Hey Sunshine

He Was A Crow-Whisperer in Another Life

THE LID WAS THE NAME OF THE WAFFLE PLACE, and it was also a testament to how protected his life was that Wylan had no idea it existed.

The Lid was located just a couple of blocks away from Haskell's Orphanage (and judging from how Inej and Nina avoided it while passing by the windows of it, they hadn't left the place on a good note). The orphanage wasn't necessarily located in a safe place - a couple of police officers had once been permanently stationed there because of the frequent criminal activity, but it had soon be shut down mysteriously - and Wylan wondered if that was how the rest of them learned the odd skill-sets they had. He'd once seen Jesper throw a dart at a dartboard and watch it hit dead center. Inej had the uncanny ability to disappear and dance on rooftops. Matthias was as built as a linebacker. Kaz, well, Kaz was obvious. He wondered if Nina had a special talent like that, and then realized that yeah, she probably did.

"So this is The Lid," Inej told him as they walked around a corner. Instantly a delicious smell arose and his eyebrows rose with it (he'd lived twenty-one years in Amsterdam, how had he not known about this place?). A bright pink store greeted them as Nina swung the door open, and the smell only grew stronger. "Over there's Retvenko - he owes us a favor and decided to pay for it with unlimited waffles."

"Or two, or three," Nina sang, dropping her head onto Inej's shoulder. "Retvenko's owes us his life."

Inej rolled her eyes. "But we choose not to brag about it, don't we?" She tilted her head to Nina who only winked.

"Not all of us can be merciful saints," she whispered to Wylan as Inej left to go to the counter. "Anyways, what are you going to get?"

Wylan shrugged. "Chocolate waffles? I can never go wrong with chocolate." The waffle store was classily designed - there were large containers of candy on one side of the room, each one styled like they were in the eighties - and fancy chairs on the sides of the room. The counter itself separated them from the rest of the room, which had countless waffle makers hidden, as well as syrup and from what he could see, ice cream. "So when I know what I want, do I just go up there?"

"I'll go with you," Nina said, climbing off the chair she'd sat on. "After all, we don't want to make you pay either."

The two headed for the counter and during the silence that filled the air as they waited, Wylan thought about his ruined apartment. The moon was rising slowly, but by the time they would be done it would be securely positioned in the sky.

"So whatcha thinking about?" Nina asked lightly, patting his shoulder. He startled, looking up at her in a daze.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I haven't been sleeping very well lately."

Nina shot him a crooked grin. "Same here. But it was a relief to be back in my bed yesterday."

He laughed at that, thinking of the pile of linens still in a mess on the ground. "Yeah," he said softly. "It's been great."

Nina's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him and shook his shoulder again. "You okay?" she asked, an uncertain note filling her voice. "You don't look really great - bags underneath your eyes, frown marks are pretty dark - you really don't look great."

Wylan sighed. "I-I can I talk to you and Inej about this? As soon as we're all sitting down at the table I've got to ask a massive favor of you guys."

Nina brushed it off. "Of course. But you should know," a flash of dread filled Wylan momentarily, "that the words 'massive favor' is probably nothing compared to what I've been asked."

Wylan hesitated. "No, it's a pretty big favor."

She laughed and they moved up in the line. "Trust me - one time I was called to Kaz's room at two in the morning to help him and Matthias shift everything in Haskell's room exactly two inches to the right."