Finch made his way through the bedroom towards the back corner where Mush and Romeo's bunk was. Mush had gone to Ike's 'funeral' but hadn't spoken a word.

Finch drew closer to the bed and saw Mush leaning against the wall, arms wrapped around his knees.

"Hey Mush. How're you doin'?" Finch asked, standing next to the bed.

Mush shrugged, looking down at his shoes.

"Ya might wanna take those off," Finch said, motioning towards Mush's boots. "Don't wanna ruin your blanket."

Mush shrugged again and Finch looked at him worriedly, sitting down in front of him. Finch pressed the back of his hand to Mush's forehead and Mush turned his head, brushing Finch's hand away.

"A penny for your thoughts," Finch said.

Mush glanced up at him, dark bags around his eyes. So it's true, Finch thought.

He'd heard Romeo talking about how little sleep Mush had been getting since finding the first boy, but Finch hadn't really noticed. Mush had avoided all the boys since then, but now Finch was seeing the proof.

"I'm scared Finch," Mush admitted in a hushed whisper.

"Scared? Of what? Has someone been messin' with youse?"

Mush shook his head, brown hair flopping into his face. "No, it ain't that. It's no one else."

"Then what's wrong?" Finch inquired.

Mush made a quick check to ensure that no one was in the room before leaning forward. "I don't think Ike is gonna be the only one to die."

Finch's eyes widened as Mush leaned back against the wall. "Why do you think that?"

"Ise just got this feelin'." Mush's face tinged pink as he waited for Finch's response.

"Okay," Finch said slowly. "Do you have any ideas about who it'll be?"

Mush nodded. "I think I know, and that scares me more."

"Who?" Finch asked, heart beating faster as he thought about all of his brother's. Which one would it be?

Maybe Race. His run-in with the boys weeks before had shown that he was prone to making decisions that got him into trouble. Or maybe it would be Jack. Jack was brave, but extremely impulsive and he tended to act before thinking. Finch wouldn't even be surprised if it was Albert. The redhead had an extremely abrasive personality and would probably pick a fight himself.

"Me."

Finch stared skeptically at Mush. "You sure 'bout that?" Mush was easy enough to get along with and avoided doing stupid things for the most part. Plus, since he'd found the boy, he hadn't gone anywhere alone.

"Yeah. Think about it. I found that one kid, right?"

Finch nodded, not seeing where Mush was going with the question.

"Then I found Ike."

"I know all of this Mush, but what does it have to do with you dyin'?"

"Me findin' both of 'em can't be good. It's gotta be a sign Finchy.
Ise gonna go next, I knows it!"

"Mush," Finch sighed. "Youse ain't gonna die."

"How are you so sure?"

"'Cause I ain't gonna let you die," Finch said firmly, leaving no room for question.

Mush bit his lip and nodded. "Okay."

***

Jack and Race entered the lodge and Jojo made a beeline for them, a worried look on his face.

"I'm gonna go." Race made his way over to Jojo, leaving Jack alone.

Jack observed his boys. Though they were in better spirits than earlier, they still weren't the same. His gaze drifted towards Mike.

The dark haired boy wasn't talking, though the boys had convinced him to join them downstairs rather than stay sitting on Ike's bed. Specs and Buttons had some food that they were trying to convince him to eat, but he ignored them, eyes glazed as he stared at a point on the wall.

"That's it," Jack moved to grab his cap off the table where he'd left it and then headed back to the door. "Crutch, I'm headin' out! Youse in charge!"

Before anyone could stop him he was out the door and rushing down the street in the direction of the Bronx.

***

"C'mon Davey!" Les whined, dragging his older brother behind him.

"Les, slow down!"

"You said we'd visit after selling, are you breaking that promise? You wouldn't lie to a little kid, would you?" Les asked, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms.

"I'm not lying, we're almost there! I just don't think we need to be running!"

"This is important Davey! Something's wrong!"

Davey sighed, but walked faster. When the lodge came into view Les broke away from Davey, sprinting towards the gray building, his hat nearly flying off in the process.

Davey groaned and reluctantly chased after his brother. He caught up just as Les made it inside. Davey started to scold his brother, but was interrupted by the loud voices of their friends.

They followed the sounds to the sitting room and slipped inside unnoticed. All of the boys seemed focused on Mike, who was surprisingly not sitting with Ike.

"Just a couple bites," Henry persuaded as he motioned toward a plate of food.

