And so they did. The little band hurried down the tracks. Everyone was exhausted having already walked about seventy-five city blocks to get to 116th Street. But hurry they did.

When they reached the 125th Street Station, Amanda whispered, "Turn off your flashlights and be very quiet."

They tiptoed through the 125th Street station, not stopping to send someone upstairs to see if it was safe, they moved quickly through the station and continued on the tracks. They could hear some men in the station, but it was very dark and they could not see them.

"We have to take the number five line," said Thibodeaux. "And right now, it is the one in the middle."

The band quickly moved down the subway line, away from the station.

Amanda motioned for them to stop and listen. They could still hear the men in the station.

The band quickly moved down the tracks by the light of one flashlight, staying to the middle when the track veered off the left.

When they were about four blocks away, Thibodeaux motioned for them to stop.

"We are under the river right now."

"Under the river? Oh, that does sound troublesome," said Mr. Garvain.

"Yup, but we are in a tunnel so we don't need to swim," said Thibodeaux who was looking at his subway map by the light of his flashlight. "We are going to pass 138th Street soon and we need to move to the right on the 5 line after that. When we get to 149th, we need to turn back on the 2 line.

"Light your flashlights and move," said Amanda.

And so they did, moving quickly. When they reached 138th Street, they turned off their flashlights and traveled through the station, but they did not hear anyone.

It seemed darker than ever when they finally reached the 149th Street Station. This time they had to enter the station to find the 2 and head to the west. Amanda asked Thibodeaux to kneel down while she climbed on his back and once she was on the platform she lay down and pulled him up with help from the exhausted Peter and Cindy.

Cindy then climbed on Peter's shoulders and was pulled up by Thibodeaux and Amanda and then Thibodeaux and Amanda pulled up Peter.

"Mr. Garvain, please help us with Miss Virginia," said Amanda.

"Here, sister, get on my shoulders," said Mr. Garvain.

Miss Virginia got on Mr. Garvain's shoulders and climbed up on the platform.

Now it was time for Mr. Garvain. Everyone lay down on their stomachs and with much heaving and many near misses when almost everyone landed back in the subway, Mr. Garvain was lifted up onto the platform.

"If we are going to do this again, we really need to locate a step stool," said Mr. Garvain.

"Shh," said Amanda. "Oh, sorry, that was impolite."

"No offense taken. We need to be very quiet. We are on a mission," whispered Mr. Garvain.

The little band quietly walked through the subway station finding the signs that said downtown 2 line. When they arrived on the 2 line, Amanda, Thibodeaux, and Mr. Garvain all lowered themselves to the platform and then helped the others down.

They were back in yet another tunnel.

"I am so tired," said Cindy. "I don't know if I can walk anymore."

"Yes, you can. You have been great," said Amanda.

"When we get to my Auntie's house we can all get something to eat and go to sleep. She has a very big apartment and lots of beds. But she won't be too pleased when she sees how dirty we are," said Thibodeaux.

"Maybe she has some wipes," said Miss Virginia. "I could sure use some wipes and some hand sanitizer."

By now everyone was exhausted and the trek down from 149th to 103rd Street took twice as long. It would be late at night before they arrived and they had not eaten since breakfast. Amanda walked holding hands with Peter and Cindy who were stumbling with exhaustion and not talking at all. Each time they reached a station, they would turn off their flashlights and move through it in the dark. Using only one flashlight to light up the wall, they checked the station number after they had passed through it and heard no one. When Thibodeaux told them they were going back under the river, no one even had enough energy to be scared.

So trek they did for hours until they finally reached 103rd Street. At 103rd Street they climbed out of the tunnel onto the platform. Everyone was totally exhausted and pulling up Mr. Garvain took twice as long as before. But soon they were all sitting in a heap in the dark on the platform, not daring to use a flashlight.

"Why don't I go upstairs and check to see if it is okay for us to leave?" said Thibodeaux.

This time Amanda was too tired to argue and simply said, "Thanks."

Thibodeaux turned on one flashlight and held it close to his leg and walked to the turnstile and jumped over and then headed slowly up the stairs.

The little band sat in the dark and cold on the platform floor. Cindy put her head on Amanda's shoulder and quickly fell to sleep. But it was a sleep that would not last long because Thibodeaux was soon back.

"I did not see the bad guys, but there are some gangs roaming the street. So we need to stick together and get out our pepper spray and hey, Mr. Garvain, you were pretty good with that cane back there," said Thibodeaux.

