The next evening at dinner, Adelaide and Skittery sat at a table with Specs, Itey, and Bumlets. The boys were laughing over some joke that Bumlets told as Adelaide looked at the clock for the fifth time in as many minutes. It was 7:34pm and the boys still haven't come back from Coney Island yet.

"Aide," Skittery put his hand on her bouncing knee. "They're fine. I'm sure they'll be back any minute."

She nodded. When he said it, it made her feel better, but the nagging thoughts continued in the back of her mind - what if they got jumped? What if they ran into one of the gangs? Was Snipeshooter going to walk through that door and tell her that Tumbler was stuck in Brooklyn?

"You did the right thing, Aide," Skittery continued. "I think this is as good for you as it is for him. They probably just splashed around in the water and ate too many sweets."

"Thanks." She smiled at him, if only so she could see him smile back.

The bell over the door rang, and Adelaide immediately felt every muscle in her body relax when she saw Tumbler, Boots, and Snipeshooter walk through the door, laughing and talking. She was so relieved so see them, she didn't even care that the day had probably brought Tumbler closer to Snipeshooter.

"Look who it is," Adelaide grinned with relief as they passed by her table.

"Hey, shh," Snipeshooter muttered as they passed by Adelaide and Skittery.

"Are we interrupting?" Skittery chuckled, having noticed their sudden silence.

"Nope," Snipeshooter said a little too quickly.

Adelaide looked from Snipeshooter avoiding her gaze to Boots rubbing the back of his neck to Tumbler studying the floor.

"How was Coney Island?" Adelaide asked casually.

"Fine," said Snipeshooter. Boots and Tumbler stayed silent.

"Hm," said Adelaide, looking between the three. "You looked pretty excited for it to just be fine."

Snipeshooter shrugged. "Well, it was." With that, he lightly pushed the others toward a booth in the corner.

Adelaide frowned at them and glanced at Skittery.

"Is that just a boy thing, or are they hiding something?"

"You know how boys are," Skittery smirked, his arm resting on the back of her chair. "Brotherhood secrets and all."

Adelaide raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you have brotherhood secrets?"

"Of course," Skittery shrugged.

Adelaide smirked and opened her mouth.

"But you can't hear them," interrupted Specs. "That's why they're called secrets."

Adelaide chuckled and looked back toward the boys. Snipeshooter was busy excited whispering something to the other younger newsies, as Boots shook his head and ate his sandwich, and Tumbler stared at the table. Every so often, he would glance over at Adelaide.

"Something's up," said Adelaide.

Skittery glanced over. "I wouldn't worry about it. They're kids. How much trouble could they have gotten into if they weren't runnin' from the bulls when they came in?"

Ignoring Skittery's judgement, Adelaide stood up and walked over.

"Aide, let it go…" Skittery called after her.

"Aren't you hungry?" Adelaide asked, sliding in next to Tumbler. Snipeshooter quickly stopped talking when she sat down.

"Not really," said Tumbler.

He would never spill anything in front of the boys. Normally, Adelaide would let them have their fun and secrets, but something about the whole situation made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. "Well, if you're not hungry, why don't we save our money for breakfast, and we can go get you a new coat?" Adelaide stood up. "The ladies from the CAS were handin' out coats earlier."

"Okay," Tumbler nodded and stood up. Adelaide put her arm around him and they walked toward the door.

"Go with your big sister, you baby," Snipeshooter muttered behind them. Adelaide glanced down at Tumbler and knew he had heard it.

"Ignore him," she said softly.

Adelaide and Tumbler walked out into the cold and walked down the street.

"So what did you guys see at Coney?"

"Stuff," shrugged Tumbler.

"What kind of stuff? Any bearded ladies? Dwarf circus?"

"Sure."

"What was your favorite part?"

Finally, Tumbler couldn't take it any longer. "It was all Snipeshooter's idea! Boots and I just went with him. We didn't do nothin', I swear it. Snipeshooter said there were girls in some of the bars who would-"

Tumbler's voice failed him when he saw the flash in Adelaide's eyes. He put his hand over his mouth.

Adelaide wanted to scream. What was Snipeshooter's idea? And what was he doing taking her little brother to a bar? Her mind reeled at the sort of things he could have spent his money on. But Tumbler already knew he had said too much, and her getting angry would only to clam him up. She slowly exhaled.

