“No you will not,” said Boss Authority. “I need your magic here, Drusilla. I need your attention on the duel, especially with this one sitting witch next to you.” He pointed a metal finger at Marina, who sat with a fierce grin on her face, like she’d just gotten away with something. See, I knew everyone was hustling, I knew everyone was up to something, especially Marina. I just didn’t know exactly what it was yet.

“Want me after him, Boss?” said Cecily Bob.

“Let the man-dog go,” said Boss Authority. “He don’t concern me.”

“I don’t like it, Boss,” said Drusilla Fey.

“If I ever give one hoot about what you like or don’t like,” said Boss Authority, “I shall kindly let you know.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and hissed. Boss Authority chuckled, his clockwork fist creaking like an old rusty door hinge.

“Still, perhaps y’all are right,” said Boss Authority. “Maybe you better track that dog-fella, Cecily Bob, if you can manage it.”

Cecily Bob nodded at Boss. “I’m on it,” he said, and walked on out the front door. I saw Pop relax a little, now that only one set of knives was on him.

Boss Authority popped his iron knuckles and drew his Home cards and threw down the Night Shack.

In Pop’s deck, the Night Shack was some kind of clubhouse hidden off in the woods, and there was a fire burning and you could see folks dancing in the windows, light gleaming bright and casting its glow on the dark night outside. It was a happy place, Pop’s Night Shack was, a place of joy and contentment, like your own special hiding place where you can do whatever you want and feel secret about it. You know that feeling? It’s one of the best there is, at least in my estimation of things. It’s how I felt every time I held that card in my hand and studied it, that adventure feeling.

Well, listen here. Boss Authority’s Night Shack wasn’t anything like that. For one, the place was wrecked, with a big hole in the roof, a porch that sagged, and a railing that fell in, and all the windows busted. The house was dark, and coyotes roamed outside of it, howling at the cruel Heaven stars. And peeking out the window was the saddest little kid face you ever saw in your whole life.

“That Fish Boy never belonged at home,” said Boss Authority. “He never belonged anywhere. He’d sit up at night waiting, waiting, hoping someone would come home for him. And they never did.”

It went on like that, on and on. And the thing was, the more Boss Authority talked, the more I felt it. How that was me growing up, staring out the window at night, hoping Pop would come for me. That was me, night after night, way into the deepest darkest moonless nights, waiting and praying and hoping, and none of those prayers or hopes coming true. I felt so lonely, I did, my bones ached with it, my little kid heart just broke over and over and over again.