The Mime Order Read Free Page B

light-footed, keeping to the shadows. When I reached the gap between the battlements, my chest tightened.
    There it was.
    London.
    Beyond the wall was a steep bank leading to the Thames. To the left was Tower Bridge. If we went right, we’d be able to circle around the complex unseen and reach the main road. Nick took a pouch from his pocket and rubbed chalk between his palms.
    “ I’ll go first,” he murmured. “You help the others down. Eliza will be waiting on that road.”
    I looked up at the bridge, scanning for snipers. There were none to be seen, but I sensed three dreamscapes.
    Nick squeezed between the battlements and gripped one in each hand, turning to face the wall. His feet sought purchase against the stone, dislodging small fragments. “Careful,” I said, though I didn’t need to say it. Nick was better at climbing than he was at walking. He shot me a quick smile before lowering himself and dropping the final few feet, falling straight into a crouch.
    It made me uneasy that the wall now stood between us.
    I held out my hands for the first prisoner. Michael was there with Nell, both supporting Ivy. I took her by the elbows, guiding her to the battlements.
    “Up here, Ivy.” I shucked Nick’s coat and buttoned it around her, leaving me in what was left of my white dress. “Give me your hands.”
    With Michael’s help, I got Ivy over the wall. Nick took her narrow hips, carrying her on to the grass. “Michael, get the injured people up here, quickly,” I said, my tone harder than I’d intended. He went to help Felix, who was limping.
    One by one, they went over the wall: Ella, Lotte, then a shaken crystalist, then an augur with a broken wrist. Each one stayed close to where they landed, guarded by Nick and his pistol. As I held out a hand to Michael, he was swept aside by Jaxon. He climbed on to the battlements with ease, tossing his cane over first, then leaned down to whisper in my ear.
    “You have one more chance, O my lovely. Come back to Dials, and I will forget what you said in Sheol I.”
    I stared straight ahead. “Thank you, Jaxon.”
    He leaped down from the battlements, so elegant he almost seemed to glide. I looked back at Michael. Blood was flowing from his cut face, down his neck, soaking his shirt.
    “ Go on.” I grasped his wrists. “Just don’t look down.”
    Michael managed to swing a leg over the wall. His fingers dug into my arms.
    A gasp tore from Nell’s throat. A long bloodstain was blossoming through the leg of her trousers, coating her fingers. She looked up at me, her eyes wide with fear. A current coursed through my body.
    “Get down!” I shouted over the sirens. “Get down,
now
!”
    There was no time for anyone to obey. A torrent of bullets tore through the line of prisoners on the steps.
    Bodies falling, twisting and jerking. A piercing scream. Michael’s wrists slipped through my fingers. I threw myself down behind the balustrade and covered my head with my arms.
    Containment would be paramount: kill on sight, don’t ask questions.
    Nick was roaring my name from below, telling me to move, to jump, but I was paralyzed by fear. My perception narrowed until all I was aware of was my heart and my shallow breathing, and the muffled beat of the guns. Then hands were grasping me, lifting me over the wall, and I was falling.
    The soles of my boots slammed against earth, jarring my legs to the hip, and I was pitched forward a few more feet. With a dull
whump
and a grunt of pain, another human shape landed beside me. Nell, her teeth clenched tight. She dragged herself along the ground, then to her feet, and limped as fast as she could. I crawled in the same direction until Nick pulled my arm around his neck. I twisted away from him.
    “We have to get them—”
    “Paige, come
on
!”
    Nadine had made it over the wall, but the other two were still climbing the battlements. A fresh barrage of gunfire from White Tower had the survivors running in all directions. Danica