Chapter 3

The clouds overhead groaned in relief and released imprisoned rain like the ocean turned on its head. Water splashed up with each strike of her thin-soled runners. The bottom of her torn jeans hung heavy, and her bare feet squelched in her shoes. The only way she could have gotten more soaked would have been jumping in the Hudson.

Ducking into the archway of an apartment complex, she perched on the third step and smeared her hands over her face, freeing it of as much hair as possible. At some point during the impromptu relay race, the elastic in her hair had snapped causing her auburn strands to cover her face like a sticky mask. It was a very good thing she knew the streets well enough to navigate them half blind.

The violent swing of her school bag had wrenched her shoulder during the run, so she slid it off with a thump on the steps and rolled her arms to sooth her muscles. Taking her prize out from where it had been sheltered under her heavy, unzipped sweater, she set it on the steps and flipped open the lid. Her dirty, wet fingers left smudges on the pristine surface of the white box. The freshly baked, sugary goodness drifted up and her mouth watered at the sight.

A dozen donuts. Pure bliss. Not the last meal of legend, but it worked.

Box balanced on her knees, she fished out a white powdered donut and crammed half in her mouth. Strawberry filling coated her tongue. Hand under her chin, she caught a little red glob on her palm before it escaped and licked it off. After the trouble she’d gone through, She wasn’t wasting a drop.

Stealing ‘candy’ from a baby. Harder than it looked. She could still hear the air siren wail of the toddler when she’d snatched it from his hands. An easy jog should have been enough—only the kid's dad was hell bent on getting his donuts back. Made her wonder if he was a cop. Certainly not a nominee for daddy of the year, leaving his kid like that. Shame on him.

In any case, super dad was gone. When the rain sputtered off to a drizzle, she left the archway and checked the corner sign. Lexiton. Near the station. At the corner was the tobacco store that gave kids free packs in exchange for runs. Across the street was the mini-mart with the nice old man who gave her free slushies on hot summer days because he thought she was cute. A little further was the boarded up building, with windows all bricked in, a big, blind, stone beast. The ‘I love New York’ sign on a gate steps away looked like a tourist’s shiny pin.

Up ahead she could see a spill of lights and people and cars. Wrong way. She turned onto a side street, finished one donut, grabbed another and bit without looking. A crunch of sweet candy made her smile. Mmm. Sprinkles.

She swallowed and eyed the sky. A part in the clouds revealed pure darkness. Night had settled over the city. Comforting warmth, like the steam over hot stew, lured her on. Her breath hitched. She focused on cleaning ground candy from her teeth with her tongue.

Don’t think. Don’t worry. She nodded her head as though Tar was right there, repeating the words. Tastes, smells, sounds. Focus on them. Focus on the now.

The smack of sneakers on pavement bounced off the brick walls lining the run down apartments along the empty street. The dull ache of air straining for release spread through her chest. She let it out noisily when the tiny figure rounded the corner.

“I’m going to strangle you! What the hell are you doing here?” She clamped her lips shut. Bad enough he’d shown up. Shouting would ruin the act of her being here by chance. She glanced around and lowered her voice. “How did you find me, Toby?”

Toby grinned and flipped the hood of his oversized sweatshirt off his head. Shaggy brown hair that threatened to make him look like one of those ugly, scruffy dogs fell around his face, almost long enough to cover eyes that matched hers—and their father’s. Freckles covered a tiny nose that belonged on the face of a baby.

Actually, overall, Toby still looked like he had as a baby. Only taller. At eight, his head came up to her shoulder. Little brat was probably going to be as tall as dad one day.

“Tar sold you out for half a Kit-Kat,” Toby said, running his hand through his hair and making the wet pieces stick up in spikes. “He made me promise to get right back home after I found you. I just wanted to see you one last time before…”

She groaned. “I shouldn’t have told you—damn it, Toby, it’s not safe out here! Last thing I need is to be worrying about you.”

Toby stuck out his bottom lip and crossed his arms. “You're not being fair. They were my parents too, why can’t I—”

She covered his mouth with her hand and bent down. She didn’t have time for this. They had a pattern, one she’d spent years learning. She wasn’t going to let him blow this for her. “You were two when they died, you hardly knew them. Mom dumped you with the sitter whenever she had the chance because you were a nuisance. I’m not even sure dad knew when you were around. The bad guys came after me because I would have inherited everything. They never came after you because dad didn’t leave you squat. He didn’t even bother changing his will.”

Toby turned his head and bit his quivering lip. Brow furrowed, he stared at the street and used his sleeves to scrub away his tears. “Why do you hate me so much, Hel? I never done nothin’ to you.”

“I don’t hate you.” She stared at the top of his head, wondering if she should say something to make him feel better. Their father would have wanted her to, would have said something about potential damage to his emotional development. She decided to worry about that later. Priority had to be getting him out of the way. She straightened and put her hands on her hips. “What do you want from me, Toby? I keep telling you not to sneak out, ‘specially not at night. You better start listening, or I won’t visit you anymore.”

He lifted his head and gave her the wide eyed look that got him out of trouble with his foster parents every time he snuck out for their weekly visits at the park. Never worked on her, but he wouldn’t stop trying. “I’m sorry. I promise, I’ll listen.”

“Good.” She pointed down the street, back where there were lights and people. Where he’d be safe. “Go home. I’ll come see you when I’m set up.”

“Okay.” Lifting his hood back over his head, he hunched his shoulders and backed towards the shadows. “I’ll miss you.”

He pivoted and scurried off, onto the street she’d indicated and out of sight. She shook her head. “Yeah, well I won’t miss you. Little pain in the butt.” She made a face the second the words were out of her mouth and wished she could take them back. Not that it was a big deal, he hadn’t heard her. Still, it was a nasty thing to say. Even though she never told him, she did love her brother. Besides Tar, he was all she had.

She’d clear things up with him later. With the goal in sight, she had to set all distractions aside. And her brother was the biggest distraction of all.

Ahead of her, an abandoned warehouse, massive and crud scarred, claimed the end of the street. Like shattered eyes, the broken windows surveyed the dwarfed buildings on either side. Not a welcoming place.

It would do.

She rubbed her hands over the wet sleeves of her sweater and walked up to the warehouse. The cracked boards nailed over the doorway broke free with a bit of tugging. She let the pieces of rotted wood drop to her feet and squirmed through the small space.

A deep breath of the putrid air and the tang of freshly dampened mold burned inside her nose, thick on the back of her tongue like she’d snacked on bread that was half green. She scraped her tongue with her teeth and looked around. This wasn’t the most unpleasant place she’d ever slept. Not by far.

Shards of glass littered the bare cement floor. A dozen hand sized rocks presided over the destruction they’d caused. Empty beer bottles drew her attention; she did a quick inventory of what the deposit would add up to. The figures made her smile. More than enough for breakfast… maybe even lunch.

That is, if she ever needed to eat again.