Could - Crewt

Chapter 8

Funny how I kept being afraid I'd miss the date, but then I missed it when I least expected to: I was literally back. Just at home. Like, where was my brain.

February 15, 1927

Credence has stopped getting strange looks from people in the shop who might have thought he looked... not quite male, and not quite not male. All traces of femininity have disappeared, as if washed away, leaving something new behind.

They call him sir, and the mean ones, on occasion, boy.

"May I have one of these? Three, sir. How much will that be?"

"You there! Boy! Get me two more of these, will you?"

Jacob comes out from the back to check on him every now and again, bringing out fresh baked bread and pastries. Most of them look distinctly like fantastical creatures—a few of them Credence even recognises from Newt's book. He suspects that the others are also in Newt's care, but he hasn't gotten to their pages yet.

Jacob gives Credence strange looks, because he's been around to see Credence's body change past anything that should be possible with Muggle medicine and surgery. Credence can tell he's curious as to how in the world...? But he doesn't ask. Credence appreciates that.

"Where do you get these ideas?" Credence asks. "All these strange animals?"

Jacob is pulling off his apron and packing up some of the very last pastries for tonight's dessert. On the counter in the back, there's a rough sketch of something that looks like it's meant to be a Demiguise.

"Dunno." Jacob pulls the paper off the counter and hands it over to Credence. "Pretty weird-looking animal, huh? I think I had a dream about this thing. I've never been able to remember my dreams very well, but this one... this one almost felt real. You know what I mean?"

Credence stops for a moment. "What happened in that dream?" He hands back the paper, heart beating quickly. He feels as if he may be playing with fire, but he can't see the harm in trying. "Do you remember?"

Jacob locks the door behind them and they step out into the cold streets, weaving their way through all the people going home from work at the same time they are.

They head towards the Goldstein apartment, and as they do, Jacob weaves this tale that seems to slot in perfectly with what Credence already knows. "You know, now that I think about it, that guy feels like he might've looked like Newt," Jacob muses as they turn a corner. "The bright hair, real skinny, kind of funny. He was a really strange guy. We had to look for the animal on the paper you saw earlier. Only it was invisible, I think."

Credence catches his breath. "And," he presses, trying something, "How did you know what it looked like if it was invisible?"

"It was only sometimes invisible," Jacob explains instantly. "And it was hiding from us—" He stops. "I really don't usually remember this much of my dreams."

"Keep telling me about it," Credence says. And then, as a joke to himself, "It sounds like quite a story. You could make a book out of it, probably."

Jacob starts at this. "You know, it's funny that you mention that." He scratches his head. "There was this really interesting looking book I had a while back that I think I was supposed to hold onto, but Queenie—I think it belonged to Queenie? She seemed to know about it, and how to get it back to its owner, so I gave it to her. It wouldn't open, but maybe she found a way."

Newt has a host of spells on his book as a precaution, which Credence finds sort of amusing, in a way. And yet... he doesn't put a quick spell to fix the binding or keep the pages from falling out.