The Infernal Devices Rewritten

Chapter 9 - Fierce Midnight

Chapter 9

Fierce Midnight

"Evan, you missed dinner, are you sure you were feeling all right?" Jem asked once they were deeper into London and after Jem had instructed Cyril to go to Brick Lane, near Whitechapel High Street.

"I'm fine," Evan nodded with a smile.

"Were you avoiding Charlotte?" Tessa asked knowingly with a smile.

"Did Gideon Lightwood call me a brat?" Evan asked cringing.

"I've actually never seen Gideon laugh so much in my life." Tessa smiled. "But you did put Gabriel in a foul mood. You said that Will taught you to throw a knife?" Evan nodded. "It was very good."

"Thanks, and sorry for putting Gabriel in a bad mood." Evan cringed again.

"I may have missed it," Jem said. "But you put Gabriel in a foul mood because you threw a knife well without his instruction?"

"No, I put Gabriel in a bad mood because he was saying that he hoped Will died and I decided that Will needed someone to defend him." Evan said with an embarrassed smile.

"What did you say?" Jem's silver eyes danced with amusement.

"Um, I was kind of bluffing but I said that he needed to find another person to blame for his sister's childish obsession with Will when they were twelve." Evan said, even more embarrassed. "But, uh, I guess that was true given his reaction."

"That was a bluff?" Jem laughed.

".... yeah...."

Jem laughed before everyone went back to looking out the windows until "Chuckaways." Jem said, leaning back in the seat.

"Pardon?" Tessa asked.

Jem mimicked striking a match, blowing it out and throwing it over his shoulder. "That's what they call the matches here - chuckaways, because you toss them aside after one use. It's also what they call the girls who work at the match factories."

"That's cruel." Tessa said, unconsciously glancing at Evan, who was frowning out the windows.

"It's a cruel part of the city we're going going into. The East End. The slums." Jem sat forward, earning Evan's full attention too. "I want you both to be careful, and to stay close by me."

Evan looked over to Jem as he said "Ni hen piao liang." And grinned.

"Nà shì tiánmì." Evan said, earning a startled look from Jem, who quickly recovered.

"What did you say?" Tessa asked, with shining eyes of curiosity.

"I said that your hair is coming undone. Here," Jem tucked an escaping curl behind Tessa's ear.

"And I said smooth like crunchy peanut butter." Evan grinned, going back to looking out the window and fixing her hat, giving them as much privacy as she could.

"Rich Londoners from Mayfair and Chelsea like to take midnight tours of districts like these. They call it the slumming." Jem said, earning Evan's attention once more, a few minutes later.

"Do they stop and - and help in some way?" Tessa asked, with doubt heavy in her voice.

"Most of them, no. They just want to stare so they can go home and talk at their next tea party about how they saw real 'mug-hunters' or 'dollymops' or 'Shivering Jemmys'. Most of them never get out of their carriages or omnibuses."

"What's a Shivering Jemmy?"

It was Evan who answered. "Someone on the streets - a beggar - who would likely die of the cold." She didn't meet anyone's eyes, but looked out the window with a wavering frown.