The dark night was crisp and silent. The only sound was that of footsteps running so fast that there was barely an audible pause between them. The dark-haired girl ran through the alleyways as quickly as she could, jumping over crates and sleeping people every few steps. She glanced back over her shoulder quickly, her short hair swinging into her eyes. She could see no one, but she still heard the feet pounding against the cobblestones.
She turned a corner and spotted a bridge a few blocks away. She sped up her pace and reached the bridge shortly, stopping in the middle. She turned back the way she’d come, her lids closing over her cool, gray eyes slowly.
Her pursuer approached the bridge slowly, thinking that he had finally caught her this time. She was halted on the bridge and looked as if she didn’t plan on going anywhere. He smirked evilly and stepped toward her.
She waited for him to come closer before showing any emotion. He was nearly upon her when she smirked mischievously and dove over the railing.
“Raleigh!!” a dark-haired man on the banks of the river gasped as he watched the familiar figure plummet toward the icy water.
The pursuer clutched the railing and stared down at the dark water, unable to see much of anything. “I’ll find you, Ro. Believe me; I will,” he mumbled angrily. He walked off the bridge back in the direction he’d come.
The dark-haired man ran onto the bridge once it was empty. “Did she surface? Oh, please, let her have surfaced,” he pleaded out loud. “Raleigh, please…” he trailed off and searched the black water for her.
She never surfaced.
The man’s heart fell. “She’s gone, really gone…” he mumbled sadly, almost ready to cry. He blinked once and then shuffled off the bridge, crossing it completely.
A few days later, Ro appeared in Brooklyn. Her black slacks were still a little stiff from the water. Her plain black shirt, dusted lightly with dirt from the train ride, clung tightly to her body. She pushed her short hair out of her eyes and ducked into the shadows at the sight of a few teenage boys on the street. She wasn’t afraid of them, but she didn’t like to be seen unless she had the upper hand, especially when she was somewhere she didn’t know very well or at all.
The boys both carried a stack of newspapers. One wore dark red suspenders and carried a gold-topped cane on his hip. Ro couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she strained to hear anyway. The taller of the two boys had an air of importance about him, or at least he carried himself that way.
“Out! Out! Out!” a dirty, disheveled, drunken man screeched and shoved Ro out into the street.
Ro stumbled and rolled across the dusty ground. She groaned and pushed herself to her feet, dusting herself off a bit. The two boys approached her silently.
“Ya alright, miss?” the taller boy inquired, running his eyes over her muscular body.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Ro answered, brushing her hair out of her face to meet another set of gray eyes. She looked both of the boys over quickly. “And who might you be?” she asked the first boy.
“Conlon, Spot Conlon,” the boy answered with a sly smirk.
“Am I supposed to know that name?” she asked with a sarcastic tone and a bit of humor in her eyes.
Spot glanced over at his companion with an almost sympathetic look. He turned back to retort, but she was gone. “Hey! Where’d she go?!” he exclaimed, spinning around and looking for her.
Ro was hidden in a deep doorway not too far off. She watched the two boys carefully as they continued up the street. She pressed her body up against the wall, hiding her glowing eyes, as they walked past. Once they were gone, she peaked her head out of the doorway and watched them leave. There was something irregular about the taller of the two, something she needed to be watchful of.
Ro followed the two boys for a bit, keeping in the shadows and out of sight. The boys split up after a few blocks. She followed Spot. He eventually stopped on a street corner, so Ro stayed across the street, hiding behind a street vendor’s cart, just barely able to see Spot as she peered between the slats of the wagon.
Someone stepped into her line of vision for almost an entire minute. By the time either of them moved, Spot was out of sight. Ro looked around for him but to no avail.
She turned around to start down the street and nearly ran right into Spot. “You trying to scare me to death?!” she exclaimed, exasperated.
“No one follahs no one in my territry but me ‘n’ me boys,” Spot informed with narrowed eyes.
Ro raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. “Your territory, eh?” she inquired, leaning back a little and crossing her arms over her chest defensively.
“My territry. My newsies. My Brooklyn,” he replied harshly.
