There is no debate among the tricksters whether Hermes' offering should be accepted into the collection. Before the words are even out of the leader's mouth, the glowing yellow book is whisked into the robe.

Hermes takes a bow and flies back to his seat. I can't help but smile, and I see you are too. There's such an exuberance about Hermes that belies his age. It's also what makes him dangerous if you don't watch him closely. He often forgets how fragile mortals can be.

Hermes wants to crowd surf on the tricksters, but this does not go over well. Dionysius insists he take his seat, but it takes four of them to wrestle him down.

The leader waits until a relative calm has descended. Then the leader lifts a hand and motions toward the crowd. "Bring forth the next offering."

Rumplestiltskin stands. He already has a book out. As he approaches the podium, the book turns vermillion.

You are leaning much closer now. As you move forward, I see the glint of a dagger in your belt. Intriguing. You were told not to bring weapons here.

The crowd stills once more. Rumplestiltskin clears his throat. "I appreciate this tale for many reasons, and it must be part of our collection for what it demonstrates."

"And what does it demonstrate?" someone calls from the crowd.

Rumplestiltskin chuckles. He lifts a finger and wags it as the book floats into the middle of the fire pit. "Ah ahh, you shall see."

The Child – Anonymous

The sun set behind the soot-covered city. Le had nowhere important to go, but her instincts warned her to keep up the pace.

The broad smooth roads were mostly empty. Too empty.

Le rubbed her arms. Why was she even out here? It was well past ten, and, ordinarily, she locked herself up in the safest spot she could find unless she had a mission. It was too much of a risk that Jelzar would find her. But some deep urging, some inner sense, told her that she needed to be out here.

But why?

Le stopped just beyond the reach of the long-necked streetlight. The amber light pooled outward, but she knew better than to linger in the light.

A car whizzed along, its headlights blindingly cold. Instinctually, she shrugged deeper into her black peacoat and charcoal infinity scarf. What's wrong with me, she wondered. She had found the perfect place to spend the night, a secure bunker with three layers of locks and bars, and yet here she was.

The air crackled around her. Perhaps it was her imagination. She stared into the darkness of the nearest alley. Not even a mangy dog sniffed about the dumpsters and tin cans.

A small hand grabbed her. Startled, Le leaped and turned, breaking free of the tiny grasp.

There behind her was a little girl, no older than five years old. Brown bangs covered her eyes until she reached up and brushed them away. She stood no taller than Le's waist, and she had an official letter with an archaic wax seal stuck in her open red coat. "Help me."

"What?" Le crouched down. The little girl's cheeks were smudged with dirt and perhaps some bruises. Along her neck was a deeper purple bruise with faded blue and slightly yellowed edges. What was this child doing out alone this night? Her heart ached as if recognizing the pain the little one must have endured.

"Help me. Find this." The little girl pointed to the letter.

With one more careful glance around, Le pulled the little girl over to the side of an ash brick building and removed the letter. The seal itself bore instructions to give this to Churon Thalias. But he had gone underground five months ago when the Holdains and Pyres came into their full strength and Jelzar had beaten down the outer walls with the alnon powered cannon fire that had laid their defenses to waste.

The Churon had had a little girl. Le vaguely recalled this though she had thought that the child was a little older. And there had been at least half a dozen nieces and nephews. But why send only one?

"Who are you with?" Le asked.

The little girl looked at her, her brown eyes wide but wordless.

"Your mommy or daddy?" Le cast another searching gaze about the city, but her instincts agreed that this was what she had come out to find. This little girl.

The child shook her head. Tears filled her eyes, and she grabbed hold of Le's neck and cried.

"Oh shush shush." Le lifted her up in her arms and tucked the letter in her own coat pocket. The cool night air chapped at her neck and cheeks. "It's all right, sweetie. I've got you."

The little girl's crying was a harsh tune in Le's ears, reminding her of all the children she'd tried to save and how many she had failed. All had their role to play in the war now turned resistance. Hers had taken on many shapes, but her heart most often returned to the little ones orphaned and separated from family. There were rumors about what happened to children left on the streets after midnight, and she had no intention of letting that happen to this one.

