Rebel Magisters (Rebel Mechanics #2)(78)

“We needed a diversion so they’d be more worried about that than looking for an escaped prisoner. Though it seems they might have been a bit overzealous about it. Now, how should we find your friends?”

We looked for an empty pier without any activity on either side. Tall ships blocked anyone on other piers from seeing us. Once we were at the end of the pier, I saw what I thought might be our boat out in the river.

“There they are,” I said, “but how will they know where to meet us?”

“You’ll need to signal them. I’m still magically useless.”

“What do I do?”

“You know how to make a light, but cover it with your other hand.”

It was difficult to do magic when I was so tense. I had to take a few long, deep breaths before I was able to form a steady light in my hand. I covered it with my other hand as he instructed, then followed his directions in briefly lifting my hand in a certain pattern. There was an answering flash from the boat. It began moving up the river.

“They’re coming for us,” he said.

It seemed like forever before I heard the splash of oars. We looked over the edge of the pier to find a small rowboat pulling up next to the ladder on one of the pilings. Philip pulled the oars into the boat, looped a rope around the piling to hold the boat steady, and gestured for us to come down.

Climbing down a ladder into a tiny boat that was moving with the water, in near-total darkness, was rather frightening, but I reminded myself that I’d climbed a rope ladder into an airship. When I neared the bottom, Philip caught me and eased me into the boat before turning to help Henry. Henry immediately released the mooring rope while Philip picked up the oars and began rowing out to the small racing yacht we’d signaled.

When we reached the yacht, other members of the gang helped us board and pulled up the rowboat. Soon, we were off, flying up the river.

Geoffrey greeted Henry with a big hug. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again,” he said before releasing Henry. “In case you want to clean up, we have clothes and hot water below.”

“Oh, you have no idea how good that sounds,” Henry said. He was still wearing the clothes he’d been arrested in, and he was more disheveled and unkempt than I’d ever seen him before, with a couple of days of beard shadowing his jaw and his hair in total disarray. There were dark circles under his eyes and I thought there was a dark spot like a bruise on one cheek, but it was hard to tell in the darkness.

He went below, and Geoffrey wrapped me in a large overcoat. Philip handed me a mug of hot tea, and Geoffrey shoved a man’s hat on my head. “No one will mistake you for a boy, but from a distance, they won’t see the silhouette of a woman.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Good job in getting him this far. You can leave the rest to us.”

I wasn’t ready to relax yet, even if all I could contribute to the effort now was willing the boat to move faster and watching anxiously for anyone who might be following us.

Henry emerged from the cabin wearing a tweed suit and an overcoat. Philip handed him a mug of tea. “Thank you. Thank all of you,” Henry said, his voice a bit raspy with emotion. “They were talking about sending me to England, and I don’t think I’d ever have returned.”

“Why do you think we pulled this?” Philip said. “But it was all Miss Newton’s plan. She’s the one who managed the hard part. Believe it or not, she got the Mechanics and the magisters to work together.”

Henry smiled at me. “I am so very glad I hired you. I shall have to add an ability to mastermind a jailbreak and unite rival factions to the job description the next time I hire a governess.” The smile faded from his face. “Though I suppose it’s unlikely I’ll have occasion to hire a governess in the future.”

Philip patted him on the back. “Nonsense. We just need to start a revolution, win it, and then you can return as a conquering hero and elder statesman. You’ll need to hire an army of governesses for all the children you’ll have.”

I was glad it was dark and all the men were looking at Henry because I’m sure my face would have given away my emotions at that thought. Lizzie was right, I knew as I watched him. I did love him. This wasn’t just about loyalty to my employer, concern for the cause, or even support for a friend. If he’d been sent to England, I might never see him again. This way, he could still be in my life. Now that he was an outcast, we were now both outside proper society. Maybe Lizzie was right and there really was hope for us.

I let myself follow the flight of fancy, imagining a life with him in exile in the wilderness, and I was startled when he came to sit next to me. “I can’t thank you enough, Verity,” he said. “It’s incredible that you pulled this off with such short notice.”

“I had the contacts already in place. I’m not sure anyone other than a governess could have done it, really. Or perhaps a maid or shopgirl. It only worked because no one notices people like us. They don’t pay any attention to the women who do their laundry or clean their floors, so we were able to walk in and out without them even looking at us.”

“I doubt it will remain that way after this.”

“I’m not so sure. They may never know how we did it.” I couldn’t resist a grin. “We should probably have tied a rope to your cell window to make it look like you climbed out that way. But I’ll bet that they give you the credit for a feat of daring cleverness without considering that their laundresses and charwomen were responsible.”