The blows eventually slowed and stopped, the three Ladies backing away a little to enjoy the sight of their victim hoping that it's over, that maybe she can escape them if only she can get her breath back, if she can only recover a a little bit from their kicks and insults.<br/><br/>"Quite the prize!  Think Mother will impale her on the statues?  A thick stone fist up inside her, forcing her wide while she's beating with thorny branches?"<br/><br/>"Perhaps one of the new bulls needs a little practice."<br/><br/>"Or the dogs."<br/><br/>The three shared a nasty chuckle, slowly closing in again to finish the job. But then they stopped.  Sunny could not see their faces, but as one they turned to look down the dark alleyway behind.<br/><br/>"What was that?"<br/><br/>"A trick."<br/><br/>"No, that was no trick...a beast lurks here.  Do you not recall what happened to the Clown?"<br/><br/>"The Clown was a fool.  Mother said so."<br/><br/>They edged further back, and then Sunny felt it--a tremor like the footfall of some great creature padding quietly out of the night.  Long before it emerged, the trio of Ladies were retreating, calling back promises of future pain and cruelty should Sunny survive whatever predator now lurked close behind.<br/><br/>A moment blurred by.  Then another.  Sunny blinked a few times before realizing that the blurring pink and purple striped tree trunk that loomed into view was a leg, connected to a familiar girl, who knelt to help her up.<br/><br/>"You're  a mess," the graffiti artist frowned.  "Well, guess I can't leave you here.  Much as I'd like to.  But you owe me, got it?"