The plan unfolded slowly, with Hannibal keeping the squares of stale cornbread they received for breakfast. Soon, he had a sock full of bread hidden under his mattress. Water was the next concern. No matter where he searched, water skins were nowhere to be found. Hannibal remembered seeing a creek a few miles south, but they would first need to find a way out of Valparaiso. Jed suggested breaking away from the group during their scheduled "outdoor recreation" time, climbing the tall wooden fence around the perimeter of the campus, and simply running to freedom, but Hannibal shot that idea down before it had fully left his cousin's mouth. They needed to be stealthy if they would escape; running blindly would only get them caught.
Then he had to worry about Henry. From what Hannibal had gathered, Henry had lived in a small city called Ansglow; His mother cleaned houses and did laundry for the townspeople, making enough to money to keep food on the table, but Henry was kept inside as much as possible. A month ago, his mother traveled upstate after receiving a letter. He said she never told him what was in the note. There was no word from her for three weeks. When a bank robbery gone wrong sparked a fire that scorched half the city, no one was there to clarify where his mother was to the frantic townspeople. They sent him to the orphanage without giving him a chance to explain. Hannibal just could not believe it.
The plan finally clicked when he noticed a small window high on the wall of the cafeteria. The glass was barred and padlocked, but the frame would be large enough for the boys to weasel through. A grin spread across his face. This might work out after all.
