CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ─── ❛ little squaller ❜

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𝕿he first thing that Kaz saw was the blood. It was dark red, seeping through  makeshift bandage on Stasiaj's stomach, dripping to the ground.

He felt his heart stop.

"Is she...?" Wylan trailed off, as Kaz hid the fear and panic on his face. "Is she dead?"

"No. I think she got stabbed twice," Inej replied, tying off her own wounds as Wylan hurried to Nina's side, pulling Stasiaj's other arm over his shoulder. Kaz wanted to help. He wanted to run to her, to hold her tight and help her. He wanted to press kisses to her forehead, feel her breath on his skin and listen to her heartbeat. He just wanted to know that she was alright because he didn't know what he was going to do if he lost her.

"The Grisha—" Nina had attempted.

"They're either safe at the embassy or beyond our help. They can fend for themselves. We're going to ground," He replied, before urging them into the boat. He grabbed an oar, watching as Wylan and Nina lowered an unconscious Stasiaj onto one of the benches, setting her down as gently as they could.

After that, no one spoke a word. Kaz and Rotty rowed only sporadically, steering them into the quieter, narrower canals, letting them drift silently whenever possible, until they rounded a bend near Schoonstraat and Kaz said, "Stop." He and Rotty dug in their oars, bringing them flush with the side of the canal, tucked behind the bulk of a vendor's boat. Whatever the floating shop sold, its stalls had been locked tight to protect its stock.

Up ahead, the stadwatch swarmed the bridge, two of their boats obscuring the passage beneath.

"They're setting up blockades," he murmured, before shaking his head. "Ditch the boat, we continue on foot."

As they got farther from the manufacturing district and the Barrel, the patrols dwindled, which was good, as Rotty and Wylan struggled with Stasiaj's body suspended between them. Still, they moved in fits and starts, passing along alleys, occasionally entering empty storefronts or the lower levels of unoccupied apartments so they could cut through to the next street. 

It was well past midnight when they reached the financial district. They'd arrived in one of the wealthiest areas of the city, not far from the Exchange and the Stadhall. 

Kaz led the group through an alley to the back of a large building, where a door had been propped open, and they entered a stairwell built around a huge iron lift that they shuffled inside. Rotty remained behind, presumably to keep watch over the entrance, as Nina took his place with Stasiaj. Kaz gnawed on his lip, before turning again and looking around.

He almost missed it, but there was a glint from the corner, a pair of eyes flashing in the dark. There was his shadow.

"Malkus. Come on," The others froze, before watching Malkus emerge from the shadows, a mask in his hand and fangs in the other. The little boy was watching Stasiaj like a hawk, eyes wide with fear, a feeling that Kaz was starting to get very well equated with.

They emerged into a hallway, after a tense elevator ride, laid in patterns of lacquered hardwood, its high ceilings painted a pale, foamy lavender. Inej knocked on a pair of wide, white double doors, all of them waiting. The only sound was Stasiaj's raspy breaths, that was keeping Kaz from truly panicking. If he could hear her breathing, then she was alive.

For now, a quiet voice whispered inside his brain.

Colm Fahey answered, wearing a long nightshirt with a coat thrown over it, his face tired.

"The others are inside," he said wearily. Kaz brushed past him, shaking his head at the three boys in the room. Nina and Wylan set Stasiaj down on the couch, both of them sharing quick hugs with the others as Kaz watched over Stasiaj with worried eyes.

"We couldn't get through the blockades to Sweet Reef," he said. "I feared the worst. What happened?"

"Assassin," Malkus murmured, from where he stood behind Kaz's leg. "Ivarn killed him."

"Should I call a doctor?" Colm asked.

"No," They replied in unison, before Nina crouched by Stasiaj's side and pulled the makeshift bandages away.

"Of course not," said Colm. "Should I ring for coffee?"

"Yes, please," said Nina.

Colm ordered coffee, waffles, and a bottle of brandy, and while they waited, Nina enlisted their help to locate some shears so that she could cut up the hotel towels for bandages. Once a pair had been found, Nina got to work, peeling Stasiaj's clothes away from her body to reveal the wound beneath.

