Chapter Text
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“It’s not so bad, once you get used to it.”
It was the starter of all.
#
“Ashy,” cried the little Warlock. “Look what I found in the garden!”
The little Warlock had spent his day in garden exploring the garden, while Nanny Ashtoreth followed him around idly, with a black umbrella to shield her from the bright summer sun.
“What have you found, sweet heart?”
Warlock run toward her excitedly, but awkwardly, since he was holding out both of his arms before him while running through half the garden. Nanny Ashtoreth looked at Warlock with contentedly, the boy was completely messy, with muddy shoes and dirty wet clothes. He even got some scratch. She was so proud. The boy hold out his tiny little clenched fists to Nanny Ashtoreth, who bowed down slightly to have a better look.
“Look.” Warlock whispered, as if he was afraid to startle what was in his fist.
“What isss it?” Nanny Ashtoreth hissed happily.
“It’s brother frog. I caught it myself.” Warlock examined his fist. “I can’t show him to you, or he’ll jump away, but he’s green, and very small.” He then loosed his fist a little bit and peeped through his fingers.
“Let me find you a box, so you could put him inside.”
Nanny Ashtoreth pushed him slightly in the back to guide him indoors.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Bother Francis said that I should let him go back home.”
“You talked with Brother Francis?”
“Yeah, he was sitting behind the walls reading books.” Warlock was a little worried. “He told me not to tell anybody.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody either.” Nanny Ashtoreth said in a sing-song tone. They entered the door and went to kitchen.
“Now where is the milk bottle from the morning…...Ah, here you are!”
Nanny Ashtoreth hold the small glass bottle in her hands.
“Now we have to be very carefully, my dear, or brother frog is gonna run away.” Warlock nodded with the gravity of a 6 years old. “Now loose your fist slightly. I’ll put the rim around…...oh.”
A tiny green frog climbed through from between the fingers. It took him a minute to look around before jumping on a nearby table. Warlock yelled out of surprise and panic. It took him a morning, three tripping and a scratch on the arm to catch the frog. He even walked into the fountain for it and got wet feet. Now the frog is lose in the house, he could sneeze behind the closet, or hide under the fridge, and he could never catch him again, and the great plan he had for brother frog…...
Nanny Ashtoreth quickly put the bottle rim around the frog.
“Gotcha!” Nanny Ashtoreth declared proudly before seeing the red light glittering behind the green frog’s eyes. It was only a mere second, but there could be no mistake of that hellish red eyes. Her smile froze, meanwhile little Warlock was jumping and chanting:
“Ashy caught the frog! Ashy, Ashy, ASHY!”
“Hush! Dearie.” Nanny Ashtoreth cooed. “Could you run and fetch Brother Francis real quick? Tell him to wait me at the porch.”
“Yes, Ashy.”
Nanny Ashtoreth wait until the front door slammed shut. Then she smirked at the frog in the bottle. The frog stared back.
“Checking on our young master, Hastur? I was wondering what kind of a stupid frog could be caught by a 6-years-old.”
“It’s my cover-up to sneak into the house, and it worked perfectly well.” Hastur said, still in frog form.
“I suppose so, considering you’re now trapped in a bottle.”
“Don’t get cocky, Crowley.” Hastur snapped. “When I return Down There and do my report, it will be the end of you. I’ve been watching you for a week already, and I see all the good you’re up to.”
“What do you mean by that?” Crowley tensed and quickly reviewed the past week in his mind. Everything had be normal, except on Wednesday they had to cancel a picnic in the garden because it was raining. Warlock had been pouting all afternoon. He was suddenly thankful for that rain. He didn’t know what would Hastur make of if he saw him and Brother Francis go out picnicking, not that he knew the true identity of the angel……
“Despite all the brilliant report you made, I have to come up and have a look for myself, and I’m sad to say, the boy was not evil at all.” Hastur shook his head. “Spending all day climbing trees and stealing bird eggs and fruits. The boy was far too happy, in my opinion.”
“Is that what you think?” Crowley said coldly.
“Yes, and I’m sure Below would agree with me and send a more competent supervisor.”
“In that case, you must have notice that our young master is very fond of catching wild animals. Let me tell you why, as you’re about to face the same fate.” How dare anyone question his competency? “Since you’ve been dwelling in the pond, it must have skipped your notice that. Well, I’ll put it simple and plain. Our young master is quite fascinated by the science of anatomy. He wants to be a surgeon when he grows up. How sweet and evil is that, don’t you think?”
