are dusty and unkempt. You can tell that Ignatia is the only one down here.
It would be a little more suitable to have Ignatia in a regular jail where she's not going to get tetanus. I guess she's considered too dangerous to even be kept with prison inmates.
I keep quietly walking down the hall until I see purple on the edge of my peripheral. My dreamscreecher is laying on the dirty floor, shivering from the cold air.
How dare they do this to her?
I bend down. “Ignatia…" I whisper, shaking the cage slightly.
Ignatia jumps on her feet, pinning her ears back and hissing. Her fur sticks straight up.
“It's okay!” I whisper yell. I put my hands out defensively. “It's just me!”