“Your Brooklyn, hm.” He made no movement, with either his eyes or his body. “Arrogance, how I adore that,” she thought sarcastically. She detested arrogant people, arrogant men most of all. “Perhaps I should explain to you my take on territory,” she replied with a slight smirk and a glimmer in her eyes.
“Maybe ya should think ‘bout showin’ yer respect ta da leadah a da territry yer in,” he suggested with an irritated tone.
“If he were worth my respect, I might give it, but I’ve not seen anything to warrant it yet,” she answered with the same look on her face and a calm voice.
“Don’t test my patience, miss,” he stated firmly but still managing to be at least a little polite.
Ro knew that she was treading on thin ice, but she proceeded anyway. “I shouldn’t test your patience? Perhaps you’re the one who shouldn’t test mine,” she replied ambiguously.
Spot blinked, and she was gone when he opened his eyes again. This time he searched around for her, looking into every alleyway and doorframe in the area. He wasn’t going to lose her this time.
Ro just slinked through the alleyways quickly, trying to avoid the sunlight as best she could. She knew Spot would try to follow her if he could. She turned the corner and ran into a dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes. She stumbled back a few steps to give them both space. “Avery?” she breathed, not believing whom she saw.
“Raleigh?!” he exclaimed, his beautiful eyes wide.
“It’s good to see you, Avery,” she replied with a happy smile.
Avery just pulled her into a strong hug. “I thought I’d lost you forever,” he whispered into her ear, holding her and not planning on letting her go.
“Avery, Avery,” Ro began, pushing him away, “I’m being followed.”
Avery glanced around, his ice blue eyes darting through the shadows quickly. “Stefano?” he asked, knowing that he had been the last person chasing her.
Ro shook her head. “Someone new, someone I met here. Name’s Spot Conlon,” she answered, looking around for the red suspenders.
“Conlon, huh?” She nodded. “I have an apartment a few blocks over. You can hide out there,” he told her.
“Thanks, Av,” she said with a warm smile, using her nickname for him.
“Hey, what would I do without my little sister, huh?” Avery joked as he ruffled her hair.
“I’m older than you are, Avery,” she pointed out.
“Only by a few minutes,” he mock-pouted. She laughed. “Let’s go home.” He smirked and took her hand, leading her back to his apartment.
Spot was several steps behind the two of them. He’d missed the entire conversation between them, but he did manage to catch a glimpse of Ro as she slipped behind a group of people. He never saw whom she was with, but he had a good idea of what was going to happen once they reached their destination.
The next morning, Ro was up with the sun. She was sitting on the windowsill and watching the sunrise between the buildings. It was beautiful, full of oranges and purples. No one was out in the street yet, but it was still very early. She waited there for Avery to wake up along with the rest of the city.
The bed creaked as Avery stretched and rolled over onto his side. Ro looked back over her shoulder and watched him sleep a bit. He was a very peaceful sleeper.
There was a clattering in the street followed by a horse neighing and a quick screeching halt. Someone screamed as the carriage fell off its axles. Ro shot her gaze out the window again, seeing the scene on the street not half a block away. Pure instinct caused her to scramble down to the street by any means necessary.
The person trapped under the carriage was a girl with short red locks. She was trying to wriggle free, but she was stuck. Ro watched for a moment, noticing the growing crowd of sleepy spectators from the windows, corners, and alleyways. Several of the newsies had ventured out as well. They were worried about the girl and tried to help, but they couldn’t move either the carriage or the girl without hurting her. She was caught underneath on something. Ro approached cautiously, weaving her way through the children.
“Don’t squirm,” was all she said to the girl as she lowered herself to the ground.
The girl looked up at Ro, almost gasping at how intimidating she looked with her muscular build and dark features. The girl could almost only see her silhouette against the sun, but she caught a glimpse of the eerie gray eyes. “Wh- what’re ya doin’?” she asked nervously, obviously in pain.
“Shy! Shy!” one of the boys yelled as he ran up to her, dropping down beside her.
“Giant,” Shy managed, looking over at him.
“What happened?” Giant asked, trying to figure out why the carriage was on top of his girlfriend.
