"Boy? I'm not-" He silences her by punching her in the face. His cheeks turn red with rage and his fingers tighten around the knife.
"You think I'm a fool? You think I don't know the difference between a boy and a girl?"
"No, of course not-" He punches her again.
"You must be mad. Fortunately, I have the cure for that." Wendelle braces for him to plunge the knife into her heart, but instead he jams it back into his belt. He seizes her arms, flipping her onto her stomach. He presses her head down into the puddle with one hand while the other unbuttons his pants.
The next few minutes Wendelle experiences a pain unlike anything she's ever felt before. The agony drags on as he plunges himself into her again and again until she feels something warm and sticky inside her. He pulls away from her, buttoning up his pants again. "That's what we do to your kind," he whispers into your ear. He drops the schilling next to her on the ground.
Wendelle lies in the puddle, listening to the man's footsteps fade away. When she gets to her feet, she's born again, this time as a boy. Wendell, he thinks. My name is Wendell and I'm a boy. He pulls the tattered halves of the dress around him as best he can and staggers out of the alley. Only later, once he's made his way out of Glasgow, does he allow himself to cry for the girl who died there.
Prudence screamed again as the reverend thrust himself between her legs. Wendell got to his feet and charged forward out of the darkness. He leapt at Reverend Crane, aiming for his head. The reverend saw him in time to swat him down with one arm as easily as swatting a fly. Wendell collapsed to the ground, stunned.
"Wendell!" Prudence said. Reverend Crane took him by the throat and threw him against the wall with a violent snap. Wendell's limbs went numb so that he could only watch the reverend violate little Prudence.
Her eyes pleaded with Wendell throughout, begging him to do something. But again, just as in the alley, he was powerless. He finally closed his eyes, but still heard her terrified whimpers and moans.
Only when Reverend Crane let out a contented sigh did Wendell open his eyes. The reverend laid his head on Prudence's wet cheek. "What have I done?" he said. Tears came to the reverend's eyes. He sprang back, his face suddenly turning red with anger. "You've done this to me again! You vile temptress! You spawn of Satan! I ought to kill you now to wipe your evil from the earth forever."