It's Only a Matter of Time

Chapter 14

A/N: I'll be going off to a theater camp for nearly the whole month of July, so here's a chapter to make up for that absence!

She sat there until the sun came up, lighting up the sky little by little and then coming up itself, glorious yellow on a background of pinks and light blues.
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Even after the sun came up fully, Inej felt reluctant to leave the rooftop. It was nice up here. Peaceful.
Inej sat with eyes closed, her face turned up towards the sun's warmth. In that moment, she didn't even care that if somebody looked out of the window on the top floor of the Crow Club, they'd be able to see her; braid rumpled from sleep and still in her pyjamas.

But duty called.

After giving herself a few more minutes of sunlight, Inej got to her feet and walked back towards the window which led into her room. As she passed a row of identical windows, she thought she noticed a silhouette in one of them, watching her.
But when she looked closer, nothing was there but a white curtain waving in the breeze.

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After getting dressed, Inej jogged downstairs to serve the customers who were no doubt already waiting for their usual before-work drink.

To her surprise, Inej's usual spot behind the bar was already taken by a blonde girl whose name Inej hadn't memorized yet (was it Hannah? Or Hallie?), and she was deftly dealing with the long line of customers which grumbled in the universal language of "I haven't had my coffee yet".

At the sound of Inej's footsteps, the blonde girl raised her head and smiled. Inej shot a smile of her own - filled with gratitude - back at the girl and went to the kitchen to see if they needed help.

They didn't. And neither did the cleaners or the people who were organizing the money the Crow Club had received last night.
Everyone just smiled at Inej and told her they had all the help they needed here and "maybe to check over there".

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In the end, Inej came back to where Hannah (Inej was pretty sure her name was Hannah) was finishing up with the last customer.

"I'm guessing you don't need help either?" Inej asked, already knowing the answer.

Hannah mutely shook her head and Inej sighed. What was going on? In her memory, the Crow Club always needed all the help they could get. But now, everywhere Inej went, they told her they didn't need her!

Still wondering what was going on, Inej took a seat on one of the stools at the edge of the bar. She rested her head on her hands and before she knew it, her eyes were drifting closed. The hours spent up in the roof were taking their toll. Oh well. I'll just let my eyes rest for a bit.

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She was standing in a garden, the plants reaching almost to her knees. She was listening. Listening for what?

Inej got her answer as a rustle came from behind her, then the sound of running footsteps. She heard a voice call
"'Nej, run!" and tried to bolt away, but her suddenly-small feet were no match for the giant, and soon strong hands lifted her up. She caught a glimpse of a mop of black hair before the person who the hands belonged to slung her like a bag of potatoes over his shoulder, ignoring her protesting. When Inej looked over the person's back, she saw a boy's grinning face hanging over the big person's- his older brother's - other shoulder. Seems Inej hadn't been the only one caught.

"Looks like we've been caught, 'Nej." When he spoke, the boy revealed a gap in his mouth where his two front teeth had fallen out. "I guess we'll have to let him win this time." There was a mischievous glimmer in his eye that suggested he knew what Inej was going to do next.

Inej felt her tiny hands squeeze into fists. "Never."
She started kicking her feet against the chest of her captor until he oofed and set her down. She was met with eyes brown as melted chocolate, and just as sweet.

"Inej," he said, kneeling down to face her without a care for his brother, who was still slung over his shoulder. "Wake up."

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When she lifted her head, there were brown eyes above Inej, just like in her dream except maybe a few shades darker. Without thinking, she said the first thought that came to mind as she looked at those eyes.

"You look so much like Jordie," whispered Inej.

A/N: Big brother alert! What do you think will happen next?

Also, in the books it's said that Jordie is 4 years older than Kaz. Here, I made him a bit more to match the plot. He's around 6 years older.