Chapter 7

"Ice?" Raven called keeping to the walls of the alley stepping past the drunks quickly stopping near Ice to see tears steam from her vacant eyes, her shoulders sobbing, but no sound was heard from her mouth. "Ice?" Raven asked again waving her hand in front of her eyes.

"Raven?" She called weakly coming back to the present with a violent shudder. "What's wrong Ice?" Raven asked tentatively... she didn't want to be drawn into Ice's web of lies once more. "Raven?" Ice repeated both involved in syllabic monologues.

Then the tears resurfaced and Ice wept as she said hysterically, "I'm sorry Raven, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean for it to end like that... I never meant... I'm sorry." Raven looked on blankly, tears shimmering in her own eyes as she was driven to ask, "Why? Did you always hate me? How could you work your way into my feelings, my heart, let me call you friend then turn on me? How could you?" Raven cried wretchedly.

'Does no-one love me?' That's what she had asked Jake. In a minute, the instinctive regret, that she had been able to brush aside in the name of self preservation, grew to a deadly, dangerous realization that she had been loved, by Jake, and by Raven, and in a self absorbed craze she had lost them both.

In the fear that she would lose the one person that understood her, she had gained and lost the heart of Raven, who Cherish only now saw as her saviour not her destruction. The girl, innocent, sweet, gentle, loyal, self-less, had been the one god had sent her way... not Jake, he had just been the link, Raven had been the key.

And Jake the one she claimed to love. Her drive to prevent him ever possibly rejecting her had destroyed the one that had originally saved her. Although she could call him hers now, with no fear of rejection. He wasn't the Jake she wanted. He wasn't the Jake she had ruined lives for. Raven had made him the Jake she longed for.

Cherish brought her cold blue eyes to look Raven in the face, summoning false bravado like she had so many times before... but it wasn't there, and as soon as the two girls eyes clashed hers went skittering away cowardly.

"Ice?" Raven called, bludgeoning Cherish with guilt that she had been able to ignore for so long. "Don't... not now..." Cherish whispered dry wretching at the picture of Bill in the paper laid facing her on the ground. "Cherish?" Raven said taking one of the Gypsies hands in her own two as if realizing something was dreadfully wrong.

"What is it?" Cherish stopped breathing. Not intentionally, she just stopped, she wasn't here... where she was she didn't need to breathe... she wouldn't be punished physically for her crimes... where she was she was alone... surrounded by phantoms of her past life... her life as Ice. She wasn't Ice any more... "not Ice..." the being whispered through the numbing pain in her skull.

"ICE!" The shout came from the top of the alley, Raven's eyes went up to see Jake, turning her eyes from his painful features to fix on Shasta helplessly. "Ice... why didn't you tell me?" He whispered ignoring Raven who was bundle into the arms of Shasta, as the older news girl explained what had happened.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not Ice... take me home boy..." She asked of Jake as she stood, and Jake clutched her close ushering her up the alley towards the lodging house. Raven, clutching at Shasta followed close behind, surprised she hadn't been told to disappear by Jake.

Jake helped Ice up the stairs of the lodging house as she called, "bring me a piece of paper and a pencil!" Kloppman the owner of the lodging house shrugged ripping a few pieces of paper from the book and a pen from near the ledger and hurrying them upstairs after the quartet.

Jake pushed her gently towards her bed but she shook her head, "Not there... in the attic, lead me to the attic." Jake frowned, seriously concerned. Raven and Shasta stayed in the bunkroom as Jake took the shattered girl up to the attic, sitting her down on a dusty crate next to a broken writing table, he found himself pushed of another crate by her booted foot.

"Go away! Make peace with Raven, if you have a heart make peace with Raven..." She order darkly blocking her ears to the words he was about to say. Jake shut the attic door quietly and slumped against it, he had heard her order but refused to be out of hearing distance of the attic, in case she tried something dreadful.

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Jake awoke with a start as he saw Raven's head peering cautiously up the winding stair case looking intently at the door... "Is she alright?" Jake nodded still sleeply disorientated. Standing, and turning he knocked on the door calling, "Ice... Ice sweetie are you alright?" There was no word.

Jake's heart pounded in his heart, but not as it did when he lost Raven, he thought to himself in disgust. He knocked again and no sound came from the small attic. Turning the knob Jake burst into the room followed behind by Raven.

Jakes eyes looked disconcerted around the quiet room, seeing nothing out of place, except a piece of paper held by a tin cup, against the slightly breezy current coming from a broken window. Walking to the broken writing desk, and hearing Raven walk to the window, he picked up the two folded pieces of paper.

He turned them over about to open them, then he noted the soft scrawl written, "For Shamrock O'Malley ONLY!" Jake frowned and Raven said, "It looks like she left out the window... maybe she needed air..." She said not believing it.

"We have to go see Shamrock O'Malley, these are addressed to her." Jake said, the thought in the back of his head running, that any other worried boyfriend wouldn't wait for Shamrock, but he did. Ice had known he would too. Of that he was certain.

Raven looked up quietly still trying to ignore the uncomfortable silence that had gathered in the room when they had. "She's in Brooklyn..." She finally supplied looking around the room for any trace of life. Anything that would show Ice was still around. "Then that's where we have to go." Jake said blankly heading out of the attic, Raven hot on his heels.