Dark of the Tide [Shadow and Bones]

Chapter 7

Jesper POV

"Come on. Admit it. She looks pretty." I said as we stood outside Pekka Rollins' mansion.

    "Fine. She doesn't look horrible." He said.

    I smirked. "Good enough for now. Arabella, are you ready?"

    Arabella walked up to us and looked st the building with a nod. "I'm ready."

    "Okay. You remember what you need to do?" I asked her.

    "Get in, find Rollins, open a window for Inej to come in, find the money in the vault." She replied, her face a little pale with nervousness.

    "Okay. Good luck." I said.

    She nodded and walked forward, but Kaz grabbed her arm and she looked at him.

    "Hey"—He said, looking at her—"be careful in there. Pekka's a dangerous person."

    "If I can handle you, I'm pretty sure I can handle him." She replied, then hesitated. "But . . . thanks."

    He nodded and watched as she went into the building. "Stop thinking that, Jesper. It doesn't mean anything."

    "Of course it doesn't. You just don't want her to get hurt." I replied, glancing at Inej and she smiled knowingly.

    "Be quiet. She'll be fine. Inej, keep an eye on her. She hasn't dealt with Pekka before." He said.

    "I will, don't worry. Meet you back at the Crow Club." She nodded and vanished into thin air.

Arabella POV

"Is this how your heists usually go?!" I shouted over the howling wind as Inej and I fled from the mansion and out into the downpour of rain.

    "Not usually! Kaz said that Pekka was smart, but I never thought this smart!" She shouted back, grabbing my arm and pulling me into an alleyway.

    "Isn't the Crow Club that way?" I pointed in the opposite direction.

    "Shortcut! Trust me on this!"

    "Woman, you can throw knives faster than I can speak! Of course I trust you! You're terrifying!" I shouted back.

    We grabbed onto the metal ladder hanging from the side of the building and scurried up the rickety ladder.

    Inej took out her knife and unlocked the window, putting her knife back in her coat pocket and climbing inside before shutting it just as I entered.

"Saints, I'm soaked. You got anything I could use?" I asked, ringing my hair out over an extra washing bucket.

She smiled and did the same. "Sure. We're the same size. But we'll take you out to the market tomorrow and get you some new clothes."

"Sounds like a plan." I said and we walked out of the room. Jesper and Kaz looked at us with slightly amused expressions.

"You look like a wet dog, Oretsev." Kaz commented.

"No one asked your opinion, you mop bucket." I shot back.

Jesper snorted. "Ouch, boss. You just got burned."

"Shut up, Jesper. Come with me, Oretsev." Kaz said and tapped my arm before heading to his office and closing the door behind us.

"How did it go?" He asked, looking out the window as rain poured down from the glass.

"It was going well at first, but Pekka set up traps around the vault." I replied.

He turned around and looked at me. "So you didn't get the Krueger?"

I sighed and dug around in my pocket for the small brown bag, tossing it to him. "I did. Now can I get out of here and change? It's freezing in these clothes."

"Yes, you can go." He nodded swiftly and I went out of the room to find Inej. She came out of the room she shared with me and dragged me into the room, shutting it.

"What's got you all excited?" I asked when she sat me on her bed and went through her closet.

"I had a tailor make this for you two days ago. I've been waiting for the right moment to give it to you."

"And you choose when I'm soaked to the bone and most likely going to die of hypothermia?"

She smiled. "You're not going to die of hypothermia. Stop being so dramatic." She said and grabbed a big box, opening the lid and lifting out a dark blue sweater with a rose in a black crow's beak imprinted in the front, and simple black jeans.

"Try these on. You'll be warm in them." She said and handed them to me as I shut myself in the bathroom and changed into the dry clothes, tossing my wet ones in the hamper as I came back out.

"You look beautiful. Come on. I'll make us some cocoa." She said.

"Doesn't this place only have kvas?" I asked as we walked down to the small living room.

    "No. That's just the preferred drink." She replied and sat me down in a stool as she grabbed two mugs and started making the drink.

    Jesper came into the room with Kaz and smiled, sitting down next to me as Kaz stood by Inej.

    "Hey, Inej, can you make two more?" Jesper asked.

    Inej sighed but got two more mugs out anyways.

    "Thank youuuuuuuuu." Jesper said with a smile.

    "Shut up, Jesper." She muttered.

"Hey, Kaz. Tell me again why you hate me so much." I said.

He turned his head to me and raised an eyebrow. "I don't hate you. I just find you strongly annoying."

———

I gently knocked on the door and waited until the door opened, Kaz looking at me with a bored and annoyed expression.

    "Hey,"

    "Hey. What are you doing here?" He asked, glancing around.

    "Nice to see you, too." I replied. "You weren't at dinner. Jesper and Inej were wondering where you were."

    He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Inej and Jesper?"

    ". . . . and me." I replied.

    ". . . okay. Did—Did you want to talk to me about something?"

    "Yeah. Can I come in?"

    "Oh. Yeah, yeah, of course." He let me in and closed the door. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

    "What I'm actually here for. Am I still just here for Krueger, because I feel like it's something else." I said, turning to him.

    He looked back at me and sighed. "It started as that. But now . . . I'm not so sure."

    "What do you mean by that?" I asked.

    He stepped closer and looked down at me, tilting my chin up. "What do you think?"