I finally made it to Central Park and headed straight towards the edge where the clump of trees was that was the designated meeting place. I barely remembered to check around me for any spies or anyone following me before I practically dove into the middle of them.
I quickly wove through the trees to make it to the small open circle in the middle. Night and Holler weren't there yet to my annoyance so I leaned back on one of the trees and tried to sort everything out in my head that I had to tell Night and Holler. Our gang was starting to fall apart at the seams and I wanted to as well. But Night and the others depended on me. No matter what Shade tried to say, they would support me and I would do the same for them.
I didn't know how long I stood there but finally I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped slightly and got in a defensive position, wide-eyed and ready to protect myself. Instead of Shade or some Newsie, however, Holler and Night were standing in front of me. Holler had been the one to shake me out of my thoughts.
Looking closely at them, I could see bags starting to form under their eyes and they definitely seemed more tired no matter how tall they stood. I guess this war was really taking a toll on everyone.
"Oh it's you," I said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?" Holler replied jokingly.
When he say my frazzled state, however, he quickly became more serious.
"What's wrong Eclipse?" he asked, looking concerned.
"Everything," I replied, trying to hold myself together, "At my party a few days ago I listened in on a meeting between some of the leaders. They said that they had been going around talking to members of our gang, trying to convince them to join the side of the Newsies. They claimed that they were having success with this and that we hadn't seemed to notice it yet,"
Night and Holler glanced at each other. Holler looked back at me with a dead serious face and replied,
"We knew about that already actually. We've been trying to make it seem like we haven't but we've been taking precautions to deal with that. Anything else?"
I nodded.
"I saw Shade today," I said quietly.
Night's head whipped around at the sound of Shade's name.
"He's back?" he asked, his stormy gray eyes revealing surprise at this announcement.
"Yes. I saw him today in an alley over on tenth street. He basically just said that he has some business here in town and said that you guys weren't doing your jobs as the "lead actors" and that I might fail since everyone else was," I explained.
"I wonder what he's really doing back," Holler mumbled, glancing over at Night who seemed lost in thought.
"He wouldn't say exactly when I asked him. But my guess is that it can't be good for us," I said.
I watched Night and Holler process the new information and try to make sense of it. I had the next part of my speech for them on the tip of my tongue but I hesitated to say it. Did I really want to condemn Break for something that I didn't even know for sure he was guilty of? Especially since he was my best friend?
"Do you have anything else to tell us?"
I snapped out of my thoughts and saw Holler staring at me oddly. I must've given away some sort of facial expression that showed my inner conflict. I took a deep breath before hesitantly replying.
"Yes. When I was at the birthday party I also heard Jack and Spot mention something else. They said…they said that there was someone in the Black Kings that was giving them information. A traitor,"
I cautiously watched the shock register on Holler's face as he took in the information. Night had his back to us so I couldn't tell what he was thinking but his silence worried me. I took a step towards him, waiting for any sign of acknowledgement.
Suddenly, Night moved.
"Damn it!" he yelled, swinging his hand around.
I saw his fist heading towards my face but barely had time to register what was happening before it hit me. I stumbled backwards from the force of the blow. He had managed to nail me right in the eye and I could already feel it starting to swell. I gingerly touched it and had to suppress a gasp that arose from the pain the blossomed. I looked up and saw Holler looking between me and Night, trying to suppress any emotion in his face. It looked like he wanted to help me but also didn't want to move for fear of angering Night.
Night stood there breathing heavily. We all remained silent for what seemed like forever when finally Night spoke.
"Eclipse, you need to find out who this traitor is. I want to know now who this guy is so I can put a bullet through his skull before he ruins everything," Night said quietly.
I nodded even though I wasn't even sure if he could see me do that or not. Glancing one last time at Holler, I quietly turned around and slid through the trees back out into the open park area. Somehow I remembered to check for anyone who had been following me but saw no one. I quickly started to head off towards the Lodging House, for once looking forward to go back to that pile of sticks.
/
Night and Holler stood there for a little while after Eclipse melted back through the trees. Neither of them said anything for a long time. Finally, Night turned to Holler, breathing heavily.
"Send out a message to everyone. It's time for us to start the battle," he said fiercely.
"Alright," Holler replied calmly.
Night turned and stalked away through the trees, pulling up his bandana as he did so. Holler remained a moment longer, staring back in the direction that Eclipse had left in. He had wanted to protect Eclipse and stop Night but some twisted sense of duty left him rooted in his spot, unable to defend his friend and unable to stand up to his leader. She might not know it, but he had always regarded her as something of a little sister. And deep down, he knew he would be a better big brother than Kelly ever could be.
Sighing, Holler also pulled up his bandanna and headed off in the direction Night had gone.
/
I was practically running yet again today, only this time it was back towards the Lodging House. I fought back the tears that threatened to form. Night had just hit me. He snapped and hit me. Maybe Shade was right. Maybe Night couldn't handle the pressure of this war with the Newsies and Street Sharks. Maybe this really was the end of the Black Kings…
I pushed those thoughts out of my head. I couldn't afford doubt right now. Right now I needed to do my job and find out the traitor. Then we could get rid of him and our chances of surviving and winning would go up.
I slowed down as I finally hit the street where the Lodging House was. As I approached it I straightened myself out and calmed down, putting on an easy-going façade. I also quickly thought up a lie to tell the guys about my new injury. The Delancy brothers would be easy enough to pin the crime on and wouldn't be believed by the Newsies when they tried to deny ever committing the crime.
