Jonathan stared at the three-piece suit lying spread out on his bed, and second-guessed himself. He'd talked over his idea with Mr. Geiller, the older kids, even Cholera in a moment of desperation, and although he was undeniably nervous about its execution what was really making him hesitate was the fact that he was going to have to leave Yanni, Bethany, and Abigail alone in the orphanage with only Mr. Geiller and Cholera to supervise them.

Mr. Geiller.

And Cholera.

Jonathan groaned and stuck his head in his hands. This was going to go horribly wrong, wasn't it?

"Jonathan?" called Abigail from the doorway. "Weren't you planning to leave by now?"

Jonathan took a deep breath and began carefully packing the suit into a garment bag. It had taken multiple sessions to conjure the damn thing—the garment bag took a whole session of its own—and he didn't want it getting wrinkled on the walk to Eldridge. "Yeah, sorry, Abigail, just having a moment."

Abigail watched him critically for a few moments. "We'll be okay, Jonathan. Mr. Geiller isn't that bad. And the other day, Yanni went to the bathroom on his own even though Cholera was talking to those invisible creatures again."

"I know, I know, it's just…the combination scares me."

"We'll be fine," Abigail repeated. "I'm more worried about you and the others."

"…Yeah. I guess I am, too."

The plan, such as it was, had ended up pretty simple: talk to the Petty Baron, and try to convince him to leave them alone. And if he was as bad as Ethan seemed to think he was, and Ebola got involved, the kids were going to set up a cordon around the Baron's hideout to keep the demon contained.

Jonathan actually wasn't terribly worried for himself—honestly, the threat this two-bit crook represented didn't feel completely real to him, and he was mostly still pissed off about the way his thugs trashed the orphanage—but he was mildly terrified about letting the older kids try and establish their cordon because if the Petty Baron's thugs nabbed them, things could go very bad very fast and Jonathan might not even know until it was too late.

However, when he'd talked it over with them, every single kid who had been on the run with Ethan in Eldridge had volunteered themselves, including Bethany and Yanni. He'd drawn the line at the youngest kids, but couldn't bring himself to exclude Jamilah and Chris. He needed Kylus and Sandra's ability to communicate across distances too badly to even think of excluding them, and Ethan was the oldest of the bunch and likely the most capable, given that he'd evaded the Petty Baron for as long as he had when they were all living in Eldridge together.

Which brought him back to the suit, which was now fully packed and ready to go. When brainstorming with the kids, one of them had mentioned that one way to ensure the Petty Baron actually talked to him would be to look like a noble, or at least someone with plenty of money to burn. When he'd pressed them to describe the clothing that nobles wore, what they had described sounded reasonably similar to men's dresswear in his own time period, albeit with more lace involved. When Jonathan had countered with a description of the suits he'd remembered, they'd unanimously agreed that he should conjure something from his own world, since the combination of "rich person" and "foreign styles" would be even more likely to gain him access without being roughed up.

Jonathan really, really hoped they were right.

Mr. Geiller met him in the hall, where the rest of the kids had gathered. Cholera was standing back a little way apart from the group staring hungrily at…Jamilah's shoes? Jonathan didn't want to ask. Maybe Jamilah had stepped in something.

"So you're going through with this foolhardy plan?" grumped Mr. Geiller as soon as Jonathan descended the stairs.

Jonathan hefted the garment bag in his arms; it was surprisingly awkward to handle, despite not weighing all that much. "I talked this over with you already, Mr. Geiller, and none of us have come up with a better idea."

The man humphed but didn't offer a rejoinder. "Well, little as I like it, I don't want any more of those low-lifes coming around again, either. Barely kept them off my property last time." He looked away, evidently embarrassed. "You come back safe, now. I don't want you getting mixed up with criminals or Quints, both."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"That's the goal," said Jonathan, and clapped Mr. Geiller lightly on the arm.

The old man startled, shot him an indecipherable look, and then shrugged him off. "Alright, fine. Get going, then!"

Jonathan turned to address Bethany, Yanni, and Abigail who had clustered together further away from the door. "We'll try to be back by this evening, but it's possible we might need to hide in Eldridge overnight. Listen to Mr. Geiller and…maybe not Cholera…and be good, okay?"

Bethany barely paid attention to Jonathan, her gaze locked on Ethan. "You have to come back!" she cried out when she evidently couldn't take it anymore. "You promised!"

Ethan picked her up and folded her into a hug. "You know, I will, Bethany. They never caught us before, and they're not going to start now."

