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chapter 1 : play along

Club, bar, bakery, left.

Tailor, butcher, casino, right.

Pale eyes followed the outlines of the bricked buildings intently as she passed by, brows lowered in concentration as calculations of distances between each building and street ran through her mind.

She took in every detail, remembering all the nooks, rain pipes and doors that lined both sides of the street.

Liv never liked the way the buildings looked. Every wall and roof was as crooked as the residents it homed, and the mouldy and darkened bricks that formed the outer layers of the shops were as dirty as the people that roamed the street between them.

Ketterdam's never-ending cycle of mist, clouds and rain didn't help with the atmosphere either she supposed.

Blending into the filthy crowd wasn't as difficult as Liv previously had thought, a dark hood masking her most prominent features, hiding her smaller frame between the passing mass.

Brothel, house, brewery, right.

Instead of moving with the crowd, Liv suddenly made a dart for the right, heading down a dark alleyway.

Careful strides, signalled by the clicks of her boots against the cobblestone road marked her way through, as she approached a small wooden door at the end of the narrow road.

Without knocking, she opened the door and stepped inside.

The moment Liv stepped foot in the bar she now found herself in, she lowered her hood, milky blonde hair, bound partially together by a black ribbon presenting itself, and in turn, presenting herself.

"You're not supposed to be back for another week."

Liv turned her head to the raspy voice on her left-hand side. A large man stood behind a counter, cleaning a glass, a look of confusion and desperation in his eyes.

Her lips turned upwards, a slight smirk painting her face in triumph as she approached the man, "I'm sorry Mineas, I'm afraid that the price has gone up, desperate times you see?"

The man eyed the girl in front of him up and down with disdain, as that was all he saw, a girl. Liv couldn't help but notice his knuckles turning white at the grip he held on the glass in his hands.

Anger replaced the previous confusion in his glassy eyes, and he opened his mouth to speak.

He was, however, cut off by Liv, who beat him to it, "Come on Mineas, it would be very unfortunate if your wife were to find out what you have been doing behind her back."

She widened her eyes as she spoke, letting a look of innocence settle in her blue eyes.

The man sighed, putting down the glass he held in his hands, greasy handprints staining the otherwise transparent object.

The slouchy man walked over to the right side of the counter, opening a register with a defeated look written on his features.

He pulled out an envelope and deposited the kruge into it.

Liv smiled, before taking a look around the empty bar. It wouldn't be long before the street rats, scumbags and gangsters would fill up the several booths and tables, drinking and gambling their nights away. She would rather be gone before that happened.

Mineas coughed, reaching over the counter to hand Liv the envelope, which she accepted with a gloved hand.

She opened the envelope for a moment, checking its contents before humming in agreement.

She opened the dark bag that slung over her shoulder, adding the white envelope to her growing collection of nine. It was a rather good day, she thought.

The blonde smiled, "Pleasure doing business."

A scowl was the only thing she got in return, before turning around, back to the side door from which she had entered.

But before she put her hood back on, she turned around again, "The Bastard of the Barrel sends his regards."

With that, she left.

The sun was already setting when Liv mingled her way back into the crowd.

In most places of the known world, spring would mean the time of a shy sun and calming winds, a time when nature becomes green and the sky becomes blue again. But no, not in Ketterdam.

Liv took a deep breath as she walked, before starting to hum a tune, going over the calculations she had made in her mind of the buildings she passed.

It was around twenty minutes later when the hooded blonde reached her next destination, another bar.

This time she went in through the front door, lowering her hood again as she did so.

At this hour, the first customers had found their way into the establishment, sipping their drinks and talking to their friends, colleagues and foes; it was hard to distinguish between those in a place like this.

"Liv, darling!"

The mention of her name quieted the bar for a minute, heads turning their way in the direction of the blonde girl, who pretended not to notice.

"Hi, Johanna," Liv replied, a grin on her face, as she took place at one of the leather stools that lined the bar, "How is it going here?"

The plump woman returned her smile, as she pushed a strand of greying hair out of her face, "It's finally going somewhat well, sweetheart. Your recommendations have been great. When will you perform for us again? The people loved you."

The blonde chuckled lightly, a slight blush tickling her cheeks, "That's great to hear, Johanna. But, I'm not sure when I can be back. The Boss keeps wanting me to come back early every night."

Johanna frowned, "I don't like that lad, Livvy. He's just trouble-, him and those pesky crows he's surrounded with."

