Chapter 2

Sage was lying in her bed for about forty minutes before she finally heard the boys quiet down. She waited ten more minutes before grabbing a few clothes and the rope she always snuck in her suitcase and cracked the door open, wincing at the loud squeak it made.

She walked/ran down the dark, quiet, hallway, walking on her toes to make less noise. She reached the window she'd found earlier and poked her head out of it to judge the landing. There was a tree a foot or two from the window, but it looked too far to reach. She knew she'd break something if she jumped out that window, or worse, so after a minute of thinking, she reluctantly went to find a different one.

As she crept across the dining room, she kept her eyes open for any possible way to escape.

"You're up late."

Sage let out a small scream as she whipped around. "Now where're you heading out to at this hour?" Mush asked, sarcasm practically dripping off of each word. "None of your business. What're you doing out here?" Sage asked, crossing her arms. "I could ask you the same thing," Mush replied, standing and crossing his arms.

Mush was a good two feet or taller than the eleven yr. old girl, who kind of shrank back.

"Sage, I'm not going to hurt ya," Mush said, softly. "What're you doing up?" Sage repeated, her voice stiff. "You know, when Albert first got here, he tried to sneak out too. Actually succeeded once or twice," Mush explained, sitting back down and turning his attention to a stain on the table that he began trying to scratch off.

Sage didn't say anything, which Mush took as a sign to continue. "When he escaped the first time, he actually got all the way to the Brooklyn bridge before Kloppmann found him and brought him back. Second time, he made it to New Jersey before the cops found him and made him come back. The last time he tried was when he ran into the Delanceys. Thank God Jack, Specs, and I found him in time."

"Who are the Delanceys?" Sage asked, trying to keep the curiosity from her voice. "Bullies. Like to pick on the new kids and the younger ones when us older ones ain't around," Mush explained.

"I can take care of myself," Sage huffed and began to walk off when Mush said, "Where're you goin', Sage?" "None of ya business," Sage repeated, glaring at Mush. "It is if you don't want me to tell Kloppmann," Mush replied, looking up at Sage, straightfaced and dead serious.

"I'm not scared of you or that old man," Sage replied, but Mush saw a tinge of worry on her face. "You know, when you came in here, I almost didn't hear you. You're really good at sneaking around, kind of like a fox or somethin'. I'm guessing you had practice?" Mush said.

"Plenty of practice," Sage said quietly. "Are you sneaking back to your family?" Mush asked.

"No. I'd never go back there," Sage snarled. "Then where're you sneaking off to?" Mush pressed. Sage just glared at him. "I'm pretty good at keep secrets, Sage. All the boys here come to me when they've got something eating at 'em. I won't tell unless it's hurting you, Sage," Mush said.

"The last person I trusted taught me not to," Sage replied. "Well I'm not like that last person. I'd never intentionally hurt one of my brothers, and now you're one of us, so that makes you our sister. I'd never intentionally hurt any of my brothers or sister, Sage," Mush said genuinely.

They stayed there for a minute, staring at each other. "I'm still not telling," Sage said, eyes narrowed.

"Let's just talk then," Mush offered. Sage knew what he was doing. He was trying to distract her from leaving. And that little voice in the back of her head was telling it's ok and to talk to Mush. She knew better. Every inch of her body was telling her not to trust again.

But she sat down anyway. "No personal questions?" she asked. "Not until you're ready," he promised. She nodded, but still felt like she was making a mistake.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked reluctantly and awkwardly. Mush shrugged. "When's your birthday?" he asked. Sage stared at him with narrowed eyes as she thought, trying to decide if that was personal or not.

"August 2nd," Sage said kind of quietly. Mush's eyes widened and a grin broke out onto his face. "No way! Really?" he exclaimed with excitement. "Yeah, why?" Sage asked, confused.

She'd never thought twice about her birthday. Her parents never thought about it once so why should she?

"That's the day we ended our strike! That's in a week and few days or somethin'!" Mush grinned. "What strike?" Sage asked, trying not to sound curious. "Last year, me and the guys held a strike against the newspaper we work for for raising it's price. We have to sell the newspapers at the World to help Kloppmann pay for this place. Otherwise we'll be on the streets or something. Anyway, they raised the price of what we have pay to buy them. So me and the guys and three of our friends, Davey, Les, and Katherine, we went on a strike. Except it took like two weeks and Crutch went to the Refuge. But we won and now we're gonna have a big party August 2nd to celebrate," Mush explained.

"What's the Refuge?" Sage asked, frowning in confusion. "It's juvie. Run by a man named Snyder the Spider. He's a horrible man. He's in jail now, but we don't know how long. He's been in jail then gotten out in less than a week," Mush explained.

"Oh. Was Crutchie ok when he got out?" Sage asked. She ignored that nagging voice in her head that kept saying, 'Stop! You're getting attached! Just go back to bed!'

"Eh, kinda. Bruised and injured, and he's still got nightmares but mostly ok. Most of the boys have been to the Refuge. Jack's nightmares are the worst, but he's been there the most," Mush told the young girl.

"How many times has he been there?" Sage asked, her voice quiet. "Four. Last he got out he barely made it. We were all sure he was going to…" Mush said, his voice trailing when he saw Sage's face. Her skin was pale and her dark brown eyes were wide in fear.

"You ok?" Mush asked gently. She nodded but looked down at her hands. Mush changed the subject, "So you'll be twelve on your birthday?" She nodded. "That's cool. Romeo just turned thirteen a few months ago," Mush replied. She nodded again.

"You're gonna like the party. Newsies parties are always the best," Mush grinned. Sage looked up in confusion. "What's a Newsie?" she asked. "That's what we call ourselves. I don't know who came up with it, but it just kinda stuck," Mush told her. She didn't say anything.

Mush and Sage continued to talk the rest of the night until the next morning when the boys began to trickle in for breakfast. "You two are up early, how long you been sitting here?" Buttons asked, smirking between the two. "We got up a few minutes ago," Mush lied.

Sage looked at Mush, confused. He winked at her with small smile when Buttons looked away. "I told you. I keep my brother's and sister's secrets," he whispered.