"When I say go, run. I will lead and Thibodeaux, since you are twelve too, you be last. Peter keep an eye on Thibodeaux and I will watch for Cindy. We need to work together," said Amanda.

"Hey Peter is just ten years old. I should be watching him," said Thibodeaux.

"Okay, we will all watch each other but now we have to go." Amanda opened the door and wearing her night goggles she ran down the hall toward the stairway. She had a pepper spray in her pocket, but that did not keep her from being scared. She had not been this scared since she was in the basement of the theater.

The children ran down the hall following Amanda. They entered the empty stairway and ran down the stairs into the dark lobby of the hotel. They were not alone. They ran past several couches where people were sleeping. They heard someone yell, "Hey kids," from the back of the lobby, but they kept on running out into the dark street, running east on 45th Street past the building that was on fire. People were pouring out of the building, but they did not stop to ask any questions. They continued running across town for several blocks crossing Lexington on their way to Third Avenue. Looking down Lexington Avenue, they could see a gang of men running toward them. The night city was alive, dark but alive. They could see candlelight in some of the windows as they ran. Someone was chasing them, but he was about half a block away so they kept on running as fast as they possibly could, dodging all the abandoned cars in the street, and soon whoever was chasing them dropped back.

They were now at Third Avenue. Cindy stopped them and said, "We need to turn right and run down to 16th Street."

They turned and started to run down the street. They had been running down Third for six blocks, when suddenly a man dressed in black jumped out of the dark and grabbed Amanda as she ran down the street. They both fell down and Amanda was on the street, pinned down by the man who had jumped out of the dark. He was screaming and muttering something about Armageddon. All the children ran to help, trying to pull the man off Amanda. She was pushing him away with her left arm while she used her right hand to find her pepper spray when suddenly her own eyes were filled with the spray.

Cindy was standing over them with a can of pepper spray in her hand which she had just used on the man.

The man who had attacked Amanda moved off her and was lying on the street screaming with his hands over his eyes. Amanda's eyes felt like they were going to burn off and she wanted to lie on the ground and scream too, but Peter and Cindy grabbed her hands and pulled her down the street.

"Stop a second." It was Thibodeaux. He had a water bottle open. "Hold still." Thibodeaux pulled Amanda's head back and poured the entire bottle of water into her eyes.

Amanda's eyes were burning and she still could not see, but now she was also sopping wet. And she had hurt her knee when she fell.

Peter and Cindy put their arms around Amanda and helped her walk down the street. They could not run anymore.

Amanda was horribly afraid. Her eyes were burning and she could not see, but she could hear people running behind them and in front of them.

They were moving down the street as fast as they could with a blind person when suddenly an older man came out of a townhouse and stood in front of them brandishing a walking stick in the air and yelling, "Stop or I will thrash you."

Cindy screamed.

"Children, I'm not going to hurt you. I am threatening your assailant. I was in my home and I saw that horrid men trying to hurt your friend," said the man. "Do you want a whacking? How dare you accost these children!" He yelled at the man who had tried to hurt Amanda.

The man who attacked Amanda was still lying on the street yelling about his eyes.

"Why are you children out here in the dark?" asked the man.

"Who are you?" asked Cindy.

"I am Mr. Garvain. I live on this block. You seem to have run into some trouble. May I be of assistance?" said Mr. Garvain.

"We were trapped in a building that collapsed and we had to crawl out through the subway tunnel. Well, that's what happened to the three of us. Thibodeaux was kidnapped by some no-goods and forced to steal BLU Ray players and stuff when a cop found him and asked us to take care of him," said Cindy.

"Hey, I'm pulling my weight," said Thibodeaux.

Cindy ignored Thibodeaux and kept talking. "And then the building next to our hotel caught on fire and we were running down the street when some man attacked Amanda and then I accidentally sprayed her with pepper spray. Amanda, I'm so sorry."

"Well, my oh my, that is some story. Why don't you come inside and tell me all about it," said Mr. Garvain.

"We are not supposed to go with strangers," said Peter.

"Well there are four of you and just one of me so I am the one who is going somewhere with strangers. But we need to get you inside. That girl, Amanda it is, right, is sopping wet and we need to do something about her eyes and we need to get all of you inside before that thug catches up with us." Mr. Garvain pointed down the street to where the man who attacked Amanda was getting up and starting toward them making a horrid sound in his throat.

Amanda screamed when she heard the man so Peter and Cindy put her arms around their shoulders and with Thibodeaux following in the rear yelling, "I'm going to kick you all the way back to Rikers," at the man, they followed Mr. Garvain into his townhouse and Mr. Garvain locked the door behind them.