Ike shook his head, pushing the plate away.

"You've gotta eat somethin'," Specs pleaded, but to no avail.

Albert, fed up, shoved the plate back towards Mike. "If you don't eat this yaself, Ise gonna make you eat it! And trust me, you won't enjoy that!"

"He doesn't have to eat if he doesn't want to!" Elmer exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's okay Mike. If you don't want it, I'll have some." Romeo reached across the table and stole a forkful of whatever the boys had scrounged up and thrown together. His nose wrinkled as he swallowed the bite. "Who made this?"

Specs raised his hand sheepishly.

"Do us a favor and stay outta the kitchen, yeah?"

Specs nodded and Les took the opportunity to interrupt. "Can I try some?"

"What're you doin' here kid?" Finch examined his slingshot carefully, smirking as Davey grew nervous.

"We came here to make sure everything was okay. You didn't go to the square this morning," Davey stated uncomfortably.

"We know. We had somthin' else to take care of."

Les was surprisingly satisfied by Elmer's explanation and he sat down at the table next to Sniper. As he took in the boys he realized that people were missing from the group.

"Hey, where's Jack?"

"Out doin' leader business I s'pose," Albert shrugged. "How're we expected to know. He can come and go when he wants."

"What about Ike?" Les asked innocently.

All of the boys stopped what they were doing and stared at Les. Mike stood up, his chair tipping over, and headed to the stairs. Buttons moved to follow him, but Specs stopped him.

"Let him go. He just needs some time."

"What's wrong with Mike?" Les piped up. Davey glared at him and shook his head. "Did I say something wrong?" Les continued.

Romeo's eyes darted to the stairs. "Ike got real hurt."

"Is he at the doctor?"

Davey's hand moved to Les' shoulder as the realization set in.

"No, he's somewhere better," Tommy Boy comforted.

"You mean he's..." Les' eyes watered, unable to finish the sentence. Several boys nodded and Les hugged Davey.

"How'd it happen?" Davey rubbed Les' back, waiting for an answer.

"How do you think? It was Hook's boys again," Race scowled.

"Are you sure?"

"Who else is goin' around killin' newsies?" Finch questioned. Davey remained silent. "Exactly."

"Les, we need to go," Davey said quietly.

Les looked up in surprise. "B-but we just g-got here!"

"Don't argue with me Les, we're leaving." Davey spun around, pushing Les in front of him.

"Hey, Jacobs! Where're youse goin'?"

"Home. Our mother will want us back soon."

"You sure? You seem to be in a rush," Buttons observed.

"Yeah, we just really need to get back, and we shouldn't be out too late with everything that's happened."

"Stay a little longer, some of us will walk home with you guys," Albert tried, not buying Davey's excuse.

"Thanks, but we need to leave now," Davey insisted, hurrying to the door.

"See ya tomorrow!" Jojo called. The door shut and he looked at his friends. "I don't think wese gonna see them again."

***

"Where've ya been Spot?" Dimples asked the second Spot stepped into the lodge.

Spot put a hand on Dimples' forehead and pushed him away. "Nowhere."

"You can't be nowhere!" Dimples complained. "I was worried 'bout you!"

"You ain't got no reason to worry about me, kid." Dimples continued to pout and Spot groaned. "I was in 'Hattan!"

"Really? Tell me about it!" Dimples grinned, eyes lighting up.

"I don't got time, go play with some of the other kids."

Dimples shook his head, but caught Spot's glare and reluctantly left the room.

"Someone ain't happy."

"Shut it Cards. I ain't in the mood," Spot frowned.

"Did somethin' happen?" Cards pulled out a chair next to him and motioned for Spot to sit.

Spot moved closer, speaking in a whisper. "One of Jack's boys got killed."

"You serious?" Cards asked, brows high on his forehead.

"Does it look like Ise jokin'?"

"What're we gonna do 'bout it?"

"What we have been doin', I guess." Spot stared at the table as he considered their options. "We can't let 'em keep this up. We're gonna have to fight 'em."

"Like a turf war?" Cards asked incredulously. "It ain't that bad yet!"

"Do youse got a better idea?"

Cards opened his mouth, then quickly shut it. He had nothing to say.

"That's what I thought."

"So, a turf war," Cards said, trying to seem excited. "Sounds like fun!"

***

Jack stomped down the alley, his blood boiling. Though he was alone, it wasn't as scary as it had seemed the first time he'd come here. He was too angry to even notice the boys peering down at him.