"It's okay, Mikey," she said, calmly, putting her hands on his shoulder. She bent down to his level. "If you didn't do anything, then you're not in trouble, okay?" Tumbler nodded. "What did Snipeshooter say about the girls in the bars?"

Tumbler swallowed, torn between his allegiance to his friends and the guilt of what happened. "There were girls who would...you know…aw, Aide, don't make me tell you. It's embarrasin'!"

"Did Snipeshooter do anything with a girl? Did he give her money to do it?"

Tumbler bit his lip.


The door of Tibby's flew open, the bell nearly flying off. Adelaide stormed in, and marched straight over to Snipeshooter and smacked him upside the head.

"What the hell were you thinking, you little shit?!" she yelled.

"Hey!" yelled Snipeshooter.

"Whoa, Aide," said Skittery, standing up.

"Listen!" She grabbed Snipeshooter by his collar, nearly lifting him off his seat. "I want you to stay away from my brother, you hear me?" She smacked him on the other side of the head. "And if you had any decency you wouldn't be leading these other kids who look up to you to such places! You may be beyond saving, but I'll be damned if you lead my brother to hell along with you!"

"Aide, what's goin' on?" Skittery asked, walking over.

Adelaide dropped Snipeshooter's collar with a push and turned away.

"The little snitch," Snipeshooter muttered, but not quiet enough to evade Adelaide's ears. She whipped around, her hand up in the air to slap him across the face when a hand grabbed her wrist.

"Easy," said Skittery, holding her wrist in one hand and wrapping the other around her waist. He pulled her toward the exit.

"If I catch you around him again, I'll cut off your diseased little-"

But she was cut off by the door closing.

Tibby's was dead silent, with all eyes on Snipeshooter, his cheeks burning.

"Don't think nothin' of it," Race piped up from the next table over.

Snipeshooter kept his eyes on the table and sunk down in his seat.


"What the hell was that?!" Skittery put Adelaide down once they were outside.

"That little bastard took my brother to a brothel in Coney Island!" Adelaide yelled. "Where a newsie can pay a day's wages to get….pleasure."

Skittery rolled his eyes. "Snipeshooter ain't been with a girl. And that would cost him more than a day's wages."

Adelaide's eyebrows shot up. "And you would know?"

Skittery sighed. "No."

"He wasn't with a girl…he…they…" Adelaide rolled her eyes, "The cheapest thing a whore would do."

"Oh."

"And YOU said it was probably nothin'!"

"I was wrong," said Skittery, holding this hands up. "I-" but the sound of sniffling behind him cut him off. He turned around and saw Tumbler, huddled against the side of the building, tears running down his face.

Adelaide closed her eyes, the guilt of her tantrum settling in. She had completely lost her mind and her little brother was left out in the cold while she smacked around one of his best friends. No matter what sort of heathen Adelaide thought Snipeshooter was, Tumbler didn't deserve what she had just done.

Skittery walked over and crouched in front of Tumbler. "Hey buddy," he said. "You okay?"

"I didn't mean to get him in in trouble," said Tumbler. "Now Snipes is gonna hate me."

"I'll take care of that," said Skittery. "Look, Tumbler, what Snipes did was...wrong. But you were smart enough to know it was wrong. And you didn't do nothin', so it's okay."

"Okay." He sniffed.

"Come 'ere." Skittery pulled the boy into a hug.

Watching the two of them, it hit Adelaide how lucky she was to have Skittery. He always kept her grounded, and Tumbler adored him. She realized that Tumbler probably looked up to Skittery more than he did Snipeshooter, and for that, she felt even luckier.

"I'm sorry, Aide." Tumbler looked up at her over Skittery's shoulder with tears running down his cheeks.

"You don't have to be sorry," said Adelaide, walking over. Skittery let go of Tumbler and Adelaide fell to her knees and hugged her brother, not caring that her knees were wet and cold. Feeling his little arms hug her neck so tight brought tears to her eyes. "I love you, Mikey. That's why I get a little crazy when it comes to you being safe."

"I know, Aide. I love you too." He pulled back and looked at her. "Can I stay with you tonight, Aide?"

Adelaide shook her head. "I wish you could, buddy."

"But Snipes is gonna be mean coz I snitched on him."

"He won't do anything with me around," said Skittery. "I'll make sure of that."