It was a clean one, in and out between her ribs and dangerously close to her heart. Kaz fought the urge to tremble at the sight of pale skin coated in red. However, beneath the blood were pale scars, twisting and curling around her body.

"Help me hold her up," Nina called, as Matthias held Stasiaj forward, for Nina to wrap the towel around the wound. "Did she get into a fight with a bear?"

"Rigging," Kaz replied, shaking his head and swallowing down the sick in his throat. He knew where these were from now. "It's from rope."

Stasiaj was a tease and often, when Kaz went to have negotiations with her, she'd been in the bath. He'd tried his best not to stare at her skin, but the scars that had wrapped around her torso and legs had always intrigued him. But she'd hid her secrets far better than he had, and Kaz hadn't truly learnt about them until recently and even then, he'd pieced the information together himself.

Nina went silent after that, patching Stasiaj up as best she could, before leading Inej into the bathroom to see to her wounds. As soon as the girls had gone, Malkus abandoned Kaz's side to crawl onto the couch and curl up beside Stasiaj, his fingers latched into her blonde hair. Kaz watched them, wanting more than anything to be able to reach out and comfort the small boy as Jordie had done for him.

But he couldn't.

A knock sounded at the door, they all tensed, but it was only their meal. Colm greeted the maid and insisted that he could manage the cart so that she wouldn't see the strange company that had assembled in his rooms. As soon as the door closed, Jesper jumped up to help him wheel in a silver tray laden with food and stacks of dishes of porcelain.

"What is this place, anyway?" Wylan asked, looking around the vast room decorated almost entirely in purple.

"The Ketterdam Suite, I believe," said Colm, scratching the back of his neck. "It's considerably finer than my room at the university district inn."

Nina heaped a plate with food, as she emerged from the bathroom, and plunked down beside Matthias on the couch. She folded one of the waffles in half and took a huge bite, wiggling her toes in bliss.

"I'm sorry, Matthias," she said with her mouth full. "I've decided to run off with Jesper's father. He keeps me in the deliciousness to which I have become accustomed."

Kaz paused momentarily, before grabbing a plate of food and sitting on a chair beside the sofa, guilt gnawing away at his inside as he watched Malkus and Stasiaj. How had he not seen this coming? How had he not seen this betrayal?

He hadn't seen this and now Stasiaj was bleeding on a sofa, towels hiding her wounds. He'd caused this as if she died, he would never forgive himself.

"What exactly happened to you?" Jesper asked her as he handed his father a cup of coffee on a delicate saucer.

Inej perched in an armchair next to where Kuwei had settled himself on the floor. "I made a new acquaintance."

Jesper sprawled out on a settee and Wylan took the other chair, a plate of waffles balanced on his knee. There was a perfectly good table and chairs in the suite's dining room, but apparently none of them had an interest in it. Only Colm had taken a seat there, coffee beside him, along with the bottle of brandy. 

"So," Jesper said, adding sugar to his coffee. "Other than Inej making a new pal, what the hell happened out there?"

"Let's see," said Nina. "Inej fell twenty stories. Stasiaj got stabbed twice."

"We put a serious hole in my father's dining room ceiling," Wylan offered.

"Nina can raise the dead," said Inej. "Stasiaj's children are all as scary as her."

Matthias' cup clattered against his saucer. It looked ridiculous in his huge hand.

"I can't raise them. I mean, they get up, but it's not like they come back to life. I don't think. I'm not totally sure."

"Are you serious?" said Jesper.

Inej nodded. "I can't explain it, but I saw it."

Matthias' brow was furrowed. "When we were in the Ravkan quarter, you were able to summon those pieces of bone."

Jesper took a gulp of coffee. "But what about the lake house? Were you controlling that dust?"

"What dust?" asked Inej. Kaz looked between them, though his mind struggled to focus on any of the information, still watching the girl to his left.

"She didn't just take out a guard. She choked him with a cloud of dust."

"There's a family graveyard next to the Hendriks lake house," said Wylan, remembering the gated plot that abutted the western wall. "What if the dust was...well, bones? People's remains?"

Nina set down her plate. "That's almost enough to make me lose my appetite." She picked it up again. "Almost."

"This is why you asked about parem changing a Grisha's power," said Kuwei to Matthias.

Nina looked at him. "Can it?"

