Chapter 26: The Bricked Hatch

The crawl began behind the locked cellar, where Bram had lifted three bricks out of a wall that appeared on no survey and set them back each dawn in the same order. Ilan went through on his left elbow and both knees. The right arm rode against his ribs in Sera's scarf, and every inhale pulled the strapping tight. Water stood shin deep in the culvert beyond and tasted of iron when it splashed his lip. Ahead, Bram's lantern showed one stripe of yellow. Behind, Sera dragged her stage rod along the brick and spoke sharply to it whenever it caught. "Four days," Bram said, not turning. "Every night after the lamplighters. There's no grate over the crawl. Nobody up top can see us in it." "What did it cost?" "Three candles and a knee. The knee's mine." He stopped at a bulkhead of black timber and rusted iron, with…