The next morning, they were both tired. They weren't the only ones. Mrs. D seemed exhausted. Apparently, having to report Oliver missing a few days ago got her in closer contact with what flimsy 'law enforcement' the Greed Ring had. It was technically against the rules to have so many kids here. And Oliver knew that she really should be spending more of the money she got for keeping them here on the kids. He might be deaf, but he wasn't stupid.

Even if she said so.

He pretended not to understand. Mrs. D still wasn't entirely sure if he could read lips or not. She screamed a lot, Kai said, as if that would make Oliver's ears work. Mostly Oliver stared at her as blankly as possible and hoped she would ignore him again soon so he could do something funner than stand here.

Right now she was going on about "was it worth it to sneak out?" and "you've caused so much more trouble than you're worth" and something about the monthly stipends and she could throw him out on the street if she wanted to and blah blah blah. "This is why no one ever adopted you" and "you're lucky I even took you in here, it's a step above an orphanage".

So nothing new.

If she couldn't wait to get rid of him, Oliver wondered why she didn't just do it. Kick him out like she threatened. If no one followed up on him disappearing from her home, then she could 'graciously take in' someone easier to handle to replace him and get monthly stipends for taking care of that impling instead.

I know why, it's because they pay her more for kids like me. And Kai. 'Difficult' kids who are harder to place. Besides, he knew now that someone would follow up on him going missing. It would be difficult to disappear into Greed without being caught eventually.

Why couldn't a nice group home want me. He knew they existed. Somewhere. It wasn't the same as getting adopted by a family but a nice group home would take good care of its kids. Even the crowded orphanage Oliver had hazy memories of had nicer staff. They just didn't have enough time for everyone. Or resources.

"Are you paying attention?" A hand with long, sharp nails grabbing his chin pulled Oliver out of his thoughts. "It's disrespectful not to even try to understand, you know."

He understood perfectly.

A flash of lightning. Oliver shivered.

A rumble of thunder that felt like it might shake the walls down. A rumble in his stomach. Dinners had been smaller that week. Everyone knew it was Oliver's fault for running away. Kai was the only one who didn't shoot him dirty looks for it.

Another rumble of thunder. He felt Kai's grip on the blanket tighten.

They both hated storms. Oliver tried to be glad that he could hear it, but when he perceived it with every other sense, he ended up being just as scared anyway.

Kai's small flashlight clicked on.

Tell me again how the show was?

He never got sick of hearing about it. Oliver wished he could have brought Kai with. He sat up too, ready for the most dramatic retelling yet, starting with using the hard-earned, carefully saved money he'd been accumulating for the past year to bribe another imp to smuggle him into the show in his backpack. (That had still been cheaper than the tickets. Oliver was not fond of Mammon at all.)

Then the lights came on, and everyone was cheering…

Oliver and Kai woke up one morning to pieces of paper scattered across the blanket.

The picture with the signature was in such small pieces that it wasn't even worth trying to put back together.

"Come on up here."

"You can do anything you want to do."

"Thank you."

No one could tear his memories into pieces and leave them scattered. Oliver played those moments over and over in his mind. The more he did it, the better he would remember, which was the opposite of how a VCR tape sustained wear and tear from countless rewindings or CDs getting scratches in them.

He signed out the story again and again. Sometimes all by himself, sometimes when Kai asked to hear it again. No one could tear that to pieces.

Oliver tried not to let his bottom lip start wobbling when he thought about the autograph. It wasn't the only thing he'd brought back with him from that day.

(It still stung.)

"I have an idea," Kai signed one day, after waving to get Oliver's attention. He was perched on the lumpy gray couch folding socks while Oliver swept the rug.

"What?" Oliver hoped he would sigh quickly. If they were caught taking too long of a break, then they would be assigned more to do. And the more chores in a row they were assigned, the harder they got.

"Fizz performs at Ozzie's now. Exclusively. We should go there and get another autograph."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "If only. Let's finish up our chores."

"I'm serious, Ollie!" Kai let out what was probably a very loud, dramatic sigh. "We'll take the elevators."

The elevators?

As in, travel to another ring? By themselves.