“Giant, or whoever you are, listen,” Ro commanded, looking down at both of them from her standing position. Giant looked at her. “Slide her out carefully when I tell you to do so.” He just looked at her oddly, wondering how she could possibly think about that. Ro noticed his uncertain expression. “Just do it,” she continued in a slightly softer voice.
“Alright,” he nodded, moving to take a good hold on Shy so that he could pull her out without hurting her too much more.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
“…Ready.”
At Shy’s reply, Ro took hold of one of the supports and lifted it off the ground slowly, making sure she didn’t hurt Shy any further. “Now,” Ro ordered as the carriage was about three feet off the ground. The crowd was beyond stunned.
Giant didn’t waste any time. He crawled under quickly and dislodged Shy’s foot from a clamped restraint and pulled the rest of her body out gingerly. They sat on the ground together for several minutes as Ro set the carriage back down, casually letting it drop to the ground because it was actually quite light to her. She inched away from the crowd slowly, feeling Avery’s silent eyes on her back. She glanced back over her shoulder and spoke to him with her eyes.
“He’s not here,” she said, shaking her head slightly.
“Maybe not, but he will be,” Avery replied, watching his sister’s eyes carefully.
Ro turned back to the couple on the ground. Shy seemed to be in extreme pain. Her ankle had been locked between two of the supports for a while. Ro knelt down beside her. “Don’t move,” was all she said as she unlaced the shoe carefully. Shy winced and held tightly to Giant. Ro removed the shoe and ran her fingers over the quickly swelling ankle, looking at it with emotionless eyes.
“What’re ya doin’?” someone asked.
Ro’s eyes flicked up to see who had spoken. It was another girl, one with tight brown curls and a red clown’s hat. She didn’t reply to the question. She just prodded Shy’s foot and ankle for injuries but found none. “You’ll be fine, just keep off it for a day or two. If you can’t do that much, keep off it as much as possible. It’ll be sore for a while,” she instructed.
“Who are you?” the clown asked, deciding that she’d already gotten the answer to her other question.
Ro stood and looked right at her, gray eyes almost glowing against her tanned skin and dark hair. She blinked slowly. “Ro,” she replied with a quiet, subdued voice.
“Ro? That yer real name?” the clown pried, clearly smirking and trying not to laugh.
“It’s all you’ll ever learn,” Ro answered simply, sizing the girl up. She looked decently strong, perhaps a worthy adversary for Ro, but she’d beaten stronger and tougher.
The girl breathed a laugh. “The name’s Clown,” she said and offered her hand.
Ro glanced at the hand, deciding whether or not to trust this girl. She finally shook hands with her, receiving a good, firm handshake. Promising. “Pleasure,” she mumbled, still surveying her new acquaintance.
“What’s all dis heah!?” Spot demanded to know as he approached the crowd.
“Hey, Spot,” Clown began, “we got us a new friend. She got Shy out from undah da carriage.”
“She ain’t a friend, Clown,” Spot retorted harshly, narrowing his eyes at Ro.
Ro turned and looked at him, mischief in her eyes. “So nice to see you again, Spot Conlon,” she greeted with a slight nod of her head.
“What’s goin’ on here?” Clown wanted to know, looking between them.
“Nothin’ no more,” Spot stated, scowling at Ro.
“Mister Arrogant here thinks that his name is written on the whole of Brooklyn and that I can’t walk around without having my plan pre-approved by him,” Ro explained with a hint of an edge to her voice. The newsies grew restless because it was getting interesting.
“I jist tol’ ya ta quit follawin’ me,” he shot back.
“Oh, so you can follow me, but I can’t not follow you?” she asked almost sweetly.
“I nevah follahed ya!” he defended himself.
“If you call walking behind me back to my home late in the afternoon and ending up not a block away from my window not following, fine,” she replied with a small smirk. There were small spurts of laughter from the crowd.
Spot shifted his weight and placed a hand on his cane. “Don’t lie sayin’ I did what I ain’t done,” he warned.
“I don’t believe you own Brooklyn, Mister Conlon, nor do you have the right to follow me home. I suggest that you, Mister Conlon, be wary of me,” she replied with a small, lopsided smile and a dangerous look in her eyes.
