Ivy and Thorn - part 1

I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo. I've started a little early.

Thorn Finger placed his belongings at the bottom of his rucksack and swung the bag over is shoulder.
"That was a cool show." Said a voice.
Thorn Finger spun around, startled.
In front of him stood a little girl. She wore a brown leather jacket and combat boots, but despite her rugged appearance, she wore jean shorts and a blouse, her red hair tied up with a large cream bow.
She looks to be around nine he thought, but where are her parents?
He glanced around for any sign of  any over protective parents, but none showed to punch his scarred face in.
"I am Ivy." The girl thrust out a hand. "I am eleven years old."
Thorn Finger hesitantly took her small hand in his bigger one and shook it.
Her deep green eyes bore into him. Confident and searching, they seemed to examine every inch of him from his sandy hair down to his worn boots.
She is very wise and short for her age, he decided.
Adjusting the cloth pack slung over her tiny shoulders she looked him up and down again just for good measure. "What you did was pretty neat." She stated rather factually. "Do you think you could teach me how?"
"Breath fire?" Thorn Finger finally spoke. "It takes time and practice." He shook his head.
"I have time." Ivy said airily. "Where are you headed?"
"North." Shifting from foot to foot,  he glanced around anxiously for the girls parents. Surely they didn't want their little daughter talking to a stranger. Much less one that hadn't shaved for a month and breathed fire.
"North?" Ivy exclaimed. "Really?" That is where I'm going too! I will travel with you."
"What?" Thorn Finger shouted in dismay. "No, go home."
Frowning, she protested: "But I am going the same direction as you are--to visit my aunt." The last bit sounded like an after thought.
"I am going on foot. Why do not you use the train?" Thorn Finger asked. still unwilling to travel with a child and unable to comprehend any reason some one would want to travel with him.
"Why do not YOU use the train?" Ivy countered, stomping her foot on the road with impatience.
"Where are your parents?" Thorn Finger demanded.
At this Ivy scuffed at the road with her toe. "On vacation in France. They would only just be on the plane by now. I was on my way to the train station when I saw you and stopped to watch the show. Oh and by the by, where did your ferret run off to?"
"Too find some lunch," He explained. "But you are not under any circumstances coming with me."
"Yes I am and you can't stop me." She stomped her foot with stubborn determination.
Thorn Finger trie very hard in every way to convince her other wise, but the silly girl would not be swayed.
Fine, he thought irritably, I will just have to force her to stay.
He thought about running, but that did not seem very nice, and if she ran after him, she may get lost. London was huge and noisy and dangerous for a little girl. He considered taking her to the police station but the idea didn't appeal to him in any which way and it seemed rather harsh considering the girl had no nearby family to take her. Plus her aunt would be waiting for her.
Having made up his mind, Thorn Finger purposely walked off down the road.
"Wait!" Ivy bawled, chasing after him. "Where are you going? North is that way."
"I just need to drop something off first." He whistled to his ferret and the furry little thing emerged from the bushes. "Come on now, Waif." Climbing up the man's out stretched arm the ferret slipped into Thorn Fingers pack and poked it's head out to hiss at Ivy.
"May I pet her?" Ivy asked, almost in reply,
Thorn Finger shot her an irritated look. "What makes you think that it's a female?"
Ivy ignore him. "May I?"
"No." He almost snapped, "She bites."
"So it IS a she?"
"Don't talk to me."
The two wound their way through the busy streets of London.
"Why are we here?" Ivy asked when she had spotted the train station.
Thorn Finger glanced at her warily. "I told you, I Have some business here to take care of. Do you still want to follow me?"
He hoped she would go away, for she surely knew what he planned to do. She was no fool, that he could see.
But she looked at him determinedly and shook her head. She would not let him out of her sight, knowing he would run off as soon as he had the chance.
Instead, she followed him inside.
She marched behind him right up to the ticket counter. She did not bolt when he asked for a child's fare.
However, when he asked her where her aunt lived, she would not tell him.
"One ticket to Birmingham. He said to the lady clerk.
Ivy simply raised her eye brows.
Giving a shrug he thought to him self: Birmingham just seems like a likely place for an aunt to live.
As he took the ticket from the lady he added: "Oh and can you get someone to watch over the girl? I have to be on my way."

"Sure. I'll even do it." The young blonde batted her eye lashes at him and her some what self consciously traced the three scars that ran down his cheek.

Inviting Ivy behind the counter with her, the lady assured Thorn Finger in the most lengthy and un-assuring way that the "little darling" would be in safe hands until the train arrived.

Thorn Finger only nodded his thanks, thinking to him self, the way she carries on, Ivy will have gone before she could even finish one sentence. Ah well.

Ivy gave him a pitiful look as he left and a feeling of regret stabbed him in the heart.

I can not afford to take care of a little girl, he reprimanded him self. Besides, she would not be safe with me.

No she would not.

What do you think? My word goal is 40,000.

Estimate word count: 983