Hello guys. I am SO sorry about this, I keep promising that my update rate will get better and then... it doesn't. I'm really sorry.
Breeza13 – Thanks for reviewing :D Hope you enjoy this chapter!
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Red-Cherry-Flowers – I love your name, it's so pretty :) thanks for the review :D I get my exam results tomorrow... help? Lol. Glad to know you're enjoying the story. Yeah, i wish Charles Dickens had written a sequel for Oliver... but at least we get to think of our own!
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Joanna Dorian – SUSPENSE INDEED! Haha, i'm glad you liked the story so far, i really hope you like this chapter!!
I love all you reviewers, you're amazing!!
ANYWAY! Here is the next (and unfortunately long awaited) chapter.
Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 5 - A Big Game to Play
A pale sun was beginning to rise over the broken and dirty buildings of Fiddler's Leap. Weak beams of sunlight filtered through cracks in windows, and broken hinges in doors. Those same rays of light lit the tired, grey faces of Emmy and Dodger.
"Dodge, we're gonna 'ave to sleep at some point" Emmy pointed out, slurring with tiredness, the bags under her eyes so pronounced that they looked like dark bruises. Dodger held her hand a little tighter, looking around them, searching for somewhere for them to sleep. He knew he was tired, the heaviness in his limbs told him that. However, his brain was still very much awake, spinning with the impossibility of the task that they had set themselves.
"There" he said, not choosing to embellish the sentence, as he pointed towards a wooden door, set in from the street, "Tha' door don't look as if it's been used lately"
Too tired to talk much more, the pair huddled down in the doorway, letting their heads fall onto their knees, and sleep take them.
Ginger stretched his stiff arms and neck, peering across the dark room to where his cousin lay, snoring loudly, on the floor.
Deciding not to wake Chamberson yet, Ginger slipped out from underneath the thin blanket, and quickly pulled on his boots, shivering in the dark.
He stumbled to the tiny stove, blowing hard into the ashes, and was rewarded with a wave of heat and a small glow.
Encouraged, he blew into the embers again, this time throwing in a log as the flames licked into life. He screwed his face up as smoke billowed into his eyes, and backed away, coughing, from the stove.
The commotion had woken up Chamberson.
"You make that mistake every time" he grinned lazily from his position on the floor. Ginger scowled, blinking furiously in an attempt to clear the ash from his eyes,
"Well at least I'm not too lazy to get up an' start the bloody fire..."
Chamberson simply laughed at his young cousin's predicament and shifted himself into a sitting position.
"You goin' out again today?" he asked, choosing not to retaliate. Ginger shifted, his eyes flickering to the top hat, perched on the back of a battered wooden chair,
"Later. Not this mornin'. I 'ave other stuff to take care of this mornin'."
Emmy woke to the sound of a tuneless bell chiming nine o'clock. She rubbed her tired eyes, feeling a little better for the short sleep she'd had.
"Dodge?"
She peered down at his face, his features innocent in sleep, almost childlike. Despite his eighteen years there was a shadow of boyhood left, something Emmy couldn't have pointed out even if she'd been asked to. Momentarily freed from her worries, she allowed herself a small smile.
Dodger would, most likely, have slept for quite some time, unaware of the tender look he was receiving, if the door hadn't suddenly opened behind Emmy.
She fell backwards into the doorway with a squeak of surprise, Dodger slid to the floor, his eyes flying open the second his head hit the floor,
For once he kept his mouth shut, his eyes travelling to the figure at whose feet Emmy lay. A boy, probably a couple of years younger than himself, gingery blond hair falling in tufts around his face, his blue eyes wide in surprise as he stared at Dodger's face.
"You're the Artful Dodger!" he started, completely ignoring the girl at his feet. He quickly gained control of himself and smoothed out his features, an impassive look spreading across his face. "What are you doin' sleepin' outside our door?"
Dodger's eyebrows knitted together,
"'Ow do you know 'o I am?"
The boy snorted,
"You don't actually think tha' you can be in the business for more'n a decade an' not be recognised?"
Dodger shrugged, scrambling to his feet. The boy continued,
"An' you don't get many dressin' like you neither"
Emmy had finally got her bearings and stood up,
"We were on your step 'cause we needed somewhere to sleep, now let's go Dodge..." she shot him a meaningful glance. Dodger knew exactly what she meant, they had a near impossible search ahead of them.
"Well, don't you need sommat to eat then?" the boy inquired. Emmy stopped walking and looked at Dodger, who replied,
"If it's alrigh' with you. We ain't got money mind"
The boy smiled graciously,
"That's fine"
He led them into a low ceilinged room with a small stove.
"Sit?" he pointed to a group of rickety chairs in a corner. Dodger and Emmy obligingly sat down,
"Wha's your name?" Emmy asked suddenly, her dark eyes fixed on the boy.
He turned slowly and returned her gaze,
"Ginger. S'all you need to know"
Emmy's eyes narrowed in mistrust. Dodger felt uneasy, and fixed his eyes on Ginger.
"What's your line o' work then?"
Ginger smirked, his lips pulled into a thin line,
"Oh this an' that. You know 'ow it is"
Dodger's feeling of unease tripled. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about this boy that he didn't trust. Well, there was of course the fact that he lived in Fiddler's Leap...
