The flight through the city passed in a blur as Jonathan's focus narrowed down to just trying to force himself to take the next step. Although there did not appear to be any pursuit, Ethan remained on edge as he practically dragged Jonathan along. At last, though, he let Jonathan go, and Jonathan found himself sliding down a nearby wall to a sitting position. Once he'd successfully made it to the ground, he looked around.

He and the kids were in a small space between several houses. It appeared that at one point it might have been an alley or a pass-through between the buildings, but a new building was added that walled off the area, and one of the houses had remodeled in such a way that the other end was enclosed, as well. Now it was just a space, roughly triangular, that had been cut out of the rest of the city and left to molder. The way they'd entered was through a broken-down fence, although there also appeared to be a slim egress between two buildings on the opposite side.

The nearby houses had no windows at street level, and though they did have windows on the second floor all of them were currently shuttered.

"Sandra says she hasn't seen anyone suspicious," Kylus reported from where he was sitting against the opposite wall.

Ethan nodded. "Good, perhaps we got away clean, then. And let's keep our voices down, hm? People live around here."

Kylus let his head fall back against the wall behind him. "Right; that's why this was just an emergency bolt hole, wasn't it?"

Ethan looked over at Jamilah, who was sitting near Kylus with her eyes closed. "Yes, that among…other reasons."

"What next?" said Jonathan.

Ethan turned his way. "We'll rest here for a bit, then if the coast still looks clear, we'll get out of the city and return home."

That was nice; Ethan already thought of the orphanage as home.

"Do any of you know what happened back there? I was in a tough spot, and it was pretty clear the Petty Baron wasn't going to be reasonable, but I can't remember anything past pulling Ebola out."

All the kids shook their heads as Jonathan ran his eyes around the group. A moment later, Sandra slipped into the space from between the two buildings across from Jonathan and joined the conversation as if she'd been part of it all along—which come to think, thanks to Kylus, she might have. "I didn't get a chance to take a peek inside, either. We all felt the change, though, and you were in there for long enough that something must have happened."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to hope it went after the Petty Baron before making a break for the city."

Chris spoke up. "I could stay behind when you all go. Keep my ear to the ground."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Chris—" said Jonathan, but stopped himself. Last time Chris had simply taken a risk without talking to anyone. Maybe this was progress. Still, he didn't much like the idea of leaving any of the kids on their own. He looked to Ethan.

Ethan looked contemplative. "That's—not a bad idea."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow, and Ethan looked embarrassed. "Out of all of us, Chris is the one who knows the city best. I know the Petty Baron almost got ahold of us when he and I visited last time, but honestly that was probably my fault. When Chris doesn't want to be noticed, people don't notice him."

"Hmm." Jonathan leaned his own head back and shut his eyes as he gave it some thought. On the one hand, he definitely didn't like the idea of leaving a kid behind and potentially in danger. On the other, they needed to know whether the Petty Baron was still a threat, or if Ebola had—eliminated him. "Okay." He opened his eyes and focused on Chris. "But I want you to come back tomorrow afternoon no matter what. If you aren't able to find anything out, then we'll just have to plan another trip so we can acquire the information we need in a safe way.

"Alright, Jonathan. That's fair."

"Just don't do anything stupid, okay? I'd rather be ignorant but have you safe than the other way around."

Chris smiled and nodded.

Jonathan gave him a look but didn't press him further. He wasn't sure he believed the kid was going to avoid risks, but he figured he shouldn't nag him about it too much. Chris in particular seemed like the kind of person who would intentionally do what he knew he wasn't supposed to if pressed too much, just to prove that he could.

The group lapsed into silence as they continued to rest, and Jonathan let his eyes slide shut. Being possessed really took it out of him.

----------------------------------------

All too soon, Ethan roused everyone and they made their way out of the bolthole. Chris crawled back under the fence, while the rest of them eased their way out between the two buildings in ones and twos. Although the kids remained vigilant, they made it out of the city without issue, and a little over an hour later were back at the orphanage.

Abigail met them at the door.

"Jonathan! You're back! How did it go? Where's Chris?"

"Well, we all got out safely! Chris stayed behind in hopes of getting more information about what happened."

Abigail made an unhappy face. "You had to call out Ebola, didn't you?"

"…Yeah. The Petty Baron let me in without a problem, but there wasn't any way we were going to come to any sort of agreement, so I had to take the risk."

Abigail hugged him. "I'm just glad you're all safe."

"Yeah. Yeah, me, too."

Mr. Geiller stumped into the front hall as they all piled into the building, ignoring Bethany as she launched herself at Ethan and planting himself in front of Jonathan. "So, boy? You set your problems in town straight?"

Of course the old coot couldn't have heard when he told Abigail. "Hopefully. We'll have a better idea tomorrow, but nothing went horribly wrong, at least."

"Well. Good."

Jonathan noticed Yanni watching Ethan and Bethany with a jealous look in his eye, and swept him into a hug. "Hey, Yanni." He turned his attention back to Mr. Geiller. "Everything go well here while we were away."

Mr. Geiller grunted. "Well enough. Though that confounded demon of yours…" He faded into mumbling.

"Cholera? What did Cholera do?"

Mr. Geiller just glared at Jonathan, and then turned and made his way to the door. "I'll come by tomorrow to hear what that quiet kid has to say."

Jonathan looked at Yanni. "What did Cholera do?"

Yanni giggled and leaned in close to Jonathan's ear to speak in a whisper. "She stole his clothes while he was sleeping and wouldn't give them back until she'd scrubbed them all. He was chasing after her all morning in his nightgown."

"…I kind of wish I'd been around to see that."

"I'm glad you're here now," said Yanni. "Are we really safe from the Petty Baron now?"

"I hope so, Yanni. I really hope so."