When Katherine came to, the first thing she registered was the fact that she had a massive headache. She let out a soft groan. She'd read about the chemical she was sure had been used on her, chloroform. It was incredibly powerful, and no one was immune to it. With that thought, the memories of what had happened. She came to the realization that she was lying on the floor, though the floor of what, she had no idea.

She slowly forced her eyes open, despite the pain in her head screaming for her to do otherwise. It didn't help anything, though, because once her eyes had opened she found that she couldn't see anything. Whatever room she was in, it had no windows or lightning of any kind. She blinked a few times and told herself to keep her eyes open, no matter how much she wanted to just close them and go back to sleep. Her mouth was gagged, with some sort of filthy cloth by the feel of it, and her wrists were bound with strong rope, though her feet were still free.

Her plan was to push herself up, into a sitting position at least, but she quickly discovered that she didn't have the energy for that, so she just kept lying still on the cold stone floor and trying to calculate a plan. She didn't have much information to go on, but she had to try. She didn't know how long she stayed like that, but after a while her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening. Light flooded through a now-visible entryway, and she was able to tell that she was in a basement of some kind. She squinted in the light, and after a few seconds, a figure appeared, but he quickly entered the room and became dark again before she could make out any details.

"Hello, Katherine. Enjoy your nap?" It was the same gruff voice that belonged to the man on the street. No need to worry, I just came to light a few candles for you."

That statement made no sense to Katherine, but after a moment the basement was filled the very dim glow created by three candles on a flimsy table in the center of the room. All at once she was able to see the face of her kidnapper, and she shuddered at the sight of him. Dark, sunken in eyes, long stringy black hair, a leering grin, probably around his 50s age-wise. He reminded Katherine of Bill Sykes, a character from one of her favorite books, Oliver Twist. He had horrified her as a child when she'd forced her father to read to her, and this man horrified her now.

"Don't mind the gag, I'll make sure to remove just as soon as I know you won't scream the second I do. Enjoy being on your own." He gave her a smirk that looked downright terrifying. "I'll be back later to have some fun with you."

oOo

Jack hadn't been worried about Katherine when Pulitzer had come up to him on the street. He really hadn't. But now he was starting to think that something awful must've happened. Katherine had promised him the night before that she would come see him, as she did almost every day. Her absence wasn't what bothered him, it was the fact that she hadn't let him know about it anyway. She almost always left a note or something if she knew she wouldn't be able to come by the Lodging House.

Jack sat on the couch in the living area of the Lodging House, still as the other boys had ever seen him. He was leaning over with his elbows resting on his knees, his brow furrowed, and his cap clutched tightly in one of his hands. The entire building was oddly quiet. They hadn't talked about it, but they all knew what was wrong. The majority of them were sitting around Jack and various places, willing the door to open and for their favorite reporter to come through the door. But so far it hadn't worked.

Suddenly, the door opened, startling all of the boys. Jack immediately jumped up from his spot on the couch, looking at the doorway hopefully. But all his hopes came crashing down again when David and Les entered.

"Damn it!" Jack shouted before he began to pace briskly, looking like a madman but not caring. Davey covered his younger brothers ears instinctively, but Les scowled and pulled away.

"Nice to see you too..." Davey said, taken aback by his outburst, but Jack didn't seem to hear him, so he gave a questioning look to Crutchie, who had been sitting next to Jack before he'd gotten up. 

"Katherine ain't been here yet, and we's all kinda... on edge about it. Especially Jack."

"Jack, she probably just got an unexpected article and didn't have time to let you know." Davey turned his attention back to the pacing newsboy leader, who just shook his head.

"She wouldn't... not without telling me somehow."

"There's nothing you can say to talk him outta this, we've all tried." Crutchie spoke up again, and Davey sighed and sat next to Crutchie in Jack's vacated spot.

"Alright." 

"Jack...?" Les's voice pulled Jack out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, kid?" He finally stopped pacing.

"Katherine's okay though, right."

"I don't... I dunno." He stood there for a moment. "I'm gonna go look for her." 

"What?"

"Jack..."

Davey and Crutchie both tried to protest this at once, but there was no changing his mind.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna go look for her. If she's fine, it shouldn't be too hard."

"Is that really the best idea, Jack?" Davey was still skeptical.

"I'll be fine." He waved him off. "I'll be back soon." 

A few seconds later, Jack had left the building and the other boys all exchanged concerned looks. Something bad was happening.

oOo

Jack couldn't find her. He'd looked everywhere he knew to look, including her room the the Pulitzer Mansion, which was rather difficult to pull off without anyone noticing, and he still hadn't found her anywhere. He didn't return until about midnight, at which point he went straight up to the roof, knowing the other boys were all asleep by now and not exactly wanting to talk to anyone either. However, that apparently didn't matter to Crutchie.

"Jack." 

Jack turned sharply to look at him, startled. The crippled boy was sitting up, and it was very clear he hadn't been asleep yet.

"What're you doing up, you gotta be up again early." 

"So do you, but I don't see you sleeping."

Jack let out a sigh and sat down next to the younger boy. "You shouldnt've stayed up for me." Crutchie just shrugged, and Jack sighed again. He was silent for a long while. "I'm scared, Crutch." He finally admitted, and his brother nodded.

"I know. Me too."

"She's gotta be okay though, don't she?"

"I don't know... but if anyone can make it outta something okay, it's her, right?"

"Yeah..." Jack still wasn't fully convinced, but he was good at pretending. "Right.