I finally reached the front door and pulled it open to find the common room full of Newsies just hanging out. Of course. I couldn't get lucky for even one day. Taking a deep breath, I strode into the room and braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions.
"Hey Actor- woah, what happened to your eye?" Race asked, being the first to see me.
Almost immediately that drew the attention of the surrounding boys and I was soon swarmed by them.
"Nice shiner Actor," Blink commented, raising his eyebrows.
"Thanks," I gave him a small smile.
"How'd you get it?" Jack asked, looking me over with the concerned face of a leader.
Or a brother.
"Delancy brothers," I replied, wincing when I gingerly touched my now swollen eye.
"Those scabs. I'll soak 'em," Jack growled, a dark look in his eyes.
"Why did they come after you anyway?" Race asked curiously.
"They wanted to cause trouble like always," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Did you beat them up back?" Mush asked.
"Nah. I just kind of pushed Oscar into Morris and booked it out of there," I replied casually, hiding my annoyance at the disappointed looks on the boys faces.
"Aww Actor you should've soaked 'em both good! I know you can do it, I've seen it before," Race said, punching me lightly in the arm.
"Yeah, don't run, stand up for yourself!" Blink chimed in.
"I would've but I have a curfew to keep," I replied, giving Jack a pointed look and a smile.
"As glad as I am that you're obeying the rules finally, next time just beat 'em into the ground," he said, laying a hand on my shoulder and smiling.
"Aye aye captain," I replied, nodding at him.
The crowd finally started to disperse and return to their previous activities. I turned, intending to head over to the staircase, but stopped when I saw Spot standing next to them, staring at me with that oh-so-annoying analytical stare of his. I gathered my courage and headed over to the staircase. I had just reached them, intent on simply ignoring Conlon, when he spoke up.
"Delancy brothers, huh?" he asked.
"Yep. Trouble-makers, aren't they?" I answered smoothly.
"Yeah. Funny thing, Jack told me that you decked them the last time you fought with them. How'd they get the best of you this time?" Spot observed.
"True. I tried to ignore them this time but Oscar sucker-punched me," I replied.
"Why run away though? Why not just fight like last time?" Spot pressed.
"Well, I don't think Jacky-boy would exactly approve of me fighting with anyone. After all, he won't even let me get back after dark," I said, letting a hint of bitterness creep into my voice.
Spot didn't reply after that so I assumed the conversation was done. I took a step up onto the staircase when Spot's hand came down on my arm in a vise grip.
"We need to talk," Spot said coldly in my ear.
"Ok. But later," I replied quietly after a moment, glancing over my shoulder at the group of boys.
"Fine," he said, releasing my arm and walking away to join the others.
I was very tempted to sigh in relief but refrained from doing so just in case Spot heard. Damn boy had ears everywhere. I had a bad feeling about what this talk would be about but pushed it aside. After all, I was an amazing actor. There was nothing I couldn't handle. Or so I wanted to believe.
I had made it halfway up the staircase when a familiar voice caught my attention.
"Jack, Jack!"
I stopped walking and turned around to look at the voice calling out. Navy, one of Jack's birds, came sprinting into the Lodging House. He skidded to a stop in front of Jack and stayed doubled over for a moment, breathing heavily.
"What is it Navy?" Jack asked, suddenly becoming very serious.
"I…have a…note…for you," Navy managed to say, still wheezing.
He held up a small note he had clutched in his hand. I thought I saw something that looked oddly like a B on the front of the note but I couldn't catch a good enough look before Jack snatched up the note and looked at it. His expression immediately turned dead serious and he sent everyone else away except for Race and Spot. The three of them poured over the contents of the letter, occasionally muttering something to one another. I picked out the phrases "meet tonight" and "Kings". So there was a meeting tonight. And an important one at that. The boys started discussing the letter amongst themselves after they finished reading. Spot must've felt my eyes on them though because he suddenly looked up at me. I met his gaze evenly for a second before turning and casually continuing to walk up the stairs.
There was a meeting tonight. And it had to do with the Black Kings. I knew that this would be a very informative meeting and that I would need to be there. I might be able to learn about future battle plans and, with any luck, the identity of the traitor. Too bad I hadn't been invited to the meeting. That made things a tiny bit harder.
Looks like I would have to just crash the party.
/
Break darted down alleys as fast as he dared to go. He wasn't in his usual Black Kings uniform at the moment which might arouse suspicion from another gang member if he happened to run into one. Instead, he had opted for a look that almost seemed like that of a Newsie. He had just heard about the plan to attack the Newsies and had sent out a note to Jack telling him that they needed to talk. He would give them all of the information they wanted and in return they would finally bring down the Black Kings that he hated so much. And with any luck, Actor would be spared in the process. He actually planned on telling her about his new role soon: given her knack for finding things out, she would probably know sooner rather than later. And it would be better to hear it from him so that he would have the chance to explain himself.
Break finally arrived outside his destination, a small tavern on the outskirts of Manhattan. It seemed innocent enough (as innocent as a bar could be) but in reality it was the unofficial meeting place for the Street Sharks. Opening the door, Break was immediately stopped by two burly boys who were about his size, only a bit shorter. He knew he could take them both if he had to but he didn't plan on that happening. He was here to discuss stuff, not pick fights.
"I need to see Striker," he stated clearly, staring down both boys.
The two boys looked at him and exchanged a look before stepping aside and letting him pass. He nodded to the both of them and stepped past, eyes searching for Striker. They found him at a table somewhat near the back. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and headed over to the table.