Getting out of the city of Ember was much more easily said than done. The first problem was that the instructions said that the way out was through the pipes works; they would need Doon to swipe the key to get them down there again. And of course they could all easily be caught. The Guards would be sure to see a group of people easing their way into the pipes works. Professor Kirke and Polly would probably have the hardest time getting down there because of their old age.
"I don't see how it's going to work." Professor Kirke sighed miserably, glancing heart-brokenly at the instructions. "How could we possibly get nine persons down there?"
"Oh, and that's just thinking about ourselves and possibly Lina and Doon." Susan pointed out. "What about the other people in the city?"
"We can't get everyone down there!" Edmund protested.
"What about Lina's little sister?" Lucy asked, thinking about poor little Poppy being afraid as the black outs got worse and worse as they surely would; it was only a matter of time. "She wont leave without her."
"She's right." Susan sighed, putting her hand on Peter's right shoulder. "That makes ten."
"Ten..." Peter repeated in a flustered tone. "How are we going to get ten people, one of them being a mere toddler, down there without being seen?"
"But we can't just save our own skins." Susan insisted. "That doesn't make us a whole lot better than Mayor Cole, does it?"
"We wouldn't leave them to die." Peter told her. "We'd get a message to them somehow."
"And have it found by Looper, Lizzie, or Mayor Cole?" Susan shook her head. "No thanks."
"Wait, I have an idea!" Edmund cried out all of a sudden.
"What is it, Ed?" Lucy turned to him eagerly. All six pairs of eyes in the room faced him shinning brightly with hope.
Edmund cleared his throat. "The day after tomorrow is the annual day of singing where everyone is gathered in the main square."
"But what does that-" Susan started before Peter cut in.
"By Jove, Ed!" Peter's face lit up. "That's nothing short of brilliant. Everyone-even the guards-will be too busy celebrating to bother about a small group of people making their way down towards the pipes works."
"They probably wouldn't even notice!" Professor Kirke added excitedly. "Think about it!"
"You've saved us, Edmund!" Lucy cheered, throwing her arms around his neck.
"So the ten of us-" Began Polly.
"Stop!" Susan cried out. "We can't just leave like this."
"We have no choice, Susan!" Peter huffed, getting rather fed up with her by this point.
"There is one other thing we could do." Susan said firmly.
"What's that?" Peter asked, folding his arms across his chest. This ought to be good.
"We could tell everyone what the Mayor's doing and explain the instructions and have everyone come with us." Susan told him.
"We can't do that!" Peter said almost bitterly. "The Mayor's threatening us. If I tell anyone, he'll do something to you, Lucy, and Edmund."
"What if he didn't know it was us?" Susan came up with a new idea. "What if we told one of the guards and-"
"The guards work for the Mayor!" Peter shouted, more and more worked up by the second.
"They don't know what he's doing." Susan pointed out. "If they only knew...they can't all be bad people. They would have to help us."
Looking at his older stepsister's face, Edmund could tell that Susan was nothing short of desperate to carry out her plan. She didn't want to leave the city of Ember in shambles saving only herself and her family. He wasn't certain that he completely agreed with everything she was saying but a lot of it did make sense. Who was to say that the guards were all bad and were simply turning a blind eye to the mayor? Might there not be even one good guard would could help them-along with everyone else-to escape Ember before it was too late?
"I think Susan may be right." Edmund blurted out.
"What?" Peter glared at him.
"Don't be cross, Peter." Edmund pleaded with him. "Just think about it. The Mayor doesn't have to know you tattled on him. And a whole city of decent people is a good match for one mayor if he gets out of hand, wouldn't you say?"
"I don't know," Peter said doubtfully. "If something goes wrong..."
"If something goes wrong then we can sneak down to the pipes works with the ten of us and I wont say another word about it." Susan promised.
"By then it may be too late." Professor Kirke warned them. "It seems that you must either pick one plan or the other. You can't have both, my dears."
"Maybe they can." Lucy said sort of quietly.
"What do you mean, Lu?" Peter asked, his tone suddenly much more reasonable.
"I mean if something did go wrong, we couldn't get all ten of us down there, right?" Lucy started to smile a little.
