Baccano!/Recap/1934 Peter Pan in Chains/Interlude Three

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Alcatraz. Huey's cell.

Huey is missing an eye, and Leeza is screaming. Huey calms her down, and Leeza asks him who it was that stole his eye. Huey thinks it was probably Firo, but he knows that Leeza would try to kill whomever it was that stole the eye. He knows that Leeza couldn't kill Firo if she tried, and Firo wouldn't kill her, but knows also that someone like Ladd wouldn't hesitate to kill a little girl like her. Huey still needs her to escape from Alcatraz, so he can't let that happen.

Leeza is also known as Hilton, one of the twins. Hilton is a consciousness contained in a "water", and whomever drinks the "water" ends up either consuming or being consumed by Hilton. Huey had gained the knowledge to create these beings from an alchemist who had stolen this information from Szilard Quates. He briefly wonders what happened to this alchemist, and goes back to the heart of the matter--he tells Leeza that the lost eye is low on their list of priorities. The plan in New York and escaping from Alcatraz comes first.

Leeza is reluctant to let the matter drop. Huey knows that it's because she thinks of him as less of a family member and more of a god. He theorizes that she's particularly incensed because her "god" had been insulted and defiled by beings she considers to be little more than insects, despite the fact that Huey himself doesn't really consider anyone to be "insects".

Huey recalls that Hilton particularly favours the vessel of Leeza, because she is related to him by blood. Leeza asks Huey who it was that stole his eye, and claims that she's going to go after them and kill them. Huey explains everything to her slowly, trying to keep her calm, and wonders to himself what would happen if Hilton lost Leeza, her favourite vessel. Then he thinks that if an afterlife existed, he would probably end up in the ninth circle of hell.


Leeza is asleep. Huey speak with a vessel of Sham, the second guard who was knocked out by Ladd. Huey asks him if the death of one of his vessels does not bother him. Sham responds that it does not, and thinks to himself that he must be extra careful now that he has betrayed Huey without his knowledge. He reports on the incidents in Chicago and the involvement of Renée, but Huey asks him if he is all right. This vessel was lying in a different place from where Huey saw before he was knocked unconscious. Sham excuses himself by suggesting that he was kicked aside as the others left.

Sham then reports that Rail is seeking assistance in saving Frank, and Huey agrees to give help without even asking what it is he needs specifically. Huey assures Sham that he is worried about Frank, but not in any emotional or sentimental way. Of course, Salomé Carpenter would be a different story.

Huey then thinks about Renée's involvement, and orders Sham to keep an eye on all the prisoners that were here earlier. He tells Sham that he plans to leave the prison sometime tomorrow and give orders personally in Chicago.

Sham leaves, hoping Huey hasn't figured out his betrayal.


Huey nostalgically recalls Renée's name and remembers his childhood in the 1700s, spent learning alchemy with Elmer from the ever-so-clumsy Renée, unchanging in age since long before he ever met Maiza and the others.