Running into a Bird
Audrey Alexandra Kai could hear the low humming whistling coming from every direction. She saw the way the shadows dashed under the street lamps and could always feel when a pair of eyes caught sight of her. But the stubborn girl refused to make it easy for Critter O'Connell's personal army to find her tonight. The challenge of going unnoticed distracted her for blocks at a time, before suddenly a sob would escape her and tears would burn down her frozen cheeks. Trying to regain control of her emotions, she slowed long enough to catch her own reflection in a closed shop window. The reflection of a child drowning in an oversize coat and a top hat that was held in place by a nest of hair, a sad little girl. Audrey tugged down on the brim of the top hat desperately trying to hide from her own reflection, from the light and the incessant whistling. She started running again, letting the sensation of her stocking clad feet guide her into the uneven terrain of delivery allies.
She didn't know where she was heading, but it didn't really matter. Jack Kelly was never coming back to New York City and of this she was despairingly confident. There was always going to be another train or another place that led him away. The glimmer of hope Audrey had not even know she had that he would return as soon as he saw Santa Fe had been extinguished with the news of his going to Pasadena. The tears burned again pressed her palm angrily at her face, Jack Kelly had left her. Spot Conlon had left her. No one was coming back to this wretchedly lit disaster.
Audrey reached out with both her hands and pressed her fingers into the gritty brick of the buildings. In the west they had space, the endless brick and mortar no longer trapped them. Jack didn't have to climb out the window and pull himself up the fire escape to catch a glimpse of the stars. No, he had told her about the blanket of stars he just had to look up to see. New York City was the greatest city in the world for anyone but Jack Kelly. The whistling grew louder and Audrey pushed forward again, trying to refuse the instinct to just curl up against the brick wall. She barreled around a corner, catching her ankle on a foot. She tumbled forward, shooting out her arms to break the fall but the young woman never reached the ground. A strong had scooped underneath her stomach and she was balanced back on her feet instantly.
"You look ridiculous." Jasper scoffed. He snapped his wrist from inside his coat pulling out a handkerchief and holding it out to her with his index finger.
"Jasper?' Audrey hiccupped confused.
"Why aren't you wearing any shoes?" Jasper frowned as he caught a toe poking out from under her skirts.
"Boots take too long to put on and they make quite a bit of noise." Audrey retorted finally taking the handkerchief.
"I believe you were trying to give us the slip Miss Audrey?" Jasper leaned forward and whispered. He pressed his thumb up to her face, catching his own handkerchief to catch another tear rolling down her cheek.
"You are in Manhattan…" Audrey blinked faster, trying to control the tears. Jasper rolled his eyes as his hand suddenly pressed into her lower back, pushing her down a set of steps. Audrey didn't fight his led as she knew it was dangerous for them to be out on the street talking in hushed whispered tones. Because though Audrey was hardly recognizable in her state she was hardly in an appropriate disguise. And well, Jasper didn't remain a shadow of a shadow by having conversations out in the open.
Jasper and Audrey reached a door that was quickly pushed open, but not before Audrey noticed the light brown feather settled on the doorframe.
"By the fire, she must have near frozen her feet near off." Jasper grumbled pushing Audrey into the small space with air that smelled of burnt potatoes. A pair of quick hands, gathered up Audrey's stolen coat and hat and she was nestled next to the fire with a blanket before she even noticed. A pair of familiar blue eyes smiled at her, as a woman slipped back behind a counter to finish washing dishes. Audrey noticed quickly enough she was in a small pastry shop, the kind the washing girls might frequent. Jasper leaned casually against the door, but Audrey knew he was safeguarding against her running off again.
It had been some time since Audrey had seen the leader of the Brooklyn Birds. She fought to remember if she had ever seen the man outside of the nest, or even outside of Brooklyn. He looked more tired than usual, the dark circles under his eyes menacing and warning of a quicker temper than usual. She studied the way his fist clenched every few breaths, ready for a fight or a push into a perfect run. Jasper tried to relax as he felt the wandering studious eyes of Audrey on him.
"You going to sit here for a minute?" Jasper finally demanded. Audrey nodded at his harsh tone as she watched him pull the door open and disappear back out in the darkness.
