Jackie clung like a kid, like she was far younger than her age and didn't really want to let go and face what the world had flung at her. If Jem knew, then she knew it was only a matter of time - maybe hours or less - till Fagin knew and turned her into another one of his light skirts. Never mind that she was the most artful of them, girls were only good for one thing around here.

Jackie didn't want that to be her life. She was scared for that to be her life. She nodded at Nancy's statement, still clinging and shaking but not crying. She wouldn't cry, not in the den.