It's Only a Matter of Time

Chapter 12

A/N: At first I wanted to do Kaz's POV in this chapter, but then changed my mind. After all, that way, too much information will be revealed too soon. So instead, you get darling Jesper's POV for most of the chapter, then back to Inej's.

All this time, while Inej had been lost in her thoughts, a pair of eyes watched her from a nearby window. They were dark, so dark they almost looked black, and if Inej had been able to see them, she would have sworn they matched the eyes of the boy from her memories.

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Jesper hadn't meant to find Inej in front of the weapons shop. He definitely hadn't meant to stare at her for an entire half an hour while she stood there, seemingly lost deep in thought.

Well, to be more exact, he didn't stare at her. He stared at Kaz, who was the one staring at Inej. And he didn't stare to be creepy or anything. He was just curious.

Curious why his boss and best friend - though Kaz refused to admit that - was so preoccupied with this girl he met less than a week ago.

Curious why Kaz got so distracted and faraway each time Inej appeared in his line of sight.

If he didn't know better, if Inej wasn't the cause of those looks, Jesper would have guessed Kaz was looking at some sort of dream. A dream he's had a long time ago, and was remembering, just now.

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He didn't get the chance to stare long. He was up here for a reason, and the person who was tied to a chair behind them was starting to wake up and make noise.

Jesper turned around and flipped back his coat with an elaborate gesture, exposing the fancy hilts of his twin pistols. It had taken multiple months and a lot of paperwork, but Jesper had won the right to wear his guns out in public. They still had to be under his coat, though. Don't want people seeing a teenager wearing fins and think the wrong thing. And so he didn't waste a chance to show them off in the proper places.

"Hey there." He smiled, showing his pearly-white teeth. "My boss here saw you handling things you shouldn't have, just last week. Care to tell us why you had things like that, and gave them to kids younger than you and me?"

The boy tied to the chair in front of Jesper turned pale at the sight of the Zemeni boy's guns, but kept his composure.

Kaz, who had walked up behind the boy with eerie silence, clicked his tongue disappointingly. "I see you won't be making this easy. Jesper, watch the window. Make sure we're the only ones up here."

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[Inej's POV]

Two floors below Kaz, Jesper, and the boy who had been caught handling things he shouldn't have, Inej stood, oblivious to what was happening upstairs and having just now shaken herself out of the past and back into the present.

She noticed the eyes of the clerk inside of the weapons store watching her warily, so she sent them a smile and kept walking. She had a best friend to find.

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Nina proved surprisingly easy to find, and all of Inej's worries about not having a phone to track her best friend went to nothing.

She found Nina sitting outside a cafe she loved, sipping something chocolate-colored from a sheer white cup and reading some new romance novel.

"Hey." Inej said quietly once she came within Nina's earshot.

The older girl flinched, spilling her coffee onto the front of her skirt. "Inej, how on earth do you manage to walk so silently?! You scared me, girl!"

Inej laughed quietly at her best friend's reaction, then took a spot across from Nina. "Do you want me to get you some napkins? I recall that skirt being one of your only ones."

Nina shook her head, seemingly still amazed at Inej's ability to walk near-silently ( though she'd seen it in action many times, and this was not the first or even the second skirt she'd ruined that way), so Inej took initiative and went to get her friend some napkins.

After that was sorted out, Inej took her spot again and looked Nina in the eye. "We need to have a talk."

A/N: Comments appreciated, as always!