All the boys inside were still asleep. None of them even woke up. Kloppman snored as he dreamed downstairs. It was if there was a spell cast upon them that night. Maybe it was just a big day. Either way, the House stayed silent.

Mush frantically crawled to the edge, only to have the flimsy metal shelf bend even more with both their weights. He swore. "Hang on, Blink!" he shouted. Cuz if you let go, you're a goner. His stomach flipped as he got as far to the edge as possible and reached out his hand even farther. No dice.

Sweat began to roll down Blink's face. His grip on the steel rail began to weaken with the increased liquid. His eye darted around, futile in finding another hold.

"Can you grab the supports?" Mush frantically gestured to the support bars underneath the metal shelf. Blink stretched for the supports, but quickly gave up as the fire escape began to groan. Mush glanced around furiously, trying to get another angle. Can't crawl closer, bends shelf. Can't crawl on the rail, might fall myself. Can't get to stairs, too far away…

As he glanced toward the stairs, he barely acknowledged that a small boy was crawling nearer and nearer to Blink. He did a double take. It looked like the boy he'd seen in the alley fight.

The small boy looked like he could pass for the age of ten, he was so small. Blink seemed to notice him too, because he started trying to swing towards the steps. They reached out their hands as far as possible. Mush winced. If anything, this was not going to end pretty.

He blinked. Next thing he saw, the boy had Blink's hand, then the other. He stood up, doing a quick-switch to get their hands over the rail. He grunted, pulling Blink over the rail. When he finally had Blink sitting on one of the steps, he walked back down the stairs.

Blink caught his breath and ran down the stairs just as the boy had turned to go down the next flight. By the time he got to the landing, the boy was gone. He breathed heavily. His heart was beating triple-time, threatening to leap up his throat.

"As if…as if he just vanished," he whispered into the moonlight. He stood there for a moment more, staring at the vacant flight of steps. Then he ducked into the second-story window.

Blink made his way through the children's room, then tediously climbed the stairs to the third floor boy's room. Mush met him in the hall.

"Are you alright?" Mush's eyes seemed almost to pop out as he took his best friend by the upper arms.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He paused for a minute. "Did…did you see that boy?"

Mush nodded.

"The first time I grabbed for his hand…It was almost like my hand went through his…and after I got up…he disappeared…like he was never there…"

"There's something strange in the state of New York."

- - - - - - - -

"Extra! Extra! Attempted assassination! President shot at! Extra!"

Selling was going good. Blink was almost disappointed he didn't buy more papers that morning. He was grateful for the distraction, since his decision to sell alone today left him too much time to think.

He grinned and tipped his hat to a young lady as she blushed and continued on the street. His eyes followed her, especially the red hair under her hat. He even took a few steps down that street to see her.

A scream broke across the busy avenue. Blink looked back to find Mush, five feet away, gasping for breath. His eyes were wide open as he struggled to breathe. Blink rushed and caught him as he fell, but almost pulled his hand away as he touched his best friend's back. He lifted Mush's body to look at his back and what his hand had grazed.

A knife stuck three inches out of his back. A man ran over to the two and started apologizing profusely.

"I am-a so sorry! We were just-a practicing for the show tonight!" The man continued to babble in Italian, but Blink returned his gaze to Mush.

"B—Blink…" he managed to wheeze.

"What? What!" Blink whispered frantically, searching his friend's eyes for some kind of hope.

"P-pocket…vest…lu…lo…"

"Okay…alright. Your vest pocket."

Mush looked as if he wanted to say something else. "What? What is it?"

He pressed his lips together as Blink continued studying his friend's face. Mush parted his lips as he went limp in Blink's arms.