Sit children!” The Nurse yelled. The children ran to their bunks and sat. “We have a guest for lecture.”

A tall figure with white skin that looked like a person had stood in the sun to long, but didn’t receive any sunlight entered wearing a black suit with a red tie. The figure had small black eyes and didn’t seem to grow any hair, but walked with the confidence the most handsome of men couldn’t muster.

“I’m here to discuss thieves,” The Pale Man whispered to the orphaned children of Under Town Nursery. “Who here knows what a thief is?”

“A criminal,” A short boy said.

“Correct,” He whispered. “And what happens to criminals that do not serve the Great One?”

“They are culled,” The orphans said in unison.

“There are many thieves,” The Pale Man whispered. “Opportunists that only steal in the moment, Pilferers that take the leftovers of better thieves, Highwaymen that haunt the trails and roads of the land, Puzzlers that think of complicated schemes involving rope and roosters, and worst of all the Second-Story Men.”

“What’s a Second Story Man?” A small child asked.

“Hush,” The Nurse called, her cheeks red with anxiety. “Don’t interrupt him, he’s the law.”

“It’s quite alright,” He whispered calmly, but his hairless brow twitched. “Curiosity can be tolerated in children until they are culled.”

The Nurse nodded in agreement, not meeting his gaze.

“To answer the question, a Second Story man is a combination of thieves, a jack of false trades. Unlike a decent Mercenary or a trustworthy Assassin, a Second-Story man cannot be bought, he steals what he wants when he wants for who he wants.”

“My Dad says that a Second-Story man is the only thing you albinos are afraid of,” A little girl said.

“Who said that!” The Nurse snapped.

Without speaking several other orphans pointed toward the middle at a redhaired girl.

She spat at them. “Snitches.”

“You’re Dad’s dead,” One kid said.

“No, he’s not!”

“Quiet!” The Nurse pleaded, trying to control the room with all the remaining confidence she could muster in front of their lecturer.

“Hmm, this Nursery certainly is rowdy,” He whispered calmly.

“She’s new,” The Nurse added as if that would help the situation.

He stared at the girl with his clear eyes. “What’s your name girl?”

“Roxanne,” She said, but unlike everyone else in the room she met his gaze.

“I think that’s enough for today,” The Pale Man said and exited the bunks, the Nurse followed him into the off-white hallway.

“I wanted to thank you again for gracing us with your presence, though we weren’t expecting another lecture till next month.”

“We’ve heard news that a Second-Story Man was in town, you wouldn’t know anything about that?”

Her face turned bright red with surprise. “None, we would’ve told the Parliament immediately.”

“Of course,” He nodded. “Is this the room?”

In front of them was a large wood door with a screen window labeled INESSENTIALS.

“Yes,” The Nurse confirmed. “This is where we put the children’s belongings from before they came to the Nursery.”

“It’s disappointing we don’t get enough volunteers for the culling, isn’t it?”

“Yes sir,” The Nurse agreed whole heartedly. “Thankfully, we have Orphans.”

“Yes, thank the Last of the Great Ones.”

“May he and his Parliament always reign.”

“He always has and will,” The Pale Man pointed. “Open the door.”

The Head Nurse frowned. “The key is in the office.”

The Pale Man sighed. “Then fetch the key.”

The Nurse almost began to remind the Pale Man this was against the rules, but decided otherwise and left for the office to get the key. She watched as the Pale Man stood unwavering as she turned the corner. The Pale Man smiled and then in the Pale Man’s place stood another man, a second man.

He wore a ragged cloak that wasn’t there before, his skin was the color caramel instead of pale white, his eyes covered by a domino mask, and then, unlike any Pale Man he laughed. A quiet laugh that no one, but he could hear, but more than any Pale Man in existence ever has.

“Impossible to break into a Nursery,” He reminded himself. “Every Goose and Gander this side of Over Country has tried, and none foolish or Mad enough to try Under Town Nursery.”

From his cloak, he pulled out a lock picking kit.

“Keys are for the boring,” He whispered. He counted ten minutes worth of steps from here to the office. Seven more than necessary, he thought.

