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Chapter 9 - The Little Things

My face hurt after being hit by that oaf of a badger. It took almost a week for the swelling to go down and my anger to simmer. Anger generally wasn't my thing, but this badger, this Duncan, had hit a spot in me that made me want to jam a broom right up his --

"Simon?" a soft voice said behind me, snapping me out of my imagination of dead badgers being speared by brooms. I turned around slowly and saw Avery there, smiling at me with that grin of his that always made my chest hurt a little.

It was midday Sunday, most of the lot who had gone to church had come back by now. I had busied myself with my chores, cleaning up a bit here and there, sweeping the sidewalk outside of our home, hitting the snow off the sign. It was really cold today, the kind that would nip at your skin right through your clothes and fur. I could, and wanted to, go see Gideon but I still had to hang around Alister's. I was his second after all.

Speaking of Alister, he was looking bad. I mean, he always looked bad this time of year. The cold was not good for his lungs, and he had more of his medicine than I had ever seen. His fur was losing its luster and his ears drooped a bit when he walked the streets. He kept coughing and coughing, sometimes doubling over when he thought none of us was watching him, but I saw it once or twice. You never commented on it -- Alister was a good 'un after all, if he wanted to keep his pride by acting normal around us urchins then that's what he got from us. He kept us warm and fed and working, after all.

Still. He was walking slower than normal, and he went right to his room after church. "Simon," he said to me as he passed Avery and me. "I'm going to lay down for a while. Have Andy make that lovely chicken broth for supper, will you? And tell everyone to try and keep it down. I did not sleep well last night," he said with a sharp eye at me. I made an act of lowering my ears.

"Yessir," I said with a mock salute and caught the coin flipped my way. I bit it, out of habit, and slipped it into my pocket. Money for a roasted chicken. I guess Alister was feeling extra generous today.

"And Avery," Alister said, opening his door, "no more ghost stories after dark. You're going to keep the whole house up with these rumors of yours."

"Yes, sir," Avery said with his head bent low and his ears folding down. Avery was too much of a good person sometimes. He took any failure to heart rather than a lesson to toughen you up for the next day. He didn't really belong here.

Alister closed the door to his room and we exhaled. I glanced at my wolf companion and grinned a little. "Tellin' stories again, are ya?" I quickly grabbed him around his neck with my arm, playfully tussling with him until we were outside in the bitter cold.

"Hey! Simon! Lay off!" he said but with none of the usual desperation from when boys like Billy picked on him. There was a sweet laughter to the kid. Like he was made of good and purity in the world. He made me smile and feel good even when I wanted to sulk and be miserable. He just had this way of making every day a little better, if you let him.

I let my friend go and smiled, fixing my cap and the scarf around my neck. "I didn't hear any of these ghost stories of yours. You're leaving me out of the good stuff, Av?" I motioned for him to follow me. I wasn't planning on going anywhere specific, but I didn't want to risk being loud and making Alister angry.

"Perish the thought, Simon," Avery said with a smile and fixed his hat, running to catch up to me. He was always someone who lingered behind. "But you was conked out something good last night. Some of us, we was still up and had a little campsite going upstairs."

"Don't tell me Billy tried starting a fire in the middle of the room again," I teased. He never did, but a fun little fib like that got Billy known for liking fire. He always hated it when anything that burned and we teased him that he started it.

Avery shoved his hands into his coat pocket. "Naw, but we did have that lantern that flickers all wild 'n all that. So we started sharing stories."

"Ghost stories?" I suppressed a mild gulp. I could crawl into a mostly hot chimney, but the thought of a ghost? I'd run like the dickens.

"Yeah!" the wolf said as we rounded the corner, heading for the train tracks it seemed. You could even hear them in the distance. "Nothin' was really good though. All the usual stuff that gets repeated. Only..."

"Only what? You seein' ghosts now, Avery?" I smirked and turned, now walking backwards. I watched Avery's eyes widen. The road was icy, and one wrong step would probably mean a tumble. Maybe even a broken tail. But I was feeling too good, too cocky to worry about such stuff.

