Prompt #235. A feast of words. Choose among the following words and phrases, or use them all if you prefer (and possibly score yourself a bonus point). Heat Flight Candor Suspicion Piquant It'll all come out in the wash

About a week after Becoming Irregular 3-4


"Hurry, Doris."

Chicken—rotten. Bread—that was edible. Mystery meat—pass. Hurrying would not find food. He knew that, so when a glance found him nervously scanning the alley, she waved him down the row.

"Help me look. We'll find more working together."

Fearful suspicion kept his attention on the alley's entrance as he shook his head. "Can't we go somewhere else?"

"This place always throws food away." Except that bin held nothing useful. She moved to the next. "What's wrong? It's just another alley."

Silence answered her, then a faint gasp became her only warning before a hand abruptly hauled her to her feet.

"Run. Now."

She had no time to reply before Jimmy bolted, dragging her behind him when she struggled to keep up. She had not pinned him for one to startle at nothing.

"What is it?"

Fear washed her new brother's face when a cry lifted in the bar. Never loosening his grip, he darted around two corners then over a low wall.

"Jimmy?"

"James! Get back here!"

Heavy footsteps pounded the ground behind them, finally announcing what Jimmy could not voice, and heat probably colored her cheeks. Less than a week meant they still learned each other's habits, but she should have known he would only react that way to a neighborhood he knew. Long strides changed following to leading as she prevented him from running towards a dead end.

"This way. Back to the courtyard."

"No." The word emerged nearly a gasp. With their pursuer out of sight for the moment, he shoved her towards another path. "Run. He'll chase me. I'll find you later."

Or never, she easily read despite their rapid pace. He expected his father to catch them, and the worry he had shown that first day meant he intended to lead the man as far from Doris as he could.

As if she would give up her twin so easily. She pulled him clear of another dead end.

"Irregulars stick together, Jimmy. I'm not leaving you. Aim for the courtyard. Jackson should be almost home by now, and most of the other boys will already be there."

"Then he'll hurt you." Jimmy tried to shove her away again. "Go, Doris. Please. Your brother'd never forgive me if I got you hurt."

"You're my brother, too, dimwit. Quit fighting me and run. I know these alleys better than you do."

A scowl revealed how little he liked this, but he finally stopped arguing, matching her fastest pace across a street and into another maze. He said nothing else until increasingly louder calls proved the man still followed.

"I'm fast enough to leave him behind."

"Maybe," she agreed, "but why lose him when we can send him to jail? Meanies like him deserve the lock up."

"But he's really—" An ill-placed pallet nearly tripped him. "Mean," he finished with a gasp, one hand now on his ribs. "I'd rather face him—myself than lead him—to the littles. His target practice likes—the younger the better. They'll get hurt."

Target practice? She set the question aside for later, but the name alone made her want to box the man's ears more than everything she had learned since finding Jimmy raiding Little Jones' bread bin. No adult should enjoy anything that used kids as "target practice."

"He won't touch them." Her own breathing would soon match his gasps, though without the underlying pain of aggravating his broken ribs. "You're not gonna lead him to the littles, Jimmy. I promise. You'll see. Left here."

Whatever he tried to reply died beneath the pain in his chest, and she made a mental note to send for the doctor if that did not ease. A series of turns soon brought them in sight of the courtyard just in time to spot Jackson duck through the doorway.

But Jimmy's breathing was growing worse.

"How bad?"

"Ribs," he gasped. "Burns."

"Almost there." Haste sent their piled debris to the ground with a clatter that caught Jackson's attention. Her other brother spun to look as she dragged Jimmy through. "Alpha Protocol Intruder!"

Her tone immediately silenced the courtyard, then the daily chaos scattered to send all but the ten oldest boys diving for a cubby. Her brother and Charlie met them at the closest tunnel entrance.

"Doris?"

"James," Jimmy forced out before she could reply. "Sorry. Tried to lead him away."

"Stop talking and hide. His father saw us behind the bar," she relayed as quickly as she could. "Chased us ever since. Jimmy's probably gonna need the doctor. His ribs didn't like the run."

"James, quit running from me, you little rat!"

The fury behind those words drained every bit of color from Jimmy's face. Jackson waved Doris toward the hole but grabbed Jimmy's other arm.

"We have you, little brother." The title locked that fearful gaze onto Jackson's steadier one. "I told you we could beat him, and we will. This is home now. He will not get you."

A gentle push gave him no time to reply, and Jimmy joined her in the cramped cubby as Jackson hurried to the entrance.

"Quiet," she murmured when he made to speak. "Listen, don't talk. James can't know which cubby you're in. Let Jackson spring the trap."