Liv hummed absently, not wanting to dive into her relationship with the infamous group of thugs with the caring woman that looked at her with eyes full of care and concern, "I'm okay with them. They're not too bad."

That was true. Ever since the incident a year ago, Kaz Brekker had asked for Liv to join The Crows. She was later told that this was a highly uncharacteristic thing for him to do. She still thought about it to this day. She had, however, accepted almost immediately, the promise of a roof over her head and protection from the several gangs and other unpleasant people, too big to pass on.

After her initial night at The Crow Club, she was given small jobs and tasks, like manning the bar and cleaning up the club in the early morning after the last customers had left. But very quickly, Liv's talent for charming customers had revealed itself, where she seemed to be effortlessly skilled in talking to men and finding out their deepest and darkest secrets. Then, if she deemed the information and secrets to be useful enough, she would pass them along to Kaz himself. This earned her the respectable title of a Whisperer, something she did not like to be referred to. If she didn't like the title, however, she did like the job; charming her way through Ketterdam was a delight when you weren't worried if you were going to survive your way to your next meal, especially when you were under the protection of the Bastard of the Barrel himself.

"Liv?"

The blonde flinched slightly at the interruption of her thoughts, dropping the charm on her golden necklace she had been fiddling subconsciously with, "I'm sorry, I think I wandered off for a second."

Johanna hummed, "That's okay, dear. Here, I made you some food, you looked hungry."

Liv accepted the plate of stew that the older woman held out for her gratefully, "Thanks, Johanna."

Before she set the plate down in front of her, she met Johanna's caring gaze again, "Actually, could I maybe take this to the rooftop? I wanted to draw a little tonight."

The woman nodded, "Of course you can, darling. Don't be up there too long, though, it's rather cold out tonight."

It was now Liv's turn to nod, as she stood up from her place at the bar, taking the plate between her gloved hands, "You're the best, Johanna."

The mentioned woman laughed, sending the girl a wink before moving over to another place at the bar where a man stood with an empty glass.

Moving between the crowd, Liv made her way to the back of the bar, where she took a very steep set of stairs all the way up to the cellar, the plate of stew still in her hands.

Liv opened the door with her elbow, before stepping outside where a cold breeze met her. It was rather cold indeed.

Distant noises of laughter and music filled her surroundings, as she moved onward to the ledge of the rooftop, where she sat down.

Liv let her legs dangle from the side of the building, happy that she had chosen to wear those woollen trousers today, as otherwise, some unsuspecting passerby would be able to look up her skirt.

A sigh escaped her lips, looking over the many rooftops that lined her vision, accompanied by the dark grey hues of the sky, the moon having taken on a passive role for the night.

She took a few bites of the stew, filling her with some much-needed warmth, before setting the plate to the side, and instead focussing on the contents of her bag, which she carefully brought out.

She took out all of the nine envelopes that had been piled up over the day, and checked each of its contents, checking all of their coins for validity.

All of them seemed to be okay, except one of the envelopes that carried Zemeni coins down from the Lucky Nine Casino.

Liv took one of the coins in her hand, putting it up to the sky. She squinted, trying to properly trace the markings of it.

A fake.

Liv huffed, before pocketing the Zemeni coins in a different pouch and placing all of the envelopes, alongside the pouch, back into her bag.

Someone is going to have a very unfortunate visit from the Stadwatch tomorrow.

Blue eyes scanned the brown bag again, this time retrieving a piece of parchment, alongside a pencil.

She placed the parchment in her lap, before starting to sketch a map of all the buildings she had passed by, noting down their sizes and notable features.

Drawing was one of Liv's few places where she could totally lose herself, her left hand on the paper creating entire worlds of its own, even when in this scenario, she was simply tracing an already existing, and rather ugly one.

The distant laughter and occasional shouts fell away into a general hum as she continued her work, erasing some mistakes on the paper with a frown, before retracing the lines with an efficiency and grace that would and have taken years to perfect.

Liv continued on for some time before a small shadow appeared to cross her line of vision, making her lift her gaze.

In the distance, a small, hooded figure moved over the rooftops almost effortlessly, its cloak flying behind, making it look like a ghost.

She looked on as the phantom passed by, seemingly not taking note of her own figure in the distance before it disappeared behind a building that was a story taller than the rest.

Liv huffed in disappointment, her curiosity being tweaked by the unknown figure; another secret to figure out.