"I don't know. You took the drug only once. You survived the withdrawal. You are a rarity."

"Lucky me."

"Is it so bad?" Matthias asked.

Nina plucked a few crumbs from her lap, returning them to her plate. "To quote a certain big blond lump of muscle, it's not natural." Her voice had lost its cheery warmth. She just looked sad.

"Maybe it is," said Matthias. "Aren't the Corporalki known as the Order of the Living and the Dead?"

"This isn't how Grisha power is supposed to work."

"Nina," Inej said gently. "Parem took you to the brink of death. Maybe you brought something back with you."

"Well, it's a pretty rotten souvenir." Kaz raised an eyebrow as a hand passed through his vision. Malkus snatched a waffle from his plate, chewing it slowly as he got cream and honey over his face. Kaz sighed as he looked at him and Stasiaj, still feeling the guilt and fear more than anything.

He couldn't eat and his thoughts were just full of Stasiaj and worry. She couldn't die. If she did, he would lose one of the only good things that had come from his life in the Barrel. Malkus watched him with bright eyes, his head tilted. 

"Or perhaps Djel extinguished one light and lit another," said Matthias.

Nina cast him a sidelong glance. "Did you get hit on the head?"

He reached out and took Nina's hand, something Kaz wished he had the courage to do with Stasiaj. But she looked too much like Jordie for him to risk it. "I am grateful you're alive," he said. "I am grateful you're beside me. I am grateful that you're eating."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "You're better than waffles, Matthias Helvar."

A small smile curled the Fjerdan's lips. "Let's not say things we don't mean, my love."

There was a light tapping at the door. Immediately, they all reached for their weapons. Colm sat frozen in his chair.

Kaz gestured for him to stay where he was, before standing up and moving silently toward the door. He peered through the peephole.

"It's Specht," he said. They all relaxed, and Kaz opened the door, listening to what Specht spoke of, nodding at his words. Finally, Specht nodded and hurried towards the lift, as Kaz turned back to Colm. "Is there access to the clock tower on this floor?" 

"At the end of the hall," said Colm. "I haven't gone up. The stairs are steep."

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Without a word, Kaz had disappeared to the stairs. Malkus paused for a moment, torn between staying with his mother or following after Kaz. Finally, the small boy climbed off of the sofa, pressing a sticky kiss to his mother's head.

"Stay there," She didn't respond, and Malkus huffed and pouted, before hurrying up the stairs to the clock tower. The iron staircase was steep and twisting, and Malkus was sure that he was going to fall at some points, but he continued on as best he could.

Stasiaj made it his job to follow Kaz and he'd do that job. Maybe, if he did it well enough, she'd wake up and give him toffee. She always gave him toffee when he brought her information.

The room at the top was large and cold, taken up mostly by the gears of a huge clock. Its four faces looked out over Ketterdam and the grey dawn sky.

To the south, a plume of smoke rose from Black Veil Island. Looking northeast, Malkus could just about see the Geldcanal, boats from the fire brigade and the stadwatch surrounding the area. That was Celia's area to listen.  

Far in the distance, the harbours were teeming with stadwatch boats and wagons. The city was pocked with stadwatch purple, as if it had caught a disease. Ivarn would be in that section of the city.

"Specht says they've closed the harbors and shut down the browboats," Crow Man murmured. "They're sealing the city. No one will be able to get in or out."

"Ketterdam won't stand for that," That was the Wraith. Stasiaj liked her, so Malkus did as well.. "People will riot."

"They won't blame Van Eck."

"They'll blame us." Malkus didn't truly know what this all meant, but he remembered it all the same. His mother would know what it meant.

The one with the guns shook his head. "Even if they put every stadwatch grunt on the street, they don't have the manpower to lock up the city and search for us."

"Don't they?" said Kaz. "Look again."

Malkus paused, before scurrying towards the window that Kaz was standing at, holding onto the ledge to that he could peer into the street.

"All the Saints and your Aunt Eva," Gun man murmured, and Malkus scrunched up his nose and peered through the glass.

A crowd was moving east from the Barrel across the Zelver district.

"Is it a mob?" asked Inej.

"More like a parade," said Kaz.

