I want to kill every one of those men with my bare hands.I want to kill the people running this smuggling ring.
But since neither of those things are possible, I’ll settle for getting the girls the fuck out of here.I can come back and kill the men responsible for it after the girls are safe.
I look from them to the apartment around us, trying to figure out where we actually are.This one is a lot like the one we just came from, though: velvet on the walls, gold in the curtains, and lots of chaise lounges lying about the joint.Nothing useful.Nothing that tells me anything.
Except we’re above ground, now, and I can hear the sounds of a city street outside.Cars on the road and the occasional horse-drawn carriage, which tells me we’re in some sort of tourist neighborhood.Lots of shouting.Street vendors, though that’s no different than many neighborhoods in the city, so it doesn’t help me much.
Then I hear the sound of a trolley, and I freeze.
There’s a trolley on the street outside, and that means a couple of things.The streetcar lines in the city serve as some of the most popular forms of public transportation, but they require a wire, just like trains require a track, and they can’t exactly go off-roading.
They have to stick to the route they’re given.
I listen closely, trying desperately to shut out the noises from within the room itself.If there’s a trolley and it stops somewhere in this block, I should be able to hear–
“Does this one go out or in?”someone asks from right outside the window.
“Out,” someone else answers.
Out or in.They’re directions, because the trolley travels up and down this street, and if you get on it when it’s going the wrong way, you’ll be stuck for a while before you can get off and look for one going the other way.
Only one line goes out or in.
Canal Street.I’m on Canal Street.The guy at the last place said we were coming here, but I didn’t know if he was lying, or if it was code for something else.But we’re actually here.
We’re actually here.
I almost break into tears, I’m so relieved.It feels as if it’s been years since I knew where I was, and I’m giddy at the thought that right through that window, on the other side of this wall, is a street and neighborhood I know like the back of my hand.
Then I realize that this is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for, and it’s back to business.I look around the room again and watch the guards for a moment.They’re talking about the girls and something about bidding, but they haven’t given us any details.And Kate and I are being left out of the preparation they’re putting the girls through.Everyone else is dressed in slinky formal gowns, while we’re still in the rough trousers and t-shirts they gave us at the last stop.I wonder if they’re going to move the rest of the girls–and how long the doors are going to be open when they do.
I wonder if Kate and I can make a run for it.
Though that brings me back around to the thought that I’m not leaving here without those girls.
I skip that and progress with the plan.If I can get out of here and out onto the street, I can check the building for an address and then go find help.Once I have people on my side, I’ll come back.Yes, that’s what I’ll do.I might have to leave the girls behind now, but I’ll come back as soon as I find someone to help me break them out.
Who can I go to?Camille’s no good.She may still be in my father’s good graces, but she doesn’t have any power of her own.My brother?
No.I’m not convinced he’s on my side, and a large part of me still believes he might be involved in my father’s activities.
And that leaves...
Lucien.
Who’s the one person who’s always been there when I needed someone, and stepped up to the plate.Damn him.
The problem is, of course, that I don’t know if he’s even still alive or whether he’ll help me this time.He hasn’t exactly broken down the door searching for me since I was picked up.Part of me knows it’s unfair to think that, of course, and I’ve been through this one hundred times.The tracker in the hair tie must have stopped working, and without that, how the hell is he supposed to find me?We don’t exactly have a way to communicate.
But being angry at him is better than believing he’s dead, and that’s the other option.
What if I can get all the girls out with me?Then I can hide them all and take more time finding someone to help me come back here and take down the men that kidnapped us.And then I don’t have to leave the girls to fend for themselves.I like that plan better.
It’s still not great, and there are a lot of things that could go wrong.I could really use some help.
I could really use a Lucien.
I also haven’t yet found Aislyn.It would have been terrific if she was in this new group, waiting for me, but she’s not here, either.The fact that I’m now in my second group–maybe third, if you count the girls who were in the first room in the catacombs–makes me think that there are many groups around the city.Aislyn must be in one of those.Unfortunately, I don’t have addresses for any of their other outposts.