Spot growled and flicked his eyes over to Clown, almost scowling at her. Not even a second later, he looked back up and saw that Ro was gone. The rest of the newsies were just as baffled as he was. He really hated that she could disappear faster than he could; he really hated it.
“Gee, Spot, she’s bettah ‘an you at dat,” one of the others quipped, sending a ripple of laughter through the crowd. Spot shot the speaker a dangerous look, and they all stopped laughing instantly. He growled again and stormed off.
Ro smirked from the doorway of Avery’s building. She had grown a strong dislike for Spot, but she enjoyed getting him riled up and toying with his mind. It was so much easier to do with him. So far he had proven to be a fair opponent, but he could end up being much better or much worse.
Avery stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “That Conlon?” he asked and nodded toward the boy in question.
“Mm-hm. Full of himself isn’t he,” she noted, more of a statement than a question really.
“You can fight with him later, Raleigh. I need to get dressed,” he pointed out.
“No one’s stopping you, Avery,” she replied with a singsong voice.
“Mmmm,” he mumbled and pulled her inside. “I’m keeping an eye on you this time, Raleigh. We don’t want any trouble like what happened in St. Louis.”
“Me? Trouble?” she scoffed innocently. He groaned and pulled her back up to his apartment. She sat at the window again until something else interesting happened outside for her to investigate.
Not too far away from Avery’s apartment, Clown was causing a ruckus with someone else on the street. Ro was certainly intrigued by this girl. The girl wasn’t nearly an enigma, but she sure was interesting. Ro smirked and approached the commotion quietly.
“Hey, Clown, what’s all this?” Ro called from across the street, a visible smile on her face.
Clown dodged a punch. “Oh, heya, Ro, want in?” she replied, smirking a little at seeing the powerful girl walking toward them.
“Why the squabble?” Ro asked once she’d reached the two and placed her hands on her hips.
“He thinks I stole ‘is wallet,” Clown answered, nodding toward the scruffy young man she’d just been fighting with.
Ro raised an eyebrow and turned to the young man, looking him over with an almost hungry look in her eyes. He shifted uncomfortably. She looked back at Clown. “She wouldn’t do it,” she decided. Clown raised an eyebrow. Someone she’d just met usually didn’t do such a thing.
“Who the hell’re you, ‘n’ what’re you talkin’ ‘bout!?” the man exclaimed, clearly not thinking much of a girl who was dressed the way Ro was, rather scandalously for the day and age, even for the north.
Ro narrowed her eyes at him. “I wouldn’t advise insulting me, sir. I’m not one to be trifled with,” she warned, stepping closer to him.
“Yer no tougher ‘an dat one,” he scoffed, nodding toward Clown.
“Who says I’m not?” Ro replied with a dangerously enthusiastic tone to her voice. Her eyes had an evil look to them, close to murderous.
The man inched away from her slowly. “Oh, well, look there! It was in my pocket the whole time,” he laughed nervously, patting the bulge in his shirtfront pocket. He cracked a nervous smile and hurried off down the street. Ro smirked, letting the dangerous expression melt away, and turned to Clown.
“Yer good,” Clown remarked with a slight chuckle.
“At scaring the life out of people? Sure,” Ro answered.
“Spot, too! He sure hates ya,” Clown laughed.
“Yes, well, the feeling is mutual,” Ro answered dryly.
They were both quiet for a moment. “Say, you got a place ta stay? We don’t really got room at our place fer ya, but we might be able ta squeeze ya in,” Clown suggested with a shrug.
“Ovah my dead body.”
Ro smirked. “That could be arranged, you know,” she pointed out as she looked over at Spot with a look of feigned innocence on her face.
“I ain’t afraid a ya,” Spot stated as he stepped almost right up into Ro’s tanned face.
“I never asked you to be, but you must be since you feel the need to express it so,” she replied simply, giving him a little half-smile. Clown stifled her laughter.
Spot shot her an infuriated look. Ro smirked a little more. She was enjoying seeing Spot’s ego shot down a few pegs. It was something that clearly needed to be done. “Don’t ya dare make fun a me, goyl,” he warned Ro with a dangerous glare.
