A/N: awhg! Please don't kill me for what I did. I promise I'll make up for it next chapter! By the way, I hope I don't fall behind on this story now that i've got a new one posted up in FictionPress. Man! I never notice how many stories there were about Angels and Demons on that site..but yeah, that's what mine's about. Go check it out if you have the time... Yojen!

The Riddlyr

Chapter Ten

Rail crouched in the near darkness, his hands still shaking as he ducked his head. As always, a show of respect he found necessary. Max didn't comment, she didn't move…didn't breath.

"I'm sorry," Rail muttered, staring down at his ragged fingernails.

Max leaned against a far wall, her back to him. Silence prevailed.

Rail took a deep breath, "We need supplies. I was wondering if I could take Nero up to Fallbrook in the morning. He could use the light…don't worry, I won't let anything happen to him…Max?"

She snorted, pushing herself off the wall and turning to face him, her eyes cast in shadow. "Do you know how old I am, Rail?" she asked, her voice quiet, "I'm almost thirty-six…and after all these years, I've got nothing to show for it…except a dead family."

Rail gritted his teeth, a ragged hole tearing in his chest, "Nudge's death wasn't your fault. She was failing…she wasn't eating…no light, no sleep, no company. Max it was only a matter of time…" he trailed off, noticing her blank stare.

"Did she say anything to you?" Max whispered after a slight pause.

The worn red curtains bowed as a slight breeze stirred through the theater. The hushed voices of the older fledglings bustled to life as they re-lit the fire. Preparing again for another day of secrets and hiding.

Rail shook his head, "No…but she did…say something to Nero."

Max stiffened, her eyes narrowing, "What?"

Rail shrugged, rocking back on his heels, "She said he was sad…that she could feel his sadness from across the room. That was it…she was just rambling, I'm sure it meant nothing…"

"Nudge wouldn't say anything unless it meant something," Max interrupted sharply, rubbing a scarred hand against her cheek, "I don't get it. Why talk to him? She's never seen him before…never spoken to anyone for months. Maybe…"

Rail chewed at his lip, "Maybe she felt it."

Max laughed, her voice bitter, "Felt what?"

Rail shrugged half-heartedly, "Felt that he was important?"

She waved her hand in the air as if to swat away an annoying gnat, her lips turning down at the corners in a thoughtful frown. "As for your request," she mused after a pause, "you can take Nero as long as you know for certain that if something goes wrong you can handle it…deal?"

Rail nodded, relieved to be off the touchy subject, "I can protect him, promise."

Nero sneezed at the cloud of dust blew in his face. Disturbed after years of collecting at the edges of a hidden hatchway leading to the abandoned surface tunnels of the Waterway. Rail grunted as he heaved the latch open, its heavy metallic frame clapping loudly as he dropped it to the floor.

"Here's the deal," Rail said, pulling himself into the hatchway with ease, "when we're out in Fallbrook, we wear heavy clothes. The less people that see our wings the better. It's not uncommon for a stray fledgling to be walking the streets, but people tend to have an unfriendly disposition toward them."

Nero nodded, his throat still clogged with dust as he jumped for the hatchway. His fingers caught on the extreme edge, clinging hopelessly to the slippery concrete, his feet dangling a few feet above the ground.

Rail laughed, grabbing his arm and pulling him up to the surface tunnels.

"Another thing," Rail grunted, pulling Nero to his feet, "stay close, okay? Max would kill me if the Dealers got you."

"Dealers?" Nero coughed, brushing away the dust.

Rail nodded, checked the tiny pistol fitted into the waistband of his jeans and adjusting the heavy cotton hoodie that hid his wings. "Dealers," he said, walking purposefully into the darkness of the tunnels, "are specialized Erasers. They don't morph, but still hold the same physical abilities of your average morpher. Itex made them for a special purpose."

Nero jumped over a block of concrete in their path, his sneakers coated with mud from the tunnel floor, "What special purpose?"

Rail shrugged, turning to face Nero with a wide grin, "Stealing children."

Nero stopped dead in his tracks, a familiar dread creeping up his spine, "Stealing…children? You mean like…snatching them?" Robert stories came back in full. Tale from the north, of black-clad men who stole children…children that were never heard from again.

"Mostly fledglings," Rail said idly, continuing his waltz down the tunnel, "we don't know for sure what they do to them. Max has several theories though…she thinks Itex snatches them off the street and takes them back to the main lab complex. Experiments on them."

He seemed to just notice that Nero wasn't following, turning around to face him several yards away, his brow cocked. Nero laughed nervously, jogging to catch up, his heart pounding. Robert had been telling him stories all his life…did all of them relate to the revolution in Scribble City? Had he really been preparing Nero for that long?