"Right..." Peter wondered what she could possibly be getting at.
"Well, what if we don't give them the whole story right away?" Lucy suggested. "We could warn the guards about the mayor but not say a single word about the instructions. Then if they help us, we could tell them everything. If not, we'll just go on our own."
"What do you think, Professor?" Peter asked wearily.
"I think it's the only sensible plan that could be carried out at the moment." He shrugged his shoulders. "I've racked my brain and can't come up with anything better."
"Oh, I do hope they'll listen to us!" Lucy exclaimed almost mournfully.
"So do I." Peter still didn't want to risk it with Mayor. He couldn't protect his family if no one believed them and Mayor's Cole's wrath was sure to be instant and brutal. He still thought it would have been best to just get the ten of them to safety and then send word back to Ember later.
"Peter, don't look so stricken." Polly tried to comfort him. "There's still plenty of hope."
"I don't want the Mayor to hurt any of you." Peter said, thinking very hard of a way to keep them safe. He turned to Lucy. "You aren't still afraid of the dark, are you?"
"A little." Lucy admitted sheepishly. "but only when I'm alone."
"Alright, this is how it's going to work." Peter decided. "Tomorrow, I'm going to take Susan and Lucy to the edge of the city. I want you both to wait in the darkness there where no one can see you and don't leave until I come back for you." He pointed to Edmund. "You have to find Lina and Doon and fill them in on all of this. Then, as soon as you do, rush to the edge where I'm going to leave Susan and Lucy and wait with them."
"What about you?" Edmund asked.
"I'm going to be the one to tell the guards." Peter said bravely.
"By yourself?" Susan didn't like the sound of that. "Peter, you should have someone with you."
"I can't put any of you at risk like that." Peter said firmly.
"What about Doon then?" Susan suggested. "Have Edmund tell Doon to meet you somewhere before you tell the guards anything."
"And put him at risk?" Doon wasn't family but he was a good friend of theirs.
"I don't think it's fair to spring this on Doon and Lina at the last minute." Edmund told Peter. "Why doesn't someone rush out and tell them tonight before lights out starts?"
"I can do it." Susan offered.
"You wont make it back in time if you go to both houses." Peter told her.
"I can talk to Doon." Edmund offered. "If we both set out now, we should make it back in time no problem."
"Alright." Peter gave in. "But I'm still keeping the three of you hidden at the edge of the city tomorrow, got it?"
"I don't think-" Susan started.
Lucy gently elbowed her. "We should listen to him now, Su. You've gotten your way after all and he is still the high king over us even if this isn't Narnia."
"But aren't you scared to be there?" Susan asked Lucy.
"Not if I have you and Ed with me." Lucy told her.
"Alright then." Susan gave in with a final sigh.
After they'd finished talking, Susan rushed out to the Mayfleet's house. It wasn't until she knocked at the door and got no answer that she remembered that Lina's grandmother was dead and that Lina and Poppy probably didn't live there anymore. She went to the next house over to find her.
A tired-looking Lina opened the door and managed a weak smile. "Oh Hello, Susan."
"I'm sorry about your grandmother." Susan said softly.
"Me too." Lina closed her slightly swollen eyes and then opened them again.
"I need to talk to you about something." Susan told her. "Can I come in?"
"Sure." Lina opened the door a little wider and Susan followed her into the house. She led her into the nice-looking room that now belonged to her and Poppy-who was now sitting there chewing on the head of one of Lina's old dolls.
Once the door was shut tightly behind them, Susan told Lina about Peter being blackmailed, the instructions they'd found, and Lizzie participating in stealing from the storerooms.
Poppy looked up at them blankly and took the doll's head out of her mouth.
"Lizzie doesn't know what she's doing." Lina said sort of quietly. "I'm sure she'd help us if she only understood..."
"I don't trust her." Susan said.
"Please, Susan?" Lina begged. "Let me try to talk to her. She's not like Mayor Cole and Looper, she's an honest person."
"Alright, but don't tell her anything about the instructions for leaving Ember. Not just yet, okay?" Susan said.
"Okay." Lina agreed.
AN: Please review, don't forget!