London, Autumn of 1933
“Aiden, can you just shut your mouth?” a brooding Tom asked the boy at his side.
The classes finally went back and Tom was relived.
His routine in the new orphanage was like Aiden had told him: a lot to clean, while the older children went to apprentice jobs and were kept there all day long, returning near the dinner time.
He had almost no time to read now, at least, not the amount he would like. It was frustrating.
There was a small library there, but he could only go there after his chores, and Tom usually was tired by that time.
So, the more time he could spend at school, the better.
Would be even better if Aiden was not his new partner in the classes.
Of course, he could understand the logic of the teachers, once Aiden apparently thought they were friends. He just forgot to ask Tom’s opinion about it.
But there are few progress. Aiden could read his own name now, and seemed less unnerving than before. And Aiden always could think about some excuse to both of them go home later than they used to, what meant less time cleaning and more time doing whatever they want to - just killing time and playing in Aiden’s case, and reading and studying in Tom’s.
“Come on, you know will be nice” the boy replied, his expression in the window outside, his math work carefully copied from Tom.
“If you don’t put both of us in detention with your non stop chit-chat you mean” Tom replied, his focus in the advanced exercises the teacher said he could try.
Aiden ignored him, his hand playing with the pencil. The nice weather would not last forever, and it seemed a waste stay inside the school walls those days.
Aiden knew Tom would not agree with his idea of passing time: in the Port of London, listening to the sailors talk about the places they had visited, and the travels to go.
Tom got bored to the soul in that place, even when he agreed to spend the hours there with Aiden.
The blonde boy usually got some errand to them gain some coin, and that it was kept convincing Tom to going with him. Nobody seemed to care about two orphan boys who were too poor to be worth to steal, and somehow Aiden already got himself in the sympathy of some sailors, so they were kinda invisible among those people.
Later in those days they would spend the coins with sugar drinks, and Tom would buy some secondhand book the street lady would be selling among other goods.
Tom would rather die than admit, but life in London would be a nightmare without Aiden and his silly and non stop ideas.
The other children were angry at both evading cleaning work most of time, but Tom did not mind. And Aiden seemed quite used to that too. They could not prove the boys were not studying as they argued, once Aiden notes really seemed to be improving, and the teachers had only good things to say about Tom accomplishment in classes.
Most of time, Tom almost could forget Little Hampton and what happened there.
“Will rain soon, we need to go home” Aiden complained, his eyes at the heavy sky.
It was Saturday afternoon and they evaded the orphanage to go to Port.
“Excuse me, who was talking about warmth and sun this morning, Aiden?” a sour tone replied him.
“You know I am almost always right” the blonde replied.
“Almost”. Tom emphasized the word as the other boy stuck his tongue at him.
The port was full with noises and people as usual, while the clouds gathered closer and closer with a ominous cold wind.
But before they leave, something else caught Aiden attention.
Tom didn’t see they coming. He could not understand even how they found space in the full harbour to dock it. But he could see: a full painted purple ship with a mermaid flag. Aiden run into their direction. Tom followed the boy, before they got lost.
“It’s them! Tom, come to see! It’s them!”
Aiden cried in happiness.
“Don't haul on the rope, don't climb up the mast
If you see a sailing ship it might be your last
Just get your civvies ready for another run-ashore
A sailor ain't a sailor, ain't a sailor anymore”
The men kept chanting, throwing goods between themselves to the harbour floor.
It’s impressed Tom how easily they seemed to do it - they looked like to be very heavy boxes, being carried as something weightless.
“Hey, it’s the young Aiden here!” One of them finally noticed the blonde boy with wide eyes.
“Hello, old Bill” the boy replied in same tone.
Old Bill did not look really that old, Tom perceived. He should be the same age most of his man - his fourties’ or even less once the sea wind made people always look older. The tanned skin and wrinkles around the eyes gave the man a humorous semblance.
