The Love of a Crow - Wesper/Crows Fanfiction/AU

37. Nina

A/N: Heyyyy people, how we doing? You ready to see some action? Hehe... it's gonna get INTENSE! But sure, we'll have some build-up first, before I bring the pain. Enjoy! :)

  To say she was relieved when the two boys emerged side by side from the corridor would be an understatement, even for Nina. Sure, she knew Inej would use her 'Saintly ways' to convince Kaz, but the boy could be as oblivious as Matthias sometimes, which was definitely saying something.

Glancing over at him, Nina smiled. Matthias was slumped across the couch after failing to stay in his usual upright position, instead having his head supported by her shoulder. Her Fjerden was a tough nut to crack at first, but he really did just look like a fluffy polar bear when he slept.

Nina couldn't help remembering the night's events, and grimaced. Things went so horribly wrong, that at one point she had begun to consider the high possibility that they would never make it out of that stone circle. Not only were some of her only friends there with her, but so was Matthias. Nina knew it was what he was trained for since he was old enough to say 'drūsje', but she still loathed the fact that their jobs always shoved them in the centre of danger. How much could a Heartrender really protect him?

"Well, it seems the khebben have finally made up!" She grinned as both boys rolled their eyes. Inej and Nina had first started calling them khebben in secret, referring to the close bond of twins in Shu Han. Some of Nina's coaches and fellow Grisha had been khebben working at the Little Palace, and Jesper and Kaz acted no different from them. Always bickering and arguing over stupid things, refusing to admit they actually like each other, completely different personalities. And Nina found it incredibly entertaining.

"Wake up, Fjerden, we don't have all day," Kaz growled. Matthias gave a loud snort and jumped awake, and Nina struggled to hold back her laughter.

"Ok, what's the plan?" Jesper asked eagerly.

Kaz ruffled around in his pocket before pulling out a delicate map of the Warehouse District. Nina frowned at it.

"Do you seriously just carry one of those around in your pockets? What else have you got in there, a travelling circus?"

"If you don't mind I would prefer to focus on our target rather than my jacket!" He snarled, setting the map down on the coffee table. Everyone gathered around, eager to see the jumble of buildings and scribbles of names.

"Now, Van Eck probably wouldn't keep Wylan in his house, given how that went last time, and it would be way too obvious, and more difficult to clean up. He wouldn't send him to a different country, and he wouldn't keep him in any Suburban areas. So what does that leave?" Kaz pointed dramatically to the map, and Nina had to hold back a sneer; he didn't realise it, but Jesper wasn't the only one with a flare for the dramatic. "His three main warehouses."

"THREE?!" Jesper exclaimed. "Saints, I wouldn't be surprised if he also owned the palace at Ravka!"

"How will we know which one Wylan's in?" Inej asked.

"We won't. One of the warehouses is right next to his silos's at Sweet Reef, while the other two are at different sides. I'm assuming he's holding Wylan in the one closest to the Barrel. It has easy access to the canals for a quick escape and he can't have gotten too far in the past few hours. Wylan is recognisable, he would have had to hide him before the streets got too busy."

"So basically we're taking our chances?" Matthias said disbelievingly.

"A minute ago we didn't have any chances, Helvar, so I'd take this as a slight win. Now, Van Eck is smart; he won't want too much attention to himself, so he won't have put too many guards by the doors. He posts two guards outside on a day-to-day basis anyway, so we won't be able to tell from that. This warehouse has three floors, and Wylan will probably be kept on the second with a whole load of guards that we'll need to dispose of. Now, here's the pla-"