He made it to the door and the guards looked at him in surprise.

"You ain't s'posed to be here," one of them said.

"Well I am."

Jack tried to walk past them to the door, but they blocked him, trying to push him away. They were strong and most people would've given up, but Jack pictured his boys in the moment they'd found Ike and he kept fighting.

"Let me through!" Jack growled, finally shoving past them.

He flung the door open and it rattled on its rusty hinges. Jack stormed over to the table where Hook sat counting his 'earnings'.

"Ah, Mr. Kelly, how lovely to see youse again. And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"What the hell was that?" Jack slammed his palms onto the table, causing some of the coins to fall and scatter across the floor.

"I ain't sure what you're talkin' about, Kelly."

"Ike! I'm talkin' about how youse killed Ike!"

"I didn't kill him," Hook chuckled.

"Then who did?" Jack demanded.

"I don't know, it was a group of my boys. I think there was five or six of 'em."

Jack's stomach churned. "Youse disgustin'."

"Ise tryin' to run a city, there's gonna be accidents. I've gotta keep everyone in line somehow, don't I? But if you were to quit fightin' me, I'm sure we could work somethin' out so that your boys ain't caught up in any more trouble."

"Ise already told ya, we ain't quittin'!" Jack exclaimed. He glared as Hook smirked up at him.

"Where's your friend now? They take him out to Hart Island?" Hook asked curiously.

"Probably. I can't see where else they'd take 'im." Jack spoke through clenched teeth, trying not to imagine his friend being thrown into one of the pits on the island.

"It's a nasty place out there, Kelly. And his poor soul, wanderin' alone all scared and lonely..." Hook frowned sympathetically, then his face grew dark and malicious. "But if you don't keep your nose out of our business, he'll have some of his brothers joinin' him real quick, won't he?"

Jack froze, his eyes narrowing. "Is that a threat?"

"It's whatever you make of it," Hook shrugged.

"There ain't a person in this room that don't know that you stink," Jack spat.

Hook laughed, lounging in his chair. "That's the point Kelly. What's the point of bein' awful if no one notices? Now, back to our deal."

"We don't have a deal!"

"Don't interrupt! Ain't your mother ever taught you manners? I was tryin' to tell you that I'd be willin' to let youse think about this for a couple days, so-"

"No. I don't need to think about it. I'm sick of these games. I don't know what you was hopin' to accomplish by doin' this, but it ain't workin'. We're fighting... for Ike."

Jack saw a flash of panic in Hook' eyes as he started to leave. "It's too late to save Mike, but it's not too late to save your other boys."

That caught Jack's attention and he paused, listening to Hook carefully, trying to detect more threats.

"Just think about it. You've got a week."

Jack thought about it for a second, then shook his head. Disgust filled him as he realized that he'd been considering the offer.

"No way."

Jack was almost to the door when something was thrown at his feet, hitting the back of his ankles. He spun around and looked at Hook before leaning down and picking the object up.

It was a gray newsboy cap, just like any other cap worn by Jack and the other boys. It could've been anyone's hat, but Jack knew that it wasn't just some random cap that Hook had found.

He knew it was Ike's.

Jack's eyes caught on a small red stain near the brim of the cap and he clenched it in his fist.

"You filthy little-"

"We don't tolerate that kind of language here Kelly!"

"Why would you give this to me?"

"Think of it as a gift from me to youse," Hook taunted.

Jack ignored Hook and reached out for the doorknob.

"Come back if you change your mind!"

Jack swung the door open, allowing a bit of light into the dim room.

"I won't."

***
Okay, I really need new friends. We were eating dinner at this seafood place and they brought out our meals and they had oysters on the plates. Me, being me, said, "We get ersters!" And my friends just looked at me like I was crazy.

Then we were outside and it was super sunny and I was super burned. One of my friends was talking about how much she loved standing in the sun and how great it was. I said, "Well I need to step out of the sun, 'cause I keep getting burned." And they were like, "Stand under the awning!" They had no idea what I was talking about!

Now that my rant is over, how are your summers going?

Mine's pretty good, but school starts in 3 weeks and I'm completely unready. I don't think I'll be finished with this by then, even though that was my goal.

I'm going to try to write a ton these next few weeks, trying to finish it, and then I'll be able to just edit and update during the school.

Sorry that this chapter was a bit short! Thanks for reading!

-Anna

(That's getting a bit old, I'll have to come up with something new...)