Her heart plummeted.
“What?” Jacin leaned forward to peer into the box. His face took on a layer of concern. “Princess?”
Her lips parted, then snapped shut again. She turned in a slow circle, examining the crates stacked all around her. The girl could have sneaked into any of them.
Or she could have run.
Or she could already have been found by someone else.
Jacin dropped down from his perch and grabbed her elbow. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s gone,” Winter murmured.
“She?”
“There was—” She hesitated. Her gaze darted up to one of the many inconspicuous cameras along the dock’s perimeter. Though the queen would have demanded them to be disabled while she was there, Winter had no idea if or when they’d been reinstated.
Jacin bristled, with impatience but also worry. Checking for the cameras was the first sign someone was going against the queen’s wishes. After a quick sweep of the ceiling, he shook his head. “No indicator lights. They’re still off.” He was frowning as he said it, though. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Winter swallowed. “There was a girl. I think she came with Linh Cinder and her companions. I saw her sneaking around these crates while the queen was arguing with the technician, so I hid her in here. But … now she’s gone.”
Jacin rocked back on his heels. Winter expected him to chastise her for doing something so dangerous and right in front of the queen, no less. But instead, after a long hesitation, he asked, “What did she look like?”
“Small. Short blonde hair. Afraid.” Remembering the girl’s terrified expression made Winter shiver. “Maybe she tried to rejoin her companions. Or … or maybe she’s back on the emperor’s ship?”
Jacin’s gaze had unfocused. “Cress,” he whispered, turning around. He released Winter’s elbow and bounded back up the crates, vaulting onto the platform overhead.
“What? Jacin?” She lifted her skirt over her knees and hurried after him. By the time she’d managed to get back up onto the platform, Jacin was in the control booth, yanking open cabinets filled with wires and cords and computer parts that Winter didn’t comprehend.
He found the girl behind the third door he opened, her body curled into such a tight ball Winter couldn’t believe she hadn’t suffocated. Her wide eyes attached to Jacin and widened, impossibly, further.
Winter staggered to a halt as Jacin reached into the cabinet and pulled the girl out. The girl yelped, trying to regain her footing as Jacin shoved the door shut behind her. She pried her arm out of his grip and backed against the wall, trembling like a caged animal.
Rather than reaching for her again, Jacin took a step back and pinched the bridge of his nose. He cursed. “Princess, you have got to stop collecting these rebels.”
Ignoring him, Winter drifted toward the girl, her hands placating. “We won’t hurt you,” she cooed. “It’s all right.”
The girl spared her a hasty glance before turning back to Jacin. Terrified, but also angry.
“My name is Winter,” she said. “Are you hurt?”
“We can’t stay here,” said Jacin. “The cameras will be coming on again any minute. It’s a miracle they haven’t already.”
The girl continued to stare at him with her timid ferocity.
“Wait.” Jacin laughed. “You disabled them, didn’t you?”
The girl said nothing.
Winter swiveled her attention from her to Jacin. “She disabled them?”
“This girl used to be the queen’s best-kept secret. She can find her way around any computer system.” He crossed his arms, his stern expression softening into an almost smile. “You’re the one who’s been messing with the shuttles too.”
The girl’s lips thinned into a line.
“What’s your name?” asked Winter.
When the girl still didn’t respond, Jacin answered, “Her name is Cress. She’s a shell and one of Linh Cinder’s allies.” He scratched his temple. “I don’t suppose you have a plan as to what we’re supposed to do with her?”
“We could sneak her up to the guest wing? I’m sure the Earthen emperor would watch over her. He did help them get here, after all.”
Jacin shook his head. “He’s under too much security. We’d never get her close. Besides, the fewer people who know you helped her, the less chance of Levana finding out.”
The girl—Cress—seemed to be relaxing as it became apparent Winter and Jacin weren’t going to have her executed. Winter smiled at her. “I’ve never met a shell before. What a marvelous gift. I can’t sense you at all, like you’re not even there, even though you’re standing right in front of me.” Her grin broadened. “That would drive my stepmother mad.”
“It was a shell who killed the last king and queen,” said Jacin. “Maybe we can turn her into an assassin.”
Winter turned to him, aghast. “Does she look like an assassin?”
He shrugged. “Does she look like she’s capable of disabling our entire maglev system?”
“I didn’t disable it.” Cress’s voice was meek, but Winter was so surprised to hear her speak, she might as well have shouted. “I changed the access parameters so the queen couldn’t shut it down.”
Jacin stared at her. “But you could disable it, if you wanted to.”
After a beat, the girl dropped her gaze to the floor.
“We have to find someplace to keep her,” said Winter, tugging on a curl of hair. “Somewhere safe.”
“Why?” said Cress. “Why are you helping me?”
Winter didn’t know if she was asking her or Jacin, but Jacin answered first with a grumbled “Good question.”
Winter shoved him hard in the shoulder. He barely shifted.
“Because it’s the right thing to do. We’re going to protect you. Aren’t we, Jacin?”
When Jacin said nothing, Winter shoved him again. “Aren’t we?”
Jacin sighed. “I think we can sneak her into the guard quarters. It’s not far and we won’t have to go into the main part of the castle.”
With obvious disbelief, Cress said, “You’re going to protect me?”
“Rather against my will,” said Jacin, “but it looks like it.”
“For as long as we can,” said Winter. “And, if the opportunity arises, we’ll do our best to reunite you with your friends.”
For the first time, Cress’s defenses began to slip. “They got away?”
“It would seem so. They haven’t been found yet, as far as I can tell.”
“But the queen won’t stop looking,” added Jacin, as if either of them weren’t aware.
Cress had stopped trembling. Her expression became thoughtful as she stared at Jacin. Finally, she asked, “I don’t suppose the guard quarters have access to the royal broadcasting network?”
Twenty-Four
Their progress through Luna’s outer sectors was slow and tedious. Sometimes taking maglev shuttles, sometimes walking through the tunnels, sometimes using Wolf’s identity to send a shuttle on without them before skipping to a different platform and heading in the opposite direction. Sometimes they split up and rejoined one another a couple of sectors over, to confuse any security personnel looking for a group of two men and two women traveling together.
They kept their heads down. Iko kept her hair hidden beneath her cap. Cinder fidgeted with her gloves to be sure her metal hand wouldn’t be seen on any of the cameras. Though they avoided what surveillance cameras they could, she knew they couldn’t miss them all. She hoped there were so many surveillance feeds on Luna they couldn’t possibly all be monitored.
Though they occasionally ventured up to the surface in order to switch to a different shuttle line, they avoided it when they could. Wolf warned them that most of the outer sectors were manned by armed guards. Though they were meant to be there for the security of the people, it seemed they spent more time punishing anyone who dared to speak out against the crown. The few times they did sneak up into the surface domes, they managed to go unassaulted in their disguises and cowed postures, but Cinder knew it wouldn’t be long before security measures were increased all over Luna.