𝕬𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖘 𝕷𝖚𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖇𝖞 - [𝗞𝗮𝘇 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗲𝗿]

𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 — the fold

━━━━━━━

 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 darkened to a shade of murky blue that flooded their surroundings and made the shadows come to life; beneath the burning sunlight, the shadows made themselves known by dancing behind people, by hiding in the cracks by the sides of buildings; one might have thought that at night, with the absence of light... No shadows could possibly come out to play.

 That was wrong; for though the name Shadow Summoner had so graciously been bestowed upon Aleksa, it wasn't only the shadows that twirled with her fingertips, but the darkness too. Be it light, or night, the darkness would remain no matter what.

 Even as the night sky darkened and made it hard to see the roads ahead, the moon still shone like a beacon above; Aleksa had the power to drown it out completely. On the flip side, however, the Shadow Summoner could also steal the darkness from one area and move it to the next, essentially causing one area to lighten; after all, the absence of darkness does create light, and the absence of light breeds the shadows.

 This was something Aleksa had done on more than one occasion; moving shadows to make room for light, especially for Kaz when he itched to curl his gloved fingers around a lock... And it was something Aleksa would have happily done if Jesper had joined herself, Inej and Kaz as they all trailed towards the meeting point that Arken had set, for Jesper liked to stumble over stubborn rocks; only Jesper had yet to join them.

 There was no doubt in Aleksa's mind that the lanky Zemeni boy had gotten a whiff of a gambling table, or heard the sweet sound of a pair of die clattering together; why Kaz had decided to test the insatiable sharpshooter in the midst of a crucial heist was beyond her.

 The goat in Aleksa's arms had seemed to doze off, its mud-stained legs dangling freely whilst its adorable little head lay in the crook of her elbow. Neither Summoner nor Wraith could stop fawning over the damn thing that dribbled into the woollen material of Aleksa's borrowed coat.

 She had caught the looks of utter disdain that Kaz had been giving her.

 "Jesper should be here by now." Muttered Inej, her voice low and only known to Aleksa and Kaz, the former of which nodded her head absentmindedly as she too cast a look over her shoulder in the hopes she'd catch sight of Jespers animated limbs waving wildly as he chased after them.

 Kaz continued walking, "He'll be here."

 The finality in his tone managed to bring some semblance of solace to Aleksa; she understood the hidden meaning of the words that Kaz Brekker wouldn't dare say 'we aren't leaving without him'.

 The crows, led by Arken, carried on down the cobbled street, each stone as uneven as the next, and Aleksa could see the strain it was causing Kaz. She had grown used to seeing his limp grow more pronounced when the weather turned bitter, or when the rain thundered above them; but now in the dead of night when every puff of breath that slipped from their mouths could be seen as a cloud in the air, and as the ground beneath them grew harder to traverse, she could see the tight grip Kaz's hand had around the crow that perched atop his cane.