Chapter 36: Theo's Sacrifice

I reach the door of the fairy district. Now, the most difficult part starts - I must figure out how to get in, remain unseen, and lead all the fairy prisoners out. Janice - a black girl of eighteen years, a butterfly deviant - was supposed to be the leader of the fairy group. However, as I can guess, they must've had difficulties with Nanny's family of the honeybees, so they haven't managed to exit their district. If they were powerless against their headwoman, whom they know so well, then, what can I possibly do?

But I mustn't lose my spirits. Honorée is my close friend, and the silkworm fairies were the ones to sew these new clothes for us, so, without them, we would've never succeeded. All of them deserve to be free. I must do all I can to help them.

Some guards are coming. They're felines. I guess they're part of Bob's group that is in charge of the entire facility and checks different districts at night. It's still around five o'clock, though, so I wonder why they aren't sleeping.

"The cameras suddenly went off in the entire facility!" One of them tells the other. "Have you ever witnessed such a thing before?"

"No, not in my time." The other one shrugs. "I guess Lady Nanny will know what to do. She's the eldest, so she'd have seen far worse stuff happen in this prison. Lord Robert has made a wise decision to ask her for help."

"Yeah, I guess."

They place their cards to the door and open it. Now's my chance. Everyone is already aware the cameras have been out, including Bob (I gather the "Lord Robert" these guards have mentioned should be he). So, I must operate as fast as I can, to get all the fairies out and escape before they catch us. I hope Dagur too will play his part and stall these guys as he's promised, even though I've no idea how he's going to accomplish that.

The guards walk through the door. It is about to close when I barge right through.

"Hey, halt!"

I run past their noses as fast as I can. They are after me. This is good - I'll create a commotion in the fairy district as an intruder, and the fairies will have enough time to escape. While I'm at it, I might as well attempt to open their cell doors, since they have no administrators on their side and won't manage it alone.

"Halt! An intruder!"

"An escapee!"

The felines call for reinforcements through their pagers, and then give the signal to the fairy administrators too:

"Tell Lady Nanny we have a problem here! There's an intruder in your district!"

Now then, from what I remember back on the prison maps, the fairy district administrative office was on the second floor... Up there, the door marked in yellow.

I dash at the walls and climb up with the new strength I've gained as a bird-vampire. The felines, of course, pursue me since they're quite good at climbing. Fortunately for me, though, they're lynx deviants, so they're not as strong as the other felines. I'll manage to escape from their grip, but I'd better not take any chances.

"Stop!"

Yeah, like I'd stop now when we've almost succeeded... I continue climbing the wall and appear on the second floor quite fast. Here, however, I am met by an army of honeybees and other insect deviants - the fairy administrators. That same honeybee man who's always been present on the hunts - Frank, Nanny's grandson - blocks my way.

"Stop right there, now!"

He has stingers instead of claws on his fingers. It is bad news - they're very poisonous. Even one sting could cause me to go numb.

"So long!"

I jump right over them in a brisk motion which startles them quite a bit and barge through the yellow door. I guess I was lucky to cause them confusion by my audacious actions, or else, they'd have long caught me.

"Hey, wait up!"

Frank and his fairies rush after me. To my luck, the administrative office is quite small. Nanny and some of her attendants - Frank's parents and his sister - are inside, watching me in a clear stupor. I bet they didn't expect me to barge in so easily. This confusion stalls them for a second, which is enough for me to dash at the lever that opens the cell doors, and the microphone which will transmit my message throughout the entire district. I push the lever down and yell into the microphone at full force:

"Honorée, Janice, this is your chance, lead everyone out!"

The fairies catch me. Frank stabs his stingers right into my chest. I gurgle in pain. I struggle as I can, but it spreads the poison through my body even quicker. I feel I'm going numb.

I'm doomed. I'm never going to escape now. At least, I hope the fairies have managed to get away...

An alarm rings. I guess the fairies have indeed managed to get out because an alarm wouldn't ring if it weren't so serious. If it's so, then that's a relief.

Nanny grows frightened and almost falls to the floor. Her children catch her.

"Mom, what's wrong?" her daughter - Frank's mother - asks.

"The barrier... The barrier broke!" Nanny shivers.

Knut has managed to escape with everyone, I guess. The fairies can fly so they'll easily catch up with them before Bob even assembles a chasing party, so sudden our break-out has been. Everything will be alright. Knut is a good leader, and he's promised to take care of everyone. Shon, Annabelle, Rufus, and Yelen are there too. They'll be fine. As for the fairies, Honorée and Janice are both adroit maidens. They'll manage it, I'm sure.

The fairies are running up and down, calling the felines and the other districts through pagers, yelling, hovering over Nanny who's nearly fainted because, apparently, such a phenomenon as a massive break-out has never occurred in this prison before...

I'm losing my consciousness. Frank's poison is really strong. The last thing I hear is Bob's roar through Frank's pager:

"Bring that wench here!"

I black out in the honeybees' arms.

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