Miss Morgan

Fifty-Seven

July 1899
-Ivy-

The gang rushes out to greet us when we get back to Shady Belle. "There you are!" Mary-Beth cries out as she jumps into Kieran's arms.

"What the hell happened? Where is everyone?" Susan demands.

"We need everyone to pack up and move, I'll tell you everything once we get out of here." I tell her. "It was bad, Susan. It was a setup. We gotta go before Pinkertons start sniffing around.

"You heard her! Pack up! Move!" Susan barks out and the gang packs up the wagons with practiced precision. We actually manage to pack almost all of our belongings and get out of Shady Belle within twenty minutes. I'm impressed and a little sad about how many times we've done this now.

I look around the gang as we load up on horses and wagons and notice someone's missing. "Where's Molly?" I call out.

"Not here!" Susan answers. "We'll deal with that later."

We get on the road to a small village called Lakay that Strauss told us about. Once we get past the roads to Saint Denis, Charles, Sadie and I ride ahead to make sure there's no surprises waiting for us.

We find Lakay where Strauss showed us on the map and clear out its previous occupants with minimal chaos. It's a good spot for now. It's right in the middle of the swamps, completely surrounded by plenty of alligators. The path into the village is lined with skulls on sticks. I don't care to think about how they got there, but they will certainly serve as warning to any potential visitors.

We guide in the caravan and everyone piles into the biggest building, too afraid to venture out in the night.

"Alright, Ivy." Susan pulls me aside. "What the hell happened?"

"Let's step outside, I need to talk to you about everything first." I tell her. "Charles, you too."

"Of course." He nods.

We get out onto the porch, leaving everyone inside to get settled in. "Speak." Susan demands.

"Last night I caught Micah speaking to those Pinkerton agents from Clemens Point." I start to explain everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours to Susan. "I caught him and he tried to kill me, Kieran found me and got me out of there. I tried to get to Hosea in time but he got captured by Pinkertons. They killed him in the street in front of everyone." I can't even fight back the tears that fall when I say it out loud.

"He's not the only one we lost." Charles cuts in.

"What?" My head whips around so fast it makes me dizzy. I hold onto the wooden railing behind me for support.

"I haven't gotten a chance to tell you, Ivy." Charles explains. "We lost Lenny too."

"No." I gasp.

"Shit." Susan shakes her head.

"We got onto the roof and he ran ahead to find a way out and got cut off and shot dead by more Pinkertons." Charles explains. "We hid in an empty apartment until nightfall then made our way to the docks. I ran in front of a group of lawmen so the others could escape and that's when I found Ivy and Kieran. John got arrested in the bank, and Dutch, Arthur, Bill, Javier, and Micah escaped on a boat."

"We need to get Hosea and Lenny out of the morgue, first and foremost." I tell them. "I'm not letting them be buried and forgotten in an unmarked grave by the local law."

"I'll help." Charles nods.

"Good. Then we need to figure out where they took John so we can go get him back." I add. "I'll have Josiah sniff around."