“Pip, wait up! What’s wrong?” I didn’t say anything, and I didn’t stop until we were back at the library. In between pants I told him about meeting Boss. Tino looked really nervous when I got to the part about the reading.

“You don’t think we’ll get in trouble do you?”

“I don’t think so. It’s not a rule.”

“We still got to hand over fees tonight. You covered?” I showed him the wallet I’d lifted plus the hand full of chips and random credit cards.

“I’m good. You?” He patted his bag.

“Set.” We hid out at the library for the rest of the afternoon. When it was getting dark we headed out to the mansion.

Jojo was guarding the door and gave us the stink eye as we trailed in, following the line of Littles waiting to hand over their fees. Another lieutenant was collecting the chips and counting them out before setting them in a bag that would be taken to the backroom. Tino and I handed over our chips and waited in the back with everyone else. After everyone paid, the lieutenants handed out this month’s ration of food cubes. Tino and I stuffed ours in his backpack and waited for the usual speech about family and everyone doing their part. Boss showed up for a minute towards the end but didn’t even look in our direction. We both sighed in relief when we stepped outside and started for the library.

We powered Virgl up as soon as we got back.

“Welcome back, Miss Pip, Mister Tino. Shall we pick up where we left off yesterday?” I nodded along with Tino. “Very well. First, do either of you have any questions for me?” I raised my hand the way Virgl taught us to when we had questions.

“Yes, Miss Pip?”

“Why does the ‘ch’ in ‘macchiato’ sound like ‘key’ instead of ‘chi’?”

“Oh, yes, well certain words, like ‘macchiato,’ meaning ‘stained’ in the Italian language,—” A loud voice cut him off.

“So this is where you brats is hiding.” I turned around, recognizing the voice. Boss was standing in the doorway. In the back of my mind I realized that he must have followed us after we left the house. Both of us were too shocked to say anything as Boss swayed like he was caught in the wind. He must have been drunk.

“Little brats too good to hang with the rest of us? ‘Cause you c’n read some.” We’d seen the lieutenants drunk before; usually they just passed out or cried, but Boss was wide awake, and he looked angry.

“Sir, I believe you may have consumed too much alcohol,” Virgl piped up, breaking the silence.

“Shut the fuck up!” Boss screamed, a stream of drool making a line out of the corner of his mouth. He marched up to us and grabbed the front of my jacket, yanking me up to eye level. “D’ I look drunk to you, Pip Squeak?” The fumes from his breath made my eyes water but I shook my head furiously, too scared to speak. He shook me.

“Say somethin’!”

“N-no.” A tear leaked out. Something hard slammed into my face, snapping my head to the side. In the few seconds before the pain registered I heard three things: Virgl telling Boss to unhand me, Tino screaming “No!” and Boss yelling at me to not cry. After that the right side of my face erupted in pain and I felt something wet trickle down my lip. Tino ran at Boss and tried to hit him but couldn’t hit hard enough to hurt him. Boss dropped me and turned on Tino, raising his fist like he was about to punch him. I couldn’t think. The next thing I knew, I’d grabbed the knife that I always kept in my pocket.

Everything else happened in slow motion. I ran at Boss, knife raised, and slammed it into his side as hard as I could. Boss froze and I jerked the knife out, my hands shaking. Boss didn’t hit me. He didn’t move much. He just put his hand on his side and stared down at the redness like he’d never seen the color before.

I stared at my knife. There was red all the way down to the hilt. I don’t know why but for some reason the redness shocked me. Was human blood really supposed to be that color? It seemed too bright. Boss mumbled something and slumped to the ground. The red stain had traveled down one of his pants legs and was now seeping into the floor of the library. Tino looked at me in awe.

“Is he dead?” I asked, tasting blood.

“I don’t know.” Tino kicked Boss in the shoulder, but there was no reaction. He held a hand under his nose. “I can’t tell if he’s breathing. What do we do?” he asked, staring at me expectantly. I shook my head, dropping my knife on the ground. Tears were falling from my eyes one after another, but I didn’t have the will to stop them.

“If I’m reading the situation clearly, I would say that your best course of action would be to flee while he is out of commission. Is there somewhere you two will be safe?” Virgl seem both shocked and concerned, or as shocked and concerned as a computer program could be. Neither of us responded; we both knew there really was nowhere for us to go. An idea flashed through my head. “Let’s go to Mars.”

Tino stared at me like I was crazy, but after what I’d just done, nothing seemed crazy to me anymore.

“There’s no way we can make it!” Tino said, staring at Boss’s still body while shifting from foot to foot. I shook my head at him.

“I read the sign at the Shuttle Port. Tickets went down ’cause a bunch of people canceled. If we get the money from the house we can go.” I grabbed hold of his shoulders, trying to hold him still while I talked. Tino thought for a moment, hope beginning to spread across his face.

“Can we take Virgl?” he asked. I nodded.

