Page 118 of Break Out the Girl

His voice snaps at me through the tiny speaker. “What the fuck, Rory? Have you lost your mind? Breaking out of Quo? Killing guards? Civilians? What the fuck is going on?”

What the fuck? I look at Tally, my mouth falling open. He takes over the conversation for me.

“This is Taliesin. First off, how about you fucking ask about your sister’s welfare before jumping to any conclusions?” he growls. “Secondly, the only people killed were rapists, murderers or traffickers. If you’ve got a problem with that, then you’re a total fucking disappointment.”

Not going to lie, Tally ripping Cosmo a new one is making me swoon. No one ever talks to Cosmo Drakeward that way.

“He’s right. Stop being a dick just because you’ve been worried.” A girl’s voice sounds through the phone. “Hey, Rory? This is Theo. Are you safe? How can we help?" I look at Tally and see a strange expression on his face. Oh yeah—Theo is the half-sister he just learned about. That must be a head-fuck. “Rory?” Theo asks again. "We saw Gareth had been calling, but we just came back from Shanghai.”

China?

“Sorry, yeah, I’m OK, but we need help desperately.” I go on to fill her in about the warden, his canaries, and Sky being handed over to the Grieves. I follow that up with everything we’ve encountered since our escape.

“So, the Grieves’ private island needs raiding,” I tell Theo. “Though we set the mansion on fire, so that will make things easier. And The Carnivàle may be at the bottom of the ocean, not sure. But Menage Manor?” My voice cracks slightly. “That’s the priority. So many people need help. Not just trafficked kids, but men and women who have been turned into slaves.”

“The Unbound is headed that way too,” Tally adds. “So you’d better make sure they don’t get fucked by your soldiers. The resistance has done nothing but try and help.”

There’s a lot of murmuring, and maybe bickering going on at Theo’s end.

“This is Alexis Feniks,” an accented voice says after a couple of minutes. “I’ll hand pick a team for Menage Manor, with instructions to not interfere with the Unbound.”

“Good,” Tally grunts.

“And as for the rest, your information is just what we needed. Now we are on the World Magic Organization board as peace-ambassadors, it should give us the power to get Quo investigated. How widespread is the corruption?”

I get Tally to take over, and he explains the Quo Reformare abuses of power from the top down. “Girls having to suck the warden’s cock to prevent getting worse treatment in the yard? Kids as young as sixteen getting sentenced to years for just trying to eat? Fuck that. You say you’re on the WMO now—so get the whole damn place shut down. ”

The line goes dead quiet for a very long beat.

It’s Cosmo who breaks the silence to speak again. The aggressive bark is replaced by the slightly defeated tone. “Sorry, Rory. Fuck. I just…I’ve been worried, and the lack of information has been killing me. We’re on it now, you can relax. We’ll take care of everything.”

That makes an almost hysterical laugh well up from my belly. “We can relax now? Because big-brother is going to save the day? Fuck off, Cosmo. You can sit in your ivory tower and order troops around, but I’m out in the wilderness with two…” I think of London, “...no, three victims of that fucking trafficking ring. The kids are traumatized, we have a sack of potatoes and some instant coffee to keep us going, and guards sweeping all of Ashgrave trying to find us.”

It’s great that Cosmo is now aware of everything, but I doubt he has the slightest inkling of what our situation actually means. Like, we only have half a roll of toilet paper.

And we forgot to bring the charger for this phone.

“Listen, Rory,” Theo cuts in, her voice firm. “It’s not going to be quick and easy to round everyone up. You need to keep yourself, and those around you safe.” Her voice lowers slightly as she talks to someone else. “Can we find them a safehouse? How can we help?” There is more muffled conversation.

Alexis Feniks comes back on the line. “Do not give us your precise location, we can’t be sure this line is secure. But we will arrange a drop of supplies to keep you going. And an encrypted satellite phone. But where should we…” his voice trails away.

“Are you close to…my mother’s home?” Theo butts in to ask.

Mother?

Right. Opal. That’s clever. If anyone is listening, they’ll have no idea who Theo is talking about.

“Yeah, fifteen miles out,” Taliesin replies.

“OK. To the south?”

“West.”

“One second.” More muttering.

I frown at Tally. “How are we supposed to tell them where to drop the supplies if we can’t give them a location?”

He furrows his brow, and I can see his mind wrangling the problem.