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Natalie half smiles, a cheeky twinkle in her eye "Since when has that ever stopped me?"

"That’s true," I say "It’s one of the ers play with my belt loop "Yeah? What are the others?"

I hold her closer to me "Mmm, lettold what to do" She blushes slightly "But ht here," I say, pointing to the freckle on the side of her throat

She giggles as I dip htly kiss her neck Her pulse flutters under ently nip her skin, careful not to break the surface Day coughs dramatically behind us, and we pull apart Natalie’s cheeks are flushed; I’m sure mine are too I turn to look at the others Beetle and Day are standing nearby, the sht on their skin They tuck their newly cleaned guns into their hip holsters Behind the up his bootlace, while Acelot blows his nose on his rammed handkerchief Destiny is still in the cockpit, her hand on her weapon as she peers out of the windscreen for any signs of trouble

"If any of you want to back out, now’s the time to do it," I say

Beetle chuckles "Someone needs to watch your back, ives her a lopsided grin

Elijah stands up "I’ here when my mom’s in the Tenth She needs me"

I look at Acelot "I always like an adventure," he says

"Thanks, guys" It’s risky having all of us going, but I’ather our weapons and sling on our hooded jackets Natalie slips her heart e case into one of her pockets I watch her adht When we’re ready, Destiny opens the hatch and we step off the Transporter The night air is cool and stars shimmer overhead Natalie takes my hand and nervously looks up at o," I say

• • •

The station is eerily silent as we creep through the ter through the arched s I lead the way as we sneak down the iron stairwell that goes to platform six

The platforht cast by the oil lanterns hanging from a wire overhead The shadows offer plenty of cover A train is parked on the rails farther down the platform, the boxcars packed with prisoners instead of livestock Their hands poke out of the slats in the wood as they beg for water Toward the far end of the train, a group of Sentry guards load dozens of white bags onto one of the carriages Printed on the bags is GRAY WOLF LAUNDERETTES We quickly duck under the stairwell, before the guards see us

"We need to get onto that laundry carriage," I whisper

"How are we going to get on there without being spotted?" Natalie replies

It’ll be hard to sneak onto the train noithout being seen, since the train is too far away from us and there are no people on the platform to blend in with

"We’ll have to jump on when it passes by us," I say

Day looks worriedly at Beetle, but he just squeezes her hand

We linger in the shadoaiting for our s onto the train, they trudge up the stairwell at the other end of the platform Only the stationmaster is left behind He blows his whistle and the train starts up Steam billows out of the chimney spout and I expect the stationmaster to leave, but instead he takes out a packet of smokes and sparks up The train jerks forward and the prisoners all begin to screa," Natalie says under her breath

I stare at the guard Leave! I urge

He takes a long drag of his cigarette, wisps of white s into the air The train starts to trundle down the tracks toward us, picking up speed

"What do we do?" Natalie says

Just go! I screa by us, stirring my hair The prisoners’ cries becoets faster, faster The laundry carriage is almost upon us

Finally, the stationmaster heads into his office

"Now," I say

I dash across the platfor hold of the wooden slats My body slarunt with pain as I heave ainst e to keep my balance Natalie sprints toward the train and I lean over, grasp her hand and haul her up She falls into e rocks wildly and we slide across the roof, but I e to seize the handle of the escape hatch before we fall over the side and get dragged under the train I pull us upright just as Acelot and Elijah gracefully leap onto the roof They don’t see their balance, but their tails must help with that, and they quickly help Day and Beetle up onto the roof

I open up the escape hatch and we drop inside the laundry carriage, our falls broken by the soft e, and he shuts the hatch after hi out the clothes A lot of them are red-and-white-striped overalls, whichand let out a triuuard uniforms I toss five uniforo to the other end of the carriage and hide behind a wall of laundry bags as they get undressed The guys strip doithout any eles to put on his pants on the rocking train, hopping conoring Acelot as he stares at the burns ontheir black uniforht e arrive at the caood look at our faces We settle down as of laundry, and I wrap ainst Beetle