But she couldn't just take her back to the bunker she'd selected for herself. This child needed her family and possibly medical attention. The yellowing of the bruising might be normal bruising or it might be alnon poisoning.

There was one place that she might take her. Provided they were still open. Surely they would be. Not even the Holdains with all their cruelty would shut down the orphan house, and if Nan was still there, then —

Trash cans clattered and clanged three alleys away. "She's over there!" a coarse, angry voice snarled.

Le didn't even look back. She just quickened her pace, hugged the wall, rounded the corner, and broke into a run.

She raced along the street, leaped over a shredded tire, and crossed the street against the light. A compact car rattled by and whined his horn, but that didn't matter.

Le knew all too well that no matter how stupid and slow Jelzar's goons sounded, they were never as stupid or slow as she might have liked. She had minutes before they caught up with her, if that.

As she rounded the corner, she caught sight of the faded yellow and blue sign for orphans and children missing their families, a dully painted "Where Little Ones' Dreams Are Mended" had faded from radiation, alnon, and who knew what other smog filled this rancid air.

Le bolted toward the door, flung it open, locked it, and took the narrow stairs two at a time until she reached the top. "Hello!" she called out. "Nan. Nan, are you here?"

A young woman in a faded gingham dress with a black and white skull neckerchief opened one of the doors. Her face broke into a hesitant smile. "Le..." she said.

"Yes." Le couldn't remember the woman's name, but relief flooded her. "I've got another one. Can you check her out? I think she might have been exposed. Where's Nan? I've got to talk to her?"

"Three doors down on the left." The young woman held out her hand to the little girl. "Would you like to come with me? We can get some candy."

Candy had become quite scarce, and the molasses and brown sugar treats that Nan and her helpers made were far removed from the candy Le remembered when she was a child, but for these little ones who had never known the high fructose based buzz of Starbursts, Skittles, and the like were delighted with the sticky, dark flavors.

The little girl did not release Le easily. She whimpered and clung tighter. Her arms curled around Le's neck. "Stay," she whispered.

"I'll be back. I promise." Le disentangled herself from the whimpering child. "You'll be safe. I promise."

It took a little more coaxing, but Le firmly passed the child over and blocked up her mind to keep from feeling torn over the child's distress. She would be fine. Every man and woman involved with this care home were fine upstanding individuals who would lay their own lives down in a minute to save any of these children. But that was something that would be hard for a new child to understand.

Le made her way to the slate blue door. The paint was peeling, the knob tarnished. So far, no accusatory knocks had sounded below. She knocked softly on the door. "Nan, it's me. I need to talk to you fast."

The door slid open almost at once, revealing my old friend Nan. She was tall and trim with thinning, greying hair and a smile that belied her age. "Le! What are you doing here?"

Her son, Ted, stood next to the desk, a sheaf of papers in one hand, each one marked with red ink. He lifted his hand in greeting and smiled.

"It's an emergency." I glanced about the room. The thick slatted blinds had been pulled on all the windows. "Jelzar's goons are coming. I tried to lose them, but —"

"Say no more." Nan adjusted her cracked glasses and gave Ted a soft nod. "We can hide you."

"It's not just that. I wouldn't have come here if it was just for me." I removed the letter. "This is for Churon Thalias. I found a little girl in the street with it. She asked for help. But that's all that I know."

"Hmm." Nan took the letter. She held it up under the lamp and then, with a quick flick of her wrist, she opened it.

Ted had moved back to the windows. He carefully slid the blinds back and peered out.

The nerves in Le's gut had tensed and tightened. Her palms sweat. If she had a rabbit foot, she knew it would be crouching. "What's happening out there?"

"They're making a perimeter. Starting a search," Ted said. He flicked a switch under the lip of the desk. "They're heading to the back already. We'll initiate Bravo Delta Seven Three Echo. Can we hide the girl or does she have to go with Le?"

Nan shook her head, her lips pursed with thought. "You'll both have to go out. She's the churon's daughter, Rena. She was supposed to be with her guardian. But apparently the guardian didn't make it. Jelzar is looking for her to draw Churon Thalias and his family out. You'll have to get her to the church on Bon's Street. They'll know how to reach Churon Thalias and keep her safe." She thrust the letter back into Le's hand. "Is Jelzar himself out there?"