The door to INESSENTIALS clicked open and the man stepped in.

Inside were the horrible trinkets and diabolical devices the Parliament found unnecessary for those to be culled. He found what he was looking for on a shelf behind items labeled Choking Hazards next to tiny figures labeled Unrealistic Expectations.

“I don’t know why he came today, Headmaster,” The Nurse’s voice came from down the hall. Her footsteps were accompanied with other heavier ones.

“Pale Men do not do inspections without notice,” A dominating male voice said. “How could you leave him alone!”

“To question a Pale Man is an act against the Great One,” She pleaded. “Why’s the door open?”

“Here’s why,” The Headmaster, a tall bald and beady eyed man, pointed where the Second Story man left his lock pick in the door. Next to him stood some tall brutes with mouths sewn shut.

“A thief!”

“Not just any thief, a Second Story Man,” The Headmaster frowned. “Guard the exits!”

The Brutes grunted and left to do as the Headmaster bid.

“And you!” The Headmaster pointed at the Nurse. “Take inventory and see what he took.”

She nodded.

“Then take a triple count of the children,” The Headmaster said then left her to search.

The Head Nurse went over every item in the INESSENTIALS room. Through the bicycles, blankets, and buttons. Through the stuffed animals, ping-pong paddles, roller skates, and dolls.

#

The Nurse entered the bunks while the children were sleeping or pretending to sleep so they wouldn’t get the switch. She walked past them all to a bunk in the middle.

“Roxanne?”

Her head popped up half asleep. “What?”

She placed something in the girl’s lap.

Roxanne looked down to see a rag doll with yarn for hair, buttons for eyes, and a smile sewn in for good measure.

Roxanne met the Nurse’s eyes and smiled.

“Daddy?” Roxanne whispered.

“Hey kiddo,” A second man said with a bright smile. He pulled out a small domino mask, like his own. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What about the Nurses, the Headmaster, and the Brutes?”

He smiled. “What about them?”

Roxanne followed her father into the hallway. Where they walked now walked two Brutes like the ones he saw before.

“Mmmggrhmm,” The Brute behind grunted.

“Hraggmmhmm,” The Brute in front explained.

They headed to the front door.

“There you two are,” The Headmaster yelled behind them. “You should already be at the entrance, come along.”

The Headmaster walked and they did not instantly follow.

“Mrranghff,” The Brute behind asked.

“Frrrmmghaf,” The Brute in front agreed.

“What do you mean put me in a broom closet?” The Headmaster asked.

The Brute in front knocked out the headmaster then stuffed him in a nearby broom closet.

The Brute behind then followed the Headmaster, not in a broom closet, to the front door. Then the Nurse was following him.

There stood two Brutes at the door.

“Get out of our way,” The Headmaster demanded.

They grunted, confused.

“I said get out of my way,” The Headmaster snapped. “Or I’ll put you both through another culling.”

The two Brutes moved.

The Headmaster and the Nurse exited Under Town Nursery expecting to meet the seedy grease ridden streets of the city, but instead were greeted by not one Pale Man, but three.

#

“Before the Headmaster could say anything he knew his ruse was seen through, before the Second Story Man could pull a knife, pistol, handkerchief, or other contraption from his ragged coat we were on him.” The Pale Man explained. “The Nurse, now a little girl, began to cry. We then took them to interrogation. Oh, great one.”

The three Pale Men bowed before the last of the Great Ones.

The Great One spoke in the voice only the Pale Men know. He told them this was a sign of his greatness, that despite the false truths others have spread about him. The truth will be shown by him and his Pale Men. Then he ordered the Pale Man to return to their posts.

“How foolish of thieves to believe they could get past us,” One Pale Man said to the other two. The other two nodded in agreement. “We are the seeing in the sightless, the taker and cullers for the last of the great ones. Praise him!”

“Praise him!” The other two repeated.

One Pale Man returned to his post. The other two left Under Town and headed out beyond. Then they laughed and where the two Pale Men stood, now stood a little girl and a second man.