Nanny Ashtoreth smiled sweetly, waiting for the desired effect.
“What does that mean, the science of anatomy?”
“It often involved cutting open the living creatures to observe the function of internal organs, and to achieve that, the observed creature must be kept alive during the operation.” Crowley was glad to see Hastur turned pale. What an extraordinary fool.
“I’m sorry, Hastur, but anything for our young master.”
“You can’t be serious, Crowley.”
“What can I do? For him you’re just an ordinary frog.”
Crowley slipped a piece of paper between the bottle rim and the table, and scooped Hastur into the bottle. He covered the rim and shook the bottle merrily.
The front door opened, followed by the sound of footsteps.
“That must be our young vicious master! Now, I’ll have to prepare him a needle.”
“What’s that for?”
“He’ll stick it between your eyes and paralyzed your neural system. So you won’t feel a thing.”
“No.” Hastur clung to the glassy wall and looked at Crowley in the eyes. He looked almost pathetic. “You can’t do this.”
“I can’t, but his our master’s son. There’s no way I could say no to him.”
The footsteps are growing louder.
“Are you shaking, Duke Hastur?”
Hastur just looked toward the door. Red light shined bright behind Hastur’s eyes. Crowley knew he was in the dilemma of whether to suffer the cruelty of children or the endless nagging from the bureau for discorporating himself.
“You know, it’s always possible for me to broke the bottle by accident, giving that I’m so incompetent.” Crowley reclined lazily on the table. Hastur shoot him a look.
“The child is awefuly evil. You have my word.”
“What about me?” Crowley glared.
“Don’t push your luck.”
#
Brother Francis was cleaning up little Warlock in the bathroom. Nanny Ashtoreth never denied the boy anything. It seemed that her ultimate goal was to spoil the boy entirely, but Brother Francis thought that a little bit discipline would help. He started with tidying up the boy, who looked like a new person after changed into fresh clothing.
"Here you go, Warlock." Brother Francis carefully dried the boy's hair with towel, which was soaking wet with sweat. He might catch a cold. He'll have to have a word with the nanny.
"Can I show you my frog now, Brother Francis?"
"Not until I comb your hair. Now sit still. Here's a tangle. Tell me if you're hurt."
CLANG!
Warlock sit straight. Something was broken. It was from the kitchen.
"My frog!" Warlock jumped up and stopped when his hair was caught by the comb. "Ouch!"
"Sorry!" Brother Francis quickly untangled the comb. "Walk. Don't run. Watch out for your feet. There might be broken glasses on the floor."
But before he could finish the sentence, Warlock had ran straight to the kitchen. When Brother Francis made it, he saw Warlock pouting at the entrance of the kitchen, while Nanny Ashtoreth apologizing in the debris of glasses.
"I'm sorry. I slipped. We'll catch another frog. I promise. And don't come any closer."
"When?"
"Later. I promise."
"I was going to put it in Mammy's drawer. She will be home by 6." Warlock was on the verge of tears.
"I know, and I'm so proud of you." Neither of them could walk through the floor of broken glasses, but Nanny Ashtoreth held out her arms, as if she could comfort Warlock through mid air.
"Let's go to the park later, not just in the garden."
"But Mommy said---"
"Don't listen to her, you listen to me."
"Really!" Warlock yelled. "Let's go on a picnic, and I want ice cream!"
"Good. Now go pack your stuff."
Warlock ran away to his bedroom.
Aziraphale looked at both of them with loving eyes. Despite Crowley's effort to make the child as evil as possible. The student seemed to be unable to surpass the master. All he does was doing some mischief. Well, actually he once asked the nanny if he could steal something. Nanny Ashtoreth was so pleased, until it turned out it was a stray cat he wanted to steal, although it had a collar on. He had been feeding the little thing his breakfast for days and had made friend with it. The cat was adopted by the neighbor, because Mrs. Dowling was allergic to cat.
How could he fall? Aziraphale wondered.
"Alright, then." Crowley sighed, then he saw Aziraphale. "Would you fetch me a broom so I could clean up this mess?"
"Sure thing, Ashy."
"Don't call me Asssshy, you ssstupid gardener."
Aziraphale smiled and snapped his fingers. The glasses disappeared. Crowley was mildly surprised.
"I really got carried away with the acting, I think." Crowley muttered. "I forgot I was a demon."