"Why aren't the stadwatch stopping them?" One of the Shu twins asked, as the flood of people passed unhindered from bridge to bridge, through each barricade. "Why are they letting them through?"

"Probably because your father told them to," Kaz said. There was singing, chanting, drums. It really did sound like a parade. Ivarn had taken him to see a parade once, hoisted him up onto his shoulder so that Malkus could see the people go past in all of their bright colours.

Pekka Rollins' gang was leading the march, Malkus made a note of that. Whoever was up front wore a lion skin with a fake golden crown sewn onto its head.

"Razorgulls," The Wraith murmured, pointing behind the Dime Lions as Malkus huffed and licked his lips. "And there are the Liddies."

"Harley's Pointers," Jesper said. "The Black Tips."

"It's all of them," said Kaz.

"What does it mean?" asked Kuwei. "The purple bands?"

Each member of the mob below wore a strip of purple around his upper left arm.

"They've been deputized," said Kaz. "Specht says word is out all over the Barrel. The good news is they want us alive now—even Matthias. The bad news is they've added bounties for the Shu twins we're traveling with, so Kuwei's face—and Wylan's—are gracing the city walls too."

"And your Merchant Council is just sanctioning this?" said Matthias. "What if they start looting or there's a riot?"

"They won't. Rollins knows what he's doing. If the stadwatch had tried to lock down the Barrel, the gangs would have turned on them. Now they're on the right side of the law, and Van Eck has two armies. He's pinning us in."

"Isn't that...?" Malkus tugged Kaz's coat sleeve, before pointing at the back of the parade. An old man wearing a large plumed hat, that looked like one of the bizarre birds in the petting zoo, was leading a group that cawed at the top of their lungs. "That's yours."

"Yes," Kaz murmured, and Malkus watched his jaw clench.

"Those ungrateful skivs." Jesper growled, punching the wall as Malkus continued to keep an eye on Kaz, searching for a reaction behind his dark eyes. But none came.

"What will happen now?" asked Kuwei.

"We'll be hunted by every stadwatch grunt and Barrel thug in the city, until we're found," said Kaz. "There's no way out of Ketterdam now. Certainly not with you in tow."

"Can we just wait?" asked Kuwei. "Here? With Mister Fahey?"

"Wait for what?" Kaz said. "Someone to come to our rescue?"

Jesper rested his head against the glass. "My father. They'll take him in too. He'll be accused of harbouring fugitives."

"No," said Kuwei abruptly. "No. Give me to Van Eck."

"Absolutely not," said Nina.

The boy cut his hand through the air sharply. "You saved me from the Fjerdans. If we do not act, then I will be captured anyway."

"Then all of this was for nothing?" Wylan asked, surprised at his own anger. "The risks we took? What we accomplished at the Ice Court? Everything Inej and Nina and Stasiaj suffered to get us out? What would she say?"

"But if I give myself up to Van Eck, then the rest of you can go free," insisted Kuwei.

"Stasiaj would say you're being stupid," Malkus murmured, his voice echoing around the room. "She doesn't like plans where you give people up. She says that it's wrong and you lose your bargaining chip."

"Pekka's got his chance to take Kaz out with the rest of the Barrel backing him, and Van Eck sure as hell doesn't want us walking around free, not knowing what we do. This isn't just about you anymore." Kuwei moaned at the Gun Man's words, and slumped down against the wall. 

He cast a baleful glance at Nina. "You should have killed me at the Ice Court."

Nina shrugged. "But then Kaz would have killed me and Matthias would have killed Kaz and Stasiaj would have killed Matthias and it would have gotten incredibly messy."

"I can't believe we broke out of the Ice Court but we're trapped in our own town," Wylan said. It didn't seem right.

"Yup," said Jesper. "We are well and truly cooked."

Kaz drew a circle on the window with one leather gloved finger. "Not quite," he said. "I can get the stadwatch to stand down."

"No," said Inej.

"I'll give myself up."

"But Kuwei—" said Nina.

"The stadwatch don't know about Kuwei. They think they're looking for Wylan. So I'll tell them Wylan is dead. I'll tell them I killed him." 

"Are you out of your mind?" said Jesper.

"Kaz," said Inej. "They'll send you to the gallows."

"You can't!" Malkus cried, turning to look at the man. "You can't do that. Ma won't like it."