Amanda shook Cindy and Peter who were practically catatonic. "We have to go."

"I can't walk," said Cindy.

"Yes, you can. It is only a few blocks and then we can eat and go to bed. That is we can go to bed after my Auntie cleans us up. She is going to have one fit when she sees what the cat drug in," said Thibodeaux.

"What the cat drug in?" asked Peter is a very sleepy voice.

"That's just something my Auntie says when she sees a mess like us," said Thibodeaux.

So the band climbed quietly up the stairs by the light of two flashlights and went outside onto 103rd Street. It was very dark outside. The moon was far off in the distance and obscured by clouds. Suddenly it started to rain so soon they were very wet, cold, and tired.

The rain had obviously discouraged the bands of looters Thibodeaux had seen before, because no one but their group was on the street. Thibodeaux led his band up Columbus Avenue until he reached 105th Street. He quickly led them to the right down Columbus to a small apartment building. Thibodeaux quickly pulled out a key and led them into the pitch dark lobby.

"The stairs are over there," said Thibodeaux.

Suddenly a man jumped out of the darkness and shoved Thibodeaux, pressing a knife against his throat. "Give me your money, cell phones, and watches or I will cut him," said the man.

But by now they had this thing down and the man was quickly subdued with pepper spray and Mr. Garvain's and Miss Virginia's canes.

"Get out, get out," screamed Miss Virginia as she hit the man again and again.

The man ran out of the door to the building.

"Thibodeaux, are you okay?" Amanda shone her flashlight at Thibodeaux who had a cut on his neck.

"He just nicked me," said Thibodeaux.

"We need to light up the lobby and check for his friends," said Mr. Garvain.

The only other person in the lobby was a homeless man who was asleep down the hallway. He was snoring and had not awakened during the commotion.

"We need to get upstairs. Everyone get out your flashlights and pepper spray and follow me," said Thibodeaux.

So they did. The stairs were deserted so they climbed as quickly as they could up the stairs until they arrived on the fourth floor.

Thibodeaux banged on the door and said, "Auntie, Tina, it's me and I have some new friends with me." Thibodeaux used his key to open the door and walked into the living room of his Aunt Tina's apartment to see her walking to the door with the help of her walker. Auntie Tina had a baseball bat in her hand.

Amanda looked around the apartment in awe, tired or not, she had never seen anything like this before. Everything was dark green, the floors, the walls, the ceiling. And all over the apartment were small altars. The altars were surrounded by candles which lit African figurines. These were figurines that Amanda had never seen before. She had been in a Catholic Church once, but those figurines had been different, more formal, more gold. Some of the figurines in the apartment looked a bit crazed like they might be from a horror film. There was also a funny smell in the apartment like something sweet had been burned.

"Do you play baseball?" asked an almost catatonic Cindy, looking at Auntie Tina's bat.

"No, I use it to whack no-goods," said Auntie Tina. "And just what do we have here?" Auntie Tina looked at the group of dirty travelers at her door.

"These people are my friends and we are going to save the city," said Thibodeaux.

"Well right now you just need to come inside this apartment," said Auntie Tina.

"Auntie, we have some bad guys chasing us and we had to hide in the subway and we walked from 42nd Street all the way to 149th Street in the subway tunnel and then all the way back down to 103rd Street. And we have not eaten all day and we are tired, thirsty, and dirty," said Thibodeaux.

"You had some what? And just what is that cut on your neck?" said Auntie Tina.

"Some no good tried to cut my throat. He was hiding in the lobby downstairs and tried to rob us," said Thibodeaux.

"We beat him up," said an exhausted Mr. Garvain.

"Well, let me fix your neck while your friends take turns cleaning up in the bathroom. Then I will fix us some food. Thibodeaux, you march over to the sink and let me fix you up," said Auntie Tina.

Auntie Tina took Thibodeaux by the hand and walked him to the sink. "There's no hot water but we still have water in the tank so the rest of you can wash up with cold water. I don't know exactly where you folks have been, but you sure are dirty."

Auntie Tina cleaned Thibodeaux's neck and then she put some ointment on it and put a bandage over the top. "If I find that no-good who hurt you, I'm going to wring his neck like he's one of the chickens."

"The chickens?" asked Cindy, but then when no one seemed to be paying attention, she trudged down the hall toward the bathroom.