The little girl's voice was muffled from where her face was buried in his shoulder. "Okay. Remember, you promised!"

"And I always keep my promises," said Ethan gently. "You know that."

Jonathan patted her on the back. "We'll all keep each other safe, okay Bethany? And if the alarm goes off, you need to make sure you show Mr. Geiller and Cholera how to get to the fallback. Can you do that for me?"

She lifted her face off her brother and gave Jonathan a fierce nod.

"Good. Thank you, Bethany. Yanni and Abigail, you, too. I'm counting on all of you."

Mr. Geiller cut in. "Alright, alright, that's enough of that. Come on over here, Bethany, Yanni. The sooner they leave, the sooner they'll be back."

Bethany grabbed on tighter to Ethan, but after a moment let him set her down and stepped back.

Jonathan took a steadying breath. "Alright, everybody. Sooner we leave, the sooner we'll be home!"

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The group gathered on the road out of sight of the gate into Eldridge for a strategy meeting.

"Alright, Ethan," said Jonathan as he shifted the damn garment bag for what felt like the millionth time. "You said the Petty Baron is likely to have eyes on every gate, right?"

"Yeah, the Petty Baron, Fairbanks, and the Rose all have at least a few guards they bribe to keep them up to date about stuff coming into the city that they might be interested in. I doubt they'll recognize you, but my description…" Ethan trailed off with a downcast look.

Jonathan clapped him on the shoulder. "Water under the bridge, buddy. I remember you said that Sandra and Kylus were also persons of interest to this Petty Baron character, but what about Jamilah?"

Jamilah shook her head. "No, I've never had any great interaction with any of them."

"And you know your way to the Petty Baron's headquarters?"

Jamilah nodded. "I have never been inside, but Ethan made sure we all knew where it was so we could get away if we needed to."

Jonathan nodded. "Good. Let's go to the gate that's closest to the Petty Baron's place, then, and Jamilah and I will walk in first. You four wait for a few minutes after we're through, then try to get in without being noticed. If necessary, I'll use magic to create a distraction so you can get out of trouble, then we'll meet at that hideout Ethan told me about near the Petty Baron's headquarters and go from there. Sound good?"

Nods all around.

Jonathan turned to go, but Sandra snagged his arm. "After you and Jamilah get inside, find somewhere out of the way and change into those clothes you created. We'll wait until we see you to come through. That outfit will probably be a better distraction than anything you could do with magic."

Ethan nodded. "That's a really good idea, Jonathan."

"Okay, it's a plan. You ready for this, Jamilah? Ethan, Chris, Sandra, Kylus?"

"Just go already!" said Kylus with a laugh. "You're way more nervous about this than any of us, Jonathan. We've been ducking the Petty Baron for ages."

Well. That was probably true. Jonathan nodded, and followed Jamilah away from the other four kids.

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Getting through the gate was stressful, but went well. Jonathan didn't even need to try and create a distraction, as a wagon headed into the city got its wheel lodged in a break in the cobbles, and in the confusion the remaining kids slipped around the edges of the crowd and into the city.

As planned they rendezvoused near the Petty Baron's home, and after a last nervous review of the plan on Jonathan's part, the kids separated and disappeared into the surrounding streets.

Jonathan tugged at his jacket to straighten it, fiddled with his cuffs, and took a deep breath. Alright. Nothing for it. He just needed to confront a crime boss with some crazy obsession over a group of street orphans and convince him to leave them alone.

Ugh, he felt like he was going to throw up. He dithered for a few more moments, but then slapped himself on the cheeks lightly, and pictured Yanni walking alongside him while holding his hand; Bethany laughing as she played with the other kids; Ethan nervously looking to him for guidance as he started to trust that Jonathan actually had his best interests at heart; Kylus talking non-stop over a meal; Sandra calmly getting on with chores; Jamilah geeking out over sandwiches alongside Abigail; Chris actually starting to speak up once in a while; and Abigail talking to him, hugging him, trusting him.

Nothing for it. He hadn't gotten entangled with all these kids because he wanted to, but now that it had happened…they deserved the happiness and stability they'd just started to find.

And no two-bit villain was going to stand in the way of that. Jonathan enlivened his magic and reached out to Ebola.

The wave of murderous intent that swept through him was weirdly comforting, which was honestly kind of concerning. But that was something to worry about for another day.

For now, Jonathan swallowed as best he could with his mouth dry as it was, straightened his suit one final time, and marched out into the street.

Time to talk to the Petty Baron and settle things one way or another.