Avery ran up and grabbed me, spinning me around on me heels and had me in the right direction, shoving me along. He held my shoulder so I didn't try the stunt again. "No, just heard things from some of the others," he said

"What stuff? What others? Dammit Avery, you shoulda woken me up!" With a mock growl, I let my tail swish so wide it was like a black paintbrush across the snowy white backdrop of the city.

Avery grinned and stuck his tongue out at me. The nerve! "Aw, Simon doesn't like to be kept outta the loop, eh? Can't stand not knowing something, can ya?" Avery grinned still and bounded forward a bit, almost prancing. It earned him a genuine scowl and the folding back of my ears.

I took pride in knowing everything going on among us sweeper boys. I also liked being the one who could start the stories 'cause then I knew how this stuff played out with the others. You know, seeing how my story moved and changed from guy to guy. Also knowledge is power, or so Professor Bensley says.

Then, another voice from behind Avery sounded, "Aw, I can't remember the last time I seen that face on our Simon!"

I stretched my neck to see a tiger in dirty overalls with one strap undone, a white shirt that was as white as dirty snow, and a flat cap crooked to one side, come up and put his arm around the wolf.

"Remember that time he got sick, and he couldn't work or go about with us at home? He never looked so annoyed as he did then," the tiger, Billy, said with a snicker.

Avery grinned and put his paw over a muzzle, stifling a giggle. "He was pretty dramatic. I think he grabbed Kent by his tail and kept the poor squirrel there for three hours just to listen to the gossip."

"Only Kent knew nothin' about nothin' and Si here just got madder than a hornet," Billy said. The tiger, taller than Avery and me by about half a head, was grinning. What was it with my friends and getting in their blows today?

"Hey!" I countered, growling and smacking Billy with my hat. "Look, I'm the Journeyman, and I need to know what you lot are doing!"

"You weren't a journeyman then, Simon," Billy said, snatching my hat from my paw and holding it up in the air. He wanted me to jump for it, so I just swiped his. It was bigger than mine and hung loose, covering one ear as it was tilted to the side.

Unphased, Billy lowered his arm. "You was just a lowboy like the rest of us. And knowing who won the last card game ain't really about sweepin' chimneys now, is it?"

"Look, I just like knowing what's going on. I hate surprises."

"That's true," Avery said thoughtfully. "Remember when we were real little and Sister Sarah got him that pastry for his birthday and she had the lot of us all say happy birthday?" Avery knew me too well. I swear the wolf could read minds or something, or at least only my mind. Not like there's much to read in there anyway.

"Or the time he found that rich lady's purse and returned it to her and her husband without takin' anything out of it," Billy added. "The husband made a scene about how good he was, not being a little thief." Which earned a chuckle from Avery and I was sure my ears could be seen turning a shade of pink had it not been for the black fur.

I hated being the center of attention. Sure, I was noticed now but I never made myself so big that everyone had to look at me. I would rather drink water from the Thames than stand in front of an audience or something. I shivered at the very thought. I still hated it when I visited Gideon and his whole gang stared at me. I always felt a little naked when stuff like that happened. 'Vulnerable' would be the word Bensley would use.

I think I didn't like being seen because trouble seemed to follow people who stood out. You learn at a young age, at least when you grow up in an orphanage, that you need to stay low and blend in with your surroundings rather than stand out most of the time. Bullies pick on the kids who stand out and the sisters assume the kids who stand out were the ones causing a ruckus in the first place. It had become natural for me to slip down behind some of the taller kids and just slink along.

These days I was more in front of people than ever before. Ever since I had got me promoted to journeyman, I was no longer just a cog in the old machine. I was actually running the machine part of the time. I had to talk to the customers beyond just takin' payment and I had to sell the service. Of course, it still worked if I put on the ol' charm, the eats flat and the eyes looking up at the right angle. It was easy then.

For the ones I knew were gonna be really tough, the people who probably could afford someone better than us, I brought Avery along for those meetings. I would give my pitch and he would just look... well, I don't know a nice way to say this, so I'll just say it: pathetic. He could make himself look like the world had stepped on his tail. He, of course, was nowhere near so sad. Whether he did on purpose or it came naturally to him, Avery was just good at actin' and he used it for his benefit. He had conned more than a bit of candy out of some of the older shopkeepers. It was going to be funny when it stopped workin'. Avery was due for a growth spurt and if he was anything like the other wolf in our crew, he would be as tall as a tree in no time.

