Everybody Hurts ━ shadow & bone [1] ✔

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑥

CHAPTER SIX
Mother Daughter Reunion

"Here's the plan. I'll walk the route our target will take from the ballroom to the dinner event and look for an ambush point." Kaz told them.

"You should have one of us with you." Inej replied.

"I'll manage. You can't blow your cover this early, Marissa needs to be in the position to create shadows to hide our target, and Jesper needs to plot our escape route. There is a gap in the schedule between events, so they may place her in a room here, away from the crowd, somewhere safe. This would be where they feel she's most protected and therefore, the best place to grab her. We just need to find a way in. And have someone ready with a distraction to give us cover on our way out in case Marissa gets stuck somewhere." Kaz explained.

Marissa knew what he meant. It meant if she ran into someone. That someone being her brother, or any other Grisha that could recognise her.

"That's where we grab her." Kaz said.

—

Marissa of course was cautious when they were arriving. Showing her powers in a place swarming with Grisha and her brother was not on her bucket list. She sat with the others.

"You're sure it was her?" Kaz asked Jesper.

"I'm telling you, she's part Shu." Jesper replied.

"When exactly did you see her?" Kaz questioned.

"Just after midday." Jesper answered.

"What's in this room?" Inej asked Kaz.

"Fitting room. It's where she'll go to change for dinner." Kaz told her.

"And that's where we'll grab her. Out of the way, clean lines of sight, easily controlled space. I like it." Jesper stated.

"I'd like it, too, if it had a door." Kaz sighed.

Inej looked at him, "it doesn't have a door?"

"Not one that we can use." Kaz answered simply. "It's some sort of Grisha lock. It took a Materialnik to open it."

"Is there no way to pick the lock?" Jesper wondered.

"Actually, there is. I can get through the door." Arken said.

Everyone turned their attention to Arken. "How?" Kaz questioned.

"The locking mechanisms are Fabrikator-designed. Iron cogs that slide into place without a latch. But for one of us to open it, we'll need a lodestone. With a minimum 2,000 gauss external strength. Hard to find." Arken explained.

"It's not like we're just walking around with one of those in our pockets..." Jesper trailed off, and stopped when Arken pulled one out of his bag.

"You don't want to keep it in your pocket for too long. Not if you're intending on having children one day." Arken went to hand it to Jesper, who backed away from it.