Matthew looked out the open window, the cool night air tickling his face, and smiled from ear to ear. Being free was the best feeling in the world. No more chains, no more Miss Thorn and no more counterfeiting. He pictured his father, a big grin on his face too.

His thoughts turned sad. To the night it happened. He had given his room to his aunt and uncle willingly, happy to sleep in his new treehouse for the first time. But his happiness soon turned into the worst part of his life. It was the smoke that woke him up. He tried to get inside the house, but the flames were just too intense. His entire family, there for a family reunion, was taken from him like that. Faulty electrical wires, the authorities had said.

'We should stop soon,' said Chloe, as they drove down a deserted country road, waking Matthew from his thoughts. 'Eat and then go to bed.'

'Good idea,' said John, now sitting in the back with Matthew and Norman. 'I'm starving. What food do we have left?'

'We have some rice, a potato, two cans of corn and a spoonful of mustard.'

'That's pathetic. We should have raided the manor's kitchen like I said.'

'Like I said to you, doing that wasn't the most important thing.'

'We should have raided Mr and Mrs Jacobs apartment,' said Matthew. 'Every time I saw Mr Jacobs, he had something in his hand. Chips, cookies, candy.'

'Awww, mmmaaannn,' whined John.

'He also liked his cereal with marshmallows,' said Matthew.

John sank into his seat and began to sulk.

'I don't know why you're so obsessed with marshmallow cereal,' said Jennifer.

'Because it tastes good,' said John. 'It's sweet, I like the shapes, and the marshmallows aren't like normal marshmallows, they're crunchy not pillowy soft —'

'All right, all right,' said Jennifer. 'There's no need to go on and on.'

'Well you did ask,' said John.

'I like cereal with marshmallows too,' said Matthew.

John patted Matthew on the shoulder. 'Thank you.'

'Over there,' said Jennifer, from the passenger's seat. She pointed ahead to a brightly lit billboard advertising toothpaste in a field.

'Perfect,' said Chloe. 'We can hide the car behind it.' She drove the car off of the road and over to the billboard. As she put on the parking break, she said, 'We should try and contact Slink first. Tell him we rescued Matthew and that we're fine.' She opened the lid of the compartment between the driver's seat and the passenger's, reached in, pulled out a radio handset, and began speaking into it. 'Slink? Come in, Slink?' There was no answer. She tried again. Still nothing.

'Let's see if getting the radio's antenna higher will help us get through,' said Jennifer.

'I'll do it,' said Norman, and he got out of the car. He went round to the front and with one good yank, ripped out the car's antenna from its socket.

'Slink connected our two-way radio with the car's antenna,' John explained to Matthew. 'Our car's built-in radio doesn't work.'

Matthew thought ripping the antenna from the car, disconnecting it, would not make the two-way radio work, but then he saw there was a cable attached to the antenna, which Norman was pulling and pulling out of the socket.

When Norman pulled out around twelve feet of cable, he jumped onto the hood of the car. He proceeded to the roof. 'All right. Try it now.'

Chloe tried to contact Slink again, but there was still no response.

'Anything?' asked Norman.

'Nothing,' replied John.

Norman jumped down to the ground and said to Chloe through the driver's window, 'I'll get it higher.' He pointed to the top of the billboard.

'All right,' said Chloe, as Norman began to pull out more cable, 'but be careful.'

'Aren't I always.' A minute later, Norman said, 'I think that'll be enough cable for me to reach the top.' He walked over to the billboard and began climbing its metal frame.

'The guy's crazy,' said John.

Matthew agreed. Nobody would ever see him climb up something that high without a ladder or a safety harness. 'I couldn't do that.'

'Me neither,' said Jennifer.

At the top, Norman lifted the antenna as high as his arm could take it. 'TRY IT NOW!'

Chloe put her mouth to the radio's handset. 'Slink? Come in, Slink?'

A voice responded. 'Slink here. Over.'

'It's us, Slink. Over.'

'Tell him about the bees,' said John. 'I'll bet he'll be quite happy.'

