Inej shivered as a gust of wind hit her. She pulled the sleeves of her sweater down further, covering her fingers, and peered below at the figure in billowing red.
"You okay up there?" Nina shouted up, her hands cupped around her mouth. The wind was blowing her brown hair around her face, and Nina had been repeatedly pushing it away for the better part of an hour.
"I'm fine. Are you sure you don't want to come up here? I could find a less treacherous route," Inej suggested.
"And get even colder? Yeah, no thank you."
A smile crept onto Inej's face. She'd missed Nina and their talks. For all their differences, she truly considered Nina to be her dearest friend, the one who probably understood her best. Inej leapt to another roof, softening her knees to take the impact.
Inej surveyed the brick structure on her right. Some sort of shed, maybe? She looked over the side and signaled to Nina that she was fine and needed to check something out. Hand signals were commonly used among the Dregs, particularly on jobs.
Inej jangled the lock on the door. It was relatively uncomplicated—Kaz could have cracked it in half the time it would take her. She pushed her braid aside and plucked out the lock picks she kept in her side pocket, slipping them into the lock.
After a solid three minutes of fumbling with the lock, a satisfying click sounded and she creaked the door open, the knife Kaz had lent her at the ready.
The brick room was bigger than she expected and when she stepped in, the first thing she noticed was the smell.
Inej's breathing turned to rasps, her hand slipping from the knob and falling to her side, limp. A second later, she dropped to the floor. The scent of the Peacock's perfume enveloped her, trapping her in a cocoon.
Wylan peered through the glass of the shop. It looked to be owned by some sort of alchemist, but there was no one inside, as far as he could tell.
"Do we just take what we want?" Jesper asked, leaning against the brick wall of the store, unconsciously stroking his revolvers.
"I don't have any money to leave. But by the looks of this place, nobody's gonna miss the equipment," Wylan answered.
Jesper pushed off the wall and knocked on the door, waiting a few moments to see if anyone would open up. He shook his head and tried the knob. As soon as Jesper's hand touched it, the door swung open and banged on the side of the wall, leaving a sizable dent.
"Oops?"
Wylan took a step through the threshold tentatively, almost expecting something to push him back out. He felt Jesper grab his hand and looked back to give him a small smile.
"Okay, let's get what we need and get out of here. I don't like the feeling of this place," Jesper started rifling through the shelves on the wall, taking occasional glances at the list he'd created with Wylan's instructions.
"Are you gonna keep staring at me, Wy, or are you going to help me look?"
Wylan felt his cheeks heat up and he turned away from the smirk displayed on Jesper's turned face. He grabbed a bottle of acid and swished it around in the glass.
"Have you both found what you're looking for?"
Wylan whirled around, almost dropping the bottle he was grasping. Jesper had his revolvers ready in his hands.
"What's wrong, boys? You look as if you've seen a ghost," an old woman dressed completely in black smiled at them from behind the front counter.
"Do you own this shop?" Wylan asked hesitantly.
The woman smiled sweetly, and Wylan could see that her teeth were yellowed and rotten. "My name is Alma." She tilted her head as she considered them. "And who are you two young men?"
"I'm Elian," Jesper lied as he lowered the barrels of his gun.
"David," Wylan spit out the first name that came to his mind.
The smile on Alma's face made it clear she knew they were lying to her. She shuffled a few papers around on her desk before setting them aside and looking up again. "Well, Elian and David, what can I help you two with today?"
Jesper walked up to the counter and placed the list in front of Alma. "Do you have these items?"
Nina gnawed on her thumbnail as she hopped from foot to foot. "Inej?" She called up for the seventh time.
There was no reply. I'm going to have to go up there, aren't I? She answered her own question, yes, Nina, yes you are.
She pushed up the sleeves of her kefta and hooked her fingers around a broken brick. She glanced up it's not so high, and the bricks are easy enough to hold on to. Swallowing hard, Nina pushed herself higher and swung her legs up as well. Sweat was already dripping down her face. She wasn't a fan of heights in the first place and climbing a wall without a rope was not helping her case.
