Midnight Thoughts ~ Shadow & Bone

5

(A/N: yes, i know there are a lot of time jumps, but there were just a few things i wanted to get settled before i got into the show

also, for the sake of this, as well as my other s&b book (swan song), the characters are a bit older, as i established in ss :]

anyway... ON WITH THE SHOW)

Age 23

With every day that passed, Ketterdam became more and more like home. And I slowly learned that despite what I may have thought, the Little Palace was never home. I never felt safe there, not around the Darkling. Every second that I was there, I had a voice in the back of my head that reminded me over and over that he would be the reason I never had a life of my own.

But in Ketterdam, my fate was up to no one by myself. I was the one that would determine whether or not I would spend my days dumped in the harbor or laughing in the attic of the Crow Club with Inej, Jesper, and Kaz. Unfortunately, every choice was up to me.

No one was there to force me to face whatever feelings were swirling around in the dark confines of my soul that had never before been touched or seen the light of day. Thoughts and emotions that were so rarely noticed that I had begun to wonder whether or not they were real. Whether they were just another wisp of shadow that passed with all the others, something I could control if I wished but hadn't the faintest idea where to begin.

So I did what any normal person would do: I spent the majority of my days in the gambling hall at the Club. I watched the bar, the tables, the door, making sure nothing went amiss and, occasionally, pulling a few extra coins from the pockets of men too drunk to focus on anything except the alcohol and the beautiful women that filled the room.

It was on one of these nights that everything began to change.

Starting with a gunshot.

My head shot up from the table I was 'supervising,' rolling my eyes as I realized that it had been Jesper. I shouldn't have been surprised, but then again he came up with new ways to embarrass himself every day.

I sighed and wove through the tables towards him, walking up behind Kaz as he stopped Jesper from taking the coins that scattered the table.

"No loud noises at the table, Jesper," Kaz said lowly. I smirked and leaned back on the table.

"Yeah," I hummed. "You'll scare off the pigeons." The Zemini boy gulped and nodded.

"Wouldn't want that, boss." Kaz scowled down at him.

"Shouldn't you be on the door?" he asked. Jesper nodded again, brushing off his coat.

"Yeah, right away, boss." Kaz lifted the end of his cane from the table, switching it to his other hand as he walked away. I followed him towards the bar, rolling my eyes and groaning as Rotty ran up.

"Early for action, innit, Kaz?" he muttered. Kaz sighed.

"What do you want, Rotty?"

"Someone stole a DeKappel from a merch's private residence last night." Kaz stopped walking, and I stepped around him as Rotty walked up behind him.

"Is that so?" I asked rhetorically. I was fully aware of the intricate portrait hanging on the wall of Kaz's office.

"It's a painting." He pulled out a small scrap of paper from his coat, which showed a shrunken, sketched out version of the painting. "A landscape of Ravka. The Fold. Oil on parchment." Kaz shook his head.