Chloe shook her head.

'Everything all right? Over,' said Slink.

'Everything's fine,' said Chloe. 'We did it. There was only one boy, though. The other children were moved some time before we got there and we don't know where. Over.'

'Tell him about the bees,' said John.

Chloe waved him away.

'One kid's better than none,' said Slink. 'Is the boy with you? Is he coming to live with us? Over.'

'Yep. He's sitting in the back of the car with John as we speak. Over.'

'Excellent, we'll get a bed ready. Over.'

'We'll see you tomorrow. Over and out.'

'Why didn't you tell him about the bees?' asked John.

Chloe gave John an evil stare. 'You can tell Slink about the bees when you see him.'

'Oh, I will,' countered John, giving Chloe his own evil stare until she turned away in defeat. John turned to Matthew and gave him a wink. 'When it comes to girls, you have to show them who's boss.'

Chloe and Jennifer whipped their heads around at that. 'What was that?'

If looks could kill, thought Matthew.

'Nothing. I said nothing,' said John, in a rueful tone.

Chloe and Jennifer both gave John a growl before turning back around. Chloe then popped her head out of the window and shouted, 'Norman, you can come down now. We got through.'

'Now, let's get a fire cracking,' said Jennifer.

Twenty minutes later they were sitting around a raging fire next to the car. Rice was cooking in a pot of water, the potato was being baked on a rock and the cans of corn had been divided up into five faded and chipped bowls.

'So how did you end up at Bordash Manor, if you don't mind me asking?' Norman asked Matthew.

Matthew told them about his family.

'I'm really sorry,' said Jennifer. Pity was strewn over her and the others' faces.

'Were you left any money?' asked John.

'John!!!' Jennifer and Chloe said angrily together.

'What? I'm just curious.'

'I wasn't,' said Matthew. 'I found out from a lawyer that everyone in my family had financial trouble. My father's business, the property where my house once stood all belonged to the bank. I got nothing. That's one of the reasons I was sent to an orphanage, but I didn't stay there long. I hated it and ran away back home. I still had key to my father's shop in town so I started living there. I didn't stay long there either.'

'Why's that?' asked John.

'I was kidnapped,' replied Matthew. 'I was coming back to the shop one night and found two men burgling the place. I tried to fight them, but they grabbed me, threw me into a van and took me to Bordash Manor.'

'That's tough,' said Norman.

Matthew gave them a sad smile. He then asked after an awkward pause, 'So, how did you guys get into the rescuing business?'

'It was this Mr Sterling you heard us talk about,' said Chloe.

'So, who is he?'

'A very bad man. The boss of a criminal empire. An empire that likes to use children, orphaned, stolen, whatever. The counterfeiting at Bordash Manor was one of countless illegal operations of his.'

'Us four,' said Jennifer, 'were forced to work at one of his operations, but we escaped, and so beginning our quest to rescue all the other children out there Mr Sterling has working for him.'

'Let me guess,' said Matthew, 'this Mr Sterling lives in Spring Heights.'

'You catch on quick,' said Norman.

'I think the rice is ready,' said John. He poured the water out of the pot and divvied up the rice.

'Anyone for mustard?' asked Jennifer, holding up the jar.

'Yes, please,' said John, snatching it. Using his spoon he took a small blob of mustard, plonked it into his bowl, and mixed it all up with the rice and corn.

Chloe and Jennifer thought that was disgusting, but Matthew and Norman didn't, doing the exact same thing.

When they had eaten their food and had cleaned up, it was time to destroy the counterfeit money. They placed all the bags onto the fire, and just sat back and watched the spectacle. Flames of red, yellow, green and purple flashed and danced above their heads. Even though all his hard work was going up in smoke, Matthew couldn't have been more happy.

It was bedtime after that.

Having the entire back seat to himself (Chloe and Jennifer took the front seats, and Norman and John took the trunk), Matthew had the best sleep in a very long time. It was so much more comfortable than the piano bench.