CHAPTER 91: [91] AN INVISIBLE WEAPON

"There you are," Raven whispered to herself, spotting her target.

Leo worked methodically at the far end of the dock, his thin shoulders hunched as he swept. Even from this distance, Raven could see the exhaustion in his movements. Seventeen years old but looking younger, with sun-bleached hair and skin tanned from years working outdoors. He paused occasionally to wipe sweat from his forehead before resumbing his endless task of clearing sawdust that continually drifted from the nearby shipyards.

Raven pushed away from the post and approached, keeping her stride casual. No point drawing attention by looking hurried or nervous. Valerio’s men were everywhere, even if most of them had been reassigned to watch Pierre.

"Need some water?" she asked, holding out a small canteen when she reached him.

Leo jumped, his grip tightening on the broom handle. His eyes darted around, checking if anyone was watching them. "I’m not supposed to talk to guests," he said, voice barely above a whisper.

"I’m not a guest," Raven replied, setting the canteen down on a nearby crate. "I’m a prisoner, same as you. I just have nicer accommodations."

His gaze met hers briefly before returning to the ground. "What do you want?"

"Five minutes of your time."

Leo resumed sweeping, his movements more agitated. "I can’t. Master Valerio has eyes everywhere."

"Most of them are watching my red-haired friend right now," Raven said. "And we’re just two people having a conversation. Nothing suspicious about that."

Leo muttered something but he didn’t walk away.

Raven leaned against a stack of crates, trying to appear relaxed while positioning herself to block the view from the harbormaster’s office. "I hear you’ve been working for Valerio for six years."

"What about it?" Leo’s knuckles whitened around the broom handle.

"That’s a long time for someone your age. Must be a big debt."

His head snapped up, eyes narrowing with sudden suspicion. "What do you know about my debt?"

Raven pulled the folded paper from her pocket. "More than you do, I’d wager."

She held it out, and after a moment’s hesitation, Leo took it. As he unfolded the paper, his face drained of color. Raven had spent the previous night copying this page from Valerio’s ledger, sneaking into his offices while Pierre kept their host distracted with tales of his mysterious power.

"This... this can’t be right," Leo whispered, his hands trembling. "Thirty thousand Cori? My father’s boat wasn’t worth half that!"

"Look at the interest," Raven said, pointing to a column of numbers. "And the maintenance fees. And the penalty for your father’s ’early termination of service.’"

Leo’s eyes widened as he traced the figures. "This says we owe over seventy thousand now. That’s—"

"Impossible to pay off," Raven finished for him. "Especially when your daily wage is calculated to barely cover your room and board."

He stared at the paper, then folded it carefully and tried to hand it back.

"Keep it," Raven said. "Consider it proof."

"Proof of what?" Leo clutched the paper, crumpling it slightly in his grip.

"That no matter how hard you work, how many years you sweep these docks, you’ll never be free." Raven nodded toward the ledger page. "Your father didn’t die of fever three years ago. He died when he realized the truth."

Leo flinched as if she’d struck him. "Don’t talk about my father."

"Someone should," Raven replied, her voice softening slightly. "Someone should remember that he was more than just another entry in Valerio’s ledger."

A long silence stretched between them, broken only by the distant shouts of workers and the gentle lapping of water against the dock. Leo resumed sweeping, though his movements were mechanical now, his mind clearly elsewhere.

"Why show me this?" he finally asked, not looking up. "What’s the point? To make me feel worse about something I can’t change?"

"Because we’re going to change it," Raven said, lowering her voice. "During the Festival of Concord."

Leo stopped sweeping again. "That’s in two days."

"Yes."

"What exactly are you planning to do?"

Raven studied his face, weighing how much to reveal. "We’re going to show everyone in Porto Veloce the truth about their debts. All at once."

"That’s impossible. Master Valerio would never allow it."

"He won’t have a choice," Raven said. "Not if we have help."

Leo glanced around nervously, then leaned closer to her. "What kind of help?"

"The simple kind. A distraction." Raven tapped the crate she was leaning against. "There’s a shipment of rare vintage wine arriving tomorrow for the festival. Twelve crates, to be exact. We need one of them to be... misplaced."

"Stealing from Master Valerio is—"

"Not stealing," Raven interrupted. "Misplacing. The crate needs to be temporarily lost, forcing the guard from the west corridor to help find it at precisely the right time."

Leo shook his head, fear evident in his eyes. "You’re talking about treason. If Master Valerio found out—"

"He’ll add more debt to your account?" Raven gestured to the paper now hidden in Leo’s pocket. "Look around you, Leo. This isn’t a port—it’s a prison. And everyone here is serving a life sentence for crimes they didn’t commit."

