Free The Best of Penny Dread Tales by Kevin J. Anderson, Quincy J. Allen, Cayleigh Hickey, Aaron Michael Ritchey Ritchey, J. M. Franklin, Gerry Huntman, Laura Givens, Keith Good, David Boop, Peter J. Wacks Page B

crawl through it, turning to help Davy behind me. Looking out the window, it’s hard to believe that we are moving. The fog has intensified, and all we see is a wall of gray. But as we ascend further up into the sky, the gray begins to lighten. Suddenly, the wall is pure white. And then it happens. We break through the clouds and the air is clear.
    We sit atop a bed of clouds, and the sky above is the most brilliant blue. A bright yellow orb hangs on the horizon, turning the edges of the clouds pink and orange.
    My first sunset.
    I can’t breathe. I forget to breathe. I have found my dream; and I know that I will dream of this moment again and again for the rest of my life. I feel Davie touch my arm. He is as awe-struck as I am. We are the only people alive who have seen this wonder. My heart fills with a joy I have never known. After today we will never be just “tunnel rats” again.
    The Professor’s voice comes over my helmet com. “It worked! Now let’s go home!”
    ***

The Cutpurse from Mulberry Bend
    Gerry Huntman
    “I want you to teach me how to pick pockets,” the girl said, intensity flaring in her cultivated voice and brown eyes.
    “Whoa, girl, what makes yer tink I have that craft?” the gang leader replied, surprised at the young stranger’s impetuousness. He was enjoying reading the tattle in the Manhattan Enterprise and soaking in the spring sun on the steps of 21 Baxter Street, lovingly called by the locals as Grand Duke’s Theatre . The address was considered no more than a dive bar by others, but it was his job to make sure the Baxter Street Dudes weren’t interrupted, and to be the eyes and ears of the Boss for this section of Mulberry Bend. He never hesitated to crack skulls when push came to shove, but the little girl— surely no more than fifteen —took him completely by surprise.
    “I’ve been watching you, Mr. O’Rourke, and I know you work for O’Gilvy. He’s the top dog in the Five Points, and especially here in The Bend, so you must be pretty good. There’s something I’ve got to do, and I need some help. I reckon you’re the best man for the job, and I can pay.”
    Now Seamus O’Rourke was doubly taken aback. He took off his well-worn spectacles to take a proper gander at the girl and realized she was small for her age and more like eighteen years old. She wasn’t a local by any account. She wore a dainty pink dress modestly to her ankles, only slightly soiled by the streets, and her face was clean and tanned, signifying that she came from the west, for all the locals who lived in the slums were pasty-faced, if not jaundiced and pock-ridden. She had a way with words that signified tutoring, possibly in one of those refined New England Girls Schools.
    For a moment Seamus wondered what sum he would make if he introduced her to Madame L’Orange, or whisked her onto a steamer bound for the Far East, but something about the child caused the Irishman to pause. He wasn’t sure if it was the intensity of her voice and gaze, or whether the fine lines on her somber face spoke of some solemn, if not tragic, tale. Her dark brown hair was long and tied back as was the custom with the young women of today, and she wore finely crafted gold earrings set with small rubies. Seamus was genuinely surprised she didn’t have them ripped from her ears by now. She’s capable .
    “Young lass, it ain’t wise to speak suchlike in the open. Yer’ve my attention—why is a girl from a good family traipsin’ about in Mulberry Bend? Where’s yer escort? Why would yer want to learn a scabby occupation like pickin’ pockets?”
    “I lived in Arizona … got caught up in the Chiricahua War … most of my family was killed. Lived in New Mexico with my uncle and aunt over the last two year—”
    “Jesus, Mary’n’ Joseph!” Seamus exclaimed. “I’ve read in the papers ’bout that bloody conflict with Geronimo an’ all.” He recalled reading about how Geronimo and Juh got hold of