Ro turned her entire body to face Spot, squaring her shoulders stiffly. She rested all her weight on her left leg and placed her left hand on her hip, letting the other hang down her side in contour with her body. “We went over this, Spot Conlon. Do not threaten me unless you wish to lose a limb or two. Some people don’t take kindly to being threatened, and I happen to be one of them,” she warned in return.
“What’s dat s’posed ta mean!?!?” he exclaimed, his anger rising.
“Only that I don’t like being threatened. I tend to fight back.”
“Maybe we should see a demonstration a dat.”
“Oh, trust me, you will… someday,” she answered with a hint of a sparkle in her eyes. She turned and headed on her way.
“Don’t ya dare walk ‘way from me, li’l goyl,” he snapped, grabbing her arm and yanking her back.
Ro forced a smile. “Remove your hand, or I will do it for you,” she threatened in a soft voice.
Spot laughed. “How ya gonna do dat, huh? Ya jist a scrawny li’l goyl,” he scoffed.
Ro narrowed her eyes and tensed her muscles. Spot would never show his fear, but there was a distinct glimmer of it in his eyes. He was nervous. “Just because I occasionally look helpless doesn’t mean that I am,” she replied cryptically. There was a flicker of fear in his eyes, but it was barely noticeable. She gave him a swift punch in the gut. He coughed and released her arm.
“Aw, geez,” he breathed, stepping away from her. He glared up at her. “Ya gonna regret ya evah did dat, goylie,” he warned with a voice that trembled slightly with repressed anger.
“I beg to differ, infant, but we’re on quite intimate terms unless you can prove otherwise,” she retorted with a mild sense of humor. Spot didn’t quite understand what she’d said, but he knew that it was an insult of some kind.
“Ya gonna regret dat, too!!” he growled angrily and grabbed a hold of her wrist tightly, nearly restricting the flow of blood.
Like most people, Ro wasn’t too fond of that, so she raised her fist and punched him in the eye. Spot stumbled backward, and, as he still held her wrist, almost brought her along. Spot’s grip finally released, but he ended up throwing her nearly across the street. She landed on the ground heavily, cutting her face on a stray piece of glass. She winced as the blood began to trickle down her cheek.
Clown watched the two with interest and worry. She didn’t particularly like Spot, but she didn’t really want her friend’s cousin injured either. Of course, she didn’t want to be injured herself, so she didn’t dare try to break it up. Several others came to watch the two fighting, somewhat surprised by how well this new girl was doing against the most feared and respected newsie in all of New York.
Ro rolled up to her feet after pushing Spot away. “My, what a strong fighter you are,” she quipped and brushed her short hair out of her face.
“Ya ain’t seen nothin’ yet, goylie,” he sneered.
“And you’ve not seen anything of my fighting either,” she replied with a steely gray glow to her eyes.
Spot’s eyes also turned, but to his own stormy gray and not the ice of hers. “Don’t make me kill ya,” he warned.
She just laughed. “Like you could,” she taunted.
Spot swung at her again. Ro certainly had a flair for irritating him and setting him on edge. He despised it and her. She had quickly become his most hated adversary. They continued fighting until the warnings of three whistles made them hesitate. Spot and all the others scrambled off the street as quickly as possible. Ro was left alone in the middle of the street.
“Figures,” she mumbled and disappeared into the shadows to avoid being sent to jail.
The cops ran up and, seeing no one around, continued on their way.
Ro stepped partway out of the shadows, her face still hidden in darkness. The rest of her body blended in because of the blacks. “I just might, Clown; I just might,” she smirked as she looked off down the street, seeing a few of the newsies emerge from their hiding places. When she saw Spot walk out into the street, she melted back into the alleyway. He came up and stalked around for her. She just watched from her hiding place.
“Where da hell is dat…” he trailed off in an attempt to sensor his language.
She just smirked and watched with narrowed eyes. She didn’t like him and didn’t care if he knew or not. She even enjoyed perturbing him, playing mind games with him. He was a far worthier adversary than anyone she’d ever encountered, save for one. He was a good fighter and easy to irritate, perfect for Ro with her occasionally sick sense of humor.
“Now, Clown, where might this lodging house of yours be?” Ro asked with the soft, silvery voice she was so good at. She chuckled a little and headed out in search of the famous house.
