The Crows Next Mission - Wesper

Chapter Four

Inej heard the door shut and feet shuffle back in a hurry. She could feel the boy's fear radiating off of him as if he'd never heard a gunshot before. It must have been a few doors down and Inej could only assume it came from Jesper since he was the one at the door moments ago. If only she had known it was Jesper who had knocked on the door and she would have taken the opportunity to escape, but she didn't know it was him until he had spoken.

Now she was trapped in a closet and it was only a matter of time before the boy needed to get a change of clothes and she didn't feel like explaining to him what she was doing in his closet. She had to find a way out. If only there was a window she could just climb through in here. She ran her fingers along the walls, looking for any way out but she had no luck until it came to the floor. A loose floorboard, probably used for storing kruge or some sort of valuables.

She lifted the board from its place and felt around inside. It was a small space but this was Inej and no place was too small for her. She slid her body into the space and manage to slide the loose floorboard back into place. Now she wasn't just hiding in a closet, but actually hiding in the floor of the closet.

Her shoulders were pressed tightly against the sides of the small space and so were her back and chest and she had to turn her face to the side with her cheek pushed against the wood. It was a good thing she wasn't claustrophobic. She wasn't sure how long she'd have to spend with her body squished like a pancake. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling and she didn't want to spend her entire morning like this, she had things to do. Things like informing Kaz of the things she had just learned about the newbie in the Barrel. She had a feeling he would be pleased with her, not that she needed to please any man but Kaz was different, she owed him her life.

Time in the closet felt like seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours. After the minutes that felt like hours had passed she heard the boy moving around the room as if he had somewhere to be. Inej presumed he had a shift at the Tannery.

Wylan opened the closet to his small selection of clothing. It wasn't difficult to pick out an outfit but he did miss his wide selection of clothing back home that he honestly wouldn't be surprised if his father had already burned to get rid of any evidence of his existence. He got changed and he would be lying if he said the wrinkles in his clothes didn't bother him, but it wasn't like he had a spare iron on him to fix it, he'd have to live with a few wrinkles. Wrinkles were a part of the Barrel life. 

Inej could see the little bit of light peaking through the floorboard as she heard some clothes being taken off hangers. She held her breath for the entire time the closet door was open as if she'd breathe and the floorboard would go flying up. 

He shut the closet door not thinking anything of it and headed over to the window. By now the rain had stopped and the water on the floor had almost dried. He shut the window making sure to lock it, he didn't want a bird or something flying through it. He then made his bed, though he w+asn't sure why he still did it, was there even a point to having a neat bed anymore? There was no one here to impress.

Inej felt like the boy was taking his sweet time and she'd only hoped he'd hurry up. Dust wasn't the easiest thing to breathe in and her body was starting to cramp in desperate need to move. She could barely even lift a finger and that didn't satisfy her need to stretch.

She heard the door open and close and waited for only a second longer before quickly escaping from underneath the floor. She immediately stretched herself out and left the closet before making her escape through the window in seconds. She'd doubt from how unobservant the boy is that he'd notice the window wasn't locked when he'd returned.

Wylan left the Inn with the feeling of never being there at all. He felt like he hadn't rested in days and made a silent promise to himself to stop working late. There was no point in having a room at the Inn if he didn't use it to get a night's sleep.

His steps were sloppy and his eyes felt heavy with the bags dragging his eyelids down. He looked like a zombie, but with that appearance, he fit right in on the crowded streets. Unlike last night, the streets were now filled with people. He wasn't a fan of the life on the street that was bumping into him and trying to sell him stuff and almost running him over with a horse and carriage. He almost preferred the empty streets with only the rain over this.

When he reached the Tannery he got to work right away despite his tiredness. The job demanded a lot of physical labour and Wylans weak physic made the job a lot harder, but he wasn't hired over his strength but rather his brain. Most of his job was to make sure they were using the correct formula for tanning the animal hides into leather. That was what Wylan Hendriks's job was. Honest work he'd call it. He was honestly proud of himself for obtaining the /*job and keeping a low profile, no one suspected anything, or so he thought.

Little did Wylan Van Eck know, his secrets were being exposed to a man with a cane.

But before his Wraith had returned to spill the secrets he had another visitor: a man dressed too well to be from the Barrel. Rather this man was from the richer side of Ketterdam. He was a wealthy man and the red ruby pin the man wore confirmed this. That pin was probably worth more than Kaz's wanted reward.

Jesper walked into the Crows Club, which was almost empty by now, the only ones left were the men too drunk to stand from their chairs. He was slightly disappointed that the night had ended already, it felt too soon and he swore his luck had just begun. If only Kaz hadn't pulled him from that game. Speaking of Kaz, Jesper was surprised to see a man leading Kaz to the back. Not Kaz leading the man, but Kaz was actually following this man. Who was he? Kaz didn't follow just anybody. This man had to be of some importance.

Jesper couldn't help but lean his ear up against the door to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I have a new mission."

Chapter Four - April 28, 2023

Word Count - 1197 Words

I hope all the little character switches weren't confusing to read.

- Flyon