The children stood in the living room in utter awe. They had never seen a room like this before unless they were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Candelabras filled with white candles were lit throughout the living room. The walls were gold, the ceiling was gold, the chandeliers were gold and there was gold silk upholstery and a gold rug with gold fringe on the floor. And mirrors, there were heavy gilt mirrors everywhere.

Mr. Garvain saw the look on their faces and said. "I took a trip to France when I was seventeen and it changed my life. I visited Versailles and from then on, I wanted to be Marie Antoinette."

"But they chopped her head off," said Thibodeaux.

"Well, not that part of her life. The part before when she was building gardens at Versailles. That's the part I love."

"But she was a woman! You can't be a woman," said Cindy.

Amanda glared at Cindy through her burning eyes. "Marie Antoinette was a lovely woman, very pretty. I saw a picture of her in a book."

"But that was a long time ago. You must be...well, it was a long time ago, wasn't it?" asked Cindy.

"Well, yes, I just turned sixty," said Mr. Garvain. "But why are we standing here talking. We need to take care of your friend."

"Won't the bad guy try to get in here?" asked Thibodeaux.

"He better not try," said Mr. Garvain. "I'll whack him with that poker." Mr. Garvain pointed to some ornate fireplace tools.

"Come here, sweetie. Let me take you into the kitchen and see what we can do about your eyes," said Mr. Garvain.

"I am so sorry I hit you with the pepper spray too." Cindy had almost as many tears on her face as Amanda.

"It's okay. I'm just glad you got that bad man." Amanda was walking slowly. She had taken a pretty hard fall.

Mr. Garvain took Amanda into the kitchen. All the other children followed except Thibodeaux who was peeping out from behind the heavy curtains to see if anyone was looking at the house.

Mr. Garvain washed Amanda's face with a soapy rag removing the pepper spray from her skin, but taking special care not to touch her eyes with the soap. He then took a cool wet cloth and put it over Amanda's eyes.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" asked Mr. Garvain.

"I hurt my knee when I fell," said Amanda.

"Oh my. I better go get Miss Virginia," said Mr. Garvain.

"Who's Miss Virginia?" asked Cindy.

"She's my sister. She lives in the upstairs apartment. Our parents left this house to us; we lived here our entire lives. But let me go get her. She has taught school and she will know what to do about a scraped knee." Mr. Garvain opened the back door in the kitchen and started climbing up the back stairway.

"I'll be right back." Mr. Garvain left.

"Are you okay, Amanda?" Peter sounded very worried.

"Do you think we are safe here?" asked Cindy.

"I don't know. I can't see a thing," said Amanda.

"I'm so sorry." Cindy was starting to cry.

"Don't cry, Cindy. You were just trying to help. I am getting better. I can see a bit more now. Come here." Amanda wrapped her arms around Cindy and they were both crying, Cindy because she was sad and scared and Amanda because her eyes hurt and she was also scared.

"Hey, gals. It will be okay. The cops at my school uses pepper spray all the time and those kids still see fine. Amanda will be okay in a few minutes." Thibodeaux had walked into the kitchen.

"You're sure?" asked Peter.

"Sure, man," said Thibodeaux.

"I don't ever want to go to your school," said Cindy.

"Well, I don't think anyone is going to go to school in New York City unless we fix this mess," said Thibodeaux.

Mr. Garvain was back and with him was a lady who looked to be in her sixties. She was carrying a first aid kit.

"This is Miss Virginia, my sister," said Mr. Garvain.

"My, oh my, what has happened to you children?" asked Miss Virginia.

"Well, I was in a play in this theater in the East Village and my cousins came to see me and we were downstairs when the building collapsed and we had to escape through the subway and then we hid in Grand Central station and then we hid in a hotel where a cop gave us Thibodeaux and then the building next door caught on fire and then we ran away and some crazy man attacked Amanda and I accidentally sprayed her with pepper spray and then your brother found us and now we are here." The words ran out of Cindy's mouth.

"Well, my goodness," said Miss Virginia. "How are your eyes?" Miss Virginia walked over to Amanda and put her hands on either side of her face and looked at her eyes.

"They are getting better, but they still burn," said Amanda.

Miss Virginia walked to the refrigerator and opened the door and took out a container of milk. She put some milk on a rag and wiped Amanda's eyes with it.

"I hope that helps," said Miss Virginia.

"A little," said Amanda.

"I think you will just have to wait. I was pepper sprayed once when I was demonstrating against the Vietnam War and nothing seemed to help except time," said Miss Virginia.

