Dark of the Tide [Shadow and Bones]

Chapter 18

"Bella, can I talk with you for a second?" Kaz asked, coming into my room and sitting down next to me on the bed.

    "Sure. What do you need?" I asked.

    "Are you okay? You've seemed off for a few weeks. And at first I thought it was just normal girl stuff, but now I'm not so sure." He looked at me, gently taking my hand in his and turning it so my scars were visible.

    "Want to tell me why this happened?" He asked, his thumb running over my scars.

    I sighed, but nodded. "It was just a nightmare. A very realistic nightmare."

    He nodded. "Okay. If you have another one, wake me up. Okay?"

    "Okay. Thanks."

    He smiled, placing his hand on the side of my face and kissing my forehead. "You're welcome, love."

I watched as he went to the door, then sighed. "Wait,"

He turned around, closing the door again and coming back over to the bed, this time standing in front of me. "Yeah?"

"I need to tell you something."

He nodded and came to sit by me, our shoulders touching. "What is it, Bella?"

    "It's . . . it's about the Darkling." I replied, looking at him.

    He sat there, patiently waiting for me to continue.

    I took a deep breath and told him everything. The dreams. The Darkling controlling my comings and going's from the Fold. His intentions with me.

All the while, he just sat there with a slight frown on his face.

He finally reached over and set his hand over mine. "Why did you feel like you couldn't tell me?"

"I was scared." I admitted.

He looked slightly confused. "Arabella, the Darkling is pulling you into a dream world of the Fold. He can't hurt you."

I looked at him. "You sure about that?"

". . . what do you mean by that?"

I held open my hand—my palm up—and showed him the moon scars.

"That happened in the Fold. I did that to myself while I was in the Fold, thinking it wasn't real. But when I woke up, the scars were there. It's real, Kaz." I said, looking him in the eyes. "And I'm terrified."

———-

Matthias walked over to me by the steps of the Crow Club and sat down next to me on the cold stone steps.

"Matthias. It's been a while." I said, looking out at the grey sky, a drizzle pattering on the stones and umbrellas as people rushed past.

"It has. I was going to talk to you yesterday, but you were busy with Jesper." He responded.

"Yeah. What did you need?" I asked, looking at him.

"I was just wondering if you would"—he held out his arm and pushed up his sleeve to show a deep cut across his forearm, blood dried around it—"heal me?"

"Why didn't you tell one of us when you got hurt?" I asked him, taking his wrist in my hand and settling his arm on my knee as I lightly touched his cut and traced upwards, the skin stitching itself back together slowly.

He took his arm back and moved it around, inspecting the faint white scar on his skin. "I didn't want to bother you. And besides, I knew you would heal me if I showed you."

"That's because I care about you and the others, Matthias." I replied, smiling and brushing his hair from his forehead.

He chuckled. "I'm a witch-hunter, and I'm friends with three Grisha."

"How awful that must be." I said with a light laugh.

"Oh, yes, it's terrible." He joked.

A loud crash of thunder startled me, illuminating the sky and having a downpour minutes later.

"Wow. Downpour—Aah!" I ducked under Matthias' arm as another loud boom sounded, flashing across the sky.

He looked down at me and smiled in amusement, putting his arms around me. "Not a fan of thunderstorm?"

"Not really, no." I replied.

"Let's go inside before we catch cold." He said, standing up and holding the door open for me and closing it as he walked through close behind.

Nina looked up from where she sat on the couch with a book in her hands, spotting us and smiling.

"Hey, guys. Come and sit. I'll make you come hot cocoa to warm up." She said politely, setting her book down and heading over to the kitchen to get out two mugs and the ingredients.

I sat next to Matthias and leaned back against the couch. "I miss talking with you, Matthias."

He looked at me and smiled softly. "Me too, Arabella."

"The next time we talk, let's do it inside so it doesn't start raining and we end up looking like wet dogs." I replied.

He laughed and nodded. "Okay,"

Nina came back out with the mugs, handing them to us and sitting back down across from us.

"You two getting to know each other better?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah. It's been a few weeks since you both have came to Ketterdam, but it's just been so busy, I've never gotten a real chance to actually talk with Matthias." I replied.

    "Yeah," Matthias added, at a loss for more words.

"Hey, Nina, is this okay—?" Kaz stopped mid-sentence when he saw me. He was dressed in a black suit and white shirt with a black tie.

"Why are you looking so fancy, Kaz? Going to meet someone?" I joked with a smile.

He shook his head and smiled at me. "No. I'm going out to get something very important. Figured I'd best make everyone jealous while I was at it."

I nodded, looking him up and down. "It's definitely working for me."

He chuckled. "Good to hear. I'll be back soon. Love you," he bent down and kissed my head before grabbing his top hat and walking out into the rain.

    "Wait for me, Kaz!" Jesper threw on his coat and ran after his friend.

Nina let a squeal pass her lips. "I ship it. I ship it so much."

"Who are we shipping?" Inej asked, coming around the corner.

"Kaz and Arabella." Matthias replied.

"Oh, yes. I ship it. You guys are the definition of couple goals." She replied.