"Hungry?" The woman asked when Jasper had stepped out. Audrey heard the sharp note of a single whistle that put to rest the low humming. The city knew she had been found. Jasper entered the room again before Audrey could answer the kind woman and shook his head curtly.
"That food isn't for her." He growled as he sauntered over to the Audrey and reached down to capture her chin.
"I'm fine. No scratches or nothing." Audrey pulled her face away from the inspection. Jasper crossed his arms and Audrey could practically hear his teeth grinding in annoyance, a trait she was sure he might have picked up from Critter.
"Don't you get tired of running?"
"What?"
"What were you running from this time?" Jasper tried a different question. He didn't often have to repeat himself, or actually he rarely actually repeated himself. Being the leader of birds, Jasper had learned long ago to not waste time coaxing someone to speak by repeating the same questions. He simply stated new questions, until he got the answers he sought.
"Do you think Jack is ever coming back?" Audrey countered.
"Yes. Where were you going?' Jasper slipped down onto a stool in front of her. Audrey choked back a sob at the affirmative, steadfast response of Jack's definite return.
"You think Jack is coming back?" Audrey whispered. Jasper ran his hand over his mouth, growling something about an ear cold and not his fault.
"I said yes didn't I?"
"But, but how do you know?" Audrey was trying to push back the hope Jasper had given her.
"Is that what it is then? That letter you got from him… they didn't get to Santa Fe…" Jasper was working out his own answer out loud.
"Do you read my letters?" Audrey demanded an anger burning up over the anxiety.
"Sometimes." Jasper shrugged unabashed. Audrey lunged at him but Jasper was quicker than quick and had pushed her back into her seat without moving more than his right foot.
"We are too busy to be using everyone to look for you, Critter is worse than Conlon about you…" Jasper sighed tired again.
"I didn't ask you to use everyone to look for me!" Audrey spat angrily. Jasper stared at Audrey carefully, his dark eyes searched her face and Audrey felt as if he could see right down into her broken heart. He opened his mouth a couple of times but said nothing, as if he was considering disobeying a direct order. Audrey had seen this face before, on other birds but it was always the same.
"You don't even know how important you are." Jasper shook his head. Before Audrey even registered the words spoken, a whizzing hiss mixed with the undeniable kick of a foot into the door sent Jasper flying across the room. A twittering escaped Jasper, from his fist pressed against his mouth, in a signal Audrey had never heard before. Two taps and the door swung open and allowed a rather uncoordinated Matches to fall in.
"Could have given me a second longer there Jasper." Matches muttered annoyed at having to catch himself with his elbows. The bird let his joints absorb the impact, before rolling his body around and kicking himself back up with more grace than he had moments ago.
"Laces." Matches chuckled as he caught sight of the girl sitting by the fire. A gritted teeth hiss from Jasper made Matches' grin widen before he quickly revised his greeting. "Miss Audrey."
"What are you doing here?" Jasper finally spat in annoyance. Matches scratched at his own ruffled red hair, winking at Audrey before turning around to face his leader.
"I know you were expecting Daisy. But she ran into Raindrop and Wild, out on Ladies Mile… Wild wanted you to know Audrey wasn't wearing any shoes. But kid was falling asleep on his feet and well…" Matches fidgeted with the buttons on his patched up coat.
"She found Raindrop asleep?" Jasper sighed aggravated. Raindrop needed to stop falling asleep when she was with one of the boys as it was becoming increasingly unhelpful and dangerous.
"Not exactly, but she was worried about them getting back to the nest…" Matches shrugged apologetically. Jasper ran a hand across his face before slightly nodding to the woman behind the counter. She started to skirt around the counter but Matches turned to her with one hand in the air. A potato flew through the air until Matches caught it joyfully bouncing it between both his hands.
"Thanks Blaze." Matches grinned before he sauntered over and settled himself on the ground next to Audrey, not daring to sit on the empty stool.
"Blaze?" Audrey mumbled the name, letting her eyes study the woman still behind the counter. She was trying to hide a smile, as she pushed the strands of light blond hair off her forehead. The young woman knew she had seen the older woman before, in a much different place.
