"Heaven bless the persistent," Corinne breathed, clasping her hands over her breast. "Angel, that's wonderful news!"

I was grinning so hard, I thought my face would shatter. "I know. God, I'm so excited!"

"So, when ya bein' sprung?" one of the inmates asked from her place near the stacks.

"Well, my lawyer and the judge talked to the DA, but he refuses to drop the charges. He thinks that despite everything, he still has a case against me."

"What about bond?" asked a second prisoner.

"Donita and the DA couldn't agree on a figure. I told her it was alright, though. I don't mind being here till a new trial." I shrugged. "I don't have anywhere else to go anyway."

"Have they set a trial date?" Corinne asked.

"Donita says it'll probably be in a month or two. They've got a pretty heavy caseload over there, but she's throwing around words like 'deliberate jury tampering', 'perjurious eye-witnesses', 'unjust incarceration' and 'lawsuit'. She's pretty sure my turn will come soon."

This time it was Corinne who enveloped me in a full-body hug. Totally giddy, I willingly sunk into the soft roundness of her frame, taking in her scent of ink and paper and tea. "I must be dreaming," I whispered.

"No you're not, sweet Angel." Releasing me, Corinne gently cupped my cheeks, then turned my head, planting on kiss to either side of my face and one full on my lips. Then she smiled and stepped away. "This is real. Enjoy the feeling. God knows, you deserve it."

"I just can't believe it's happening. I don't think it's really set in yet. God." I looked wildly around. "I need to see Ice. I need to tell her the news."

Corinne stepped forward once again, putting a restraining hand on my arm. "That's not the best of ideas right now."

A thrill of fear skittered down my spine. "Why not?"

"Digger came looking for you when you were off talking to Donita just now. Apparently, Ice got into another row with the Warden."

"Oh no. What was it about?"

"Digger didn't know. All she said was that there was a whole lot of shouting. She thought it might have had something to do with a job of some sort, but she wasn't sure."

"Did she get sent to the hole?" Even my heart stopped as I waited for the answer.

"No. Back down to the auto-shop, I'd expect. Digger said she'd never seen Ice as angry as she was when she came out of the office. Said she almost pushed another inmate through the wall on her way out."

"I'd better go talk to her."

"It's probably best if you wait, Angel. Give her a chance to cool down."

Before I could argue any further, a scream sounded from outside the library.

Jumping to my feet once again, I dashed out of the library, following the sound of the scream into the prison square. Halfway to the center of the square, I stopped and followed the crowd's gaze upwards. "Oh shit," I half-whispered, shouldering my way through the crowd.

There, on the second floor, poised equidistant between Pony to the left and Phyllis on the right, was an inmate I'd never seen before straddling the iron railing. Almost directly behind the young woman, her face pressed hard up against the bars of door enclosing the segregation unit, was Psycho, grinning maliciously.

The crowd parted suddenly and I skid to a stop next to Critter, who was standing almost directly beneath the catwalk, her neck craned at a tendon-stretching angle as she looked almost straight up. I took a step back so as to more easily appraise the situation.

The woman looked to be my age or maybe a little younger, with a plump, well-rounded figure, lank blonde hair and thick glasses. Her round face was doughy-white and shiny with sweat. Her gray eyes were magnified behind the lenses of her glasses, giving her an absolutely terrified expression.

I watched as Pony took a careful step forward. The woman flung out an arm, almost toppling over the rail. "Don't move! I'll jump! I swear it! Not one step closer!"

Psycho's cackling laugh sounded. "Oh please jump, little fish. You'd absolutely make my day. Why, if you tried hard enough, I bet you could even manage to break an ankle or two on your way down . . .from the second floor."

"Shut up!" the woman screamed, releasing her grip and slamming her hands over her ears. Her body wobbled once again and she skittered quickly for a handhold, still straddling the iron bars. "Just shut up!!"

Cassandra just continued to laugh, rattling the bars of her cage just to frighten the girl some more, which she did.

"What's her name?" I shouted to Critter to be heard over Psycho's howling laughter.

My friend turned to me. "I don't know. I've never seen her before."

"Shit." I looked up at Pony, who shrugged. Phyllis also looked down at me, her expression fixed, intent. After what seemed like an hour, at least, Cassandra's laughter wound down and I saw my opportunity. "What's your name?" I shouted up to the girl on the rail.

Startled, she looked down at me, and the crowd gathered in the square, as if seeing us all for the first time. She tightened her grip on the railing, her lips clamped into a small line on her face.