Leo resumed sweeping, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. "Why me?" he asked. "Why not ask someone else?"

"Because you’re invisible," Raven said bluntly. "The dockworkers, the servants, the sweepers—Valerio doesn’t really see you. That makes you dangerous, because you can move through Porto Veloce without drawing attention."

Leo’s sweeping slowed, and Raven could see her words landing. She’d been watching him, noting how people’s eyes slid past him, how he could enter rooms without anyone acknowledging his presence. In a place built on appearances, Leo was a ghost.

"I can’t promise you’ll succeed," Raven continued. "I can’t even promise you won’t get caught. All I can offer is a chance—not just for yourself, but for everyone in Porto Veloce. A chance to walk away from debts designed to keep you chained forever."

Leo stopped sweeping entirely, staring out at the harbor where fishing boats bobbed gently on the tide. In the distance, beyond the natural breakwater that protected Porto Veloce, the open sea glittered with possibility.

"My father used to talk about sailing away," he said quietly. "Before he realized we couldn’t."

"Help us," Raven said, "and maybe you can."

She didn’t sugar-coat it with false promises. She didn’t pretend it would be easy or guaranteed. The truth was stark enough: remain a slave to debt forever, or risk everything for freedom.

Leo turned to face her, his expression a mixture of terror and resolution. "What exactly do I need to do?"

Raven outlined the plan, keeping her instructions simple. One missing wine crate. One guard distracted at a specific time. Nothing that would immediately point to sabotage—just a small disruption in Valerio’s perfect system.

When she finished speaking, Leo looked down at the broom in his hands, then at the paper in his pocket containing the evidence of his family’s impossible debt. His shoulders straightened almost imperceptibly, and when he met Raven’s eyes again, something had changed in his expression.

"Okay," he said, giving a single, terrified nod.

"Tomorrow," she said, picking up her canteen. "The shipment arrives at noon."

Leo nodded again, then resumed sweeping as Raven walked away, blending back into the crowd of dockworkers and merchants that filled Porto Veloce’s harbor. ===

"You found him, then?" Pierre asked when Raven returned to their quarters that evening.

Raven nodded, keeping her voice low despite checking the room for listening devices earlier. "He’s in. Scared out of his mind, but in."

"Can he handle it?" Alyssa asked from where she sat by the window, her fingers working at a complex knot in a length of rope—a skill she’d been practicing obsessively since they arrived.

"He doesn’t have a choice," Raven replied, pouring herself a glass of water. "None of us do."

Pierre watched her carefully from his seat at the small writing desk where he’d been composing a letter—part of their cover story to explain his increased correspondence with Valerio. "You didn’t tell him everything, did you?"

"Of course not. He knows exactly what he needs to know, nothing more." Raven took a long drink of water. "If he’s caught, he can’t reveal what he doesn’t know."

"And if he betrays us?" Alyssa asked, her fingers pausing on the knot.

Raven’s blue, cat-like eyes narrowed. "He won’t."

"How can you be so sure?" Alyssa pressed.

"Because I showed him his family’s debt record from Valerio’s ledger," Raven said. "Seventy thousand Cori and growing. His father died believing they could never escape it. Leo will take that risk rather than follow the same path."

Pierre nodded slowly. "Good. That means tomorrow—"

"We proceed as planned," Raven confirmed. "I’ll retrieve the master ledger while you keep Valerio occupied with your power display, and Alyssa gathers the evidence about the Script exchange rates."

Alyssa pulled her knot tight with a sharp tug. "And what if it goes wrong? What if we’re caught?"

"Then we improvise," Pierre said, his voice steady. "Remember, Valerio’s power depends on everyone playing their assigned roles. The moment someone breaks character, his whole system becomes vulnerable."

"Easy for you to say," Raven muttered. "You’re not the one who’ll be sneaking into his office."

Pierre’s expression hardened. "Would you rather trade places? Have me sneak while you deal with the darkness crawling under my skin, whispering that I should just drain everyone in this port and be done with it?"

A tense silence fell over the room. Raven and Alyssa exchanged glances.

"How bad is it?" Alyssa finally asked, setting down her rope.

Pierre ran a hand through his red hair, exhaling slowly. "Manageable. For now. But the more I talk about it, the stronger it gets."

"All the more reason to finish this quickly," Raven said. She crossed the room to the window, looking out at the perfectly manicured gardens below. "One more day of performances, then we make our move during the festival."

Pierre nodded, returning to his letter. "One more day," he agreed.