"And we won't come back here. Think about it," Kai continued, hands moving fast, "we can't run away here because we're too different. We're imps in the Greed ring. You know where they would have a much harder time finding us? Wrath."

Right. The Wrath ring was crawling with imps. Here in Greed, or in Pride, or even in Lust, there were blocks or neighborhoods largely inhabited by imps, but in Wrath, there were whole towns. Farms and stores and gas stations and bus routes all run by and used by imps.

"We still look pretty different," Oliver pointed out, not wanting to get his hopes up. He gestured to his ears and broken horns, then Kai's legs.

"So? All Mrs. D and the authorities see are implings. Little red guys. They don't really see us. I bet they'd give up fast if they couldn't find us here in Greed."

"And if someone from Wrath turns us in?"

"The news won't get there for forever. They'll give up on finding us, and we'll be free."

"Free to do what?"

"Anything we want," Kai's smile only grew brighter. "You can perform, and I can be your announcer, or we could work at a farm- I could churn butter. They do that there, it looks like fun."

Suddenly, his expression changed. "Look busy," he signed quickly. He probably heard footsteps in the hall. He and Oliver turned away from each other and got back to work, looking very concentrated. Sure enough, Oliver saw Mrs. D pass them by out of the corner of his eye. She was talking on her cellphone. Ashes from her cigarette dropped like snow onto the carpet Oliver was trying to clean.

When she was gone, he stuck his tongue out. It made him feel a little better, even if she didn't see it.

—

For days, all Kai would sign about was Wrath.

"They film that TV show in Wrath. The one on Fridays, because the deserts there are scenic."

"In Wrath, almost every mayor of every town is an imp."

"Have you seen those ads for IMP? The assassins? The woman with the big ax is from Wrath. I bet that's where she learned a lot of her transferable skills."

Before Oliver knew it, he was begrudgingly imagining it too. Somehow having the money for tickets (he was accumulating loose change from the street in a sock again) and getting on the elevator. Pushing Kai's wheelchair while he hung on to their bag with all their stuff in it. Finding someone who would let them live in a spare room or the loft of a barn while they found their footing. Maybe a nice imp woman who could be like a mom. A nice imp man with a mustache (like the guys from that show) who would tip his hat and nod his head in approval at a job well done. The volcanos.

There was actually natural light- from lava and a sun in Wrath… it seemed like it shone so bright all the time. Like it would be hot. Like it might warm the lakes, and maybe Oliver could learn how to swim. Or they could take naps in it in the afternoons. And the red of their skin would deepen. Maybe Oliver had freckles, and he'd never gotten enough sun to know it yet. In Greed, he was always chilly. If he wasn't chilly, it was smog that warmed him and his head ached and his eyes watered. In Lust, it was perpetually rainy and overcast, whether it was warm or cool. But Wrath… Wrath seemed so bright and warm, at least the places they showed on the grainy television screen.

"I heard there are hardly any sharks there," Kai said one day. "Sometimes they pass through, but it's so hot and dry there that after a while, they don't feel good. You don't like sharks much, do you? Wouldn't you like to go to a place where there aren't so many of them?"

Kai was right. Oliver didn't like sharks much, they way their eyes seemed to track where he went, their huge tooth smiles. And sharks didn't like him much either. (He was glad they didn't. Most sharks didn't really like other demons, they liked what they thought they could get from them.)

"You really think it will work?" he signed back.

Kai's expression gave way to surprise for a few moments before excitement. "I do! I really think it'll work. We'll pop down to Lust real quick, get that autograph, and it'll be our good luck charm. We'll take the elevators right up to Wrath. Look, I have timetables!"

He pulled a cut out piece of paper from beneath their mattress.

"We just need the money. We've managed to save money before, we'll do it again."

He was… right. They had saved the money. Oliver had gone, and come back with a story and an autograph, and Fizz had told him he could do anything he wanted to. Would Fizz do this?

Of course he would. Oliver looked around the room crowded with bunk beds. He looked at the knees of his jeans that were beginning to get holes worn through them. The bruise on his arm where Mrs. D had grabbed him a little too hard yesterday. He didn't want to put up with this until the system let him go off on his own. He wanted to hand in his notice too.

Oliver took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm in."

Then he held out his hand to shake on it.