Beauty and the Beast-Newsies!

Chapter 1

Katherine couldn't remember how long she'd been running, her arms had grown tired from holding Connie despite the girl being as light as a feather. Once she felt she was far enough away to sit and have a rest, Katherine set Connie down.

The poor kid had tear marks making streaks down her cheeks, wet eyelashes and watery eyes.

"Kathy.." Connie's voice was scratchy. "Did they get out? Did the twins get out? And the boys? And papa?"

Katherine sat beside Connie on the grass, wiping her hands across her face and trying to stop the tears before they fell.

"I don't know, Conn, I don't know." Connie's lip trembled. She began sniffing and trying very hard not to cry. Then her eyes widened.

"Kathy..?" She said quietly. "Look..."

Eyes. In the forest. A lot of eyes.

Katherine stood up silently, standing in front of Connie. A wolf approached quietly and for a second, the girls thought they were safe. Until something rustled in the trees and the wolves pounced. Katherine pulled Connie to her chest and wrapped herself around her, they were unable to run, even if they weren't surrounded, Katherine couldn't carry Connie much further and the wolves would catch up to them easily.

A wolf clawed at Katherine's legs through her dress and she cried out. Connie screamed, her hands flying up in front of her face to protect herself. Katherine shoved Connie by the shoulders, forcing her to turn around so her back was exposed rather than her face. Again, she pressed her sister against herself and hunched over to cover Connie as much as possible.

Another wolf jumped and scratched at her back.

This would be a bad way to die, Katherine thought. She was in agony, the cuts and scratches on the backs of her legs were stinging and blood was seeping through her dress. From what she could see, Connie had a red gash on her chin. Katherine had to do something, she would be okay dying now, but only if she got her sister away.

"Connie, we're going to have to run." The younger Pulitzer mumbled incoherently about the pain. "I know, I know, run and get up a tree. On three. Ready? One, two... three!"

They turned and ran. The wolves took a moment to understand what they were doing but they were soon clawing at Katherine's ankles.

"This tree, Connie go, climb!" Katherine gave her a boost up the tree trunk and Connie scrambled up the branches.

"Kathy, come on! Get up!" Katherine screamed as a wolf leapt and pulled it's claws against Katherine's neck. "Kathy!" Connie screamed as she watched her sister fall to her knees. "Katherine!"

There was a gunshot.

The wolves ran.

As the last of the wolves finally got out of sight, Connie slipped down from where she was perched and hugged Katherine.

"Kathy, it's okay, they're gone, the wolves are gone. You're okay, you have to be okay!"

"Le' me see her." A man, Connie looked up. He was tall, taller than Kathy, and he had dark hair like Michael. He had a very square jaw and dark eyebrows, burrowed together in concern for the girls. "Le' me see her." He repeated, coming closer. Connie didn't move away from Katherine. "S'okay, I'm not gonna to hurt her. What's ya name?"

"Connie." She whispered, shuffling to one side so the man could tend to Katherine.

"I'm Jack. What's ya sista's name?" Jack lifted Katherine's head gently as Connie answered him. "She's unconscious." He decided. Gathering Katherine in his arms, he stood. "I know somewhere safe. I can takes you and ya sista and make her better, would you like me to take ya 'dere?"

Connie tucked a strand of dried, bloodied hair behind her ear and nodded, following Jack through a maze of trees.

————

Her head was throbbing when she opened her eyes. Blinking furiously, she noticed her eyesight was blurred and throat was raw.

When her vision finally cleared, she noticed someone leaning over her. He was about her age, with broad shoulders and kind eyes, kindled with fire. She remembered what had happened.

"Connie," her voice was hoarse. "Connie, what did you do to her?! Where's my sister?!" Katherine was sat up and reaching for the stranger before she even tried to work out where she was.

The stranger had hold of her at the waist and pushed her gently back into the bed. "She's fine. She's safe." The stranger spoke again, louder this time. "Davey? She's awake."

'Davey' called out something in reply and then Connie came speeding through.

"Kathy! You're awake!"

Katherine took a moment to see what was happening. Connie was wearing a pair of scruffy brown overalls with a once-white shirt underneath. Her hair was cleaned of blood and dirt, blonde again, and was loose around her shoulders. The cut on her cheek had been cleaned and the bleeding had stopped.

"Connie." Her relief was evident in her voice and Connie was in her arms.

"I'll give yous a minute..." the stranger stood up and nodded to Connie, leaving the two sisters alone.

"You've been asleep for 3 days. Jack says that's a long time for just some wolf scratches. Davey thinks that the scratch on your neck is really deep and that 3 days isn't very long to fix it all. I think Jack just wanted you to wake up. I told him how amazing you are, Kathy, Jack says he can't wait to meet you!" Connie beamed and blabbered to Katherine from her bedside.

"Who's Jack? Where are we?" Katherine sat up slowly, blinking the dizziness from her eyes.

Connie pursed her pink, chapped lips. "The castle. The castle of the beast in the stories. The prince who was transformed into a beast!"

Katherine rolled her eyes and felt her head throb in pain. "That's nonsense, there's no such thing. It's just a story." She tried for a laugh.

Connie's face wasn't amused. "I've seen him. He's got eight legs and eight eyes and you can smell him from a mile off! Les has been telling me stories about him."

"Who's Les? I've only seen one person here, the man that was here when I woke up."

"That's Jack. Then there's Davey, Les, Race, Crutchie, Albert, Specs, Mush, Tommy Boy, Kid Blink, Romeo..." she rattled off another dozen names.

"Why are they in 'the castle'?" Katherine asked, still not believing Connie about there whereabouts.

"They work here. And-" before she could finish, the stranger was back in the room-Jack-and he looked panicked.

"Ya need to hide."