REAPER ─ kaz brekker

eighteen; a dwindling, mercurial high

018;               A DWINDLING, MERCURIAL HIGH

"WHAT  WILL HAPPEN NOW?"

Kuwei's voice came like an echo in a closed off chamber, reverberating through her skull, mirroring her own questions. Her eyes snapped from Kaz's. The Dregs were out of sight now, though their chants still hung in the air, suspended in time. She brushed a finger over the indents she'd pressed into her palm with her nails. The skin came away bloody. 

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

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

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

Jesper leaned forehead, forehead pressed to the glass.  "My father. They'll take him in too. He'll be accused of harboring fugitives." 

"No." Kuwei shook his head. "No. Give me to Van Eck." 

"Absolutely not," Nina cut in sharply. 

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

Onyx couldn't decide if she wanted to scream in frustration or rip her hair out. Now, now, the kid wanted to start a brazen streak when he realized they were at the end of their rope. "So what, we give this kid up and all of that was for what?" 

"Onyx has a point-- was all of this for nothing?" Wylan chimed in. There was a surprising amount of anger in his voice. "The risks we took? What we accomplished at the Ice Court? Everything Inej and Nina and Onyx suffered to get us out?" 

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

"It doesn't work that way, kid," Jesper replied. "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, knowing what we do. This isn't just about you anymore." 

Kuwei exhaled a groan and fell against the wall, defeated. He cast a baleful look in Nina's direction. "You should've killed me at the Ice Court." 

Nina shrugged a shoulder. "But then Kaz would have killed me and Matthias would have killed Kaz, and then Onyx would've killed Matthias and it would have gotten incredibly messy." Onyx's lips parted, a retort on her tongue. The Heartrender held up a hand to silence her. "Don't lie to me, Onyx Vissier. I know when you're lying." 

"I can't believe we broke out of the Ice Court but we're trapped in our own town," Wylan murmured with a heavy sigh. 

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

Kaz pressed a gloved finger to the window and drew a slow circle. "Not quite," he said. "I can get the stadwatch to stand down." 

"No," Inej said. 

Onyx crossed her arms. "Kaz--"

"I'll give myself up." 

"But Kuwei--" Nina started.