Free The Frost Child by Eoin McNamee

top of a lighthouse, with glass walls. Owen watched as the brass column continued upward, divided into sections and unfolding like a telescope, the sections screeching against each other as they moved. The whole thing, swaying alarmingly, rose to roof level, and beyond.
    “If the whole world doesn’t know that we’re awake, then it does now,” Samual said.
    “If there is a Harsh fleet on the way, then it doesn’t really matter what the world thinks,” Contessa said.
    The brass column halted its ascent with a tremendousbang, accompanied by groaning from the brass segments. There was a pause, then a glass door in the top section slid open and Dr. Diamond stepped out onto the walkway that encircled the top. The glass top of the column was the Skyward, his laboratory. The whole thing was known as the Nab.
    “Friends,” Dr. Diamond said, “we are all confused after our long sleep. Do you not remember, we are the Resisters? The odds are against us, it is true, but we have good people here, and I may have a few surprises for the Harsh. All I need is a little time. So go, prepare what defenses you can. All is not lost. The world knows nothing of you, and you will fight and give your all without anyone knowing. But we are the Resisters. That is our work.”
    The Resisters turned to each other, embarrassed at how they had panicked. Some shook hands and grinned. Others patted Owen on the back as they passed him. Pieta came toward him.
    “Diamond can say what he likes,” she said, “but we’re helpless without defenses.”
    “I know,” Owen said. Pieta gave him a long look, then strode off, her deadly magno whip hanging at her side.
    Everyone was busy. Contessa was organizing food supplies. Gangs of men and women were working at lightning speed rebuilding the Workhouse. Watching them, Owen realized that the tumbledown look of the building wasn’t completely an illusion—parts of it had been removed and hidden away. Even now, men werelowering huge sections of the roof into place. But Pieta was right—as fast as the Resisters worked, they could not have the defenses ready in a couple of hours.
    “Cati,” Owen called.
    “What?”
    “If anybody’s looking for me, say I’ve gone to the Den,” he said.
    “What’s going on?”
    “I’ve got a plan. But I’m not sure everyone will go along with it. Besides, it would take two hours talking about it, and we don’t have two hours.”
    “Right,” Cati said. “I’ll cover for you. Good luck.”
    Owen slipped and slithered down the path to the
Wayfarer
, dodging out of the way of people carrying timber and stones and ropes. Down at the frozen river Rutgar was distributing weapons to his men at a frantic pace, while Samual strode up and down barking orders.
    When Owen got to the
Wayfarer
, he saw a familiar, long-legged figure perched on the bow. Dr. Diamond stood up when he approached.
    “Going somewhere?” the doctor asked.
    “If I told them, they’d try to stop me.”
    “They might and they might not. At the moment, you’re their only hope.”
    “So you’re not going to stop me?”
    “You have to make your own decisions. But haven’t you forgotten something?”
    “What?”
    “No one has wakened the Raggies.”
    “The Raggies! How could I have forgotten! But I don’t have time …”
    The Raggies were a branch of the Resisters who lived in a warehouse at the harbor. The warehouse was an island in time like the Workhouse and had its own Starry. The waiflike appearance of the Raggies, all children, belied their toughness. They had been cruelly abandoned in time by a sea captain who had been supposed to look after them.
    “I will take Cati to do it. But go now, Owen. We’re depending on you.”
    As if to underline his point, a gust of icy wind blew snow into their faces.
    “What is your plan?” Dr. Diamond asked.
    “To get them to chase me away from the Workhouse.”
    “And will they?”
    “I think so,” Owen said grimly. “I think so.”
    “Go,