The shadow-men reached down and grabbed the frightened, struggling little donkeys. One of them tucked Molly and Amanda under massive arm, and held them tightly, then grabbed another donkey that Addison didn't know by the scruff of the neck, and wrapped his arm around the donkey's chest. The second shadow-man, or creature (Addison wasn't sure if it really was a man) grabbed her by the ears and pulled her up off the ground, grabbing the last remaining jenny in the funhouse by the tail.
The other jenny brayed in protest and pain as the shadow-thing pulled her close enough to grab, and then carried both the other donkey and Addison underneath his arms toward the front gate.
The park was in ruins, and there were no longer any girls to be seen in the streets.
Other shadow-things were busily rounding up female donkeys anywhere Addison looked. All of them wore girls' clothes, or a few pieces of clothes.
Too late, as Addison looked around at what she had thought to be a haven from her miserable home-life, she realized that she had foolishly walked into a trap, and into a life that would be far worse than she had had before.
The donkeys were all loaded into a downward sloping corral, its only visible exit down on the docks by the ferry.
A sea of empty crates had been set out on the dock, and Addison stared in disbelief at the sight.
The Coachwoman stood amid the crates, setting what looked like a thick ledger book on a bookstand, and opened it up. She looked very satisfied at the sight of the jennies being pushed down the corral to its front gate. A shadow-thing approached her and rumbled something in a language that Addison couldn't understand.
"That's fine," the Coachwoman nodded. "It takes a little longer to work on girls as old as she is . . . All right, blokes! Let's get to work!"
A shadow-thing down by the front gate of the corral lifted it and grabbed the first donkey in the lineup. The donkey brayed in protest at the pull on its ears as the shadow-thing threw her before the Coachwoman, who smiled greedily at the donkey. The donkey wore a yellow dress, her tail poking out through a rip behind the skirt.
"No need to ask you," the Coachwoman chuckled. "You bray very well."
The Coachwoman grabbed the donkey by her ears, stuck her free hand in the back of the donkey's dress and pulled hard enough to rip it off. Dropping the yellow fabric to the ground letting the poor donkey finally settle to the ground, now as naked as any regular donkey.
Addison realized what the Coachwoman was doing – donkeys didn't wear clothes, and all of the girls who had just become donkeys had to be stripped of whatever clothes they still wore, or people might suspect the Coachwoman of something.
The Coachwoman then pulled the little jenny along by her ears and forced her inside a crate. A shadow-thing stood nearby, glaring at the frightened donkey in case she tried to make a break for it.
"We'll make a fortune with this lot, lads," the Coachwoman chuckled to her henchmen
Addison and the other jennies all brayed in fear as they realized what the Coachwoman was planning to do – sell them.
The line inexorably began to move forward as the Coachwoman called for another donkey, who wisely remained silent, despite the pain from having her ears yanked by the henchman at the gate.
"Hello, dear lady," the Coachwoman smiled warmly to the donkey. "And who would you be?"
The donkey brayed, attempting to answer the Coachwoman's question, but the Coachwoman seemed all too happy to receive only a braying response. She grabbed the donkey's ears and ripped off the blouse, the skirt and hair bow the donkey had worn, and shoved her into the crate with the first one.
The henchman near that crate then closed the open crate and moved it back away from the Coachwoman, while another moved an empty crate close to the Coachwoman.
Addison brayed, when she felt a nudge on her hip. She turned and saw the donkey that had been Molly, who was now weeping their fate.
Unable to speak, Addison nodded her understanding.