A Cat, a Thief, and a Wizard

Once Booth and the others left the basement, Seth locked the door behind them and put a chair under the handle.

"Alright. We're going out another way," Seth said to the five kids.

"But I wanna ride in the fancy cart!" Pantry complained.

"Hush it," Alley said. "We's sneaking!"

Seth pulled the family table over to the wall on the side opposite from the street. There was a delivery chute there, though what it was intended for, Seth didn't know. It had been nailed shut for a long time and was a lot harder than he expected to force open. He needed to use their kitchen knife and a long wooden spoon as a lever.

When it finally budged, it was because Owen was on the other side, pulling too.

"Come on," Owen whispered into the opening. "We're running late."

"Here," Seth said and picked up five year old Loft.

"I don't wanna," Loft whined. She pushed against Seth and looked very apprehensively at the hole in the wall.

"I'll be first," Alley said. "Hayfield, you be last." She handed her bag through the hole to Owen and then climbed up and through.

Pantry was shaking her head and Loft went from pushing Seth to clinging.

Seth sighed. "Do you know who's waiting on the other side to go with you guys?" he asked the kids. "My cat, Mau. She will be riding with you if you go now."

"The kitty?" Loft asked.

"Yup. She's waiting for you, but you have to be very quiet or she'll run away. And you have to go through there and do what your sister says."

Seth barely managed to keep hold of Loft as she flung herself at the hole in the wall. In short order he'd handed up or given a boost to all of Booth's siblings. He glanced around the basement one last time.

The door was locked and barred with a chair under the handle. The place was clean, and still looked lived in. There were still sheets on the made bed, water in the water barrel, and the dishes were neatly lined up on their shelves. The blanket dividers were all down, and a pile of folded blankets lay on the bed.

Loft's doll was on the floor. Seth scooped it up before climbing out the chute. If the girl had thrown a fit about missing the doll, she might have ruined the plan.

Owen had arranged crates to hide the exit of the chute, and conceal the kids as they crossed the narrow alley to the next house and into that basement.

This basement was used as storage for the bar above. Seth quickly changed his clothes from the school uniform he'd arrived in to his oldest clothes. This was the same outfit he'd been wearing when he went over the side of the ravine two months ago, and it was patched and worn. Both he and Owen put on farmer's hoods and mantles.

It wasn't much of a disguise, but it should be enough. According to Duvessa, shadows weren't very smart and didn't differentiate things well. Hoods and hats could fool them.

They left the basement and Booth's siblings slipped into a farmers cart waiting outside in the alley. It was high sided with two big wheels. Owen had used a tarp to make a space for the kids to sit under, and put hay on top of the tarp to better hide them. It would be crowded, and they'd all have to squeeze together, but the kids were little, so they all fit.

Mau joined them seconds later. She signed that a new shadow arrived, and had left, following the coach.

So far, so good. The plan was working.

Seth could feel Mau's reluctance, but she climbed into the cart with the kids. Her job now was to keep them quiet until they got to their next stop, and that was a ways away.

Owen pulled and Seth pushed the haycart. They headed away from the empty lot where the neighbor kids were still playing, careful to stay out of their line of sight.

It was a long, anxiety ridden walk all the way to the market district.

The sun had fully set when they passed Selendrith on the way to a carriage barn. The dark of evening was expected, and they were still on time. Seth thought that the fewer people that were around to see them the better, so he chose a carriage barn next to a warehouse. Neither were likely to be used after dark. There was a public horse paddock behind the barn, so it wasn't noteworthy for them to be there.

And it was only a ten minute walk from here to the new house.

Seth stopped pushing and Owen put the front of the cart down once they were inside. Seth stretched his back until it cracked as Owen rolled his shoulders. Selendrith hauled the barn door shut.

"Any sign of shadows?" Seth asked Selendrith when she walked up a moment later.

"No, nothing. I think this worked," Selendrith said. "Either that, or they were not as interested as expected."

"Nah, they were interested," Owen said. "I reckon they figured Booth would run for it."

"It is a reasonable solution to his predicament," Selendrith said. She looked like she wanted to say more, but glanced at the hay cart and kept quiet.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Seth ran over the rest of the plan in his head. Here they would split up into groups, and walk the rest of the way. The cart or even a carriage or taxi would be more noteworthy than someone walking, and the goal was to be as invisible as possible. Alley and Owen would take the youngest two, Selendrith and Seth the older two a few minutes later.

They would be living in this neighborhood, so Seth thought they should be safe enough to walk. It wouldn't be possible for the gang to watch the whole city, and there was no reason for them to watch this area. The shadows had followed the decoy carriage, with Booth, Duvassa, and Blaise. The Skull Gang should think that Booth's family was staying with Duvessa's grandmother. Seth was sure they wouldn't risk the Countess's house, and the family's real location would be secret.

If they attacked the coach en route, Duvessa's babysitter was there and would defend them.

And if the gang didn't trust the shadows, the kids outside Booth's home would report that they were smuggled out in the trunks.

It was the best plan Seth could come up with, to badly hide them going in one direction, while actually going in another.

There was just the last bit to go, and Booth's family would be safe. He'd need to be careful when visiting from school, but there were ways he could do that.

Owen and Seth pulled the tarp back, and the whole group of kids were asleep. Mau cracked a disgruntled eye at Seth from where she was being hugged by the youngest two. She shook herself loose and jumped out of the cart.