Virgl didn’t say anything as we shut him down and loaded him into Tino’s backpack along with our mats and food cubes. Tears were still streaming down my face, but my body moved like it was on autopilot. I didn’t think. I just did what I knew we had to do. We did our best not to look at Boss as we walked out the door. I checked first to make sure none of the lieutenants were hanging around, and then we slipped outside and up the road that led to the mansion. The pain in my face had faded, but one side of my head was covered in hot needles. I rubbed it, trying to make them go away. Tino reached over with one of his rags that he stored his machine parts in and did his best to mop up the tears and the blood from my nose and lip.

“Are you gonna be okay, Pip?”

I laughed once, and for some reason the tears started coming faster. Tino let me take the rag so I could wipe my face myself. The blue handkerchief smelled like grease and food cubes and dust but it did the job. Before long we were at the mansion.

The lights were completely dark. I guessed they would be since it was probably way after midnight. No one was guarding the door. Tino and I slipped inside as quietly as possible, the door creaking loud enough to make us cringe. We tiptoed to the back room, trying not to step on the loose bottles and pieces of trash scattered around the floor. In a few heartbeats we were inside Boss’s room.

It didn’t look that different from the attic really. There were a bunch of liquor bottles and cans scattered around the bed, a gun on the nightstand, and a few boxes of knick-knacks scattered around. The bed was a pile of thick blankets over a thin mattress with no sheets and two pillows. Tino and I split up and began looking for the collection bag. It was hard to move quietly in the cramped space but we did our best. I dug under a pile of clothes on my hands and knees while Tino checked through all the boxes and the drawers on the nightstand. After checking everywhere we could think of I was ready to start crying again.

“You think that’s it?” Tino asked, pointing at a bulge in the side of the mattress. I went over to check. When I flung back the blankets I found a small slit in the seam. Tino and I stared at each other, neither of us willing to stick our hands in the gross looking mattress.

“Rock, paper, scissors?” I whispered. He nodded. I won.

I would have laughed at Tino’s expression if my face didn’t hurt and my heart wasn’t pounding at the thought of getting caught. Mattie’s busted up face flashed through my head, adding to my fear. I watched the door while Tino dug around for the chips. I nearly jumped out of my skin when he tapped me on the shoulder, the money bag in one hand.

“Don’t do that!” I hissed. I took the bag and opened it. There was way more than just this month’s collection. It looked like all the drug money was in here as well. I quickly counted out the chips we needed. There was enough, but barely. Just as I was pulling the bag closed, we heard footsteps.

Tino and I froze, holding our breath as the clunking steps came down the stairs and into the hallway. In the stillness the steps and our breathing sounded really loud. I put one grimy hand over Tino’s mouth and put the other over mine to quiet the noise, warning Tino with my eyes that, no matter what, we had to stay quiet. Tino nodded, eyes wide over the edge of my hand.

Whoever was walking around went right past the door and didn’t stop. We heard the front door open and close, and silence returned. After a few seconds I motioned towards the window with my head. Tino and I shoved the window up and slipped outside with the bag, inching around the house to the front porch, not knowing if the person was still out there. They were. All we could make out in the darkness was a silhouette.

A lighter illuminated the figure long enough for me to make out Jojo smoking a cigarette, his expression muddled and bleary. I held up a hand to Tino, signaling that we should wait. That one cigarette seemed to last forever. Tino and I stood perfectly still, not daring to move or relax. Finally Jojo stomped out the cigarette before unzipping his pants and peeing on the grass outside of the porch.

We waited long enough for Jojo to go inside and go up the stairs before starting up the road to the city. After we got about a mile away I pulled out the rag Tino had given me and blew my nose, dislodging the blood clot that had built up while we’d been at the mansion.

“Hey, Pip?” Tino’s voice was quiet. I looked over and was surprised when I saw his expression. It was guarded and serious, the way it hardly ever looked.

“What is it?” I asked.

“What about the other Littles?” he asked, haltingly. “Will they be okay if we take this?” He pointed at the money bag now slung across my chest.

“They’ll be fine,” I said, though I knew that I was lying. “The important thing is that you and me,” I wrapped an arm around Tino and gave him a quick squeeze, “will be on our way to Mars before anyone figures out anything.” Tino didn’t look convinced but he nodded. I let go and kept walking, still wiping the area around my tender, already swelling lip.

It didn’t hit me until we were on the shuttle hours later. The doors were closing and the announcers and folks in fancy clothes were settling into their seats, pointedly ignoring us. The holo screens above each chair were reading out instructions.

“We’re actually going to Mars, Tino,” I whispered. Tino gave me his best gap-toothed smile, clutching Virgil’s bag as the shuttle started up. We held each other’s hands while the first engine roared and the craft started up the shuttle launch path.

“I hope the sky is blue,” he said. I thought about the bloody shirt I’d left in a trash incinerator unit on the way here. I never wanted to see the color red again.

“It has to be,” I agreed. “Mars has to be blue.”