Page 2 of More Than Meets the Eye

Mrs. Dougal harrumphed. “The only kid you might place is the Pearson boy. Several have offered for him already. All you have to do is separate him from his sister.”

Separate her from Hamilton? Evie’s heart pattered so hard it felt like it might break out of her chest. She grabbed her brother’s hand and held on for all she was worth.

“But it’s so hard on the children when we split them up,” Miss Woodson protested.

“It’ll be harder on them if they end up on the streets in New York. If we can save one, I say we do it. Sometimes the hard decisions are the right ones.” Mrs. Dougal tossed a quick look over her shoulder at Evie and Hamilton before sniffing and turning back to Miss Woodson. “There’s no reason to kill the boy’s chance at a promising future just to stave off a few tears. They’ll recover.”

Evie stared hard at Miss Woodson, begging inside her head for her champion to tell Lizard Lady she was wrong. But she didn’t. Instead, Miss Woodson bit her lip and nodded.

“You can’t let them split us up, Ham-ton!” Evie wailed in a desperate undertone, careful not to let Lizard Lady hear. “You can’t!”

Hamilton squeezed her hand, his chin jutting out. “Don’t worry. I won’t.” Keeping hold of her hand, he slid off the seat and made his way into the aisle. “Come on. I need to talk to Zach.”

The scary boy in the back of the railcar who’d just snarled at her? Evie dragged her heels. “I don’t wanna—”

Hamilton huffed out a breath and gave her one of his don’t-be-such-a-baby looks. “He’s just a kid like the rest of us, Evie. And he can help.”

He was most certainly not like the rest of them. She wasn’t even fully convinced Zach was a kid. Not with whiskers and legs nearly as long as Papa’s had been. But she wasn’t about to let her brother think she was scared, so she pressed her lips together and let Hamilton drag her along.

“What d’ya want?” Zach lowered his leg from the bench to sprawl across the opening between his seat and the rear-facing one across the way, barring Hamilton from getting close.

But that didn’t stop her brother. He just climbed over the barrier and sat in the seat facing the other boy, leaving Evie to clamber up beside him.

“I need advice,” Hamilton said, his voice firm like Papa’s used to be whenever he was instructing them on proper behavior. “The sponsors think to split us up at the next stop, and I can’t let that happen. So I need to know how you get people not to claim you.”

Slowly, Zach sat up and leaned across the open space between the two seats. His dark blue eyes narrowed, and the edge of his mouth lifted in a smile that looked downright scary. Evie’s stomach clenched.

“I tell them that I’ll kill them in their sleep.”

Evie gasped. How could someone say such a terrible thing? Surely he didn’t mean it. Did he?

Zach smirked at her. Evie whimpered.

Hamilton, on the other hand, nodded. “Right. Threaten to kill them. Got it.”

What? Evie’s gaze jerked to her brother. He couldn’t!

Zach must have thought the idea outrageous as well, because he shook his head and sighed. “Look, kid, just because it works for me doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. You got one of them angel faces. No one will believe you capable of murder.”

“Maybe he can cough, like me.” Seth wandered down the aisle, a sudden hacking making everyone turn to look at him. “Act”—he coughed into the handkerchief the sponsors insisted he carry—“sick.”

Zach shook his head. “Nah. He looks too healthy. They’ll assume he’ll get better.” The older boy lifted his hat and scratched at a spot on his head, the meanness leaking away from his face. “We gotta find something else.”

Evie looked from one boy to the next. Was Zach actually helping them? Maybe Hamilton was right. Maybe he just pretended to be awful. Though why someone would want everyone to hate him, Evie couldn’t understand, not when she tried so hard to get people to like her.

Zach eyed Hamilton up and down, then crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat. “Spoiled rich kid. That’s your angle.”

Hamilton frowned. “But I’m not rich. All I have are one spare set of clothes and the cardboard suitcase the Children’s Aid Society gave me. Same as everyone else.”

Zach unfolded his arms, a devious light twinkling in his dark blue eyes. “Yeah, but with names like Hamilton and Evangeline, it’d be easy as pie to get people to think you come from money. Farm folk resent rich folk. Think they’re spoiled and have no work ethic.”

Evie had no idea what a work ethic was, so she probably didn’t have one. Maybe that was why no one wanted to take her home. Hamilton must have one, though, since people liked him. He’d have to find a way to hide it.

“Start throwing demands around. Then throw a fit. Yell. Scream. Flail around.” Zach was grinning now. A smile that actually looked happy instead of scary.

“And if all else fails, bite ’em.” Seth offered that bit of advice once his cough settled. “Whenever I wanted the nurses to leave me alone, I bit ’em. They stayed away for a good long while after that.”

Zach slapped the frail boy on the back, nearly sending him to the floor. “Good idea! May have to try that one myself someday.” He started chuckling, and the other boys joined in.