For Joseph, the shock upon encountering his younger sister was gradually replaced with growing anticipation at having her there. It had been three years since their last encounter, which had been in England. Before that, was Russia. Before that…well, it had been a long chase over time.

Maggie had left home when she was barely 15, "in search of you" is what she always claimed, but somehow he wondered if that was only half the truth. Maggie was like Joseph in many ways, much to their mother's dismay; same dark curly hair, sea-green eyes, same untamable nature. Although, he had to admit, he'd never inherited the fierce temper she had, which came from their mother's side.

It got her into trouble on numerous occasions, but then it remarkable got her out of trouble again…sometimes. In all his years of wandering, Joseph had never known anybody quite so brave as his sister, even if she never believed that she was.

And even if this wasn't the best of times to have her "drop by," all in all, he was secretly glad she was here. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed her. Now, there was just the question of what to do with her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maggie

Our living quarters (though it could hardly be called such) was a ghastly sight. The concrete walls were cracked and freezing cold. There were various patches of wall occupied with pictures, letters, and numbers sketched out in white chalk. A mattress buried under a nest of blankets sat against one wall. The only other objects in that rabbit hole of a room were a chair on which a change of clothes draped over, and a rickety wooden nightstand covered in a layer of swirled dust…evidence that someone had made a lazy attempt at brushing it off.

"I know it's a bit dusty—,"

"It's a bit disgusting, is what it is. How can you live like this?" I kicked a dirty sock off to the side.

"I've spent more time in the streets and found more decent places to stay!"

"Excuse me, Your Highness, what did you expect? I'm a man, and a hardworking one at that, therefore, I live like one."

"Not anymore."

I paused for a moment before realizing something rather of importance.

"Where do I sleep?"

Joseph bit his lip. "Hmm…right, that's a tad bit problematic."

It another minute before he offered up what turned out to be a rather daft idea.

"You know, there just might be a spare bed in the girls' dormitories. If we're lucky, perhaps I could get it out of there, and no one would be the wiser."

"You mean, steal it."

"No, not necessarily. I mean, if no one's using it…"

"Joseph, that's the most idiotic idea I've ever heard!"

"Fine! You wanna sleep on the floor, be my guest."

"There's no way I'm sleeping on that floor."

"Quit your bellyaching, it's clean enough."

"It's a port in a sewage storm."

This went on for awhile, until I realized we had left the dingy room, and we were on our way upstairs again.

"Where are we going?"

"It's late. And since you're so against stealing a bed, I thought I'd borrow some extra blankets for the night."

We were in one of the dimly-lit corridors at that point, and I kept close to Joseph, for fear of losing him around a dark corner.

"Where the h—,"

I was cut off by Joseph's hand unexpectedly clamping over my mouth, while at the same time, he yanked me back and pressed me against the wall.

"Shh!" He whispered urgently.

For a brief moment, I wondered what the hell was wrong with him. Then I heard, "Hey Jo! What you still doin' here?" The voice belonged to a male; an English one at that.

"Blackcap! I thought you were long gone!" Joseph hollered down the hall. He quickly turned back to me.

"Get out of sight! Go on!"

He swiftly peeled me away from the wall, and tapped my derierre, sending me off in the opposite direction. I hated it when he did that.

Author's Note: Sooo sorry about not updating like a good little girl. Just a brief note, I've made a change, but I don't think it'll throw anyone off. I hope. In the chapter, "A Tight Spot," where it introduces a few of Joseph's friends, there was the character Magpie. Well, I'm going to change it to Blackcap/Pipit (Pipit will be his real name), because I wanted to use Magpie as Joseph's nickname for Maggie. I didn't even think of this at the time I started writing the story, it just sort of came to me as I was trying to think of a pet name for Maggie in the upcoming chapter.

So now that I've screwed you all up, let me know what you think, and I'll bring up the next chapter very soon!