"Of course!" Before we left, Weevil pulled the quilting needles from where they had been stuck into his pants leg. "Take these."
I pushed them back at him. "I'm no good at lock picking."
"You might need them to get access to Della. Take them."
I did and stuck them in the hem of my dress, hoping there were no locks between me, Della, and our boat to freedom.
"Don't break them, like you usually do," Weevil said. "They're the last two needles my mother has."
"You're only saying that because I always break them," I said.
"You're going to get Della?" Jonas stepped up to me. "I'll come with you." He had been waiting for us in the cave's outer room. "I heard what you two have done today, for all of us. I'm ashamed to have been hiding here while you have proved what it means to be from the river country."
"What it means to be a Colonist," I said. "A lot of people stood in our defense today." Then I smiled at him. "I'm glad you're coming along. I'm not sure I could persuade her to go into this storm otherwise."
He smiled back, but not at me. He was thinking about her. "Most people don't understand Della the way I do. Whenever she's afraid, she falls back on the things she knows--her money and her father's power. But that's not the real her. She's a good person."
"We know that," I said. "Now come on."
Weevil gave my hand a squeeze before we left, promising to meet me at the beach in one hour. I didn't understand how that could be possible. This was a small island, but even in good weather and with no wardens out searching for him, he'd have a difficult time covering all the shorelines. He could never see everything in only an hour.
But we were running out of time. The reality of that was pressing in on me with increasing urgency.
Jonas and I ducked as low as possible to run away from the north shore toward the old prison. As the warden had predicted, much of the island was already flooding. We were fine as long as we stuck to higher ground, but one misstep and we'd slip and find ourselves with even greater problems. If that was possible.
"Be careful," I warned Jonas.
"You be careful," he replied. "I've stayed out of trouble for two weeks. You don't seem able to avoid it for two minutes."
I laughed. "I can easily avoid it for two minutes. It's the third minute that always seems to challenge me."
Once we got to the rear of the old prison, Jonas and I debated the best way to find Della. It occurred to me that I didn't know which of the rooms inside was hers, or even which floor she was on. Probably one of the lower
floors, I guessed. Della would have chosen a place that made it easiest for her father to find her.
"I should go in alone," Jonas said. "Wardens are looking for you."
"And you too," I said. "We'll stay together." I didn't think wardens would go into the old prison unless they had to, but they might've been in there searching, thinking that's where I'd taken shelter from the storm.
We had barely stepped inside the prison when the sounds of people's moans and cries overtook the rain and thunder outside. It was as if the walls themselves had come alive with the pain from the Scourge.
Not the Scourge. No, this was the result of people not taking the medicine. People had begun feeling the effects of emptying their flasks. I understood. I knew firsthand how awful spindlewill poisoning felt without the numbing effects of the "medicine" concoction to counter the pain.
I wished Weevil were here with us too. Or maybe not. Weevil's advice had been only to test the thrushweed on Della and then slowly wean her from the medicine. Never one for subtlety, I'd convinced everyone to dump out their medicine. The consequences of that had led us here, sneaking around on a flooded island, through a raging storm, to forge an escape attempt over seawaters that no sane person would ever cross.
Considering all of that, I was very glad Weevil wasn't here. Jonas didn't know the full potential of my foolishness yet, making him a much better companion tonight.
"Let's check each room as fast as possible," I said. "Go in quick, get out even quicker."
I let Jonas look in most of the rooms on the first floor while I kept to the shadows of the hallway. It bothered me to hear so many people hurting and to know that I had played a role in their pain. Even if it was the right thing to make them stop taking the medicine, I still felt sad and wished I had a way to help them.
"She's not on this floor," Jonas reported.
So we went to the second floor, but when I glanced out the window, I saw something that made my breath lodge in my throat. Weevil was climbing the vinefruit tree in the yard, the same one that held the cage. Of course that's what he would do. If he needed a place to look around, the old prison was taller, but windows were only on one side of the building and didn't point to any of the shores. From the tree, he'd be able to see far more--if he got up high enough.
But not in this storm!
In any other circumstance, it would have been comforting to know that in desperate times, Weevil did far more foolish things than I'd ever attempt. But now, with lightning cracking almost directly overhead, that was downright stupid!