Midnight Thoughts ~ Shadow & Bone

10

I followed Kaz as he stormed down the chairs and over to Jesper at the bar.

"You all right, boss?" the boy asked in concern. Kaz leaned on the bar and grabbed Jesper's shot glass, downing it in one gulp before sighing. I rolled my eyes and held up a hand to Joe, who nodded.

"No," Kaz told Jesper. He glanced at me. "I've been warned off the job." The taller boy frowned.

"By who?" I rolled my eyes again.

"Who do you think?" His eyes widened, and he looked up at Kaz.

"Did he remember you?"

"If he had, I'd be dead." He pulled his pocket watch out of his pocket and sighed. "Sunrise is in five hours." Jesper nodded.

"Yeah, but we're off the job now, right?" Kaz pushed himself off the counter as I took my glass and drank it quickly.

"Never make decisions out of fear, Jesper," he advised. "Only out of spite." The Zemini smiled and shrugged.

"Well, greed always worked for me." Kaz scowled up at him before sighing.

"Go guard the door." The tall boy nodded and walked off, and as Kaz looked around the club, I pulled a knife out of my pocket and flipped it over and over in my hand. I watched as he signed for Bolliger to grab a woman before grabbing my elbow and pulling me along with him. He let go of me once he knew I was following him and led me up to his office.

"That woman," he said quietly, "she counts like you do. She's from East Ravka." I furrowed my brows and nodded as Bolliger dragged the woman in, sitting her down in the chair in front of the desk.

"I don't understand," she said. "I wasn't cheating!" Kaz shook his head as he lifted the painting behind him to reveal his safe.

"You've been here every night for a week," he said, unlocking the contraption. "You don't play Makker's Wheel or Ratcatcher, only cards." He pointed at her accusingly. "Because you keep track of what's played." He pulled out a thick stack of kruge and locked the safe back.

"Well, that is not cheating." He shook his head.

"No, but I'll have to add an extra deck to your table to keep things more balanced." He slammed the money onto the desk in front of her. "An incentive... to keep playing." I stepped forward.

"Count it," I demanded. She glanced up at me, and I tilted my head intimidatingly. She tentatively picked up the kruge and began counting it. Just as Kaz had said, she counted her money the same way I did. He stopped her hands with his cane, and she looked up at him.

"Where are you from?" he asked her calmly. She looked up at him nervously.

"West Ravka," she claimed. "Os Kervo." I shook my head and leaned on the desk.

"West Ravkans count money from one hand to the other," I told her, "but people out east who work the mines in Sikursk, they count like you do." She put the money back on the table quickly.

"I am from West Ravka." Kaz shook his head.

"West Ravkans don't mention the 'west' part," he said. "To them, there's just Ravka and the old country. You're lying about where you're from because you've fled. You're hiding." She glanced down nervously before looking up at him.

"My daughter is Grisha," she said quietly. My cold stance faltered slightly, and I felt a pang of sympathy flow through me. "Neither of us wanted her to fight in the war." She shook her head. "You can't make us go back." I shook my head quickly.

"No, we're not after you," I assured her, "but you need to tell us how you and your daughter got through the Fold unscathed and unnoticed." She looked between me and Kaz, and he nodded firmly.

"Now." She let out a trembling breath before speaking again.

"He just went by a title," she told us. "The Conductor. We paid him in advance and he took us across in some special transport. It was noisy, but he had us wear hoods, so we couldn't share how he does it." She gulped and shook her head. "I don't know what else to tell you." Kaz sighed.

"Give me something," he said quickly. "A name. An address. A contact, someone he worked with." The woman thought for a moment before nodding.

"He left us with a stage performer who took us in for a few nights. Poppy." Kaz sighed and looked down at his desk before looking up at Bolliger.

"Where's Poppy working these days?" he asked him.

"Emerald Palace, boss." The boy sighed and nodded to the woman.

"Go." The woman scrambled out of the room, and Kaz waved for Bolliger to leave as well. Once they were both gone, he looked at me.

"I take it there's no convincing you to go and get them, is there?" I smirked and shook my head.

"You made me get Milana," I told him. "You get to take care of this one."

went MIA for a few days, so i thought id put up two today to make up for it  :]