"Okay, okay," I said, waving a hand to try and end the conversation. " 'Nuff about me. What's this rumor you was mentioning, Avery?"

"Oh, right!" We resumed our walk to the train tracks. "So you know those really old homes by the western side of the burroughs? The ones that look like they coulda been here forever?"

I nodded slowly. I remembered that part of town. The real shady part. It was a place where you went if you had no money, or wanted to make a quick buck. Gideon told me once how a guy like me could make a quick bit of money going there. I never did it, and I knew to stay away from there unless I was working.

"Well, a couple of the guys was there the other day. They weren't specific but they said it was getting dark so they was coming back to meet up with Alister. Well, they said that everything got real dark-like and you could hear moans and screams, and someone laughing. But they said they couldn't tell where from. They said it was a demon and ran off."

I frowned a little bit. "A demon? Like from the Bible and stuff? Why would a demon hang out in old houses like that?"

"Because!" Billy began. "It's old... and dark... and spooky. Evil things like that stuff." Billy was the guy we hung around with who always liked weird things. He was big into ghost stories and scaring us stupid, especially in the fall. He said he could see ghosts and I told him I could see liars. It took him a moment to get it.

But he was never obsessive over his weird interests. Sure, there was the time he had us go with him to the cemetery and look for a grave of a 'vampire' or the time we tried to find that hidden shop on the outskirts of town that sold magic spells and potions. All we got for our trouble was some sore feet and empty stomachs because we had missed supper.

It took me a long time to figure out just why Billy loved that kind of stuff. I wish I had known it then, back when things were simpler. Back before it all came down on me ears. But Billy just hated his life. He just couldn't stand it and so he lived in his imagination. He created fantasy situations and looked for things so 'out there' that it gave his life a bit of color when he was usually bored to death. I told Bensley about him one day and all the odd things Billy liked. Bensley had told me that the tiger was probably destined to be a good writer or poet if it was nurtured. I had balked at the idea. Billy could barely write his name!

But, Bensley said, people like Billy are always on an adventure, doing something amazing. He doesn't need books to see new worlds, he just creates them. Which was true, Billy often talked about things he imagined, such as slipping into the Tower of London and trying to find the bones of the two lost princes, or how he wanted to build a sailboat and just go down river for as far as he wanted. Billy couldn't even swim but he wanted to build boats. The tiger was too much sometimes. He's a good guy, one of the few in this whole area. A good 'un.

"Billy," I said with a sigh. "We sleep in an old, dark, and sometimes spooky home and we don't have any demons living with us."

"Not unless we count Alan and his sleepwalking," Avery added, getting looks from both Billy and me. I was being serious and I guess Billy just didn't find it funny. In either case it got Avery backing up a half step and holding his hands up in surrender. "Ah you know what I mean..."

"If it ain't a demon then what is it?" Billy asked as we neared the bridge that went over the tracks. He leaned against the railing and looked down at the rocky ground beneath us.

"A lie," I said, standing next to him. "Just making stuff up."

"I dunno, Simon," Avery said as he jumped up onto the railing and sat down so his legs dangled over the side. "Eddie and Mickey don't really come off as the fibbing types."

That made me think. A cloudy image in my mind slowly took form. From a dark cloud to a person, then a mask of sorts... and claws. It had glowing eyes and sharp teeth. I also remembered Bensley talking about it... about him. Spring Heeled Jack, and Gideon's story on top of it all. Could this be him? Was he really real? Stuff like that was just made up, but these were two people I trusted to tell me what color the sky was if I didn't know. They wouldn't just lie to me like that just for a laugh.

I must've been staring at the railing for a bit longer than necessary because Billy had reached over and tugged one of my ears gently, yet firmly. "Tryin' to see if you can look through walls again, Si?"

I winced and grabbed his wrist, pulling my head away from his pinching fingers. "No!" I let out a growl but then quickly turned it into a grin. I turned so my back was against the railing and crossed my arms over my chest. "But I'm an excellent fibber and that sounds like a good old fib to me, Avery."

