The door was locked. Amalia tried to pick it, but a bar had been set across the door. They were well and truly stuck.
They went to the window and looked down. It was fifty feet down to solid footing, and even that was a rocky bluff overlooking the sea. Jes felt queasy and moved back, sitting down on the edge of Chris’s bed.
“There’s a window just below, only about eight feet down,” Amalia announced cheerfully. “If it’s unlocked, we can go in that way and escape from there.”
“How are we going to get down?” Chris asked. “We could take the ladder from the bed, but there isn’t any way to attach it.”
“Sheets and pillow cases,” Amalia announced. “We tie each set of sheets together long-ways—top sheet to bottom sheet—and then we cross the two sets across each other and tie with the pillow cases to make steps. We just attach the whole thing to the bottom of the bed—easy!”
Jes swallowed. She forced herself to walk over to the window, looked down, and scurried away again. “Amalia … I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Amalia looked worried for a moment, then smiled. “That’s okay. We won’t be able to bring our packs and swords down that way, so Chris and I will go down, break in, and come back up to let you out and get our stuff. You can double check the packing while we’re gone.”
Chris opened his mouth, and Amalia elbowed him in the ribs. Hard.
“Uh, right. Just as easy to have you wait here,” he managed.
Jes felt tears prick her eyes, but she only nodded. I hate being the weakest one. Slowest runner and the only one afraid of heights. Why would they even want to be friends with me?
She stayed away from the window as she helped tie off the sheets and double check the connections. In a few minutes, they were ready, and she forced herself back to the window to watch them go.
Watching Amalia take that first step into open air made Jes want to throw up. There were long seconds until her foot found the first cross-tie, and then Amalia grinned and scampered down like a monkey. Chris only waited for her to swing open the lower window and scramble inside before he started down after her. Jes watched as he climbed into the lower room as well. She knelt in front of the window, still looking down, in case they had to come back this way. And then what will we do?
A minute passed, and then Chris appeared briefly in the window to give her a thumbs-up. She waved back and then went to the packs, double checking straps and contents. She put on her own to avoid delays and then counted to herself.
Sometime after seven hundred, Jes heard a noise outside the door. She froze, trying to decide if it was worth it to pick up a sword she didn’t know how to use. The door slid open, and Amalia peered inside. “Got it! Ready to go?”
The climb had added some extra grime to their hands and faces. Amalia and Chris put on their packs and slid their swords back into the scabbards. With their loads, only someone who knew them would realize they were royalty.
Chris knew the servants’ stairs as well as Amalia did in her own home, and they only had to pause twice on their descent to the kitchen level. From there, they took a worn door to the kitchen garden and then out to a dirt trail that led from that servants’ entrance into the seaport.
South Waveborn had more trees than Jes was used to, mostly bending trunks with large, broad leaves springing from the tops. Although she knew none of the trees could be much older than she was, they towered above her. You’d never know that this island was underwater for centuries.
The harbor was small and sheltered, but they bypassed it altogether, so they only saw the tops of the taller ships. An orange tree, complete with ripe fruit, marked the path to the land bridge.
The land bridge between South Waveborn and West Waveborn was dotted with board and rope bridges over open stretches of water. The bridges swung as the three crossed over, and Jes gripped the sides tightly every time. It wasn’t a long way to fall, and she could swim, but the shifting surface was unpleasant. Chris and Amalia appeared to disagree, as they raced each other over every bridge they came to. Jes couldn’t bring herself to complain after she’d refused the sheet ladder, so she clung on grimly and kept going.
The actual land parts were boring, barren rocks with some sparse salt grasses and sea birds’ nests. The central spire island was like this, just a place for pirates to land. These areas were too small even for that.
“I bet they know we’re gone now,” Jes said to Amalia. “You and I, that is, since Lady Indigo just saw Chris, but I bet someone realized that at least one of us was long gone. Otherwise, why would they have locked Chris in?”
Amalia frowned. “Maybe. I do take off a lot, but I’m usually there for meals, and this is two I’ve missed now.”
“No one will be looking for the three of us together,” Chris said, walking backwards to face them. “The louder we are, the less likely they’ll think we have anything to hide.”
“Tree, Chris,” Jes pointed out. He kept walking backwards, gesturing now with one hand.
“If you want to hide, be conspicuous! That’s what Dad says.”
“Tree!” Amalia yelled.
“Yeah, like that!” Chris took another step back, slamming into the tree trunk. “Okay, maybe not quite like that.”
Jes tried not to laugh, but Amalia and Chris laughed until she had to join in.
“Is that the border stop?” she asked, pointing, when she could talk again.
“Yeah, you can’t really call it a house, can you?” There was a single gate across a narrow bit of land, and two bored guards standing on either side of it. The woman who was nearer to them wore a blue uniform, while the man on the other side wore red. They were chatting with each other but stopped as the three of them approached.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” the woman asked.
“School break,” Jes said brightly. “Mom wanted us out of the house for a bit and sent us to visit Grandma.”
“And we didn’t do anything!” Amalia chimed in.
“Much,” Chris muttered.
The woman quirked a small smile. “Don’t leave it too late if you’re coming home tonight. No passing after dark.”
She stood back, and they walked up to the gate, where the guard in red seemed less happy to see them.
“Anything to declare?” he asked.
They looked at each other and shrugged. “Is it nouns that are declarative or verbs?” Amalia asked. “I get that mixed up.”
The man sighed. “Are you bringing anything valuable with you?”
They obediently took off their bags. “This piece of purple might make a doll’s dress,” Jes pointed out. “It’s kind of small, but it’s pretty.”
“This green is nicer, but I’m too old for dolls,” Amalia informed him.
“I never liked dolls much, but I bet you could make a cool flag out of all the pieces,” Chris offered.
The man sighed, the woman hid a smile, and the three of them held out their bags expectantly. The man peered and shuffled through each one as though afraid to hurt their feelings by not searching them, then let them on through.
“Go straight to your grandmother’s!” he advised.
“We will,” Jes lied.
“Ee-yaw,” brayed Chris, and Amalia hit him as they walked on, leaving the checkpoint behind.
“Why did you do that?” she hissed.
“Because we’re donkeys, and it worked,” Chris said, still smiling. “A doll’s dress. Really?”
“It would make a very nice doll’s dress,” Jes said, glowering. “But yes, that worked. Now we only need to make it the rest of the way across without being seen, sneak into the castle, find Donal, and get him to contact his mother.”
“And figure out who’s trying to steal our islands, and why those three women all look the same, and who they work for, and whether King Gregor actually sent them, and then rescue our parents.” Amalia seemed undaunted by the list. “Oh, and find out who the two missing heroes are so they can help us.”
“Unless one of them is the villain!” Chris was still bouncy with their success, or the sunlight, or maybe just because he was Chris and he was always like this. Jes sighed as he dashed ahead across the next bridge and Amalia darted after him. Jes followed more slowly, pretending the swaying steps didn’t scare her.
They joined a game of dance rope as they crossed the bridge, setting down their laundry bags and going on again without them. Jes spared a thought for the purple fabric that really would have been a lovely ball gown for her favorite doll, but there were more important things right now.
The castle on West Waveborn was built onto a cliff top, with buildings following it up the slope as though clinging to its sides. The stone was strange and white, not like the gray of the other three, and it had six spires that rose from towers no wider than a single small room. Jes bit her lip, wondering where to even start looking for Donal.
There was a small explosion from the tower furthest from them, a flash of light followed by smoke. Jes grabbed Amalia’s arm and pointed. “He’s in there.”
Chris raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
Amalia shook her head. “Have you met Donal? We’re sure.”