When I finally looked back at the hospital, it was just in time to see the half-blood dashing away from it, a white object in his arms. For a second I feared he had stolen an infant. As he shoved the object through the fence at me, I found it to be a tightly packed bundle of clothing.
“What’s this –“ I began as he climbed over the fence again.
He landed roughly beside me, quickly regaining his footing.
“Run,” Rio suggested breathlessly as he took the clothing from me. He dashed down the road without a backward glance.
I looked back toward the building. I blinked, and then looked again. A herd of white-clothed people was running across the yard toward us.
“A bunch of angry nurses,” I said aloud to myself. I turned and galloped after the half-blood.
“Wait up!” I yelled after Rio’s shape dashing down the road ahead of me. I was not built for running.
“In a minute!” His words drifted back to me. I grimaced in determination, and followed his shadow through the night.
A few blocks later, I finally caught up to him. My legs were tired and my breath ragged from sprinting.
Wordlessly, I pointed at the clothing in the half-blood’s arms. After he had caught his breath a little, he grinned.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?”
I frowned and unraveled the package, the end of a white garment falling from the pile and hitting the ground. In the center of the pile was a familiar looking white wimple. As I lifted the long robe above my head, I saw Rio put his arms through a similar garment. He whipped off his eye patch and replaced it with a leather headband. It had a circular mirror attached to it.
“Nurse Taimi, meet Doctor Mortimer,” he said, gesturing to himself.
“You have to be kidding,” I said as I put the nurse’s robes on over my coat. It hit the ground. “How is this disguise going to get us into a prison?”
“You’d be surprised what a uniform can do,” Rio said knowingly. “Now, we’ve got to make our way to the port’s immigration detention center, nurse.”
He winked and we were on our way. Pulling on the nurse’s wimple so that it covered my ears, I checked my reflection in the dark windows as we passed. As long