smiled. “Don't worry, we arranged a little... diversion.”

Angel tilted her head. “Diversion?” she echoed. “What's that?”

“Let's just say your folks are a little distracted right now,” Lily replied. “And if we don't take too long...”

“Speaking of taking too long,” Max interrupted, “I think it's time we got down to business. The sooner we get this show on the road, the less chance those snoops'll realize you're gone.”

“So what are we doing at this time of night?” asked Angel.

Max growled in a display of irritation. “The butcher,” he replied. “He finally got wise and nailed the grate in the meat locker shut.”

“So now we can't get to the beef,” added Buck.

“S-s-so?” asked Angel. “What are we supposed to do about it?”

Max grinned. “That's where you come in,” he replied. “I've been keeping an eye on the butcher, and he has these little metal things he uses to open the door. They look kinda like this.” And he clawed one line, then a set jutting out from it in the snow that had blown into the shed.

“I've seen things like that,” Angel said, studying the crude diagram. “The humans call them keys.”

Max smiled. “Smart girl. Well, then it should be easy for you to see that all we gotta do is get into his house and get them so we can open the door too.”

“But only humans can use keys,” Angel pointed out. “Dad said he tried once, and-”

“Dad, schmad,” Max cut her off. His ears were leaning back, and he scowled as if Angel had just insulted him somehow. “Look at me, kid. I've been watching this guy lock and unlock his door for weeks. You really think I can't unlock the door too?”

She shook her head. “No,” she lied, lest she offend him.

“Good. Now here's the plan. Angel, you'll get us in.”

“How?” she asked.

“The guy's got a chute for that black coal stuff people put in fires. Most chutes like that are easy to get down, but this one's a bit too small for us. So you've gotta slide down and get inside, then find the keys.”

“Where should I look?” she asked.

“I dunno.” Max scrunched his face in irritation and leaned down, nose to nose with her. “I've never been in his house, remember? Just figure out a way to get the keys.”

She nodded, intimidated by his threatening display. “Yeah, okay,” she agreed quickly.

They slipped out and made their way through the night to the butcher's house. The wind had died down some, but it was still biting cold, and Angel couldn't stop shivering. “C-c-can't we d-do this in the m-m-morning?” she asked.

Max rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. “Duh, no,” he snapped. “The butcher always takes his keys to work with him, and we can't get them from him while he's awake. We gotta do it now, while he's asleep. Got it?”

“Okay, okay,” whined Angel. She wanted to say more, like how no amount of meat was worth the discomfort they were going through to get it, but she knew that Max was someone not to be crossed.

Finally they reached a house like any other – wooden boards, snowy roof, no lights on – which Max announced was the one. He led them around back to a small door in the side of the house, so low they had to dig away some snow to get to it. “Showtime, kid,” he grinned, pulling it open.

Angel inched her way up to the hole. “It's dark,” she protested.

“So?” asked Max. “You're not scared, are ya?”

“N-no, it's just... what if once I'm down there I can't get back out?”

Buck shrugged. “We'll find some rope to pull you back up.”

“Uh, right,” agreed Max. The truth was, as little as he knew of the inside of houses, he did know that coal bins often had doors on the inside, blocking cold air – and in this case, cold dogs, from getting in. If the door was shut, Angel could freeze, and the plan would fail.

“We're all counting on you,” Lily added, unaware of the doubt.

Angel peered down the hole. It was a simple plan. Get in, get the keys, get out. Simple. Except for finding the keys. And maybe getting...

A paw nudged her from behind, and she fell.

“WOOOAAH!” she screamed as she slid down. A moment later there was an abrupt drop, and she landed on a heap of small, hard rocks. The edges were jagged, but not quite sharp enough to cut her. What did bother her was the smell. The air was thick with the choking stench of coal. I've gotta get out of here fast, she thought, before I suffocate!

She squinted into the dim light through the cloud of dust kicked up by her arrival, but everything in there was pitch black. So, orienting herself by the tiny bit of light showing through the chute, she guessed and made her way directly across the bin, tripping and stumbling on the loose coal as she went. At last she found the door and, after groping about for what felt like an eternity, found a small latch. That was the good news.

Unfortunately, there was some bad too. Like the fact that it was shut.

She started to panic. She turned back to the chute and called up, “Max, it's locked! I can't get out! Help me!”

Max's voice came echoing back down. “Relax, kid. Now tell me, is there a latch down there?”

“Yeah, but it's closed!”

Max sounded impatient. “So push it up. You can do that, right?”

Angel returned to the latch and, with a little effort, was able to force it up just enough for the door to slip open. With a wave of coal, she tumbled out onto the floor of the basement.

Coughing in all the freshly kicked-up dust, she struggled free of the small avalanche she had made and stumbled away from the coal bin. The air in the basement was musty and unpleasant, but it did make for an improvement over the coal dust. By what little light was down there, and by a scent of warmer air from the house, she made her way to the stairs and up out of the basement. Luck was with her: the door wasn't locked.

But now what? She had no idea where the keys might be. So, warily, she walked back down to the basement to ask Max what to do. Sure he didn't know where the keys were, but maybe he could give her an idea of where they might be. She scrabbled her way up the heap of coal spilling out of the bin, and was about to call up when she heard voices bouncing down the chute. Sammy had arrived.

“Where's the pup?” he asked.

“Inside by now, like a good little bandit,” laughed Max. “Did you take care of your assignment?”

“Yep,” Sammy replied. “Her sister's tucked away, safe and sound. I put her in an empty trash can a few blocks north of their house.”

“Good,” Max leered. “By the time her folks find her, she'll have such a cold that they'll be well out of our hair for weeks. Piece of cake.”

'What?!' Thought Angel. 'They kidnapped my sister?'

“Yeah, but what if we went too far?” asked Lily, sounding like she was having second thoughts. “I mean what if she... you know, croaks?”

Max scoffed. “Look, as long as those mutts are distracted and don't bother us, who cares what happens to that little runt?”

Angel gritted her teeth. She wanted to shout, “I care, you jerks!” but resisted. A life of crime had taught her one thing: never blow your cover. Thinking quickly, she slid back down the pile of coal and ran upstairs, where a brief search turned up a chair next to a window. 'Gotta hurry,' she thought. 'Star could die if I don't tell Mom and Dad where she is!'

Getting a running start, she managed to jump up onto the chair. From there she dragged to the arm, and from there to the windowsill. But her efforts had been in vain. No latch!

She went through two more windows before finding one she could open. Unfortunately it was not on the far side of the house from the others, as she had hoped, but around the corner from them. But she had no choice. As much as Star annoyed her, she didn't want to see her sister freeze to death. Especially not on her account.

With a little work, she managed to jimmy the latch and push the window open just far enough to escape.

“What's taking the pup so long?” the voice of one of the dogs carried to her on the wind.

“I don't know,” came a voice she could barely identify as Max. “Hey kid, you still stuck in the bin?”

Angel huddled down behind a snowbank, even though they weren't looking anywhere near her. With one eye she peered around the corner to see Max withdraw his head from the chute. “It's too dark to see down there,” he grumbled. “I can't tell if she's down there or not, but she ain't answering.”

“Maybe we should call to her in the house,” Buck suggested.

“No, you moron!” Max barked angrily. “If we make too much noise, the butcher might wake up. We've just gotta be patient.”

“Well if we're p-patient much l-l-longer, we'll be s-sitting out here till sp-sp-spring,” Lily complained. “I can barely feel my t-t-tail.”

Max turned his head in such a way that Angel knew he must be rolling his eyes. “Fine, go get a rope so we can pull the kid