Getting everyone in the car was easy. Navigating the streets in near darkness was not. With no street lights to help, Jane was stopping at every corner and then proceeding. At one point they were stopped by the local law enforcement. They explained they were getting supplies for the blackout and the police let them go. As they continued they noticed that several streets were blocked off by the National Guard and they were forced to turn around. Fortunately, they were able to arrive at the nearest sweet shop. Unfortunately, they were closed.

“Any ideas, Evelyn?” Jane asked as she took her hands off the wheel and rested them by her sides.

“No power. No lights. No camera. No alarms. No problem.” Evelyn said as she opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Jane attempted to reach out to her and grab her but unfortunately, she was too late and Evelyn was out and grabbing a large rock. Jane and the others sat in silence and shock as Evelyn chucked a rock through the window and watched the glass rain down onto the sidewalk.

“This is highly morally questionable.” Samantha said as she sank into her seat. Io kept silent and looked back and forth, making sure no one else saw. Jane sat there with a look of bewilderment. This was not something she had expect Evelyn to do. She pondered alerting the authorities but quickly decided against it.

When Evelyn climbed back into the car she had with her a plastic bag full of assorted treats. After a moment of silence she looked around at everyone.

“What? I left them a twenty.” Evelyn said.

“Blu you wrecked the window.” Io said. Evelyn looked back at her and then turned and faced the broken window. She gave a shrug at her handywork.

“Eh, they got insurance, right?”

“That…” Jane started. Frustration was building up inside her. She didn’t know where to start; the childish antics of breaking and entering and then proceeding to loot a candy store during a blackout or assuming that every business owner has the luxury of purchasing insurance. The thought stewed in her head for a moment before continuing her sentence. “...is not how that works. Why would you assume that? Have you thought that maybe they don’t have insurance!? And on top of that, besides avoiding the police, witnessing mass murder and leaving jail without processing the proper paperwork, you decide to commit burglary of a candy store during a blackout!” Jane spouted out as she gripped the wheel and stared at Evelyn. A bit of sweat was forming at the top of Jane’s head. She was not only upset but also scared.

“Gee Parker, lighten up. You’re turning red. More than usual.” Evelyn said as she sat the candy bag on the floor of the car. “Okay now let's go visit our new friend.” Evelyn said. Jane turned her head back to face the wheel of the car. None of her points were addressed. She played out how the scenario should have ended in her end while mumbling to herself accompanied with a range of emotions on her face. Io tapped Evelyn on her shoulder.

“Is Red going to be okay? I think you broke her.” Io whispered.

“Oh yeah she’s gonna be fine. She's just working out how she should think our conversation should have went. She’s always been like this.”

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“Ah.” Io said as she slid back into her seat.

It wasn’t long before Jane put her car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot and turned back onto the road.

With the gang avoiding more police roadblocks, what normally would have been a simple five minute drive turned into twenty minutes of chutes and ladders. They finally reached their destination. The car pulled up next to the church. Flickers of light could be seen from within the building. When the group approached the church and knocked on the door, they were greeted by a small boy. He looked up at them with curiosity in his eyes and perhaps a bit of hope.

“Hey kid, we need to talk to Nyssia.” Evelyn said. A sour look came over the boy’s face.

“She take your toys too?” The boy asked.

“Uh no. We just have a debt to pay.” Evelyn said. The boy looked up at her with a look of confusion and then eyed the bag of candy. The boy slowly closed the door and a few minutes later Nyssia opened the door. As soon as she saw Jane she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small crucifix.

“Bruja!” She called out as she raised the cross towards Jane. Evelyn and Io started to laugh.

“It’s not funny.” Jane said as she looked towards them.

“Parker, you might want to undo your hair bun and relax. You look like my highschool principal.” Evelyn said as she crouched down.

“Hey Nyssia” Evelyn said as she presented the bag of candy. “Here is the payment from yesterday.”

Nyssia’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she ravishly reached for the bag and started to dig through the candy.

“So you’re not a fibber. I like you.” Nyssia said as she unwrapped a candy bar and took a big bite out of it.

“Hey Nyssia. We got a favor to ask of you.” Evelyn said. Nyssia stopped chewing her candy bar and looked up at Evelyn.

“I want more candy.”

“Done.”

“More candy up to here.” Nyssia said as she raised the top of her hand to the bottom of her chin.

“Done.”

“And a CD player.”

“Done.”

“Alright enough of this!” Jane said in a panic. Everyone looked at Jane. Jane took a moment and undid her hair bun. Jane’s red hair flopped down and rested on her shoulders neatly.

“Nyssia, we have an important task that requires urgency. Time is of the essence. The completion of said tasks falls upon you to provide valuable information that will aid us in accessing what otherly known as inaccessible to civilians. If these tasks are not performed and are in any way delayed the consequences could be disastrous.” Jane said as she placed her hands together.

Nyssia looked up at her and dropped her candy bag. To be fair, that was a lot for a small child to take in. Not the important task that was time sensitive or anything like it or the sense of impending doom. Jane had used some words that Nyssia did not quite understand and in her moment of confusion she turned to others for answers.

“¿Es ella habla inglés?” Nyssia asked. Evelyn did not quite understand Spanish as she did with French so she was slightly puzzled. Io leaned in and gave Nyssia a nod. Nyssia returned Io’s nod with a thumbs up.

“What do you need, bruja?” Nyssia asked as she looked towards Jane. Evelyn leaned in towards Jane.

“Remember Jane. She’s just a kid. She doesn't have a thesaurus in her head like you.” Evelyn said as she leaned back away from Jane.

“We need your help with getting back into the building where we met yesterday. More precisely, we need the keycard you...borrowed from the security chief and we need to know how exactly you get into the building without alerting the security men.” Jane said as she let her shoulders relax.

Nyssia tilted her head like a confused puppy and she looked down at the candy. She reached into the bag and pulled out a sucker, unwrapped it, and put it on her mouth. She then reached out and grabbed Jane’s hand.

“Okay!” She said as she tugged hard on Jane's hand leading her away from the church.

As Nyssia led Jane back to her car, Samantha tapped Evelyn on her shoulder.

“Did we just kidnap a child?” Samantha asked.

“With candy” Io said.

“Oh boy this does not look good.” Evelyn said as she rubbed her head.