I gave her my warmest smile. "C'mon. You can tell me. What's your name? Mine's Angel."

"I . . .my . . .my name's Iris," she half-whispered.

"Speak up, dear!" Psycho's jeering, insanely gleeful voice echoed through the silent square. "If you're going to put on a show, you need to let all of your audience hear your lines."

"It's alright, Iris," I said, warmly. "I heard you. Can you tell me why you're up there?"

"Yes, tell us all, fishie! Tell us all what your little problem is. We'd so much like to hear it."

Iris turned her head back toward Psycho. "Shut up!" she screamed. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shutupshutupshutupshutup! SHUT! UP!"

As Cassandra howled in laughter once again, Pony made a move toward her cell. Iris caught the motion and shifted, overcompensating and sliding from the top rail.

The entire crowd sucked in a breath.

The girl managed to catch herself at the last moment and quickly yanked her body back onto the railing, still straddling it with one foot on the lowest rung. "Stay back!" she yelled to Pony.

Pony came to an abrupt stop as Cassandra opened her mouth once again. "Keep it shut, Psycho!"

"You're gonna meet your maker for that one, Horsey-Girl," Cassandra snarled, rattling her cage once again.

"Remind me to piss my panties later, Psycho. For now, just shut the fuck up why don't you."

"Make me, bitch."

Pony's intent lunge was interrupted by yet another scream from Iris. She froze once again, mere feet from both Cassandra and the girl. Letting out a breath, she backed away slowly, her empty hands raised. "Alright," she murmured soothingly. "Alright. I'm not gonna hurt you. See?"

"Iris," I said, directing the terrified woman's attention back to me. "Please, why do you want to do this? There must be something we can do."

"She's the reason!" Iris screamed, pointing a shaking hand toward Psycho. "It's all her fault!"

Cassandra howled again.

"Two weeks trapped inside with that . . .that . . .that monster! She wouldn't let me sleep! She wouldn't let me eat! Threatening me every minute of every day!" Tears streamed down her full face, magnifying her eyes even more. "And every night . . .every night she'd send that damned awful disgusting rat of hers into my cell!"

As I listened to the hysterical woman, I could see, from the corner of my eye, the truly evil grin that spread across Psycho's face. When I saw her duck away from the door, I reached out and grabbed Critter, yanking her backward against me. "Go get Ice," I hissed into her ear.

"Wha--?"

"Go get Ice. Now. She should be down in the auto shop. Hurry."

Critter nodded once, then pulled away, sprinting through the square and down the hallway leading to the shops. I turned my head away from her just as another piercing scream rent the air.

I didn't have to be at ground zero to know that Heracles had just put in an appearance.

Iris jumped so that her feet were balanced, almost like a surfer's, on the top bar of the railing. Her body swayed violently to the left and right as she tried to keep her balance, all the while staring at the floor to her left and screaming without pause. "Get it away from me! Oh dear God, get it away from me!!!"

Cassandra's vibrant voice could easily be heart through the panicked screaming. "Oh yes, little Heracles. Bite her. That's it. Bite her legs off, Heracles. Suck her eyes out! Attack! Attack!!" The woman was positively braying with insane laughter as Heracles skittered back and forth at the very edge of the catwalk, his long whiskers twitching with animal excitement.

Screaming, Iris lost her balance, her feet slipping off the railing and plunging over the outside. She managed to catch the top rail under her elbows and locked on tight, kicking her how free legs as the inquisitive rat came closer to explore this new prize.

From my vantage point down below, I knew that, in that very instant, was the time to strike. But I could also see that both Pony and Phyllis were frozen to their spots, watching instead of acting. I wanted to scream at them to break their paralysis, but just as I opened my mouth, Iris managed to hook one flailing leg over the lowest rung and pull herself back onto the rail, still screaming in terror.

Phyllis removed her baton and raised it high over her head, her eyes fixed on Heracles. "Call him back, Cassandra!" she shouted. "I'll kill him if you don't!"

That threat cut Psycho's laugh off immediately. "You wouldn't dare, piggy," she sneered.

"Just try me, Cassandra. Call him back now!"

There was several moments of a tense standoff before Psycho finally sighed. "Oh alright. This prison is such a bore." She whistled. "Come here, little Heracles. Come back to mommy, won't you?"

Apparently, however, Heracles was too fond of his newfound freedom because he studiously ignored the pleas of his mistress, preferring instead to continue pacing beneath the screaming woman above him, his brown, beady eyes seeming to check her out from every angle.