"Haven't seen him. Doesn't mean anything." Ted jerked his head up as a small blue light flashed.

Le's heart clenched. "What if I surrender? Could you get Rena out?"

"No." Nan put her hand to Le's shoulder and gave her a firm push to the door. "He'd just insist on searching everything anyway. If we let them search, we might be able to fool them or create enough of a distraction. You know the route to take if you get a chance?"

Le nodded. The roil of emotions and fears pooled within her. She and Nan hurried out of the office and toward one of the bedrooms while Ted took the stairs two at a time, pressing hidden buttons beneath the panels at intervals to send out the alerts.

A loud knock boomed on the front door. A slightly garbled mechanical voice demanded entry.

Le ducked into the pale pink room where more than five dozen girls spent the night on any given evening. All of the walls were filled with bunk beds with railings around them, bunk beds that went up six high. A large orbed light was in the center of the room bathing the room in too bright light. A crackling device played the trembling notes of the Sugar Plum Fairy amid the hustle and murmuring of the girls climbing the ladders and climbing into their beds.

Rena's eyes widened, and she lunged for Le as soon as she caught sight of her. Le scooped her up, the letter crinkling in her pocket, and hurried toward the ladder Nina directed her to.

"Get into the fourth one. You'll be with Mischa. The mattress comes up. Hide underneath" Nina said. She then turned and hoisted a curly-haired girl into the second bunk along with her twin.

Outside the door, Le heard angry voices, some deep and reverberating, others high and piercing. Nan was arguing fiercely. Something crashed. Glass shattered.

Le climbed as fast as she could. The wood, polished smooth by thousands of climbs, was warm. She almost slipped twice. But soon she reached the fourth level and clambered in beside a tow-headed girl who was missing three teeth.

It only took half a moment to lift the mattress and climb into the space beneath. Rena murmured fearfully but Le shushed her and hugged her close. All but a thin slit of light went dark as Mischa smoothed the mattress back over them.

It was just in time as the door cracked open. Le slipped her hand over the little girl's mouth. "Be very quiet," Le whispered. "It's going to be all right."

A shot rang out, silencing the Sugar Plum Fairy forever. The girls shrieked and cried out, but then fell silent. Heavy boots sounded.

"Attendant," a loathsomely familiar voice said. "A woman and a child entered this place. Where are they?"

"They already left," Nina said.

A sharp crack followed of flesh meeting flesh. "Search the room."

The ladder creaked as someone set their weight upon it. Peering out through the slit, Le noted who was there. There weren't as many as she had expected. Jelzar stood near the entrance. Behind him was a woman with a gun in a grey uniform. The other three were now searching the bunks one at a time.

Le's instincts clenched again.

"Scared," Rena whispered.

"Shh, shh," Le whispered back. She hugged the little girl close. "Be quiet."

They lay there, motionless. The guard worked his way up. Le could hear each creaking sigh of the ladder.

For a long moment, it was silent. Too silent. Through the crack, she saw that the guard had stopped at their bunk. What was he waiting for?

Le held her breath, praying that he would move on.

Then Rena cried out. "Scared!"

That was all it took. Mischa cried out as she was pulled aside and thrust into another bunk, and the mattress was then ripped up and cast down.

"Get up," the guard snarled. "I see you there."

Le stared at him for half a breath, taking in everything she needed to know. He had no weapon trained on her nor even drawn. All were sufficiently far from the door.

Le rabbit punched him in the throat. He bellowed with pain but didn't fall. Swinging Rena onto her back, Le jumped at the ladder.

The ladder swung backward and gouged into the side wall. The guard fell off, crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

Down below and all around, the girls started squealing and screaming, Rena joining in with the horrified chorus.

Le leaped off the ladder, caught the edge of the bunk, and flung herself over the other guard's head. For a brief moment, her arms felt like they were being wrenched from their sockets, but the adrenaline coursing within her urged her to go faster.

She landed on the wood floor just in front of the door and ran as Jelzar shouted for them to take up pursuit.

Le ran past Nan in the hall.

