فصل 68

CHAPTER 68

TONIGHT

SILENT AS A SHADOW, von Schatten glided down the tunnel, followed by the plodding Revile. Molly, gaunt and haggard, watched him through the barred window of her cell. For hours, she and George—they’d gotten very good at Morse code—had been tapping hasty messages to each other when they thought it was safe, discussing the unusual level of activity in the tunnel. Some of it was quite puzzling—especially the men who had passed through an hour earlier, unspooling the two fat black cables that now snaked along the tunnel floor. And now von Schatten had come. Something was up.

As von Schatten reached Molly’s cell, he stopped and looked in. Molly stared into his dark lenses, willing herself not to back away.

“Tonight, Starcatcher,” von Schatten groaned. “Tonight the struggle finally ends, both here and on your flying friend’s precious little island. And when it ends, your pathetic life will no longer be of any use to me. Perhaps you will see the Skeleton later. He has been asking after you.”

Molly said nothing, fearing her voice would display the terror she felt. Von Schatten looked at her for a moment longer. At that instant, Molly thought she heard something—a faint sound, like a muffled bell. She thought perhaps she’d heard it before, but couldn’t quite place it.

Then it was gone, and von Schatten was moving on, followed by Revile. They passed George’s cell without a glance.

When they had passed by, Molly took a rock from her pocket and began tapping.

t-o-n-i-g-h-t she tapped

A pause, and then George tapped: a-r-e y-o-u r-e-a-d-y

Molly’s eyes went to the floor plank, then the tunnel support outside her cell, the one she had so painstakingly undermined.

y-e-s she tapped, a-r-e y-o-u

y-e-s

A pause, then George resumed tapping.

l-o-v-e y-o-u a-l-w-a-y-s

Molly, her eyes burning, began tapping back.

L-o-v…