"Jack," Skittery poked at his friend as he lay in his bunk in the early hours of the morning. "Jack, wake up."
Jack rolled over, opening one eye. "Huh, what? Skittery, what the hell do you want? I'm sleepin'." He grumbled some more, incoherently, and nestled back down into his pillow to go back to sleep.
"C'mon, Jack, we got somethin' big to do today." Skittery rolled his eyes and pulled Jack's pillow how from under his head. "Come on, we gotta go to Queens."
Jack reached out and smacked Skittery on the side of the head, then sat up. "Queens? What the hell do we have to go to Queens for?"
"I know where Penny and Elise are."
Jack's eyes opened wide, and he jumped down from his bunk. "Alright, alright..." He stretched, and cleared his throat. "Everybody up!" He shouted, then headed to the washroom.
They'd stopped and picked up Spot and a couple of his larger, tougher newsies on the way to Queens. Skittery led them to the warehouse, urging them to be quiet as they approached. He climbed up into the window to check, and sure enough, the McKennons were curled up on the floor, asleep.
He jerked his head toward the building, and a swarm of fifty or sixty teen-aged boys rushed the door.
The McKennons jumped up, disoriented from sleep, as the crowd flooded in. They had no time to react or fight back when the fists started flying.
Skittery and Crutchy fought their way through the mass of people, to the door blocked by the crates. Pushing the heavy stack aside took several minutes of painstaking labor, but the two eventually managed the feat. Skittery flung the door open, and flew down the narrow staircase, nearly breaking his neck in his haste to get to the bottom.
"What is that noise?" Elise looked toward the door, listening to the dull roar coming from the other side.
"They probably made themselves a couple of thug friends and invited them over for tea or something," Penny replied morosely.
Elise sighed and leaned back against the cold cement wall. "We're done for." She resigned herself to the thought, thinking only of her baby, wherever he was.
The door suddenly flew open and both girls shrieked. Light flooded the dark, dingy room, and two silhouettes appeared.
"Penny? Elise?"
The voice they heard was sweeter than music. Penny and Elise jumped up and ran at the boys, nearly bowling them over in the process.
Skittery found himself being clung to and rained down upon with kisses and tears, while Crutchy was welcomed with a warm hug and a familiar head nestling itself into the crook of his neck. "Hey," was all he could muster, stroking the soft, dark hair in comfort.
Elise raised her head, wiped her eyes, and smiled. "Hey, back."
The trek back to Brooklyn was interrupted by a stop at the docks. Skittery's friend James was working, and Skittery approached him. "Hey, James."
"Hey," James said with a grin, examining the group behind Skittery at the end of the dock. "Looks like you've got yourself quite a party, there, Michaels."
Skittery turned around, flashing a grin at Penny, who smiled back and waved shyly. "Yeah," he said, turning back around. "Hey, Hauser around?"
"Nah," his coworker said with a shrug. "He was takin' a long lunch, said he'd be gone an hour or more. Left about five minutes ago. Why?"
"This ship leavin'?" Skittery nodded to the ship waiting at the end of the dock.
"Yeah, fixin' to shove off in a few minutes here."
"Where's it headed?"
"Stoppin' up in Maine for a day or two, then headin' over to England."
"I got a favor to ask you, James." Skittery waved his hand, and a couple of boys stepped forward, carrying two unconscious and very well worked-over McKennons. "We got a little extra cargo, if you don't mind."
James looked skeptically from the McKennons to Skittery. "What the hell happened to them?"
"They're bad people. I'll explain it to you later. Trust me, pal, you'll be glad they're out of this city."
He pondered for a few moments, then nodded. "Okay. But if Hauser gets wind of this, it's your ass on the line, okay?"
"No one's goin' to say a word. Far as them sailors know, these're a couple'a stowaways, lookin' for a free ride."
The boys headed down the dock and loaded the McKennons into the cargo bay. "Good riddance," Skittery muttered, as he slammed the door shut. He headed back up the dock, stopping by James once more. "That apartment in your building still open?"
"Yeah," James replied with a nod.
"Mind if I come with ya after work tonight to check it out?"
James smiled. "Sure."
Skittery grinned and said goodbye to his friend, then walked back up to the group of people at the end of the dock and wrapped his arm around Penny's shoulders. "Let's go home."