Page 99 of A Slipper in the Smoke
Clover had scooted over to a small control panel near the chute and was desperately punching buttons. “I just need another minute…”
Sounds of guards charging through the kitchens blazed behind the door. Someone shoved against it.
“We may not have that long…”
“Do you want to be chopped up into tiny pieces?”
Elena blanched.
“A couple of friends of ours escaped using a waste chute a few month’s back,” Snowdrop explained. “The palace decided to add a new element to their disposal lines after that.”
Elena didn’t want to think about how they knew that piece of information, and prayed they had some insider passing information they’d simply neglected to tell her about.
Something pinged on Clover’s control panel. A light flashed green.
“Go!” he said. “Go, go!”
Snowdrop grabbed Pip and shoved him into the narrow, steely tunnel. He shot down with a sharp scream. Clover went next. Snowdrop turned to Elena, whipping out a dagger. “Your dress,” she said, “you’ll never get down wearing it.”
Elena didn’t argue, didn’t even wince when Snowdrop sheared the beautiful fabric away from her, slicing through the hoop skirt and leaving her with only a few raggedy pieces that gave her a semblance of modesty.
She crammed herself into the chute before she could think too much on it, sliding down into the dark, Pip’s screams still echoing around her. How far did the tunnel go? On and on it went, pitch black and reeking, the sides coated with slime.
She kept her mouth and eyes tightly shut, not daring to open either until she landed in a soggy, disgusting mess of food and waste—potato peelings, chicken bones, mountains of grease and gunk.
She’d never get clean again.
“Elena!” Clover reached over to pull her out of the way, just in time for Dandelion to come hurtling down after her, followed by Snowdrop.
A rumble sounded in the tunnel behind him, and half of the chute came crashing into the muck after them.
“You set off a grenade with yourself in the tunnel?” Pip screamed incredulously. He’d managed to scramble out of the pit and was standing by the side, drenched in filth.
Snowdrop shrugged. “It’s just in case they had any ideas about following us.”
“Oy!” sounded a voice overhead. “Who goes there?”
A guard appeared on a platform above them. Realising there was no way they were on legitimate business, he moved towards to the wall, to fetch help or sound the alarm—
Snowdrop whipped out her pistol and shot him. He fell several feet onto the concrete floor below, landing with a sickeningcrunch.
Pip winced. He looked like he wanted to be sick.
Elena couldn’t blame him.
Dandelion raced forward, searching through the guard’s pockets and finding a set of keys. He dashed towards the door, slamming them into the lock. Elena hated to think of how they planned to get out if the guard hadn’t been there. Another explosion?
“Elena, Phillippe, please get behind me,” Snowdrop instructed. “Clover, take the rear.”
Dandelion wrenched open the door, sliding through carefully, hugging the wall. The rest of them followed, shedding muck behind them. Another guard met them at the end of the corridor, but Dandelion shot her in the leg and they sprinted over her whimpering form.
Elena couldn’t look Pip in the eyes. What he must think of them now.
Them.
She was a rebel now.
They reached the outside of the compound, holding another guard at gunpoint, forcing him to open the doors. The gates creaked open, and they ran forward into the night.