It was nearing sunset when Ro finally spotted the lodging house down the street. She headed over and walked inside. She noticed a girl about half a foot shorter than she with dark blond hair. “Excuse me,” she began. The girl turned and looked up at her. “Does a girl by the name of Clown live here, perchance?”
The girl didn’t answer for a few minutes. She was sizing Ro up, trying to figure out if she were friend or foe. Clown entered before the girl had a chance to respond.
“Ro!?” Clown exclaimed, stopping in her tracks. The little girl behind Clown nearly ran right into her.
Ro turned and was clearly pleased to see the girl. Her face was emotionless, but her eyes were pleased. “Ah, Clown, lovely to see you again,” she greeted.
Clown just chuckled and looked at her new friend. “Eh, yer no woise fer wear,” she noted, looking for any injuries. The blond girl cleared her throat. “Oh! Ro, dis’s one a our leadahs. Alley, dis’s Ro,” she quickly introduced, stepping toward them.
“Nice ta meet cha, Ro. Ya might wanna git someone ta look at that,” Alley said and pointed to the small cut on Ro’s cheek and another on her shoulder.
“What? And bruise Mr. Arrogance’s fragile ego?! I wouldn’t dream of it,” Ro replied sarcastically.
“Ah-ha-ha, so ya met Spot Conlon, did ja,” Alley chuckled.
Ro half-smiled. “Yes, well, he didn’t take too well to me being in his territory without knowing who I am and everything about me beforehand. I decided to teach him a lesson. Let’s just say that I came out unscathed compared to him,” she answered, her smile intensifying as she spoke.
Alley raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t too fond of Spot and was a little glad that he’d been nearly beaten. “Not that ‘e really needs a reason ta soak a girl, but why you? Ya git in da way er somethin’?” she wondered, curious as to how the fight had begun.
“I do believe that I irritate him far more than he desires to be,” Ro answered, noticing that this girl was almost a kindred spirit to her.
Alley turned to Clown. “I like ‘er. Where’d ya find ‘er?” she said.
“Pulled Shy out from undah a carriage this mornin’. Sahprised ya didn’t hear,” Clown answered, glad that the leader approved of her new friend.
Alley just shrugged and turned back to Ro, but she didn’t say anything to her.
Ro looked back at Clown. “Any news on your offer?” she inquired tactfully.
Clown shrugged and turned to Alley. “We gots any bunks free?” she asked, hoping that they did so that she could get to know Ro a little better.
Alley shook her head. “Naw, sorry, Ro. It would a been nice havin’ ya ‘round wit’ us, but we don’t got space. Last couple a bunks were filled up not too long ago. I’d really love ta have ya as one a da girls, but we jist don’t got da space,” she apologized sincerely. She really did want Ro to stay and irk Spot a bit more, but she just didn’t have a place for her to sleep.
Ro raised her hand to stop Alley from babbling. “No need to apologize. I can always find a place to live. It will have to be outside of Brooklyn, but I’ll be back every so often either way. You’ll see me around. I’ll be back to annoy Spot; don’t you worry. Perhaps you could, however, tell me where I might find a place outside of Brooklyn,” she replied with a kind smile. Ro wasn’t used to smiling in such a way, so it looked a bit unnatural, but Alley decided to ignore that fact.
“Well, there’s a newsgirls lodgin’ house across da river in Jersey City. Dey opened up a while back, but I don’t think they got too many girls, ya know. Jersey kids ain’t thought ‘bout too kindly in these parts, but we’ll make an exception fer you, Ro,” Alley replied.
Ro was glad to have a friend. She’d never really had them before. “Thank you. Now, how might I get to Jersey City?” she said back, having no idea how to get to the town across the river.
“Clown’ll show ya,” Alley nodded, her gaze flicking over at the girl in question. Clown grimaced a little. She didn’t particularly want to go all the way to Jersey City. Alley just gave her friend a simple look, and Clown nodded in consent.
“C’mon, Ro. I’ll show ya da way,” Clown offered and headed out the door.
“Thank you,” Ro replied with a simple inclination of her head. She clasped her hands behind her back and followed Clown out the door and toward Jersey City.