Her attention was pulled back to the sketch again, the charcoal of the pencil begging to be used. The charcoal had to be disappointed, however, as a gunshot rang through Liv's ears only a few moments later.

She craned her head in the direction of the sound; it was very close.

Immediately, she placed the parchment and pencil back into the bag, before flinging it over her shoulder.

She looked at the unfinished stew that stood lonely on the rooftop, and silently apologised to Johanna for leaving it there, but made her way to the next rooftop over, a rusty drainpipe attached to its side.

Once she made her way down, she could hear various voices, most of them shouting incoherent words and insults.

One of the voices, however, was a little bit too familiar to Liv. She sighed

She turned the corner of the alleyway she found herself in, moving in the direction of the noise.

And once she arrived at the source of the disturbance, she couldn't help but feel slightly amused, but also mostly disappointed.

Because none other than Jesper Fahey was backed up against a wall, his hands raised as a large man loomed over him with a pistol in his hands.

Liv scanned her surroundings, eyeing the other two present men, alongside a small table with a deck of cards, separating them.

Saints, Jesper.

His dark eyes met her light ones, and immediately an understanding formed. She lowered her brows in anger.

"Lucas Janssen, how many times do I have to tell you!" Liv exclaimed as she made her way over to Jesper, furious determination in her steps.

She was held back by one of the men that was previously sitting on one of the chairs beside the table, "Woah, hold on. You know this fucker?"

"Yes, I do," Liv spat, taking off her left glove and putting out a hand, revealing a golden band around her ring finger, "This fucker is my husband!"

Jesper waved meekly, playing along with their little performance, "Hi, Darling. I love you so much as well."

Liv made a lunge forward again, seemingly trying to get closer to the Zemeni boy to charge at him, making the three men chuckle.

"What did he do this time?" Liv questioned, shaking off the man that had placed his hands on her shoulder.

The man that still sat down, a large, greasy-looking man, now stood up as well, turning out to be even taller than he looked, "He tried to cheat us out of our well-earned money, he did."

"I did not!" Jesper exclaimed, before being quieted again by being smacked in the face by the side of the pistol. He groaned in pain.

Liv sighed dramatically, "Alright, what does he owe you? I'll give you and extra if you let him go now and let me deal with him myself."

The men chucked again at the last part, before the greasy man spoke up again, "500 kruge."

Liv sent a glare in Jesper's direction, who just looked at her with an innocent smile.

She turned her gaze back to the man in front of her, "Fine."

The blonde placed the glove back on her left hand before reaching into the bag, taking out the pouch containing the fraudulent Zemeni coins, and looked up at the greasy man innocently, "I only have Zemeni, is that okay?"

Greasy man grunted, "Fine by me."

Liv smiled and handed the man the entire pouch. If it were the real coins, it was a generous offer, enough to let Jesper go.

Greasy man turned his head towards the man that still held Jesper under fire, who lowered his pistol, leaving Jesper to make his way over to Liv.

"My love, I am so sorry," He started, but was cut off by Liv who slapped him in the face.

"You're a bastard! Now let's go home where you can explain to darling little Timmy why he won't be getting a birthday present!"

The blonde took hold of the Zemeni boy's arm and pulled him along behind her as they made their way out of the alleyway, all until they were sure they were out of earshot of the three men.

"Aw, we have a kid now? That's adorable," Jesper cooed as he freed himself of Liv's hold, instead opting to walk beside her, "You make a mean slap by the way."

"Thanks", Liv replied, chuckling lightly, "You make a mean punching bag."

"Thanks."

The two continued walking, Liv pulling up her hood once more to make herself less distinguishable. Which was hard, given the fact that Jesper's extravagant self was walking right next to her.

"Didn't Kaz want you to be back like two hours ago?" Jesper questioned after a second of silence, looking at one of two watches lining his wrist.

"Oops."

Jesper laughed, "Damn, that's going to be fun. Can't wait"

Liv shook her head, smiling up at the tall boy next to her, "I for one can't wait to see the look on Kaz's face when you get to explain why your face is bruised and why I had to use my bribe money."

The Zemeni boy huffed, stretching his shoulders, "Like I just said, it's going to be fun."

The moment the two teenagers had set foot in The Crow Club, they were immediately glared down by none other than Kaz Brekker, who stood atop the stairs that lead to the offices at the back of the club.

Shark's eyes set in fury as he stared down at the two teenagers that had entered; he did not look amused.

This was going to be fun indeed, Liv thought to herself.