LADY OF SHADOWS ☞ JESPER FAHEY (ON HOLD)

THREE

THE SHADOWS IN THE ALLEY across the street from the Crow Club were especially dark that night thanks to Anastasia. She'd initially been against using her ability so out in the open, but if her last trip to Ketterdam had told her anything, it was that what happened in the Barrel were things people tended to keep their mouths shut about.

"What do you think?" Anastasia asked, icy blonde hair glinting despite the darkness. "Do you think we should go in?"

Clara twisted her bracelet around her wrist, not out of nerves, but out of restless energy. "I think we either go in, or we paid that little boy to scope the place out and it was a waste of our money. Also, I didn't almost break an ankle on the cobblestones for us not to go in." She replied, the barest hints of a smile in her voice.

Clara was right—they'd paid a hefty sum to a boy, no older than twelve, with the intentions of having him investigate the inner workings of who went in, who went out, and how they were dressed while doing so. He'd come back with useful information, definitely, but his price had been enough to pay a month's worth of rent, which was money they didn't want to spend on frivolous things.

They'd dressed exceptionally similar to the other people around, according to what the boy had reported; apparently, visitors of Ketterdam's pleasure district often wore costumes from a Kerch acting guild, either to remain anonymous or simply because they enjoyed the style.

Anastasia was dressed in a silk evening dress of dark green material, a gold mask perched on her forehead that she would pull down when leaving the dark alley. Clara, on the other hand, wore a similar gown but in blue, leaving off a mask of any sort. Anastasia was the recognizable one, not her.

Taking a deep breath, Anastasia covered the top half of her face and said, "Alright. Let's go."

They both pulled the hoods of their jackets up to protect their hair and fine clothes against the light drizzle of rain that had settled over Ketterdam that night.

The people at the door of the Crow Club didn't bat an eye at Clara and Anastasia, glancing at them once before moving aside to let them pass, into the belly of the beast.

The inside of the club was surprisingly quiet, no music playing as people sat around dozens of tables throughout one large room, probably gambling their lives away and creating unpayable debts.

Anastasia dug her hands into the pockets of her coat as she approached the closest table to the door. She sat down in an empty chair, Clara standing at her shoulder, and turned her dark eyes to the dealer.

"I'm here to see Inej." She said, short, simple, and emotionless. Her face was set into an unreadable, stony expression, and she knew that Clara wore the same one. This was not where they laid all their cards out on the table—that would be when she was directly in front of Inej and her friends.

The dealer blinked, paused, blinked again, then nodded. "Yes, miss. I'll take you to her right away."

It seemed that someone asking for Inej was not something that happened often, if at all. The shock on the dealer's face told her that. He stood up from the table with a strange urgency, leaving the gamblers abandoned despite their protests.

"Follow me, ladies."

Anastasia was thankful that Clara was so close to her; they'd been in worse situations than this, more times than they could count over the years, but something about this felt different. They knew absolutely nothing about the situation they were going into other than the fact that Anastasia was perfectly comfortable defending herself and Clara if they were outnumbered.