Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry that I haven't posted sooner! I've been so busy with camp and I literally wake up, frantically type a paragraph or two while eating breakfast, then come home, stare at the screen for a couple minutes, and fall asleep. I hope you like it and since it's the weekend I'll get more up soon.

I also just wanted to say thank you for your patience and your support and compliments and awesomeness. Like, it really makes my day to read your reviews. So thanks.

Kate

Kate couldn't fall asleep that night. This was rare; while most children stay up tossing and turning and bounding out of bed every so often – "Is it morning yet?" – on Christmas eve or any eve of a day on which they receive presents, Kate couldn't care less about that sort of business. Instead, the occasions where she had trouble drifting off were either when her life was in danger, she was pressing up against a deadline, or there was some type of stimulating, exciting activity coming up that would finally give her energetic brain something to do.

This time, the case was, of course, the latter one. The more she thought about it, the more brilliant "Kate lessons" were. If the others were half as agile and quick as she, it could greatly improve their success rates in combat. With Constance generally riding piggy back on one of the boys, and Sticky always second guessing, she couldn't believe they'd ever even triumphed.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered, flopping back onto her bed after pacing for a bit. Sighing, she reached for her bucket and uncoiled a length of thin rope, resigned to another late-night exploration of the house. Before she could unfasten a ceiling tile, however, one moved, seemingly of its own accord. Suppressing a scream, she jumped back, fumbling in her bucket for her slingshot, which she aimed carefully at the source of movement. "Who's there?" she asked loudly, thoughts of McCracken and escaped Ten Men whirling through her head.

"Let go of me," came a muffled but familiarly irritable voice. Kate relaxed and helped move over the tile.

"Oh, hello," she said, watching in amusement as Constance and Reynie tumbled ungracefully down. "Where's Sticky?"

"He was, uh, asleep," explained Reynie.

"Sure," conceded Constance grumpily.

Kate reached over and flicked the light switch. "So what brings you to my – my –" She tried to think of a clever and witty term for their current location, but gave up and said lamely, "My room."

"I can't stop thinking about what Mr. Benedict said," Reynie explained.

"I know, me neither!" Kate sat down on the floor across from him, legs crossed. "What do you think they're worried about?"

"McCracken finding us, obviously." He paused. "Do you think he would?"

"Find us? I don't know. I kind of feel like McCracken was nothing without Mr. Curtain, so why would he still be malicious?"

"No." Reynie shook his head. "The Executives were nothing without Curtain, but he had no control over his Ten Men. They did what they wanted. They were a different brand of evil."

Constance's face had paled. "Can we please talk about something else?" she asked in a small voice.

Kate and Reynie exchanged a look. Poor Constance, who already had a remarkable capacity to retain memories in acute detail, had been faced with the worst horrors that the Ten Men could offer. In a mutual yet silent agreement, Kate and Reynie resolved to change the subject and be more careful when discussing McCracken.

"Anyway," said Kate brightly, "who's excited for tomorrow?"

"What's so special about tomorrow?" grumbled Constance.

"Kate's teaching us how to live," Reynie said, grinning at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Constance suspiciously.

"Reynie doesn't know what he's talking about," said Kate, winking at him. "I'm not teaching you how to live, exactly. Just how to… well, I don't know how to describe it." She frowned, realizing that she did not, in fact, have any clue as to how she was going to present her "lessons".

"That sounds lame." Constance crossed her arms and fought back a yawn.

Kate laughed, ruffling up her hair. "You're tired! Go back to bed, Connie-girl."

"Shut up," the little girl muttered, but stood up anyway and teetered over to the door. Halfway there, she fell down and promptly started snoring.

"I'd better go with her," said Reynie, standing up. He leaned down. "Constance?"

Her eyelids fluttered open and for a moment, the stormy expression was gone. She held her arms out to him and, not sure what to do, he awkwardly lifted her off the floor.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said to Kate, stumbling out into the hallway. "Don't worry, I've got the light," he added, leaning in and turning it off before she could. "Goodnight."

"Bye," said Kate softly, watching him sway down the corridor, balancing the six year old on his shoulder. He disappeared for a moment as he deposited her in his room, then reappeared and walked the rest of the way to his bedroom. With a small sigh, Kate slowly shut the door, crawled back into bed, and went to sleep.

Okay, I know this one was short, but I feel bad that I haven't posted anything in awhile. Thankfully, I have more free time this weekend, so I'll try to put at least one more chapter out.

Let me know what you thought. I'm already working on the next chapter, which will be Reynie POV. I thought that the Constance/Reynie thing was sweet, since she does really rely on them more than she lets on, and as they're all maturing I think he makes a really good and solid big brother figure for her. Thanks for reading!