I watched him walk into the building with the curly-haired boy. They were smiling

away, talking. It made me angry beyond reason to see him with his arm around Blink's

shoulders. I knew it was just an innocent act of friendship, but my jealousy got the best

of me. I just focused on my anger and glared at him.

I told them, "I'm here to deliver a message to Cowboy." Curly stepped in close to me as we exchanged a few more tense words. He tried to intimidate me by towering over me, and all I could do was laugh. If those tactics worked on me any more I'd have been dead or back in the Refuge.

When he called me a lackey though I had a hard time not taking a swing at him right

there. I clenched and unclenched my fists a few times and just glared at him harder.

Blink stepped forward and pulled him out of my face, which was good timing. When

he offered to take me to Cowboy and I felt my heart skip a beat. I would finally have a

chance to be alone with him.

We walked out of the building and he began dodging people and carriages. His

movements were fluid and almost like watching him dance. He glanced back at me once to

make sure I was following him and I bit down on my lip to hide the smile that crept up

on my face. A few blocks down he turned into an alley. I watched him make his way

through garbage cans and crates, but when we got halfway to the next street he turned

around and told me "It's time we talked."

I froze in place as he stared at me. I could see that he wanted me to say something.

I cocked an eyebrow at him and leaned up against the nearest wall. "I told ya, the

message is for Cowboy."

He sighed and hooked his thumbs in the front of his pants as he came to lean on the

building beside me. When his elbow brushed my arm I felt an involuntary shiver run up

my spine.

"Kyndall, I meant we . . ." But I cut him off mid-sentence.

"Don't be callin' me that, the name is Spot. Ya hear?" His face fell as he nodded. I

immediately regretted interrupting him. I really didn't mind hearing my real name, not

when he said it.

"Spot, what I meant was we need to talk about the Refuge. I don't want ya to think I

forgot about ya. I really did want to come see if there was a way to get ya out. But for

the first few weeks I could hardly walk. But about a month after I got out I went to watch

at the gates for ya. For eight days I hid behind a set of stairs across the street at meal

times try to see ya go to the other building. But I didn't see ya. I could only think they

had moved ya somewhere else. Or that the old man came back to get ya."

As I listened to him I started chewing on the side of my mouth, trying to distract myself

from the emotions building up in my chest. I was happy beyond reason that he had tried

to get back to see me. He did care about finding me as well. I couldn't hide the frown

when he mentioned my father though.

"That good for nothin' piece of trash ain't never gonna come lookin' for me." I growled

as I pushed off from the wall and started pacing the width of the alley. Then I spit on the

ground for emphasis. "Good riddance!"

"Sorry, I'm just tryin' to make ya realize how much I hated leavin' ya behind. I'm just

glad you're ok. I'm glad Brick went to jail and didn't get to hurt anyone else." A small

smile crossed his face as he relaxed.

As he said the last sentence I halted my pacing and turned my head to look at him. I

could feel myself starting to shake and my palms began to sweat. While I stood there

trying to control the shaking, his smile turned to a look of concern. I did my best to

appear angry and turned away from him as I brought my fist down on the nearest pile

of wooden crates. As they broke I could feel the pain in my now bleeding hand. The

tremors had stopped, and I could only hope he was convinced that I was shaking in

rage and not trembling in fear. I turned back at him glaring and said, "I never wanna

talk about that place again. Ya may be my friend, but if I ever hear ya talkin' about The

Refuge in front a me, I'll soak ya."

Walking past me, Blink turned toward the next street, and rounded the corner.

When he was out of sight, I bent over the smashed crate and threw up, choking

back a silent sob as I wiped a tear from my eye. I looked up just as Blink glanced

back around the corner at me. I nodded and ran to catch up.