“Oh, you made it,” she said dryly.
“You should’ve never had any doubt,” Ari proclaimed, heaping on an equal portion of her own brand of arrogance. Doing so made her guilt potable. Florence had been forced to stay in this squalor for days while she had been sleeping in relative comfort in the abandoned store she’d broken into.
“Well, now that our little family is finally back together, what’s the plan?” Will looked at Arianna.
“You did your part.” She wasn’t going to bury the lede. “As far as we’re concerned, your freedom has been earned and you owe me nothing further.” Boon aside, she didn’t actually enjoy the feeling of people owing debts to her. She didn’t want anything from anyone.
“We’re leaving for Keel on the next airship we can find,” Florence explained.
Her two friends shared a look.
“You are,” Helen agreed. “But we’ve been talking, and since your teacher will not be hunting us down, we’re going to head back into the Underground.”
“What? Why?” Florence looked frantically between her friends.
“We’re not bad at this whole ‘moving people’ business,” Will started.
“And we think itcanbe a business,” Helen interjected.
“Minus dealing with the Wretched.” Arianna couldn’t stop herself.
“Yes, well… When we’re moving things—people—we’ll do so on our own terms. We’ve learned every time we’ve maneuvered down there.”
“You’re not joining us?” Florence couldn’t seem to process it.
Will shook his head. “Flor, we’ve always ridden in separate trikes. Sometimes we can ride side by side, but our destinations are different.”
“Unless you want to join us, instead?” Helen asked hopefully. “We need a Revo for protection, just in case. You really are brilliant with gunpowder.”
Florence fought to hide a smile at the well-deserved flattery.
“Plus, you could help ferry more people out of the Guilds, just like you, to live a free life doing whatever they choose.”
It would be a noble cause, Arianna admitted. One that would resonate strongly with Florence as someone who had used that method herself to avoid the fatal outcomes of failing the Dragon tests. Florence had every reason to say yes.
And yet, Arianna desperately wished she wouldn’t. If Florence disappeared with these two, she would likely never see her again. Florence would become her own White Wraith, operating outside the law and in the greatest secrecy possible. She would be at constant risk.
Arianna wanted to be happy for the girl. She wanted to support blindly. But the panic the very thought put in her made her tongue act differently.
“You could stay,” she said softly. Florence looked at her in shock—shock Ari hoped wasn’t stemming from excitement and relief. “But you should come with us to the Alchemists first. You won’t last long without being transitioned to a full Chimera, even less without Dragon blood.”
If the girl leaves these two, the chances of her ever rejoining them decreases greatly, a nagging voice in the back of Arianna’s mind assured her. She only wanted what was best for Florence. She hadn’t lied.
Florence looked between Ari and the two Ravens. She desperately wished she knew what was going through the girl’s head.
“I can’t.” Florence shook her head. “Will, Helen, I can’t go with you.”
“You’re sure? Will you meet us after you become a Chimera?” Helen squinted at Ari skeptically while the Wraith fought to keep a triumphant smile off her lips.
“I don’t know… But Arianna is right. I need to go for that, at the very least.” There was no room for hesitation in Florence’s words and Arianna was pleased to note that her student clearly thought of the whole matter as her idea. “I’ve come this far. I need to see Cvareh through to the Alchemists. And even after that, who will make Ari’s canisters for her?”
“She can always buy them.” Arianna was going to sew Helen’s mouth shut. She did not want to lose Florence to these people. She felt like the girl had only just entered her life and now they were trying to take her away.
“The canisters they sell in Mercury Town are wretched.” Florence shook her head firmly. “I’d never let her have those.”
“I’m lucky to have a Revo like you looking out for me.” Arianna nudged Florence’s shoulder with her own, satisfied it seemed she had no intention of leaving her side anytime soon. It wasn’t every day you had the opportunity to meet another gear that fit so well against your own.
She mused on the fact as she led them all to where she had been holing up, promising Will and Helen some supplies to get them on their way. Meeting the two Ravens had proved to Ari how special Florence was, how unique it was that she had slotted nicely into Ari’s world. But it equally illuminated something else she never expected. Everyone she’d met in her life could be organized into two categories: those who fit in seamlessly, and those who didn’t.