Nina was about halfway to the top when the brick she was holding onto with her left hand vanished. She cried out at the sudden loss of contact and grabbed wildly for another brick, latching on tight before the brick her right foot was on disappeared as well. The brick holding her left foot up dissolved into nothing and Nina was hanging from her two arms.
She moved higher, securing all her limbs and scurried up the wall, heart racing. A few more bricks disappeared and she nearly fell down to the cobblestone beneath.
Nina reached the top and threw herself over the edge and onto the gravel on the roof. Her heart was still pounding and her breath was coming in great heaves. She lowered her heart rate and healed the tiny nicks and scratches she was covered in.
Nina got to her knees shakily and made her way to the shed on the side. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the darkness inside. "Inej? Oh—" Nina broke off as she bumped into the small Suli girl. She gave Inej a little shake. "Inej? What's wrong?"
She couldn't see properly, but the figure huddled on the floor was clearly a very still Inej Ghafa. She wasn't moving at all, and the only indication she was alive was the rise and fall of her chest. Nina crouched down and saw that Inej's arms were tightly wrapped around her legs. "Inej?" Nina whispered again, touching her shoulder.
Inej sniffled slightly, and only then did Nina realize with a pang that her friend, Inej Ghafa, the Wraith, and the deadliest pirate on the seas was crying.
Inej whispered something too quiet for Nina to hear, but her tone sounded as if she were pleading. Nina grasped Inej by the shoulders. She had to get her out of this darkness.
Nina had succeeded in pulling Inej to the doorway of the shed when Inej started thrashing against Nina's grip. "Let me go!" She screamed, her voice raw with fear and desperation. "Stop!"
Nina dropped Inej's arms. "Open your eyes, Inej. Please, just look at the sunlight," she pleaded. Inej's breathing was only getting faster.
"Inej, please. It's me, Nina, your best friend. You've come too far to let Legend get the best of you. Fight back. You're Inej Ghafa, damn it."
Inej's eyes flew open. "Nina?"
"Oh thank the Saints," Nina sobbed in relief.
Inej scooted further into the sunlight, tilting her head up. "When I walked in there, it was like my senses had been taken over. I was back in the Menagerie all over again, with Tante Heleen and all my...clients," she said, voice hoarse.
Nina cautiously put a hand on Inej's shoulder, almost retracting it when she felt Inej tense. But Inej relaxed and Nina pulled her into an embrace. "You're stronger than anyone I know, Inej. And I'm here for you. I love you."
Kaz Brekker stared into the jade eyes of the dragon on the door of room 5. The corridors were eerily silent, the quiet so present it was deafening. He picked the delicate key out of his coat pocket and slid it into the jeweled lock on the knob, turning it gently.
The door creaked open and Kaz took a step inside, bringing his cane to the ready should he need it. The room's utter darkness made his stomach drop as memories of the barge and his brother invaded his thoughts. Kaz's gloved hand searched for a lamp or something of the kind to banish the pitch black.
Light invaded the room so suddenly that Kaz hissed in protest. When he could see again, Kaz surveyed the room for any sign of a light source. Not even a candle was present.
The room was almost identical to the one that had been assigned to him, well, except that everything was green. The walls, floor, furniture, and even the flowers on the table were the exact same shade of jade green. This fact made finding the bright white slip of paper on the bed extremely easy.
Kaz approached the paper with suspicion. He couldn't help thinking, too easy. What was the catch? He prodded the stark white paper with the crow head of his cane before snatching it from the silken blankets.
I hope you're having fun with the game
For I made this one special for all of you
Compare it to any other, you'll see they aren't the same
Now for the clue:
It's quite simple, just go find Nigel
He'll hint as to what to do
Kaz flipped the card to the back and scanned it's contents.
Good luck, Dregs
I'm rooting for you
- Caraval Master Legend
The wheels were already spinning in Kaz Brekker's mind. If he was going to win this inane game and get his gang off this island, it appeared Dirtyhands would have to see the job done.