Dark of the Tide [Shadow and Bones]

Chapter 9

Aleksander. He's here.

"Ara," Aleksander said again, a smile lighting up his face. "I found you."

"It seems you have." I replied.

He looked past me to Kaz, frowning. "Who's this?"

"Uh . . ." I looked back at Kaz, then at Aleksander. "Just a friend. Kaz? Do you mind excusing us for a moment?"

Kaz looked at me with a flicker of worry, then nodded and stood up. "I'll be outside." He said and left the pub. It had gone silent now; everyone was watching us with fear and anticipation.

"What—what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I was looking for you. I've been looking for weeks." He replied.

"Oh. Well, now you've found me. What do you want now?"

He looked confused, stepping forward and taking my hand. "I want you to come home. Come back. Please."

I sighed softly and drew my hand back, stepping back slightly. "Aleksander . . . I heard about what you did to find me."

"It was necessary to find you, Ara." He said.

"No. No, it wasn't. You killed two Grisha! Two of our own people! Knowing what you did, I don't think I want to go back to Os Alta. I don't want to go anywhere with you." I shouted.

He frowned, shadows rippling and swarming towards him from the dark corners of the pub, people gasping and ducking out of the line of fire.

"You'd rather stay here with him?" He asked, through clenched teeth.

I looked at him. "Yes. I would."

Aleksander cast a glance outside and smiled creepily, looking back at me. "Well, then I'll just pay him a quick visit, then I'll be on my way."

". . . okay?" I watched as he strode to the door, my eyes flicking down to his hand and seeing a sharp spike of shadow forming into a dagger.

"No!" I shouted, thrusting my hands out and sending a giant wave of water into him, soaking him from head to toe.

Aleksander turned to me and sneezed, shaking his head and gathering shadows towards him. "Big mistake, Arabella."

My eyes went wide as shadows hurled towards me in a giant wave of fury, slamming into me and sending me crashing through a window and skidding on the pavement.

"Arabella! Are you okay?" Kaz asked, running up to me with Jesper and Inej close behind, Milo bleating and trotting next to Jesper.

"My ex is crazy. And he ruined my clothes! Of course I'm not okay!" I got up with a grunt of pain, summoning gallons of water from the rain and puddles. "He brought bar fights to a whole other level."

Inej POV

"You have a death wish, you know that?" I said as I cleaned her cuts.

"I am well aware of that, yes." Arabella said, wincing as I pressed too hard on her side.

"Sorry." I apologized, looking at Kaz and Jesper on the other couch, looking at us in silence. "Those two are awfully protective of you."

"Good observation." She said, leaning her head back on the couch. "I want waffles."

"I'm glad you brought that up, Arabella. I figured I owed you something after that whole pub incident." Kaz stood up and came back out with a small plate of chocolate waffles.