A Bad Feeling

[Riddle]

Riddle stared at the pages of her book, but she wasn't really reading anymore. Script had been gone for a long time. Too long. What the hell was McArthur doing to her? He usually liked to take his time with new girls, chatting them up during their first few days before he locked the office door and threw them on the desk. Why would he change his pattern for Magdalen Martin?

Unless he had something else planned. Something he hadn't mentioned to Riddle--or to Gypsy, as far as she knew. She shifted uncomfortably, and glanced at the Trio, who were standing together in a corner and exchanging worried whispers...and at the vent, which had been blocked off and guarded by Gypsy for days. For the first time in recent memory, Riddle was nervous.

[Gypsy]

Gypsy all but burst into the room, eyes flashing as she sought out Riddle. Fuck playing calm and coy, fuck the damn game they'd been playing, fuck it all. This was bad. Really, really, really bad. McArthur had been a damn idiot sending Script. Too many people cared about her, would wonder where she'd gone. And go looking for her.

And it wasn't McArthur who'd catch shit for it. He'd throw her and Riddle and Jimmy under the bus in no time. Say it was all the Eastman gang, he had no idea about any of it. Unless Script talked. Which just made Gypsy worry more.

She stormed over to Riddle. "Vent. Talk. Now." Without waiting, she moved to the bunk under the vent, pulling herself up and heading to the storage closet.

[Riddle]

"About fucking time," Riddle muttered. Cutting off all communication with the boys had never seemed like a bright idea to her. Who knew what sort of scheme Goblin had been cooking up all this time without Script and her constant weeping to distract him? Last time I let Gypsy call the shots, she vowed, following the other girl through the ceiling passage and down into the closet. "What the hell's going on?" she demanded.

[Gypsy]

Gypsy whirled on her. "McArthur's lost his fucking mind! He sent Script! Jimmy came to get Sunny, and McArthur gave him Script instead!"

[Riddle]

Riddle paled. It was a few seconds before she could even gather her wits and say something coherent.

"Well, that's fantastic," she finally said in a voice that was dangerously calm and cold. "Her father's gonna come looking for her, and if he finds her, she's gonna talk to the goddamn cops. They can't touch the Eastman Gang, they probably can't even touch McArthur, but us? Us!?" she yelled, her calm finally shattering. She glared at Gypsy and pointed at the vent. "You're gonna get the hell over to the boys' room and tell Goblin all about this so he can launch a fucking rescue mission."

[Gypsy]

"Don't you think I fucking know that! How the hell was I supposed to know McArthur would completely lose his shit!" She raked a hand through her hair. "He's gonna fucki n' kill me, Riddle. Goblin is going to fucking kill me!"

[Riddle]

"Well, whaddaya think's gonna happen if I talk to him? I sold him out, Gypsy! He'll kill me before I even open my mouth!" She sat down on a crate, feeling lightheaded. "I thought she was the warden's new toy. Why's he packing her off so soon?"

[Gypsy]

Gypsy paced in the small space as best she could, hand brushing back her hair. "I dunno. He was all over her when Jimmy and me walked in." She groaned. "Fuck, everything was going so fucking well until they showed up!"

[Riddle]

"Yeah. Things were going just swimmingly," Riddle snapped, looking up at her sharply. "Did you ever wonder what'd happen if they could actually do it? Get this whole place shut down? Ever think maybe we could find something to do with our lives that ain't gonna get us sent to hell a hundred times over?"

[Gypsy]

Gypsy scoffed. "Honey, I'd hate to break it to ya, but whether this place gets shut down or not, you and me are beyond fucking redemption." She spat it out, the gnaw of her own regrets eating at her insides.

She took a breath. "Get outta here so I can go get Goblin. He sees you, this is over before it even starts."

[Riddle]

She got up, still numb with dread. She knew Goblin better than almost anyone. He'd never let this go. He might sit around brooding and scheming and biding his time, but he never let anything go.

"Give him this," she muttered, pulling a rusty key out of her pocket and handing it to Gypsy. "Don't ask. And if you've got any scars or sob stories, I'd break 'em out now." And she climbed back up through the vent and returned to the bunkroom to endure a really long wait.

[Gypsy]

Gypsy took the key, brow arched, but she didn't ask. "Fine." When Riddle was gone, she let herself collapse onto a great, letting out a dry sob, head in her hands. She took slow breaths, getting herself back together, and when she crawled through the vent to the boys' room, there was nothing about her that gave anything away. Except for her eyes.

She slid open the vent, popping her head into the room.

[Goblin]

Goblin was under the vent and glaring up at her in a matter of seconds. "Where the hell is Script?" he demanded. He'd been pounding on the grate for days, but one of the girls had covered it with something; he'd sneaked out of class a couple times, but he'd never managed to find Maggie. So he'd spent all his time worrying, making crazy plans, snapping at Cav, and basically losing his mind.

[Gypsy]

Gypsy only looked at him. "Just get to the closet." She popped back into the vent as quickly as she'd come, heading back to the storage closet and waiting for him. She prided herself on the face that she didn't look nearly as nervous as she felt.

[Goblin]

Filled with more dread than he'd felt since his first stint in the Refuge, Goblin felt in his pocket for the knife Bandit gave him and then followed Gypsy through the vent and joined her in the closet. He just stood there, waiting for her to speak, but his expression made it clear that he would much rather be stabbing her repeatedly.