"Thanks for helping me," said Amanda.

"Let me see that knee." Miss Virginia pulled up Amanda's pants leg and looked at her skinned knee. Miss Virginia took out a bowl and filled it with hot soapy water. She then washed Amanda's knee with a soapy cloth, put ointment on the scrape and covered her knee with a large bandage.

"Your knee will be a little sore, but since you can walk, you will be okay," said Miss Virginia.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Mr. Garvain.

"I have to get home to Harlem so I can help my Auntie Tina. She had knee surgery two weeks ago and is still using a walker and we live on the fourth floor of a building and the elevator is out because we don't have any electricity," said Thibodeaux.

"Well, no one can go anywhere right now. It is night and there are some very scary people outside. A lot of people did not leave the city and are holed up in their apartments, but there are a lot of bad people running through the city in gangs. No one should be out in that," said Miss Virginia.

"I am very tired," said Cindy. "We were asleep when the building next door caught fire and we had to run away."

"You are also very dirty. We have water in our tank so why don't you come upstairs with me and I will find some clean clothes for you and you can take turns cleaning up in the bathroom," said Miss Virginia.

"You have kid's clothes upstairs?" asked Peter.

"I have a room full of clothes. Before I retired, I taught high school drama, but I was also a costume designer for a lot of plays. I have an entire room full of costumes and something should fit all of you. So up the stairs we go," said Miss Virginia.

"Hey, my Auntie Tina was a drama teacher before she had to retire because of her bad back," said Thibodeaux.

"This city is filled with drama queens," said Mr. Garvain.

Miss Virginia opened the door to a closet under the stairway and brought out three silver candelabras filled with white candles. She picked up a match and lit them, handing one to Amanda, one to Thibodeaux, and taking one herself. "Here, you can use this for light and save your flashlights."

Miss Virginia and Mr. Garvain led the motley crew carrying their elegant silver candelabras up the back stairs, up two flights and through a door into the kitchen of her apartment. They entered the living room of Miss Virginia's apartment, which was another gilded fantasy. Miss Virginia then led them up an ornate stairway and down the hall to one of the bedroom doors. She opened it and led everyone inside. The room was filled with racks of costumes.

"Will these fit us?" asked Peter.

"The safety pin was an amazing invention, right up there with the wheel," said Miss Virginia.

Miss Virginia walked up and down the racks picking out costumes which she gave to the children to wear. She gave Amanda a 1960's style dress from Promises, Promises, Cindy an urchin costume from Annie, and for Peter and Thibodeaux, there were townspeople costumes from Les Miserable, complete with breeches and vests.

The children looked at the costumes and wanted to say something, but then they saw how they looked in their present clothes and simply said, "Thank you."

"Now, we don't have enough water for anyone to take a bath but each one of you can go into the bathroom and fill the sink with warm soapy water and take a sponge bath. There are spare toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet. I have a guest room with two double beds, so you have a place to sleep," said Miss Virginia.

So the children took turns going into the bathroom, cleaning up and dressing in their costumes. Their old clothes were placed in a pile just outside the bathroom door. Amanda hung her jacket over the shower rod to dry and then looked at their dirty clothes and thought about how her mother would have stayed up to wash their clothes, but she was simply too tired to be a grownup any longer.

Miss Virginia showed the children up another flight of the stairs and down the hall to a pretty room that had two double beds with floral dust ruffles and pink coverlets. There were pillows and blankets and everyone was very tired and it was very cold, so soon they were sound asleep.

Chapter IX.

Amanda awoke. It was daylight outside. Cindy and Thibodeaux were still asleep but Peter was sitting on the other bed using his computer. Her camera was attached to the computer and so was the flash drive.

Amanda got up and walked over to the bed Peter and the still sleeping Thibodeaux were sharing. She sat down next to Peter and whispered, "So what do you think?"

"I downloaded your video clip with the guys talking into my computer. I keep reading the stuff on the flash drive over and over. I don't think there is anything wrong with the city. I meant there is some anthrax and some bombs went off. But if we show this to someone, I don't think they will believe us," said Peter.

Thibodeaux rolled over and said, "You got that right, Einstein. No one ever believes kids."

"Don't call me Einstein," said Peter.

"But they have to believe us." Cindy was awake now. "I live in this city and I want to go home."

"Hey, girl, don't tell me. I can't lose another home. Where do they expect me to go this time, Oklahoma?" said Thibodeaux. "No, the only moving I want to do is to go back to New Orleans after my Mamma rebuilds our house and she won't be done for another year. So we have to fix this mess."