Kaz ignored him, causing Malkus to growl and step in front of the taller teenager, crossing his arms.

"I won't allow it,"

"They'll have to give me a trial first." Kaz stepped around Malkus, who glared and stomped his feet. His mother really wouldn't like that and neither would he. If Kaz went away, then Malkus would have no one to follow and he wouldn't get any information of toffee any more and Malkus knew that in someway, Crow Man was special to Stasiaj.

Maybe this might wake her up. If she heard that Kaz was going to try and leave her then that could wake his mother from her sleep. She'd be awake and Kaz would be back by her side again and then it would all be alright.

"You'll rot in prison before that happens," said Matthias. "Van Eck will never give you a chance to speak in a courtroom."

"You really think they've built a cell that can hold me?"

"Van Eck knows just how good you are with locks," Inej said angrily. "You'll die before you ever reach the jailhouse."

"This is ridiculous," said Jesper. "You're not taking the fall for us. No one is. We'll split up. We'll go in pairs, find a way past the blockades, hide out somewhere in the countryside."

"This is my city," said Kaz. "I'm not leaving it with my tail between my legs."

Jesper released a growl of frustration. "If this is your city, what's left of it? You gave up your shares in the Crow Club and Fifth Harbour. You don't have a gang anymore. Even if you did escape, Van Eck and Rollins would sic the stadwatch and half the Barrel on you again. You can't fight them all."

"Watch me."

"Damn it, Kaz. What are you always telling me? Walk away from a losing hand."

"I'm giving you a way out. Take it."

"Why are you treating us like a bunch of yellow-bellied skivs?"

Kaz turned on him. "You're the one getting ready to bolt, Jesper. You just want me to run with you so you don't have to feel so bad about it. For all your love of a fight, you're always the first to talk about running for cover."

"Because I want to stay alive."

"For what?" Kaz said, his eyes glittering. "So you can play another hand at the tables? So you can find another way to disappoint your father and let down your friends? Have you told your father you're the reason he's going to lose his farm? Have you told Inej you're the reason she almost died at the end of Oomen's knife? That we all almost died?"

Malkus tensed up. He didn't like where this was going, or the shouting. Why wasn't his mother coming up the stairs? She could sort this out. She could help so why wasn't she coming. Maybe he shouldn't have told her not to move? Or maybe the things that the Heartrender used was tying her down.

Jesper's shoulders bunched, but he didn't back down. "I made a mistake. I let my bad get the best of my good, but for Saints' sake, Kaz, how long are you going to make me pay for a little forgiveness?"

"What do you think my forgiveness looks like, Jordie?"

"Who the hell is Jordie?"

For the briefest moment, Kaz's face went slack, a confused, almost frightened look in his dark eyes—there and gone.

Malkus looked up, trying to decide whether to run and free his mother or stay with Kaz. Why wouldn't they stop shouting for a second so he could work out what to do? Where was his mother?

"What do you want from me?" Kaz snarled, his expression just as closed, just as cruel as ever. "My trust? You had it and you shot it to pieces because you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

"One time. How many times have I had your back in a fight? How many times have I gotten it right? Doesn't that count for anything?" Jesper threw up his hands. "I can't win with you. No one can."

"That's right. You can't win. You think you're a gambler, but you're just a born loser. Fights. Cards. Boys. Girls. You'll keep playing until you lose, so for once in your life, just walk away."

Jesper swung first. Kaz dodged right and then they were grappling. They slammed into the wall, knocked heads, drew apart in a flurry of punches and grabs.

"No!" Malkus cried, looking between them, his eyes wide. What were they doing? Where was Stasiaj? She had to come and split this up. She had to come and stop them.

Jesper and Kaz swung around, crashed into the mechanism of the clock, righted themselves. It wasn't a fight, it was a brawl—graceless, a tangle of elbows and fists.

"Ghezen and his works, someone stop them!" Wylan said desperately.

"Jesper hasn't shot him," Nina said.

"Kaz isn't using his cane," said Inej.

"You think they can't kill each other with their bare hands?"

They were both bleeding—Jesper from a cut on his lip and Kaz from somewhere near his brow. Jesper's shirt was halfway over his head and Kaz's sleeve was tearing at the seam.

