Nocturna (A Forgery of Magic #1)(69)

Finn gave a single nod. “Fine. I’m in. Where’s the girl?”

“That’s the tricky bit,” Luka said with a grimace, and Alfie was happy to have a break from talking. “She’s in the Clock Tower.”

Finn stiffened. “Qué?”

The Clock Tower was a prison that housed Castallan’s most vile criminals. Anyone who was taken was never seen again, and now they would have to break in and sneak this girl out. He would have to ask the girl who had taken Dez from him for help. The mere idea of it tore at his insides and only Luka’s hand on his shoulder stopped him from letting the weight of it drag him into its depths.

“Yes, well . . .” Luka rubbed the back of his neck. “It’ll require some planning.”

Finn chewed her lip, her eyes meeting Alfie’s. “You said you wanted me to change you two into each other.” Finn pointed at Luka and Alfie. “So that we can leave, then we break the girl out of prison, and I lure Ignacio to us. We kill him, you trap the maldito magic in your dragon thing and toss it in the void.”

Alfie nodded, his throat still aching from the effort of keeping everything inside of him at bay. “Yes, that would be the plan.” They would have to use Finn to lure Ignacio away from the city, somewhere where others wouldn’t be hurt in the crossfire. Then they’d have to try to kill him again and take the magic.

“Wait, I’m not going?” Luka asked, looking offended. “I came up with the maldito plan!”

“Luka,” Alfie said. “You nearly died only hours ago.”

“So did you,” Luka shot back, and Alfie grimaced at the thought of Ignacio trying to debone him like a fish. “And I feel fine now. Stronger than ever, even! I won’t let you face this alone.”

Alfie shook his head. Having Luka with him on this journey was something he both wished for and feared. On the one hand, there was the comfort of having his best friend with him. On the other was the prospect of putting Luka in danger once more, but not being able to save him this time. “No. Someone needs to stay here and be me so I’m not missed. Her propio will do that, so you’re covering for me.”

“Well, can’t she stay here pretending to be you and I go with you instead?” Luka asked.

“It’s not an option,” Alfie said before quickly explaining how Kol had blocked her propio. “And even if it was, she would just rob the palace and leave.”

Finn picked her nails with the tip of her dagger. “That’s true.”

“Fine,” Luka huffed.

Alfie relished the sound. Things were still somewhat normal if Luka was huffing, blowing a curl off his forehead with a gusty sigh. The life he knew hadn’t been destroyed just yet.

“All right,” Finn said. “We know we’re headed to the maldito Clock Tower, but how are we getting in and out?” When Alfie fell silent she shot him a look. “Were you planning on knocking and asking politely?”

Alfie didn’t take the bait. He walked to his desk and unfurled a roll of parchment. With a quick hand he grabbed a white feathered quill from the drawer and dipped it into the inkwell. With a barely audible sluuurp, ink flowed into the quill’s stem, the feather darkening to a rich ebony as it filled with ink. On the parchment Alfie drew five circles within one another. Luka and Finn gathered behind him, staring as he etched the inner workings of the Clock Tower on the parchment.

“The Clock Tower is separated into rings, like San Cristóbal. It has five rings within it. The innermost ring.” Alfie tapped the smallest circle with his quill tip, a dot of ink sprouting there. “That’s where the prisoners are kept. But the prisoner that we need is not held there; she is in a single cell in the second innermost ring, away from the general prisoners in solitary confinement.” Alfie drew an X on the east side of the second smallest ring, his memory tugging him to the day he’d been there, standing before that girl’s door, his heart pounding in his throat. He swallowed down the adrenaline surging through him, his hand curling tight around the lip of his desk. “And she’s heavily guarded.”

“Alfie,” Luka said slowly, as if he did not want to know the answer. As if he already knew the answer. “How do you know this?”

Alfie looked away from him, but Finn caught his eye then. Her eyebrows rose.

“You’ve been to the Clock Tower?” she asked, looking uncharacteristically impressed. Of course his most shameful moment would be the one to impress her.

Alfie looked intently at the crude map he’d drawn. “Yes.”

“What?” Luka nearly shouted.

“Look,” Alfie said, stopping Luka before he could say more. “There’s no time to explain now when we have a plan to hash out. It’s not important.” Alfie told himself that was why he didn’t want to speak of it, not because he was ashamed of what he’d almost done, of the look on Paloma’s face when she’d found him at the Clock Tower. Alfie shoved those thoughts away.

Luka stared at Alfie, unblinking. “You broke into the foulest prison in our kingdom and the details of how and why aren’t important?”

Finn nodded. “It’d be all I ever talked about.”

“No,” Alfie insisted. “Not more important than coming up with a plan to stop Sombra’s magic from destroying our kingdom.”