“Take care with these, scumbags! I promised Claude Malfoy it would be delivered in one piece! Don’t forget who is paying for your whores tonight!”
“What do you think?” smiled Aiden to Tom.
“It’s… impressive” the young boy nodded.
“They’re my favorite ship here! I wanted to show you before, but they’re always travelling somewhere”.
“I can understand why…” Tom replied, his eyes fixated in their work.
They went closer, as Bill called them. Tom let the curiosity get over his fear while they entered the ship. The other man seemed to know Aiden, because they all greeted the boy while he passed.
Now Tom was certain there was something strange: the wages seemed to float in the air inside the storage.
The small boy looked at the scene with his mouth open wide, trying to understand the trick behind it, but he could find none.
“Surprised, boy?” Old Bill laughed “You brought the poor boy here without tell him a word, young Aiden?”.
“It was a guess” the blonde boy admitted.
“What do you mean?” Tom looked at him.
“It’s not everyone who can see the ship, it’s what I heard” Aiden shrugged “My dad worked here before he died and mom gets sick. But none of the other boys I brought here could see it”.
“Really?” Tom asked in low voice.
Maybe it was the same thing about talking with snakes? The ‘thing’ he had from her mother’s side?
One of the man passing messed the boys’ hair “It’s a pity you’re so small. My Peter go to Hogwarts this year. You could see him there if you’re older”.
“Hogwarts? What is this?” Tom whispered to Aiden.
“No idea” the boy whispered back “But it seems fun”.
They watched the men working while the deck went empty and their wages put all on the deck.
“Okay, want a hot tea, young Aiden and his young friend?” Old Bill offered them.
Tom would never enter a tavern alone. But now Aiden was with his usual non stop talking at Old Bill, and the tea in their mugs were hot and comfortable. It was raining heavily outside, and they did not want go back at the orphanage before it stops.
Around them in the tables the tea the men were drinking got sips of alcohol and they were talking louder and louder, but no one seemed to be bothered by the two boys there. Old Bill were telling them stories about his travels, and the different places the ship travelled.
The more the men around them drink, more incredible their stories went. They talked about werewolves and sirens, about magical items and spells.
Tom perceived Aiden believed every word they said, but he was more wary.
“Are you already telling these kids your lies, William?” a woman with a laughter in her voice approached them.
She seemed to have been beautiful one day, but the time did not preserve it. The breasts were almost completely visible in her shirt with a full decote, specially while she handed the drinks to the man.
“A lie is a point of view, my dear Bettie” he laughed and winked to the boys.
The rain gave them a pause almost in the end of the afternoon. It was freezing, but both boys felt warm inside with all the hot tea and care.
“It’s not amazing, Tom? How I want to travel with them someday”.
“They’re nice” agreed the boy “And their travels seems to be fun”.
“More than fun! It’s… it’s… I don’t know how to say…”
“Wonderful?”.
“Yes! Wuderfal” Aiden nodded, misspelling the word “Why do I have to stay in the school and study if I want be a sailor someday?”.
“To know how describe a wonderful thing when you see one it’s a start” the black haired boy laughed and Aiden stuck his tongue at him again.
They walked a bit more in silence and Tom talked “Do you think is true? The sirens, and all the magical things?”.
Aiden looked at him, surprisingly serious for a moment “My father could do a lot of things, for what I remember. The other kids laughed at me when I told them”.
“What kind of things?”.
“Moving things with a wand, for example. And make heavy things feel lighter, as the sailors did with the boxes earlier”.
“Really?”.
“Really. You don’t believe me too, right?”.
Aiden gave him a hurt look, and Tom moved his head.
“I believe you”.
“Really?”.
“I do… but… if someone told you that a snake talked to them… what would you think?”.
“A snake? Like the one who talked to Eve on paradise?”.
“Not like that. A normal snake”.
“Wow, that’s nice. Do you know someone who could do that, Tom?”.
“… I think I do”.