Sunlight spilled abruptly into the tunnel, causing Nero to almost trip over his own feet. The surface tunnel had suddenly fallen away, almost like someone had just taken a hacksaw and cut through, leaving a gaping hole into the underbelly of Fallbrook.

Rail prodded Nero forward, an amused grin on his face.

The tunnel fell away…into absolute bedlam.

Nero had never seen so many people in all his life. Their brightly colored shirts flashed in the sunlight, limbs entangled, metal bracelets blinking, sunglasses glinting up at them from all sides. The narrow street was lined with ramshackle huts supporting brightly colored cloth and eye-catching jewels hanging from the awnings, each hut packed with its fair share of shoppers.

Rail hefted the ratted backpack Max had supplied him and wrapped his thin arm around Nero's shoulder, shoving him forward until the crowd swallowed them up.

"Stay close!" Rail shouted next to Nero's ear, his voice almost lost in the din.

Their first stop was a nearly vacant shack with a collapsed roof and nothing on display. A wicker chair sat under the sun-guard, the man inside spilling over the edges as he observed the crowd. A smile flickered across his face as Rail pushed his way clear.

"Rail!" the man shouted, spreading his fat arms wide, "what brings you?"

"Hey Mousy," Rail said, setting the backpack on the empty display table, "I need bread. Lost of it. Preferably not molded or rat-chewed, thank you."

Mousy grinned, his watery eyes resting on Nero, "Ah! Who's this? New friend?"

"Mousy!" Rail snapped, rapping his knuckle on the table, "Bread. Now."

Mousy's smile turned to a frown as he disappeared into the collapsed shack, reappearing several seconds later with a large burlap bag bulging out at odd angles. "Thirty loaves," Mousy declared proudly, "neither moldy nor rat-chewed."

Rail eyed the bag, "How much?"

Mousy pretended to think, his squinty eyes turned toward the ceiling as he rubbed his third chin, "Eh…I let it go for…forty five."

"Forty five!" Rail snapped, his eyes disbelieving, "That's ridiculous!"

"No!" Mousy shouted, slapping his palm on the table, "that's fair!"

Rail fumed for several seconds, his knuckles white on the table. He shook his head, lowering the burlap bag into Nero's arms. "Here," he took out a small brow purse with black draw-cords and flung it into Mousy's hands, "you disgust me."

Mousy laughed generously as Rail grabbed Nero's arm, dragging him away from the hut. "Come back soon, eh?" Mousy's voice floated after them as they made their way back to the tunnel.

"That's all?" Nero asked as Rail stomped into the darkness.

Rail threw his hands in the air, "That's all the money we had!"

He ran a pale hand over his face, his mouth drawn, "Max is gonna be pissed. God! Things just keep piling up, there's no way this is going to end good…"

They walked in welcomed silence for a few minutes, the noise of Fallbrook disappearing behind them. Nero struggled with the bag, his arms hardly wrapping around its bulk as he trudged after Rail. A nagging thought tugged at the back of his mind, purposefully suppressed because of Rail's sour mood.

"Hey, Rail?" Nero said after the darkness was all around them, building up his courage and hoping Rail still had enough patience for questions, "What…what happened to Nudge?"

The burlap bag held in front of Nero's face bumped suddenly into Rail's stiff back, his feet glued to the floor as his emerald eyes stared down the tunnel. Nero swallowed hard, his arms aching as the bag slid down several inches.

Rail gently pried the bag out of Nero's arms, swinging it easily over his shoulder, his eyes tired. "She's dead," he said quietly, "died last night…just after you left."

Nero bit his tongue, surprised at the lump gathering in his throat. He'd only met Nudge once…she'd even scared him at that. Of course…Nero had never dealt with death before. Not fully. Not head on. Never like this…

The slap of feet filled the tunnel, a dancing shadow making its way toward them. Rail shoved Nero behind him, his eyes narrowing as he shifted the bag to his other shoulder. The shadow turned the corner, sprinting toward them at full speed.

It was a fledgling.

He stopped several feet from Rail, his chest heaving as he laid his hand against the wall. He was young, probably one of the runaways in Scribble City, his soft rusty wings fluttering nervously against his shoulders.

"Message," he gasped, "from Max. She wanted me…to tell you…Angel's back."

The burlap bag fell to the floor with a soft thump, making the messenger jump. Rail was gone before Nero could even ask what the russet-winged boy was talking about, his pale form a streak in the darkness as he sprinted away. Nero carefully picked the bag back up, turning to face the messenger.

"Who's Angel?"

The messenger shrugged, "I'm just supposed to deliver the messages. Max told me to tell Rail that Angel's back. That's all I know."

Angel's back.