"All right," Billy said, poking me in the shoulder. He always did like touching me for some odd reason. "Wanna prove it then?"

"How?" I said, puffing out my chest. Damn him for knowing I didn't back down from things like this.

"Let's go on a demon hunt," Billy said with a smirk. "Last one to stay the longest gets... the losers pay for the day."

That was a lot of money. But I knew it was also something I could do. Afterall, it was fake, right?

"Deal," I said, thrusting out my hand for Billy to shake. When he took it and shook it I grinned. "Can't wait to get some new candy with all that money I'm going to have."

Avery rolled his eyes and put his chin in his paw. "Just don't get hurt. Either of you..."

"Oh, you're coming with us," Billy added with a grin. "You're gonna be the judge!"

"What?!" The wolf sat up. "M-m-me? I hate ghosts! What are we going to do if we ACTUALLY find this demon, huh? Either of you know how to stop something like that? And don't tell me your sharp wit will work on it like a knife, Simon." His voice now had a higher pitch, like when he was worked up about something.

"Don't worry, it ain't real," I said with a wink to my friend. "And I'll treat you with my winnings. This'll be the best day of my life, just you watch."

"That don't mean they aren't real! You aren't an expert on demons!" Avery balked, still looking like he could bolt off into the shadows. He needed some more convincing.

"Avery." I put my arm around his shoulders, pulling him in close and grinning down at him. "I may not know demons but I know London like the back of me hand. You think if we see anything we can't just run away?"

"Avery ain't the best climber." Billy rubbed his chin. "What's ta stop you from leaving him behind while you make a getaway? I mean I'll be long gone. Tigers got a sixth sense about demons 'n stuff."

"SIMON!" Avery yelled and half whined. "You leave me behind... and... and... I swear I'll haunt you to the end of your life!"

"You promise that?" Billy said, suddenly excited.

Avery shot Billy a glare that could probably melt brick. He looked back at me and huffed. "I'm bringing my Bible. And some holy water from the church. And you're bringing your climbing kit, it had some heavy things we can use to fight with if we haveta."

"I have a boot knife you know..." I said, frowning at Avery. He always liked to prepare for the worst.

At that suggestion Avery reached up and pinched my ear between his index and thumb, pulling away from my arm and forcing me to pull my head down lower.

"Ow! Ow ow ow! Let go, Avery!"

"Demons can't be stopped with knives! Who ever heard of a demon being stopped with a knife!" Avery protested as if I had asked him to sprout wings and fly or something.

"Argh! Lemme go!" I said, trying to pry Avery's fingers right off. "You taking lessons with the Sisters or something? You can pinch an ear like an old nun!"

"Simon...!" Avery said, and I could've sworn he started to pinch harder. "Swear you'll bring your sweeper kit with you."

"Mnnf! Fine, fine, I promise I'll bring me kit! Agh." Apparently satisfied, Avery let my ear go and I stood up to full height, reaching up and rubbing it. "Ow ow...did ye pierce it with your fingers or something?"

"No," Avery said with his arms crossing over his chest. "I have to keep some things in case I need to use them later."

"Iunno why you're so hell bent on me bringin' my kit with me."

"Do I need to pinch your ear again?" Avery said with a playful smirk on his face. I knew he wouldn't, but he was my friend. When I saw him smile like that I always felt warm. Like the world was going to be okay. Avery had been there in the orphanage as long as I can remember, and we'd been thick and thieves ever since.

"It's just that, if a knife won't work, what makes you think one of my tools will?"

At that comment Avery froze and his muzzle fell open. The silence between us was only broken by Billy cracking up. He was doubled over and holding his stomach. He even fell onto the ground for more dramatic effect.

"I swear!" the tiger said, rolling around on the ground and laughing. "You two are like an old married couple!"

I felt my ears redden and crouched down next to Billy, picking up some snow and lightly throwing it in his face. He stopped laughing. "Just watch me win all that money."

"You're gonna eat your hat when I win, and you're gonna believe in demons, too. This is going to be two for one, easy." Billy said and hauled himself up. He held his hand down and helped me get up as well.

I really wanted to win this bet. Not just for the money but because it would mean demons weren't real. Jack wouldn't be real. We'd be safe.

I never regretted being so right as I did then.