December 16, 1899

After selling all of their papers, Story, Spark, and Chase went back to the girls' lodging house in Brooklyn to teach the little girls how to read. Once they could do that, they would start selling papers. Katrina and Ellie already started selling together.

It was frustrating work. Spark and Story didn't even remember how they had learned to read. The Brooklyn boys had probably taught them. But for the most part, the sisters were on their own from a young age.

"What sound does 'A' make?"

"Ah,"

"Good," Chase said. "Do you know a word that starts with 'A'?"

The three older girls sat up at a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

"Who do ya think, Sweetness?" Spot said as he opened the door. He was followed by Mush and Racetrack, who was shaking his head.

"Yous two gotta stop with all this lovey dovey talk."

"You wanna leave?" Spot glared at him.

"Nah, I'm ok." Racetrack said. "Hi'ya ladies. We's goin' to Sheepshead, any a yous wanna join us?"

"Are you askin' me if you want me to beat your sorry butt again? I accept." Spark hopped off the bed and messed Racetrack's hair. She then stood on her tiptoes and kissed Mush.

"I think we're gonna go to Manhattan to play poker afterwards." Spot said to Chase.

"Ok," she said. "We'll be over there later."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Sugar. I can walk on my own now."

The others rolled their eyes.

"We're gonna be late." said Racetrack, pushing Spark, Mush, and Spot out the door. "Bye, girls!"


About an hour later, there was another knock at the door.

"What is it, Sweetheart?" Chase practically snapped. She wasn't getting anywhere.

"Sweetheart?" It was Jack. "I didn't know we were that close. Shouldn't we go on a date or somethin' first?"

"Oh, I thought you were Spot." Chase blushed.

"I know." he smiled.

"What brings you to our humble lodging house?" Story giggled.

"I came to bring yous somethin'." Jack handed Chase a stack of lined paper that was tied with newspaper string. "Davey thought it would help you teach these girls how to write."

"Aww, tell him thanks for me." Chase said.

"I don't get a "thanks" for walkin' it all the way over for ya?"

Chase scoffed. "Not after using that tone."

Jack smiled at her. She was just as good at arguing and smart-mouthing as he was. They really were similar. If he didn't know any better, Jack would have thought she was a long lost sister of his. But Jack didn't have any other siblings. His mother passed away right after his father was arrested.

"Oh, Story, Davey says he misses ya." Jack reported.

"Tell him I'll be at the lodging house later." A dreamy smile played on her lips.

"Ok. I'll be sure to tell him." Jack was happy his friend found a girl too. He didn't know how David would react when he found out about Jack and Sarah together. Thankfully, he wasn't that upset. It was a bit odd to have his best friend and his sister together but it didn't ruin their friendship. Jack wanted the same happiness for David. And Story was a nice girl.

"Maybe yous should take a break." Jack suggested. "I'm goin' back to Manhattan. Yous wanna come with me?"

"I can't stop now, we're so close to making a breakthrough!" Chase yawned as she said it.

"I'll drag her out later." said Story.

"Alright then, yous girls be safe out there. Don't leave too late."

"We walk to Manhattan at night all the time." Chase said. "We'll make it there alive."

"Promise?"

"Yeah."


Chase and Story were on their way back to Manhattan in less than a half hour.

"So has David, you know, kissed you yet?" Chase asked.

"No," said Story. "He's taking it slow. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Is this because you haven't had your first kiss yet?"

Story blushed. "Maybe."

"Well it's really not that great." Chase cringed. Her first kiss was with Oscar Delancey, completely against her will, right after she had plummeted 15 feet to the ground off of Irving Hall's roof, breaking her leg. It was awful.

"You can't tell me it's not that great. You and Spot kiss all the time and Spark and Mush, they can barely keep to themselves."

Chase laughed, it was true, and then she stopped. There was a sound. The sound of footsteps nearby. She got a chill, remembering a similar situation about month before.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered.

Story's eyes widened as she nodded. They looked behind them, but the street lamps were too dim to light the whole street.

"Maybe it's nothing. A police officer or something?" But as Chase said that, the footsteps sped up.

"Let's walk faster." said Story.

Chase had to break into a little jog to keep up with Story. As they approached the end of the street, the person began to run. They were getting closer.

"Let's go!"

The two girls sprinted down the street. Aware that the person was still following them and getting faster. Chase hoped they were going in the right direction to the Manhattan lodging house. Story grabbed her hand as she went to make the wrong turn.

"Thanks," They turned the corner and saw the lodging house in the distance.

The two girls slammed into a group of people, knocking them to the ground.

"Hey, watch it you lousy- Oh, hey Chase." it was Racetrack. The girls had bumped into Race, Spot, Spark, and Mush as they were returning from the Sheepshead races.

"What were yous guys doin'?" Spot asked as he attempted to get out from underneath Story.

"Um," Chase bit her lip, she didn't want Spot to get any more protective than he already was.

"We were having a race." Story chimed in.

"Um, yeah. I thought it would be a good idea to see how fast I can run now that the brace is gone." Chase smiled nervously, hoping Spot would believe the lie.

"Is that a good idea? I don't want either a' yous to get hurt again." Mush said as he helped his sister up.

"Well I have to start sometime." Chase laughed nervously as the boys stared at her.

The other boys were ready to accept this answer but Spot looked at her skeptically. There was something she wasn't telling him.

"What's goin' on, Chase?" He didn't bother thinking up a nickname.

Chase's eyes widened as her knees gave out and she fell against Racetrack. "Nothing- nothing's wrong."