Ginger kept an easy smile on his face as he conversed with the two pickpockets.
'Goodie goodies...' he thought, a twinge of disgust momentarily twitching his lips 'It's a wonder they've lasted this long really...'
He hitched the smile back into place as it slipped a little. He was having to put a lot of effort into this pretence. Despite his relaxed posture and casual conversation, he was still having trouble covering his surprise at exactly who had managed to walk straight to his front door.
He didn't know who the girl was though. Of course he'd heard of her. She was always with the Dodger, always by his side.
Emmy King.
And that was all he knew. It was so frustrating to have her sat in front of him, and to know nothing about her, feel nothing from her except the penetrating glare from her deep blue eyes. They were cold and hard, boring into his own like marbles.
He switched his focus to the Artful Dodger, ignoring the girl who sat, still and quiet, her untrusting gaze burning a hole in the side of his forehead. He had a feeling that this girl could be the cause of some trouble...
"So will you come back an' sleep on our doorstep again?" Ginger asked Dodger. Dodger found it hard to tell whether Ginger was being serious or not
"No..." he wondered what to say, "We'll 'ave moved on then"
Ginger nodded in understanding and stood up in a clear gesture that it was time for Emmy and Dodger to leave. However, as they stood, the other door into the room where they stood opened, and Chamberson strode in. The big man took one look at Dodger and froze, his grey eyes widening in surprise,
"You're..." he paused, "Not usually in this area" he finished, his face unreadable. Dodger had a feeling that that might not have been the original ending to his sentence. He glanced at Ginger, hoping that he might either enlighten them as to who the man was, or let them out.
Ginger did the latter, hurrying them through the door and back out onto the grim streets of Fiddler's Leap.
"What was he doin' 'ere?" Chamberson growled, the second Ginger re-entered the room.
"'E turned up outside our door, what was I supposed to do?"
Chamberson gave him a look that even Emmy would have quailed under,
"Kicked 'em off the step an' got rid of 'em, not brought 'em in 'ere. 'O's the gel anyway?"
"Emmy King, she's always with 'im."
"Ginger, 'ave you gorn completely soft in the 'ead, or 'ave you cottoned on to what that could mean for us?"
Ginger's lips curled into an impish grin,
"An easy way out?"
Chamberson grinned back,
"I was thinkin' more of an easy way in"
Emmy was not feeling particularly cheerful. Their surreal visit into Ginger's house had left her completely unsettled, there was something about that boy that she didn't understand, and it worried her. She couldn't understand where she'd seen him before.
"'ave we met 'im before Dodge?" she finally burst out, just as they came to the door of a particularly greasy looking tavern. Dodger looked confused,
"No, I ain't met 'im before. Why, 'ave you?"
"I think so... but I don't know where..."
"I'm sure it ain't nothin' weird Emmy, 'e seemed alright"
Emmy huffed to herself for a minute, before accepting Dodger's proffered hand, and slipping inside 'The New Leap'.
"What 'appened to 'The Old Leap' then?" she asked, squeezing Dodger's hand tightly as they passed a man with no eyes, just two dark holes in his head...
Dodger shrugged,
"Probably burnt down, not unusual I s'pose, this place is a crime 'aven..."
"I feel bloody posh compared to this lot" Emmy attempted a joke as she looked around. A smile flickered across Dodger's face, and then disappeared just as quickly.
"This is a losin' battle Em... it could 'ave been anyone in the 'ole of London..." he sat down heavily on a crate. Emmy's heart fluttered at the sight of him looking so unhappy.
"Should we go back?"
His head jerked up to look at her, she continued
"Back to the 'ouse I mean"
And that was the moment that everything started to happen. The other people in the tavern, who until that minute had been muttering among themselves, all seemed to have turned on a couple of men who had just entered.
Dodger barely had time to stand up before he was knocked headlong into a table, the edge biting into his forehead. He was momentarily stunned, and looked around for Emmy, blood seeping down his face. To his horror he couldn't see her anywhere. He clambered onto another table, holding onto a low beam to support himself. Then he saw her, and his throat constricted in fear.
Emmy was almost at the door, a thick arm across her throat, dragging her along. Dodger's eyes helplessly followed the arm, finally locking on the man's face. He took a sharp breath as he recognised him.
He started to fight his way towards the door, jumping off the table and barging past men and women, all still fighting to get at the two men who had created the distraction. He kicked and hit at people in his way, panic seizing him and carrying him towards the door in a whirlwind of desperation.
But he was too late. He had reached the door, panting and ready to fight... but she was gone.
His eyes burned with unshed tears as he leant heavily on the door frame. She couldn't be gone, not that quickly, whisked away from him so easily.
He took a deep shuddering breath and stood up straighter. There was no way he was going to be able to find two people, alone.
He took a step out of the door, his hands checking his top hat as usual. Miraculous that he hadn't lost it...
Taking another step forward, he realised that there was only one place that he could go to, where he could find help.
Home.
Well?
I know this chapter was a little weird, but oh well.
Hope you enjoyed it.
What will happen next?
Who has kidnapped Emmy?
Please review!!
Love
BFxxxx