Chapter Twenty-Four
The guards still stood at the end of the corridor, facing the stairs.
They were so trusting. Not even watching for the girl who had seen the code. Convinced of their safety behind glass walls.
Nola walked toward the hall of cells, not looking back to see if anyone followed.
Fingers trembling, she opened the door and stepped into the corridor. Closing it as silently as possible behind her, she turned and stared at the solid door to the Outer Guard’s hallway.
“One, two, three,” she counted. She couldn’t afford to try unlocking the cells until she was sure she hadn’t been followed. If she were caught, she would be banished without hope of taking the others with her or stealing any of the medicine she had hoarded in her room. “Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, o
