Masquerade ✔

Chapter 48

Araminta was right. Harrison didn't like the plan.

"Absolutely not," he said. Araminta had brought him up to her chambers that evening so she and Clara could fill him in. "You can't go down there by yourself."

"Why not?" Clara crossed her arms and leaned against one of Araminta's bedposts, staring him down. Clara knew he would say exactly that, but he had no authority to stop her.

"Because it's dangerous, that's why!" Harrison struggled to keep his voice down. "There are a million things that could go wrong, and after what happened with our last plan..."

"What? When your mother tried to murder her? Yes, we remember." Araminta's sarcasm was harsh, but true.

Harrison flinched slightly at her words.

"Look, yes, of course it's dangerous." Clara didn't want to bother with their bickering. "But it doesn't matter. It's more dangerous for Ezra and everyone else in that factory to be down there. And at this point, they've been there for a long time. Do either of you seriously believed that no one has died yet in those conditions?"

They both remained silent. It was something that Clara had been thinking about for a while now, but this was the first time she said it out loud.

"I'm doing this with or without your support," she said. "But I'm going to need some things to take with me, so it will be easier with you help."

Harrison stared at her, but Clara met his gaze and refused to back down.

"Well, I wish I could give you two some privacy," Araminta said drily after several moments of silence. "But I do believe it would look very strange if I appeared to leave Harrison alone in my room. So, Harrison, can you just get it together and realize that Clara doesn't need your protection so we can all move on with getting this done?"

Clara had truly grown to appreciate Araminta's directness.

"Of course, I'm behind you on this, Clara," Harrison said softly. "What do you need?"

Clara looked back and forth between him and Araminta. "Right. Most importantly, we need to plan on how to make a distraction big enough to allow me and Ezra to escape."

"What do you have in mind?"

Over the next few days, Clara spent her time planning out every moment of the time she would spend in the Tower and Bridge factory. If everything went to plan, she would be in and out in less than 24 hours.

Cadence came through with an idea on how to cause a distraction. The three of them had decided that the forge would be the best place to cause the most chaos, and that chaos would have to involve fire. Harrison had found a way to update Cadence on the plan. She would be essential in getting Clara out of the manor, too, and apparently, she was well versed in flammable objects.

"Cadence asked me to give this to you." Araminta came back to her room one night, two days before Clara was set to leave the manor, and handed her a napkin wrapped around something.

Clara slowly unwrapped it. "Flour?" She stared down at a package of fine, white powder.

Araminta peered down at it. "Well, it is highly flammable," she reasoned.

Clara glanced up at her. "It is?"

Araminta nodded. "Have you ever seen what happens if you throw a handful of dry flour onto an open flame?"