I woke up to the bump, bump, bump sound of the wagon jolting as the horses pulled it along the road. I blinked slowly, taking in my surroundings. I sat up straight and looked at the others in the wagon. A boy with chestnut hair, broad shoulders, and a smirk on his face stared back at me. A girl, quite the opposite of him with milky white hair, a thin frame, and sagging shoulders nodded a small hello, then sneezed. When I tried to move my hands to stretch my aching arms, I found them tied behind my back with a thick, coarse, rope. My legs, too, had been bound. 

"I'm hungry," I complained to Kenswick and the blackened-stump-teeth man, who were sitting at the front. Kenswick sighed, then threw an biscuit into my lap. "You're going to have to untie me first," I sniffed. The chestnut haired boy reached over and plucked it up. I glared at him, while Kenswick just chuckled, but I found nothing amusing. "That was mine," I growled. The girl started coughing and sneezing again, but silenced when the broad-shouldered boy stared at her.

"It was for anybody," replied Kenswick, "it just happened to land in your lap. Now, I have one last stop to make. Carlton, watch them, and if anyone does anything stupid, feel free to punish them." He straightened his suit and stepped off the wagon, heading into another orphanage. A little suspicious if you ask me. Carlton took one glance at us, then turned toward the front and started tending to the horses.

"What's your name?" Asked the frail, coughing girl, "I'm Paige, and this is Dedrick."

"I'm Ky," I said, then grimaced. "Ugh, these ropes are so tight. Can you at least come and loosen them?" Paige started toward me, but Tobin held her back. 

"Do you want to get your brains bashed out? Carlton is just waiting for us to make a mistake. Plus, he deserves those. He fought Kenswick when he was only trying to help."

I scowled, "he definitely wasn't helping when he and his thug were tying me up." 

Paige stood up while sneezing. "I don't care how he got tied up. I'm just going to loosen them, you can tell its hurting him." She walked over to me and crouched down. As she reached behind my back, I grabbed her wrist and twisted it backwards, causing her to fall. I then put the small knife I had  stolen from the orphanage kitchen at her neck and wrenched her arm behind her back. 

"Now," I said sweetly, "you guys are going to let me walk out of here and when Kenswick comes back, you won't say anything about where I went, or the girl gets it." Her face paled and she sneezed, while Dedrick just snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'll be off then, and remember our bargain." I stepped up to the side of the wagon, my knife still pointing threateningly at a trembling Paige. I gave a mock salute to Dedrick and Paige, which wasn't very smart. Standing right behind me was Carlton, who knocked hard in the head with the butt of his knife. I crumpled like a sack of potatoes to the wagon floor.

For the second time that day, I woke up in the wagon, this time chained to one side of it. My head was still throbbing from its two encounters with Carlton. Peeking through my eyelids, I could see another boy in the wagon. He had jet-black hair cropped short to his head. The boy had a thin frame, but not as skinny as Paige, who began to cough again. I didn't know what Kenswick wanted with all of these orphans, but it probably didn't involve anything physical, given Paige's bad health.

"Mr. Kenswick, Sir," piped up the new boy. "Ky is awake." There was no point in pretending to be asleep, now. I rolled into sitting position. 

"Miss me?" I asked. 

"Ky," said Kenswick in a disappointed tone, "I told you to stay in the wagon, and what did you do? You disobeyed me."

"Are you expecting me to feel bad for my actions, because right now, I don't feel guilty," I answered. 

"You will soon," Kenswick remarked as he turned back around to face the front. I snorted. I honestly couldn't think of anything this gentleman could do to hurt me, but it was Carlton I was more worried about. 

I listened aimlessly to the conversations of Kenswick and Carlton, trying to figure out how to escape. I wondered what would happen if my father showed up at the orphanage while I was gone. He promised me that he would come back for me, and I didn't want to be gone when he did.