The Declaration by Gemma Malley

Author:Gemma Malley
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781599902951
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2008-08-18T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Anna’s right cheek was so swollen from Maisie’s blow that she couldn’t open the eye above it. Her hair had blood encrusted in it and her bottom lip was bleeding because she had inadvertently bitten it when she’d fallen to the floor. But she had never been so happy in her whole life.

As she came to slowly on the hard, concrete bed, she opened her eyes and sat up to take in her surroundings, then she smiled to herself, ignoring the pain as she did so. She’d made it. She was in Solitary. That one thought made her feel more alive than she could remember feeling before. And powerful. She felt like she could do anything. With Peter, she was invincible.

Looking around to make sure that she was alone, she called out excitedly, her voice soft at first then louder. ‘Peter, I’m here. Peter!’

‘Anna! You did it! I hoped it was you when I heard them bring someone in, but I didn’t dare say anything. What did you do? How did you get them to send you down here?’ His voice was coming from the wall behind her, which meant that she was in the cell next to him, she realised to her relief.

‘I challenged Mr Sargent,’ she said proudly, smiling at the memory of his red face pulsating with shock at her words. ‘And then I was rude to a Domestic.’

She heard Peter laugh, and it made her glow with pride.

‘So when do we leave?’ she asked nervously.

‘Tonight,’ Peter said, without hesitation. ‘Solitary checks are at about midnight and Mrs Pincent said 4 a.m. was when she’d come for me, didn’t she?’

Anna made a muffled noise that meant yes. Neither of them particularly wanted to think about Mrs Pincent, or what she was coming back to do.

‘So we leave here at two o’clock and go through the tunnel,’ Peter continued. ‘That way everyone will be asleep. The tunnel comes out in the village, and we need to get as far away as we can before it gets light because the Catchers will be sent out as soon as they realise we’ve gone. Then we’ll find somewhere to hide and tomorrow night we’ll start making our way to London.’

Anna smiled, but her heart was pounding in her chest. She couldn’t believe they were actually going to escape from Grange Hall. All the windows and doors were alarmed, and there were floodlights which stretched from the building to the gated walls surrounding it. Cameras were fixed to the perimeter walls as an added deterrent. The Catchers always got you in the end, Mrs Pincent said. And when they did, you’d hate your parents even more for having you.

‘We’ll be fine, Anna, I promise,’ Peter said, as if sensing her fear. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘I’m not worried,’ Anna said quickly, trying to convince herself as much as anything. The darkness and musty smell of the cell was beginning to get to her, bringing back memories of her last visit to Solitary. She’d been

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.