Standard disclaimer. Oh, and if you didn't read the last chapter, you might want to. It was kind of important. I updated it soon after the one before it so maybe some people missed it. I don't know. Enjoy!


I woke up to a horribly familiar voice rasping in my ear.

"Get up, boy. We're leaving."

As there had been nothing much to do that evening, I had gone to bed early and a lot of other kids had too. By the time my dad forced his way into the dormitory, everyone was in bed.

He pulled me out of bed by my ear, then shifted his grip to my arm. I looked around at the others, some of whom were sitting up in bed, looking terrified. I opened my mouth to yell for help but no words came out.

Outside the dormitory my dad and I were ambushed by a bunch of beat-up looking guys. Before then I hadn't noticed what was in my father's other hand—the cane. I couldn't take my eyes off it, even as he swung it around mercilessly to get the guys out of his way. Two of them tried to grab me and pull me away from my dad, but he knocked them down with one swoop.

A few more brave guys tried to stop us from going down the stairs, but with a sickening crack, the cane collided with one of their heads and knocked the rest of them off their feet. They clattered down the stairs in front of us. At the very bottom of the stairs I saw Jack. I didn't know who I'd rather face: my father or Jack. I had no choice but to face my father now, though, as he still hadn't let go of me and was now dragging me towards the exit. I became aware that I was speaking, though the words spilled forth from my mouth of their own accord. I was begging him not to take me, not to hurt me…I wished he would just leave and let us all alone.

The same young man who had been hit in the head before now struggled to his feet, but my dad hit him again and he fell to the floor.

I used to get a kind of sick pleasure at seeing my dad hit anyone but me, but now the pleasure was gone and all I felt was sick.

They were going to let him take me. There was nothing they could do. I wildly scanned the room, in desperate search of someone who could help me, and I saw Crutchie. But he was in no state to help me; blood oozed from a cut on his head, and his eyes were slightly unfocused. But when he saw me, he got to his feet, probably to try and stop my dad from taking me. Was he stupid or what? Luckily he collapsed right back down into the chair, too weak to get any closer to the cane. I didn't want to find out what would happen if cane met crutch.

My dad let go of me and I stood stupidly in the middle of the floor while he dragged Violet to her feet. She must have been knocked out earlier, but she was coming to. She started struggling as soon as she saw who had her, but a whack from the cane made her stop. I saw a motion out of the corner of my eye—Jack was frantically motioning for me to run.

My feet seemed stuck to the floor; everything was frozen. I couldn't have run if I wanted to. Before I could even try, my father's iron grip was back on my arm and I walked out behind him. "I'll be back," he said threateningly, then slammed the door.

He put us both in a carriage he had waiting. Violet was dropped off at the jail, and I watched her get handcuffed and led inside. My dad took me to the basement of our old apartment. "Got it rented out," he explained with a sinister grin. Two men I'd never seen before were there, waiting with smirks on their faces.

"He didn't even put up much of a fight," said one of them, seeming satisfied.

My father laughed. "Neither did my son, here."

"That's him, huh?" The other man dropped into a mocking bow. "Morris and Oscar Delancey. Pleasure to meet you." His brother chuckled.

"You'll be staying here," my father said, pushing me toward a door that was locked and barred. "So none of your little friends come looking for you," he added. I winced as I felt the cane on my back, pushing me in. Oscar Delancey unbarred and unlocked the door, returning the key to his pocket with a wink at me. My father jabbed the point of the cane into my back so hard that I fell to the floor. With a slam and a click, the door was closed and locked again. I was alone in what looked like an old prison cell.

However, I soon discovered I was not alone. A dusty, flickering light bulb on the ceiling revealed another figure crouched in the shadows. After a moment, he stood up, and I scurried backwards.

"Oh, don't be like that. It's just me."

It was Les. He pulled me to my feet and we stared each other down. I had half a mind to beat him to a pulp here, where no one would disturb us, but he seemed to sense this and shook his head. "We can't fight each other now. We'se on the same side." He spoke in a hoarse whisper, glancing at the door, clearly knowing that it was being guarded by the Delancey brothers. "If we work together, maybe we can get out of here."

"What if I don't want to get out of here?" I retorted. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you insane? You know who that is out there? That's Snyder the Spider, and if he's got us trapped there ain't nothing good coming for us."

"That's my dad," I said loudly. I heard a laugh on the other side of the door. Les looked astonished.

"Your dad?" he said incredulously. "But—"

"Yeah, and he's gonna beat you up."

Les blinked. He stared at the door, thinking hard. In the silence I looked around the small room. There were no windows. The walls were made of brick. The only objects in the room were a tiny bed, where Les had been crouched, and a bucket, probably for pee.

Les spoke again, this time in a kindly tone. "He's going to beat you up too."

"No he's…" I realized the truth of his words halfway through my protest. "…not."

"Yes, he is," insisted Les. "You know he is. Look, I'm sorry you've got such a mean father, but you've gotta realize that he's coming back."

"He'll use the cane," I murmured, hardly aware of what I was saying.

"That's right," Les said, rubbing his shoulder, where I figured my dad had smacked him.

"But how? How can we get out?" I exclaimed hopelessly. I decided to trust Les, at least for now.

Les put a finger to his lips and looked towards the door. "Shut up!" he hissed desperately.

It was too late. The door creaked open, and the two Delanceys came in.

"Boys, boys. What are you talking about?"

I took my cue from Les and kept silent.

"Not about escape, surely?" Morris grinned. I lowered my eyes. They knew.

"No," Les said, and my head snapped up. Was he crazy? "We were just wondering about where we're going to use the toilet."

The two horrid brothers glanced at each other, considering. Finally Oscar laughed. "What do you think the bucket is for?" he asked nastily.

"Oh, and you'd better hold as much as you can, because we're only emptying it once a day," Morris added.

"Wouldn't want it to get too smelly," said Oscar.

"Or…you know…overflow." Morris grinned at his brother.

"Might make a fine mess, and Mister Snyder won't be so happy then."

Cackling, they slammed the door and resumed their guarding post. Les stared at the door for a moment, then turned to me.

"You gotta be quiet. They can hear everything unless you whisper." For once I didn't argue. He was right. And I had to trust him now; otherwise I'd never be able to escape.

It turns out, sharing a jail cell with Les wasn't very fun. We argued over who got to sleep on the cot so loudly that the Delanceys came in and boxed both our ears. Les played the peacemaker after they left and told me I could have the cot. Not to be shown up, I frowned and told him to take it. He was the oldest, after all. We started shouting at each other again, earning another ear-boxing. Finally we decided to just share it, which was pretty lousy, but it sure beat sleeping on the cold, hard floor.

The next morning, I woke up with his foot in my face. I pushed Les off me and went to use the bucket, which still stank even though it had been emptied the previous night. Our whole room was starting to smell like pee.

My dad didn't show up for a full three days. Oscar and Morris just got worse, boxing us every chance they got. I started looking up to Les for support; he was my only hope. But he wasn't getting much further in figuring out how to get us out of there. I missed Crutchie and dreaded the day that my dad would come. But when he did come, he didn't bring good news.

My dad made everything worse that day. He took Les from me, and replaced him with Jack.


I know it was kind of short and left on a cliffhanger, but all will be explained in good time. Thanks for the reviews, don't forget to leave me one now!

-Sis21K