He hadn't seen her this shaken in a long time. "Was it the Delanceys?" He took out his cane and looked down the street. Spot had been restraining himself from killing Oscar Delancey every time he saw him. But he was still waiting for him to slip up. Then he could murder him and drop his body off in the bay. Spot had an extremely dark side to him.

Chase shuddered at the mention of their name but she looked up and touched Spot's face. "It wasn't them. I promise."

"You'd tell me if it was, right?"

"Yes."


Chase stayed by Spot's side the whole night while she tried to forget about what had just happened. It was difficult since her mind seemed to want to picture what could have happened in the most graphic ways. It was all she could do not to burst into tears. She sat at the poker table between Spot and Jack, not really invested in the game at all.

"Hey, Chase." Jack said. "Chase."

"Hmmmm... What?" She blinked back into reality.

"It's your turn to bid."

"Oh, um..." she glanced over her cards, suddenly forgetting how to play.

"Are you ok?" Jack asked, very concerned.

"Yeah,"

Spot and Jack glanced at each other.

"No you're not." Said Mush from across the table.

Chase sighed. "Ok, I think I have a headache." Which was true.

"Then lay down, why don't ya?" Racetrack said. "Women. You'd think they would figure it out."

"You wanna say that again?" Spot stood up, challenging him.

"Hey, yous two keep it together. Chase doesn't need this." Jack he turned to her. "You probably should go lie down though. Wanna go upstairs where it's quiet?"

Chase looked at Spot. She could see that he was deep in thought, trying to figure her out. She didn't want to leave him. "I'll stay down here." She tried to give both Spot and Jack a reassuring smile.

"Hey, Skittery!" Jack called. "You know the drill!"

Skittery bit back a curse, he wasn't in the mood for a physical fight with Jack. "Yeah," And he got up off the couch to allow Chase to rest. Again.

"Thank you," she said, but he ignored her gratitude.

There was a knock at the door. Helena was just in time, thank goodness. He answered the door.

"Hey,"

"Hi, Skittery."

"Wanna come inside?"

"Do you really think I'd rather stay out here in the cold?"

"Probably not." Skittery laughed.

Helena hung her coat on the last empty hook next to the door and she followed Skittery into the front room. She looked at the couch, which was occupied by a sleeping Chase.

"I'll go get some chairs." Skittery said as he made his way to the other room.

"Hey, Helena," said Racetrack, barely looking up from his cards.

"Hi, Race.

Helena got a few more 'Hey's from the other newsies as she stood there waiting. Skittery was taking a long time with those chairs.

Helena turned her attention back to Chase. The newsgirl was sleeping restlessly, tossing and turning, and then she began to whimper. She rushed to Chase's side. No one else could hear because it was so loud in the room. Helena stroked Chase's hair as her mother did when she was younger and prone to nightmares. She hummed a cheery tune, hoping this would calm the poor girl.

"Helena?"

Helena looked up.

"You wanna sit?" Skittery set two chairs on the floor. "What's goin' on?"

Helena stood up slowly and sat in her chair. "Something is wrong with Chase."

Skittery raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? She looks fine." He could care less how she looked.

"I don't know," Helena played with her hair as she thought. "I think she was having a nightmare."

Skittery looked at Chase. She seemed calm enough now. "Happens all the time."

"It does?"

"Oh yeah," Skittery ran a hand through his hair. "Lots of us street kids seen some pretty disturbin' stuff. You dream about it at night."

Rarely a night went by when half of the boys weren't woken up by someone's cries in the night. It was a little strange that Chase was having dreams when she'd only been out on the streets for three years. Skittery figured it was from living in Brooklyn, which had a reputation for being dangerous.


"Rosie, hey, Rosie." Mush nudged his sister, about an hour later, to wake her up. "Spot said it's time for yous to go soon."

"Ah!" She woke with a jolt and a small scream.

Mush took a step back, startled himself. "Hey, you alright?"

She nodded her head but Mush could see in her eyes that it wasn't the truth.

"No you're not." He took her hand. "Wanna tell me what's a' matter?"

Roselia glanced around to make sure no one was watching.

"I um... You know how Story said we were racing earlier?"

Mush nodded.

"That's not exactly true."

He stared at her for a second, his face blank. "What do you mean 'that's not exactly true'?"

She lowered her voice. "We think we were being followed."

Rosie could see every muscle in Mush's body tense.

"I-"

"Shhh," he had never cut her off like that before. Her eyes filled with tears. "Why were the two a's yous out so late and alone?"

"W-we promised we would come." She was still afraid of what could have been out there. Her dreams in her short time sleeping were horrible. Chase hoped it wasn't true, but she'd read stories of things happening to girls in the papers. She didn't want to be one of them.

"I don't like this."

"And you think I do?"

Mush looked at his sister, trying not to surrender to the smile that was spreading on his face. It was just like her to say something like that. Actually, it was just like him too.

"What are you smiling at? This is serious!"

"Nothin' you're just cute." He kissed her on the forehead. "I'm gonna talk to Spot."

"No! He'll kill me if he finds out I didn't tell him!" He probably wouldn't, but Chase didn't want to ruin their relationship before it got started.

Mush raised an eyebrow. "You're worried about what Spot thinks when your safety is on the line?"

Her eyes said it all.

"Unbelievable. You need to get your priorities straight. I care about you and Spot cares about you and pretty much everyone else here cares about you."

"Except Skittery." She added.

"You know, I don't think Skittery even cares about himself."

The two of the laughed for a minute, until they teared up. "Hey, how about this: I'll tell Spot that I heard somethin' on our way back from the races and that I'm worried about yous. I'll keep your cover as long as you promise to listen to us."

Roselia hugged him. "Thank you."