"Heracles! You naughty boy! Come back in here this instant!"

A flash of orange sparked across the periphery of my vision and, when I turned my head, I saw Ice as she bounded up the stairs four at a time, her hair streaming behind her in an inky cloud.

Everyone's focus turned to her. Even Iris stopped her screaming.

Cassandra smiled with what looked to be relief. "Oh, Ice, there you are. Would you be a dear and get my little Heracles back for me? He doesn't seem to want to listen to his mommy today."

Arriving on the catwalk, Ice casually crossed her arms and smirked, eyebrow lifted, in the direction of Cassandra. "Seems like your little 'pet' has developed an attitude problem."

Psycho's smile grew larger. "Oh, we have one more thing in common, then, don't we."

Ice simply stared at her. My muscles tightened as a sense of foreboding washed over me.

"It seems that your little pet has developed an attitude problem of her very own. Isn't that right, Angel." Her words echoed, like a death knell, through the square.

Ice looked down at me, her gaze inquisitive. I stood frozen to my spot on the floor.

Cassandra laughed. "You mean you didn't tell her, Angel? You actually kept your word?? Oh, isn't that rich!"

"Spit it out, Cassandra," Ice ordered. "What are you talking about."

I wanted to scream, shout, fall down on my knees in a grand mal seizure . . .anything to stop this topic in its embryonic stage. For a brief second, I even found myself praying that Iris, the person who started this whole thing, would just jump so nothing else could be said.

My prayer went unanswered. Iris seemed as riveted to these new turn of events as everyone else was.

"I can't believe she didn't tell you of our little adventure, Ice!"

"Cassandra . . . ."

"Oh, alright. If it'll get my sweet little Heracles back, I'll tell you." She stuck her skinny arms through the bars, linking her hands together casually. "Let's see. Friday, I think it was, I was just sick of this new fish and her incessant whining. So, I decided to take a stroll. Nothing much, really. Just a chance to stretch my legs, see what was happening, that kind of thing."

"I assume there's a point in here somewhere?"

"Oh there is. There is. Never fear. You see, I just happened, for some strange reason, to find myself outside the library very close to lights out. Now, locked in my miserable cell all day like I am, I've been deprived of the great pleasure of seeing this remarkable bastion of lower learning in the flesh, so to speak. And I did so want the opportunity to meet the great Corinne." She sighed dramatically. "But, alas, it was near closing time and our dear librarian had already made her tottering way back to her cell, I'm afraid."

Then she clapped her hands together as an expression of almost beatific joy overspread her fair features. "But I wasn't disappointed. Oh no. Because instead of the great Corinne, I got her wonderful assistant, Angel."

Ice's expression became stony. Cassandra laughed. The inmates and guards, Iris included, all turned to stare at me. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. But I couldn't. My body was refusing my mind's commands. I remained frozen, landlocked in a sea of misery.

"So I invited her into one of the paint closets. You know, just to chat." She shrugged.

"What happened." Ice's voice was completely devoid of all emotion. I knew right then just how angry she was.

Cassandra scowled. "The little bitch disarmed me!"

Some of the inmates started to laugh. There was a smattering of applause as well. Cassandra snarled, loudly.

"And?"

Her insane good humor restored, Psycho smiled once again. "Well, I didn't give up without a fight. Managed to slice her leg open before she could take my knife away. But it wasn't over there. Oh goodness, no. I went after my pretty little blade and she actually stepped on my hand!" Scowling, she held up the appendage in question. I noticed with equal parts satisfaction and guilt that her hand was swollen and bruised. "You really should spank her for her impertinence, Ice," she said in a sly undertone which, nevertheless, carried to all ears.

There was some snickering over that particular comment. Ice, however, remained unmoved.

"Anyway, like any good psychotic, I went with my best option."

"Meaning?"

"I bit her."

"You did what?!"

"I bit her. Right on one of those luscious thighs of hers." She trailed off, opening her eyes wide in a show of mock surprise. "You mean she didn't show you? You didn't see it when the two of you were rutting like a couple of crazed weasels? I know I left a mark. I could even taste the hot tang of her blood through the material of her uniform." Rolling her eyes, she ran a tongue across her front teeth, body writhing as if in ecstasy.

Ice's hands clenched slowly. I could easily see the corded muscles and tendons of her neck protrude. I thought for sure she would rush the bars holding Cassandra inside the segregation unit. But she didn't. She just stood there, staring. "What happened next." Her voice was so soft, I had to strain to hear it.

"We made a deal."

"And that was?"