"More intruders!" Nan cried as if frustrated. As Le ran by, Nan seized one of the pursuing guards and yelled in his face. "You must catch them. Catch both of them! They must be thieves!"

Good old Nan. Le hoped it was enough of a ruse to keep them all safe. She bolted down the hall and to the back staircase, punched out the window with a chair, and then swung out onto the fire escape.

With Rena screaming and shrieking, it was hard to do any of this without drawing attention. But Le didn't think. She just reacted. As soon as she reached the ground, she ran as fast as she could, zigzagging through the alleys.

The church on Bon Street wasn't that far. Behind her, she heard the shouts and clamors of pursuit. Her breath formed painful stitches in her side. Sweat dripped down her neck, and her arms burned from holding Rena.

The corner of Bon Street and Salieri Way was just ahead. She urged herself forward. The pastor and his helpers always had someone stationed in the vestry. Ted had warned them. They'd be waiting for her.

Footsteps drummed and engines revved behind her. She didn't dare look back. Her boots slapped the asphalt as she rounded the corner.

The church was straight ahead. The old lacquered wood cross hung on rickety bracings on the north wall. The black door with glass insets swung open, and a robed man stepped out. He motioned with both hands for me to run faster.

Le urged herself to move faster. Tension pounded between her shoulder blades, and Rena seemed to weigh more and more with each passing moment.

The white fence that lined the exterior of the church's property was just a few dozen yards ahead. If Rena got onto the property, sanctuary would apply.

Faster, faster, Le thought.

A sharp pain pierced her shoulder. She staggered forward, a surge of disorientation passing through her.

Tranquilizer.

She only managed a couple more steps before she dropped to her knees. Rena patted her cheek.

"Run. Run there." Le pointed toward the pastor in the long brown robe. "Go."

Rena looked at Le for a moment, blinking silently.

Their attackers were gaining on them. Le rested her hands on her knees, gasping in deep breaths. "Go!" She pushed the child.

The pastor was calling as well. By law he couldn't seize her by force or all those protected inside would come under attack. But then another man stepped out. His face blurred in Le's mind. He was calling desperately as well.

Suddenly Le recognized him. Churon Thalias. She struggled to keep her eyes open.

The pastor was trying to keep him from leaving the sanctuary, but desperation for his child was enough to override any sense of self preservation.

Le grabbed Rena's arm. "You've got to go," she gasped.

And at last, it seemed to click with the little girl. She started to run toward the Churon, her little feet kicking up.

Le felt a spasm of relief wash through her even as one of the thugs grabbed her and dragged her to her feet. Her knees buckled, but the race had finished.

Jelzar strode up alongside her. "How good to see you again, Le." He patted her cheek roughly. "It's been a long time since you've failed this badly."

Le made no effort to respond. There was something strange happening. The guards that Jelzar had brought with him made no efforts to pursue Rena now. She had almost reached the Churon. Why weren't they running? The Churon might make it back but just barely.

Rena had nearly reached him. She was shrouded in shadows. But as she reached the light, she suddenly turned and ran back.

"Rena!" the Churon cried.

But it was too late. She was already running back toward Le, and he chased after her, not thinking.

The thugs bolted forward then at the same time as if to catch the child. But they passed her and seized the Churon. He was so shocked that he did not even put up a fight.

The girl kept running until she reached Jelzar. For a moment, she stared up at him. Then she smiled and lifted her arms.

"Take the traitor into custody," Jelzar ordered. He picked the little girl up and kissed her on the top of the head. "Well done, darling."

The little girl smiled happily. "Love you, Daddy."

Le stared at her in shock, realizing through the haze of the drugs that this had all been a trap.

The little girl started babbling excitedly to Jelzar, and he listened raptly as his soldiers carried out their orders, putting the Churon into one of the black vehicles with the tinted windows.

"What about this one?" the guard holding Le demanded.

Jelzar chuckled. He kissed Rena's head again. "What do you want to do, darling? Do you want to go home?"

"She come too?" Rena pointed at Le.

"Yes." Jelzar nodded toward the guards. "Put her in my vehicle." He fluttered his fingers lightly as Rena waved too. "Sleep well, Le, but not too long. You know the games aren't over yet."