"Thanks, Auntie. Do you have any clean clothes my friends can wear and can they sleep here? We are all very tired," said Thibodeaux.

"Of course, you go into the second bedroom and get me your uncles' old uniforms and give them to those two old people. Also, in the drawer there are some of your uncles old white tee shirts people can sleep in. I should have given away Thomas's clothes when he died but I never could make myself do it and now, they can be put to good use."

Thibodeaux went into the closet in the second bedroom and came back out with two very large men's transit worker's uniforms and five large men's tee shirts. "Mr. Garvain and Miss Virginia, you can wear my uncle Thomas's uniforms. You can all sleep in his tee shirts and I will let you kids borrow some of my clothes tomorrow."

Everyone went down the hallway and took off the dusty wet clothes they had been wearing all day. They then took turns in the bathroom until everyone was finally clean.

Auntie Tina was cooking spaghetti in the kitchen. Soon she had a huge platter of spaghetti covered with store bought spaghetti sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Auntie Tina handed everyone a paper plate and some silverware and paper cups of water.

Everyone was starved and they ate quickly.

"I have four bedrooms in this place, so there is plenty of room for everyone," said Auntie Tina.

"How did you get such a large apartment? This is lovely," said Miss Virginia.

"I own the building. And when I go, Thibodeaux and his Mamma can move into this apartment. You hear me Thibodeaux?" asked Auntie Tina.

"Yes, ma'am," said Thibodeaux.

"I don't want to hear about you going back to New Orleans. That place is simply not safe. All those hurricanes," said Auntie Tina.

Amanda wanted to say something about how New York was not safe either, but she was simply too tired. Amanda took Cindy and Peter by the hand and walked down the hall to one of the spare bedrooms. There was a double bed in the room. Amanda looked at it and said, "Don't complain. Just go to sleep."

And so they did.

Chapter XIII.

Amanda woke up the next day. She looked out the window of the bedroom and saw the sun was high in the sky. She looked at her watch and it was 11AM. Cindy was still sound sleep in the middle of the bed but Peter was gone. Amanda walked out into the hallway and could hear voices from the kitchen. She walked into the bathroom and thought to herself what a luxury it was to have indoor plumbing. It had been no fun having to walk into the dark part of the subway tunnel every time she had to go to the bathroom.

Amanda followed the voices down the hall to the kitchen where she found everyone except the still sleeping Cindy. They were sitting around the kitchen table eating waffles and drinking cold coffee.

"Hey Amanda, do you want some coffee. My aunt put a pound of Cafe Bustelo into a sun tea jar and lets it sit all night and then she filtered it with cheese cloth. It is really good," said Thibodeaux.

Thibodeaux poured Amanda a cup of cold coffee.

Amanda took it and simply said, "Thank you." A few days ago, she never would have drank cold coffee without ice and milk, but then a few days ago, she would not have ever run through subway tunnels to get away from horrible men who were trying to hurt her.

"Here, missy, eat some of these waffles." Auntie Tina was making waffles in an old fashioned waffle iron on the top of her gas stove.

Miss Virginia passed her some butter and some strawberry syrup and Amanda sat down and ate.

Peter was eating waffles while he worked on his computer. "I get internet access and then it goes away."

"After breakfast, maybe we can go up on the roof and try from there," said Thibodeaux.

"You do that. Now would someone please tell me what is going on?" said Auntie Tina. "And I don't want to just hear you were chased by bad guys. There are bad guys all over New York, but looking at you, I can tell something more happened than just the usual ugly stuff."

So Thibodeaux sat down and told her everything. And then Amanda told Auntie Tina about how the theater collapsed on them and they had to go down an old passage to the subway and how they hid in Grand Central and then the hotel and then at Mr. Garvain and Miss Virginia's home. Mr. Garvain told them about how foolish they had been to allow the children to go make a film of the bad guys. And they all talked and talked and when they were done they all felt better except for Auntie Tina who looked like she was about to explode.

"You mean all this mess was caused by some no good jewel thieves who were trying to steal diamonds?"

"Yes, that is about it," said Amanda.

"The whole city is evacuated. I get stuck up here on the fourth floor with no electricity and someone tries to cut my nephew all because someone wanted some diamonds?" Auntie Tina was really getting riled up.

"Yes, and some horrible man attacked me and knocked me down," said Amanda as she pulled up her pants leg to show Auntie Tina her bandaged leg.