New Castle

New Castle is the point of departure for the group’s journey to meet the Council, a location approached with caution rather than through the visible entrance of the yacht club. Its church-side parking lot, screening trees, and hidden dockside boat shape the scene as a small exercise in controlling who can see the fugitives and how they arrive.

Concealed Approach

The address the Council gave Duncan led the group to a yacht club in New Castle. Rather than park there, they left their van in a lot behind a church, where trees and the rear of the building kept it out of view from the road. The choice also complicated any attempt to follow them: a pursuer would have to proceed on foot before locating the van’s occupants, making that approach easier for the group to spot.

Olive went with them because leaving her in the van was considered unsafe, both for her and for the vehicle. Ava also suspected that Olive might know how to hotwire a car, an impression that added another practical complication to leaving her behind.

The Route to the Docks

The group walked around the yacht club and made their way down to the water. Among the club’s sailboats, a speedboat was waiting at the docks. A man leaning against it ushered them aboard without speaking; when Ava checked whether the boat would take them to the Council, he nodded and untied the mooring lines.

The contrast between the conspicuous yacht club and the group’s guarded movements gives New Castle’s brief appearance its function in the journey: it is not merely a meeting address but a place where the fugitives manage visibility, protect their van, and transfer from a concealed land approach to transport by water.