SWLB asked for another chapter so nicely that I had to update. ;-P This one's for you, SWLB.
Oh, and by the way, this part is taken from the POV of the setting of Torch telling the story. Sorry if that sounds confusing- but I think you'll be able to follow along all right.
"And you went with him?" There was a note of betrayal in David's voice.
A tear made a trail on Torch's dusty cheek before she could stop it. "Yes." she whispered. "I won't go into all the details... but yes, I did, and paid the consequences."
"What were the consequences?" Racetrack's voice seemed to be changing all over again. In other words, it cracked.
Torch shook her head, then said, "Can't you see I'm undergoing them now?" She looked at David, whose face said that he felt betrayed.
Jeans pressed her lips together. "Be sure your sin will find you out." she quoted.
Torch nodded, then continued, "Well, I eventually decided I couldn't take any more. I left. But it wasn't that easy. It wasn't because he loved me that he followed me; it was because I was the one that was holding his gang together. And what's more, a lot of them left him and followed me when I left. People only ever followed him when they were doing it in their sleep." She shook her head, then continued.
Steel had decided she had to take care of Sneak for once and for all. She was scheduled to fight him at the docks today.
And that was where she was going right now.
There was Sneak, smirking and waiting for her. "You do realize," Sneak remarked, "that you're not going to win."
"You do realize," Steel retorted, "that this is not going to make anyone follow you."
Sneak chuckled. "Touche."
And the fight began.