Midnight Thoughts ~ Shadow & Bone

8

I was nursing a glass of vodka I had managed to keep Jesper from taking from me when Inej finally returned from the roof, seeming significantly more annoyed than she had when she had joined Kaz there. I sighed, watching the contents of the glass as I swirled it around, trying to convince myself not to drink it.

"He piss you off too?" I mumbled. She looked over at me and sighed before nodding. "He does excel at that." I took a sharp breath and looked up at her. "He does care, and he does have a plan and a reason, he's just really shit at showing it." She clenched her jaw briefly.

"We're supposed to trust each other," she muttered. I nodded and quickly swallowed the rest of the bitter drink, standing from the low seat and standing in front of her.

"We are meant to trust each other, that's true," I agreed. "So forget Kaz, do you trust me?" She met my eyes and nodded. "I won't make excuses for him, I'm not the happiest with him right now either. But I will tell you if it ever goes too far. I don't like that I'm the only person he'll let into his head, but for some reason I am, and I know that even though revenge has completely overwhelmed him, it is revenge for the right reason." The Suli girl sighed, glancing around the workshop before meeting my eye again.

"You promise you won't let it go too far?" I nodded without hesitation.

"If it gets to that point, you won't be the only one ending things," I swore. "I won't stay with a tyrant, not again." She pressed her lips together before smiling and nodded. "Did Kaz tell you the plan?" She nodded once more.

"Nina is going to find him a way into the building," she told me. "We're just making sure no one else gets in. It shouldn't take him too long, but he has a habit of over-complicating things." I chuckled under my breath and nodded.

🝯

I couldn't help grinning like a madman as I followed Inej, scaling the back wall of the building. I had nearly forgotten how much fun we used to have, running around the city and risking our lives on jumps just for the sake of a little entertainment. That was before simply walking down the street was a risk to our lives.

The building wasn't tall, at least it wasn't the tallest we had scaled. But it wasn't the easiest either. And it took us a while to make it to the roof in the cold weather, we had to stop every so often to make sure our fingers didn't go numb from the frost. It was unlikely Kaz would be particularly pleased with us if we died before we ever even made it to the roof.

Inej reached the roof before I did, just as I suspected she would, and turned back to help pull me onto the flat surface. She briefly wrapped an arm around me before we split to watch either side of the building. As I looked around the back, Inej whistled quietly, making me run over to find Nina in the act of knocking out the front guard. We jolted as the door behind us opened, allowing Kaz to limp across the roof to us. No words were exchanged as we helped him down to the correct window, but soon Inej whistled to catch my attention.

I ran over to the other edge of the roof, and my heart sank as I spotted the stadwatch running into the building. I bolted to the door and forced a knife into the lock. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Inej holding a knife towards the door. I looked back at her, watching her eyes drift down to the silver of her blade before she furrowed her brows and spun around, throwing the knife towards the man that had been sneaking up behind us. The blade only bounced off of his vest, and he laughed.

"Hello, little lynx," the man sneered. I drew another knife, but he pulled out a small crossbow and shot it out of my hand, making me furrow my brows. Inej gripped my arm tight, and we dove over the roof divider just in time to dodge another bolt. We each ducked behind a skylight, and I listened close for the sound of his footsteps. "Time to go back to the Menagerie, little one. And the dark songbird. Pekka Rollins has decided you'd make a nice addition as well." I made eye contact with Inej and nodded. "And once you're there, I get to take a piece from each. Nothing that will harm your value." As he finished speaking, he threw a dagger into the space where Inej had been, but she was already gone.

With quick and quiet steps, I ran at him from behind, jumping on his back and swinging my legs around to flip him onto his back. When I dove out of the way, Inej emerged and threw two knives into his shoulders, making him stand quickly as he staggered momentarily. I smirked a bit, knowing that the pain of one blade, let alone two, would be enough to halt any man. But my smile fell when he only pulled the knives from his skin and stepped closer.

He swung a blade at Inej, and I quickly stepped in, pulling her out of the way as I grabbed his fist and aimed a kick to his stomach. Dread settled there when he grabbed hold of my ankle and tore his fist from my grasp, wrapping his fingers around my throat as he lifted me with ease. My eyes widened as I clawed at his hand, but he only slammed me against the ground, making me cry out as black swarmed my vision.

I heard nothing for longer than what was comfortable and groaned as my ears began to ring. I forced my eyes to stay open and turned my head as I heard Inej cry out. In the mere moments that I had been out of it, the man had pinned her to the ground and cut open the back of her arms. I struggled to sit up but instantly became more alert when we heard gunshots ring out from the floors below us.

The man was distracted long enough for Inej to elbow him in the throat and kick him away as she got upright. As he choked, she ran for me and pulled me up off the ground. I helped as much as I could with my head still pounding from the blow, and she glanced down at me.

"Just hold on tight," she instructed. I nodded, and she grabbed a rope from the ground as well as my waist as she threw the two of us over the edge of the building, hopefully away from any immediate danger.

IM SO SORRY 

I swear I didn't mean to just drop off the face of the earth, but this chapter honestly gave me so much trouble and I really have no idea why