"Matches." Jasper snapped his fingers impatiently. The man kicked the door before taking long strides to get back to his stool.
"She couldn't get it." Matches shook his head sadly.
"Who couldn't get what?" Audrey asked immediately intrigued by the inter workings of the birds. She had never been present during a real report, only during the training reports Critter had put her through what seemed like lifetimes ago. Jasper glared at her a moment before Matches spoke through a mouthful of potato bites.
"Daisy has been trying to get the guest list to the Astor New Years Eve bash." He explained.
"Matches." Jasper kicked Matches none too softly.
"The Astors, as in The Astors?" Audrey blinked trying to make sense of the information.
"There is only one Astor family in New York." Matches rolled his eyes.
"Though it would be unlikely that you know anything about the biggest social event of the holiday season, you haven't exactly entered their circle." Jasper sighed pulling out a cigarette to roll between his twitching fingers.
"Why do you want the guest list?" Audrey found herself curiously leaning forward. Birds only cared about what was happening in Brooklyn, and the greater New York newsboys, right? But then her eyes caught the retreating back of Blaze, and the memory flickered in her mind. Little Italy. Little Italy had been about Slingshot and that is why the birds knew about it, Audrey tried convincing herself. But something in those memories suddenly made her question the reality of why the Brooklyn Birds had known anything about the Italian war that had killed a newsboy. She had gotten so caught up in her thoughts that it wasn't until Jasper snapped his fingers again, that she noticed she had missed her explanation.
"You look like you are going to cry again." Matches observed quietly. The young man had devoured his potato and now had his startling green eyes fixated on her face. She shook her head.
"No, no. I'm sorry, why do you want the list?" She asked again.
"Lots of reasons." Jasper stated simply. She knew he wouldn't offer any more information and she was suddenly reminded of Critter. A glint of fear crossed her expression and Matches chuckled again. Audrey had a sneaking suspicious the bird understood the connection she had made in her mind.
"Are your feet warm again?" Jasper asked reaching out to obtain his answer without her response. Audrey snapped her legs out of his reach and tucked them under her skirts. The man just nodded before stretching out onto his feet once more, Audrey couldn't help but frown. It seemed Jasper was incapable of sitting still for longer than a few seconds. Matches also stirred at her feet and no crawled onto the vacated stool, as if he understood Jasper was not going to sit down anymore.
"You will see them again." Matches managed to quietly smile at her before Jasper had pulled her back up to her feet. He was putting her back into Thomas' coat and plopping the top hat back over her hair.
"Jasper, I can dress myself!" Audrey snapped annoyed as she pushed her arms through the sleeves of the coat.
"Critter is on his way." Jasper informed her.
"To get me?' She asked dejected.
"You could leave before he arrives." Jasper shrugged pointing to the door. Audrey stared at the man a moment unsure she had heard him correctly. She opened her mouth but didn't say a word, instead glancing at the closed door.
"Leave?" Audrey repeated the word. Jasper would never let her get back outside, waste his precious birds attention on her.
"Unless you are tired of running." Jasper shrugged. Audrey swallowed the lump in her throat, suddenly remembering she had been running. Wandering the streets looking for shadows, letting the winter air numb the pain that burned and never once knowing where she was going. Jasper had pulled her out of her dazed escape to nowhere, brought her into this tiny warmth of familiar patterns. For the last few precious minutes, her world had seemed normal again, comforting. A bitter tension, a mysterious whispering, a constant bubbling of life surging forward in a gritty need for survival had existed again. She had forgotten Jack Kelly wasn't in Manhattan or Santa Fe. But a whizzing hiss and undeniable fist pounding the door alerted Audrey to the arrival of Critter and lost of her choice.
"We won't always be around to catch you." Jasper warned as he stepped forward, cupping his hand his mouth once more to create a twitter response. It wasn't an off-handed comment, Jasper was warning her.
A/N: I know, it's been forever! I have been experiencing what can only be described as the sudden inability to string together sentences and then all of a sudden - bam! Back and so I am hoping the updates continue pretty rapidly this week but we shall see. The birds, lovely lovely kids, always seem to help me with that! So I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think!