Scourge: A Grim Doyle Adventure

Chapter 8

Grim and the others followed Dorian out the door and down the street to a little building where reams of cloth hung in the window.

Madam Sloan’s Magnificent Manufactorum.

The space was filled with sinth-driven sewing machines that were operating on their own.

“Come in, come in,” said the proprietor. The woman had green skin and two small horns protruding from the sides of her head. A long mechanical tail whipped around behind her. Grim stopped in his tracks at the sight of her and blinked.

“Newbeez I zee!” zipped Madam Sloan. The woman’s lips moved so fast Grim had to pause to interpret her words. It was like listening to Treena on fast forward.

“Orphanz, yes?”

Dorian nodded.

“All right zen, line up and I’ll meazure you one by one. Orderly fazhion now!” She seized a piece of rope with dark markings on it and measured each of them, zipping about here and zooming about there, all the while muttering under her breath.

“One and a half-ztitch-five-ztitch-four-width-zeven-ztitch.” When she finished with each she would scream out, “Next!” She measured them in almost no time at all. She then ushered them out the door.

“Your new clothing will be delivered to Madam Malkimz,” she said and let the door slam closed. They all stood staring after the woman.

Dorian chuckled, adjusting the cap on his head. “That’s how I looked when she first measured me. Madam Sloan is a Goad ― well, at least part of her is. You’ll go back for more fittings over the next few years. Four months from now is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Madam Malkim’s Academy for the Affluent. There’s going to be a big celebration. And since Madam Sloan is the best seamstress in the City of Harkness she has been requested to make gowns and clothing for many of the attendants. If I’m not mistaken, almost all of the Manors will be invited.”

“Will our parents be invited?” Grim asked.

Rudy kicked him.

Gah!

Dorian cocked his head to the side. “You’re not orphans?”

Grim winced.

 “It’s all right,” he whispered. “Your secret is safe with me. Though most of us are orphans or sinthoids, there are many unwanted children here.”

Grim nodded, blushing. Now they would be known as little hooligans.

Unwanted. Great.

“Come on,” Dorian said.

They stepped into a dark alleyway and through a side door at Madam Malkim’s. They skirted through the corridors to a small room set with some crooked tables. There were a few murmurs and pointing fingers in the direction of the new children. The faces that gawked at them were of varying races including humans, Sylphs, Gargoyles, and a large number of other creatures that appeared to be half-human and half-machine. Grim tried not to stare at them as they entered.

Through a half-door they could see into the school dining hall. It was crammed with a plethora of hungry, eager faces. All of them were human.

Dorian brought them to one of the tables off in the corner of the smaller room. It wobbled as they sat.

“Wait here, I’ll be back in a moment.” He left them to speak with some of the older boys seated at the end of the row. Grim figured, by the rather large size of them, they were all meant to lift heavy things. Some looked pretty freakish with their mechanical parts.