"I'm tempted to just move them while they're still asleep," Seth said. Would the cart get attention? Would people just ignore it? People could be nosey. It was probably best to leave the cart.

"They can walk," Booth said from the barn door. He was breathing heavily. "I can take them."

Seth stared at Booth in shock. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be with Duvessa in the coach!"

"I didn't like the idea of them being on their own for so long. Nothing happened to the coach, so I thought maybe the plan didn't work, and came to check on you," Booth said.

"They weren't on their own! We were with them. And the coach was followed! We saw it! Why didn't you follow the plan?" Seth demanded.

"Oh, stuff it. You sound like Duvessa. When I told her I was going to split off and meet you guys she went on and on about 'Let the plan work!' It was annoying," Booth said.

"Darkness, Booth," Owen said, "if you was followed, then everything today was a waste."

Booth rolled his eyes. "I know how to look for shadows. I wasn't followed, okay? The worst I saw was a couple of black cats. And before you ask, yes, I know they weren't shadows. They were solid."

"You were the bait on the coach, Booth," Seth said. "This is such a huge risk and we were nearly done. Why would you do that?"

Booth glanced over to where his siblings were climbing out of the cart and then looked away. "I just wanted to be sure they were all right," he said gruffly. "I didn't like leaving everything to all of you, and I knew I wouldn't be able to stop by for a while." He glared at Seth.

"We were doing alright, Booth," Owen said. "We had it."

"They're my family," Booth said. "They're all I've got."

"The plan was working," Seth started.

"The plan was stupid. I'm the oldest. I should have been with them the whole time," Booth interrupted. "I should never have let you talk me into it. Someone else should have been on that stupid coach doing nothing."

"Does it matter?" Selendrith asked. "He's here now. Let's look to see if he was followed, and then get everyone home."

Seth tried to contain his frustration. With luck, things could still be fine. Owen headed to one of the only barn windows and peered out while the others woke the little ones up. Alley pried herself away from Pantry and stretched.

Five-year-old Loft looked around in dismay. "But where's the bed?"

The toddler, Bower, said,"Ticky?" and looked around for Mau.

Hayfield jumped down from the cart and gazed around at the carriages in the barn. "Whooee. Them's some fine bits o' merchandise! Is this the place of your rich friend?"

"No," Booth said. "Don't even think about it. Not here, and certainly not now."

The far door to the barn rolled open.

Everyone froze and turned to the door.

"Lookee, lookee. You are in here," Ned said from the doorway. "Sloppy, Booth, so sloppy. I gotta say, you were so focused on looking for shadows, you didn't bother looking fer people. I was just standing in an alley and you walked right by me and never noticed," Ned gloated at Booth. "Sloppy and stupid." His gaze shifted from Booth to his siblings and took on an evil gleam.

"Darkness, Booth," Seth muttered. Everything they'd done today was wasted because Booth didn't trust them to get his family to safety without him. But Selendrith was right, it didn't matter right now. Done was done, and they had to fix this situation. He could punch Booth in the face later.

There were three doors into the carriage barn. There were the two main carriage doors at either end of the barn, one of which Ned had just opened. A third person sized door was on the side, next to a storage closet and ladder up to the loft.

Seth knew a fight was likely, so he tried to figure out the best winning scenario. His first thought was to get Booth's siblings outside where they could escape. Hiding in the horse paddock had been one of his plans. There was the problem that Ned might not be alone, and could have other gang members outside.

Still, sending the siblings outside seemed like the safest bet. They'd have more options to get away than in here. Seth caught Alley's eye and looked from her and the little ones to the side door. She gave a tiny nod and started to pull the little ones together.

Seth walked up next to Owen and Selendrith, forming a line between Ned and the younger kids, forcing Ned to look at them. Booth joined them.

Ned strolled forward a couple of steps and smiled broadly at Booth. "That was pretty clever until you botched it, Booth. We were about to nab the carriage when you jumped off. We couldn't let it get to Miss Fancypant's place, we'd lose all our leverage. Now look at all the leverage you handed over on a platter."

"I gave you the fucking ring, Ned. You know that. Fuck off already," Booth said.

Ned stared at Booth and pulled out two long knives. "It was a copy. That means you still got the original. But it's too late for you to just hand it over now. The boss wants you, too."

"Jimmy gave me 'til the end of the month," Booth said. He held up his hands, showing he was unarmed. "We don't need to do things this way."

"Nah, Jimmy's done," Ned said. "I sprung Matthius yesterday. He's the one that knew your ring was a copy. He said the real ring was bone, not gold like the one you gave me."

"How was I to know? I've seen those rings as all types. The gold one is the one we got off Lord Thurstan. He's the one with the real ring. I told you that already," Booth said.

"Oh, I told Matthius that. He don't care, he wants you. I'll tell you what. You pick one of the brats, and I'll just take you two to him. The rest can go."

Owen stepped over to the hay cart and pulled out a dull school training sword. "You're outnumbered," he said to Ned, "and you won't be touching the little kids."

"I'm not worried about that." Ned looked past Booth and Seth to Alley. "Oh, I don't recommend openin' that door. You brats are stayin' in here."

Alley ignored him, jerked the door open, and took one step out before jumping back and shoving Pantry out of the way.

A waist high, inky black scorpion snapped its claws at them, and scuttled into the barn.