"Stop it!" Malkus cried, before pulling his fangs free and throwing them both as hard as he could. One struck Kaz, cutting his cheek and causing the boy to stumble back, as another hit Jesper's coat and threw him off balance. 

The Crows all stopped, turning to look at Malkus, who was shaking, dust swirling beneath his hands as he glared at them. Tears streamed down his face, as he glared. If his mother couldn't stop them, then he would. 

"Stop fighting. Ma's not here to stop you but she's going to be fuming when she wakes up," They all avoided his gaze. Maybe, Malkus thought, he'd scared them.

In reality, none of them knew how to tell the boy that Stasiaj might not wake up. 

"Jesper Llewellyn Fahey," The Gun Man's father threw the trap door open, shooting a glare at him as Malkus wiped the tears away and took a deep breath. The dust settled around him. "Just what is going on here?" Colm said. "I thought you were friends."

Jesper ran a hand over the back of his neck, looking like he wanted to vanish through the floorboards. "We...uh...we were having a disagreement."

"I can see that. I have been very patient with all of this, Jesper, but I am at my limit. I want you down here before I count ten or I will tan your hide so you don't sit for two weeks."

Colm's head vanished back down the stairs. The silence stretched. Then Nina giggled. "You are in so much trouble."

Jesper scowled. "Matthias, Nina attempted to flirt with Stasiaj."

Nina stopped laughing. "I am going to turn your teeth inside out."

"That is physically impossible."

"I just raised the dead. Do you really want to argue with me?"

Inej cocked her head to one side. "Jesper Llewellyn Fahey?"

"Shut up," said Jesper. "It's a family name."

Inej made a solemn bow. "Whatever you say, Llewellyn."

"Kaz?" Jesper said tentatively.

But Kaz was staring into the middle distance, as Malkus struggled to keep up with their conversation. When had Nina been flirting with Stasiaj? Malkus thought that his mother only flirted with Kaz. 

"Is that—?" asked Wylan.

"Scheming face?" said Jesper.

Matthias nodded. "Definitely."

"I know how to do it," Kaz said slowly. "How to get Kuwei out, get the Grisha out, get our money, beat Van Eck, and give that son of a bitch Pekka Rollins everything he has coming to him."

That was a bad word. Malkus wasn't allowed to say that or his mother would get mad. Maybe if he said that, she'd wake up and tell him not to do that.

Nina raised a brow. "Is that all?"

"How?" asked Inej.

"This whole time, we've been playing Van Eck's game. We've been hiding. We're done with that. We're going to stage a little auction. Right out in the open." He turned to face them. "And since Kuwei is so eager to sacrifice himself, he's going to be the prize."

The others nodded, before disappearing downstairs as Malkus hurried to get his fangs from the floor. Checking the one he had thrown at Jesper, he grinned at the sight of no nicks on the blade. Stasiaj would be happy.

"Here," A black leather glove appeared in his vision, holding the blade out to him.

"Thank you," He grinned, taking the blade from Crow Man's hand as Kaz crouched down in front of him. "I'm sorry I hit you. You were shouting and fighting and I don't think mum would like you getting into fight. I didn't want her to shout at you when she wakes up."

"Malkus..." Kaz trailed off, chewing on his lips as the boy put his fangs away and watched him. "Malkus, Stasiaj's hurt. She's hurt pretty bad."

"But she'll be okay. Mum will be okay," Malkus nodded. "Don't worry. She'll wake up and it will all be alright again."

"Malkus, she might not wake up,"

"She will," Kaz sighed. "She will wake up. You've just got to have faith in her. Once she hears your plan to turn yourself in, she'll wake up to yell at you."

Kaz huffed, before nodding.

"I know she will," Malkus grinned before hurrying to the trapdoor and making a face at the staircase below. He could do it, because his mother was at the bottom and once he told her all the information, she'd wake up and this would all be sorted.

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Hiya,

This chapter summed up is Kaz having a mid life crisis at the thought of Stasiaj dying, Stasiaj being unconscious and Malkus being convinced that if he brings Stasiaj information that will annoy her, she'll wake up. Also, Malkus cut Kaz with a dagger and he's a squaller. 

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx