Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

5. The Abandoned Church

"Alright, first, let's get you some food. You lot look dead on your feet," Jake announced.

Beetles nodded, "yeah. That's probably why you're walkin' so slow, 'cause you're hungry. Unless you just walk this slow all the time."

Kate did not point out that the two boys were practically running through the crowd, though the part of her that strained from speed walking on aching legs wanted to. From the look on Emma's face, the younger girl was also struggling to stop herself from blurting out her opinions. As for Michael, he was too busy huffing and puffing in the effort of keeping up to contribute to the conversation.

"Alright, give me a second," Jake said, bringing their little group to a stop. He took out a few coins and exchanged them with a vendor, returning with two hot, blacked potatoes. He passed one to Beetles to hold, then ripped the other in two, passing a half to Michael and a half to Emma. Beetles did the same, and offered Kate half. She took the warm, starchy food gratefully, while the boys guiding them split the last half among themselves.

They ate as they walked, the rumbling of their bellies subsiding as they wolfed down the hot and soft, flakey innards of the potato. Grease and butter stained Kate's fingers as she ate, but she could care less about manners and messes at a time like this. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until now, and the potato was just so very good. 

"Thank you," she said sincerely, once she had finished gulping down her lunch. Michael and Emma made noises of agreement, having decided that the boys might have been odd and ornery, but they were kind, and that was okay. (Food had put them in a lot better and more generous mood.)

Beetles waved a hand dismissively, "Ah, don't mention it. Now you don't have to open a 'Sitting-Around-All-Day-Cause-Your-Too-Hungry-To-Do-Something-Shop'."

Jake started laughing at his friend's words. Kate didn't get the joke, and her siblings didn't either, but they all smiled at the pair's enthusiasm.

Jake and Beetles led the siblings back out of the magical quarter and through the streets, entering the Bowery. They shepherded Kate, Michael, and Emma over to the corner of the Bowery and a smaller side street, practically an alleyway. The trio looked in amazement at the building they were being taken to. It was a church, or it once had been, clearly it hadn't been used as one for a while now. Some of the stained glass windows were broken, a bell was missing from the belfry, and there was the obvious dirtying and wear and tear of an old building. But none of that detracted from the grandeur - the way the summer sun hit the windows and cast colored reflections everywhere, the way the bell tower reached up taller than the rest of it all.

Jake grinned and nudged Kate's side, "it's pretty great, right?"

"Yeah," Kate sighed, "it's lovely."

"It's our home," Beetles announced with pride, "and our hideout. It's got a spell on it so the humans can't see it here, and avoid this corner. So we're safe."

"Really?" Michael's eyes lit up with curiosity. "That's such a useful spell! Why doesn't every magic user protect their homes that way?"

"Well you gotta have a powerful witch or wizard to do it," Jake explained, "'cause it's real complicated. Lucky for us, we got one; Scruggs. He cast our spell."

"But there are some rumors that soon there's gonna be a giant version of the spell cast over the whole magical world," Beetled added, "I think it's crazy, and Ms. B hasn't said it's true, but wouldn't it be neat if it was?"

"Very," Michael agreed, "though the humans would definitely notice if whole chunks of the world just became invisible."

Jake nodded, "that's what Abigail keeps trying to tell us. 'Cept she says it with a lot more yelling."