He shifted but made no answer, to her relief. While she wished she could join the fight, her job was protecting her twin. They watched from the shadows as the boys formed a loose ring around the archway. James would not see them until he entered.

"You disappear for a week, and I find you with a girl! Face me like a man!"

Though they could hear him well enough. Jimmy's hand suddenly gripped hers, but he said nothing even when the rest of the debris disguising their archway fell away to let a short, stocky man barrel through the gap. Furious cruelty gained a touch of surprise at finding himself surrounded. His sprinting pace abruptly halted not two feet inside the door.

"I am a man," Jackson informed him with the steel he reserved for those that threatened his family. "You have one chance to get out of our home and leave us alone, James. Including my little brother."

Surprise flipped to a different sort of anger. Whether because no one had ever told him "no" or simply because he was drunk, he ignored the warning to lunge for Jackson.

"Give me back my boy!"

"Attack!"

Forgoing the normal harassment and injury that they normally utilized, Jackson led four others in piling atop the adult. James might have been strong enough to break bones, but even he could not stay upright when five young men climbed on his back and tackled his feet from beneath him. Less than a minute served to pin him to the cobblestones.

And made a scowl battle Doris' wide grin. Five boys instead of the normal two or three meant they finished the fight much faster than usual, but Jackson had forgotten to box James' ears for her, and she could not do it herself without revealing Jimmy's hiding place.

"Let me go!"

Jackson ignored the man's thrashing except to center his weight better. "Charlie, do we have any more rope? And has someone gone for the Yard yet?"

"Tim went for a constable," George's echoing voice answered simultaneous to Charlie's nod. "Can I come out? You forgot to deliver your sister's box."

Doris barely stifled the laugh Jackson let free. "Stay there. I haven't forgotten."

"What box?"

Excited pleasure rendered Doris unable to hold still, but Jackson made no answer, apparently focused on securing the man's ropes.

"What box, you whelp?!"

"This," Jackson replied tersely. With the ropes tight enough to prevent a problem, slightly cupped palms soundly boxed the man's ears, and he let out a yowl that nearly echoed in the courtyard—and made Doris laugh silently. He deserved it.

As did anyone else who tried to invade their courtyard. The tension in Charlie's shoulders announced he had heard the sprinting footsteps, too. Tim returning with a constable would have two pairs of feet.

"Behind!"

"Hold!" Mr. Holmes' voice preceded him through the door to halt the renewed intruder alert. A single glance noted the tight group in an otherwise deserted courtyard. "Alright?"

"Some grown-ups don't know 'ow ta fight," Charlie replied, his thick Cockney somewhat thicker with amusement. "Thought 'e could charge in 'ere after Jackson's brother."

"And I'm sure the other prisoners would enjoy hearing how five kids defeated him in less than a minute," Jackson added. A smirk worked its way free at a glimpse of James' face. "Providing a black eye in the process. Think that'll reach the cells, Mr. Holmes?"

"It usually does," he replied mildly, a twitched grin revealing just how such information would reach the other prisoners. Whatever he intended to add halted when two pairs of feet sounded in the alley. Tim led one of the newer constables through a moment later.

"Constable Drexel," Jackson greeted as eldest though Charlie served as leader. "This is James Jackson. You have our statements on assault and battery of a minor, breaking and entering, and assault of a minor times about fifty."

"Fifty?!" James broke in. "You lying—"

Jackson hand twisted in a way that announced he had just tightened the knots. "Fifty," he repeated sternly. "That's how many kids are now hiding from you. I believe he's intoxicated, too, Constable," he continued though his hold never loosened, "but if he is, he is not far enough gone to impair his walk or speech. Unfortunately."

Constable Drexel chuckled faintly, snapping his booklet shut to pull James to his feet. "Smelling it on him is enough, young man. He will not bother you again."

"I have some information on him as well, Drexel," Mr. Holmes added. "Expect me later today or tomorrow."

The constable nodded an acknowledgment, but he said nothing else as one hand guided James' stumbling walk through the archway. If she read the irritation in the officer's face correctly, he did not intend to remove the ropes until they reached the station.

Which she thought a perfect fit for his actions. A glance checked where Jimmy leaned against the brick.

"Can you breathe yet?"

"Yeah," his voice answered quietly, though slight panting also indicated the pain had not yet died. Jackson waited only for James to leave sight of the courtyard before calling the "all clear" that let everyone resume their afternoon.

"Doris, why does this cubby have a hole in the back?"

And let her resume being a twin instead of a leader. As soon as they checked his ribs, she intended to teach him everything.


Hope you enjoyed :)