It's Only a Matter of Time

Chapter 6

Author's note: Wrote this chapter at 5am because I'm really jetlagged. Please excuse any mistakes I might make.

And there was one person other than Kaz who knew this reason: his right hand and seemingly best friend, the ever-smiling Jesper Fahey.

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However, before Inej had a chance to question Jesper on Kaz's weird activity, fate threw her a chance to find out herself.

Or at least Nina - to whom Inej later told the story - proclaimed it to be fate. Inej herself chose to think of it as simply a coincidence, a "right place, right time".

What happened was this: on a particularly busy Friday afternoon, Inej came to the Crow Club after school, and at her arrival, was suddenly burdened with the task of taking out the trash. It was usually the job of Anika, a girl who had joined the Crow Club approximately at the same time as Inej. But that afternoon, Anika hadn't shown up, so the job fell to Inej, who was the next step up the social ladder.

Taking out the trash wasn't too bad usually, though Fridays were particularly busy, and the Crow Club was quite popular, so the trash built up.

"Oh well. The faster I get started, the faster I'll finish," muttered Inej under her breath as she grabbed hold of the first trash bag and swung it over her shoulder. It was heavy and smelled strongly of rotten eggs, forcing Inej to hold her breath against the vile smell.

As she exited the Club into the alley behind it, which was filled the dumpsters, Inej was focused solely on holding her breath and not dropping the heavy bag. She swung it into one of the dumpsters and took a deep breath, immediately feeling lighter. Then, Inej heard the sounds of a scuffle.

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It wasn't unheard of for people to fight back here in this alley, seeing as Kaz kept the Crow Club exclusively fight-free, and you could lose access to the Club if you started a fight. The alley-fights were usually between customers who had an argument but coudlnt' solve it inside, but occasionally there were scuffles between members of the Crow Club and rowdy customers who refused to leave. Kaz usually handled those ones himself, dispatching them with a few swift strokes of his crow's-head cane.

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She rounded the corner of the dumpster, and came across a painfully familiar scene. A visibly drunk man - no, a boy - had cornered Anika, and was getting closer and closer to her. He was speaking, but it wasn't directly to her. More like, to the air around Anika's head. An obvious tell of the fact that he was trying to use Anika to make himself forget about somebody else.

Anika herself was usually far from helpless. Inej had often seen Anika take down men who were much bigger and stronger than her, but in this moment, the girl seemed frozen. She was simply backing away, further and further, until she was pressed against the wall of the alley. There was fear in her eyes, and Inej soon noticed the reason: the boy was holding half of a broken bottle, the edges sharp and jagged. If you got hit by one of those, life would never be the same. And not in a good way.

There was already a scratch from the broken bottle running down Anika's forearm, and Inej guessed others would soon join it if someone didn't interrupt.

"Excuse me, sir! You cannot be back here! This area is for staff only!" Inej raised her normally-soft voice so that it echoed through the alleyway. Anika's eyes snapped to Inej, and there was gratefulness in them.

"And wh-who say's I'm not staff?" Hiccuped the boy.

"I'm gonna say the state of your hair and the fact that there's no uniform on you. Unlike me and Anika here. You know what that means, right?" Inej hesitated for a second, then let the bluff slip free. "It means we're under the full protection of one Kaz Brekker. And he isn't one to forget when the people under his protection get hurt. So run. And then maybe he won't find out."

Inej's words rang out, and a spark of pride flared in her chest at how confident she sounded. In truth, Inej was scared. She had come to situations like these a lot, and often was the one that ran away. It felt good to make someone else do that now. But a worried thought still ran through her head. 'What if the boy didn't believe Inej's bluff? Yes, her and Anika were members of the Crow Club, but that didn't automatically make them be protected by Kaz Brekker. He already had too much on his shoulders to busy himself with protecting the staff of his club as well.

Inej's worried thoughts were broken by a familiar sound. The rhythmic clang of a cane on cobblestones. Then came Kaz's stone-on-stone rasp. "Nice job, Inej, you were right about every single thing except one." He paused, making everyone pause as well. Kaz had that affect on you. When he spoke, you listened. Even when he wasn't speaking, you still payed attention.

"I know EVERYTHING that goes down in the Crow Club. So even running won't help this poor soul here. Assaulting my staff is practically the same as if you would have assaulted me."

Inej almost snorted at that picture. Hell would freeze over before someone would be able to assault Kaz Brekker.

Kaz's voice was quiet as usual, but there was so much underlying anger, the effect was almost as if he was yelling. "That would offend me deeply. And I am not one to forget the things people have done to offend me."

Author's note: Comments appreciated! How am I doing? Is the story progressing well? Any tips on how to improve?