𝕾𝖍𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖉𝖘 - 𝙺𝚊𝚣 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚔𝚔𝚎𝚛

IX

Mira winds through the streets. The nearer she gets to the harbor, the more she can feel the pulse of the ocean. That's something she likes about Ketterdam. The canals wind through like veins, rarely leaving her alone. Their constant feelings of swirling currents has become as familiar to her as her own heartbeat.

Through the mist she sees Brekker and the others. He'd traded his normal suit for bulky trapper's clothes, they all looked that way. She tilts her head, taking them in. This was the team that she was breaking into the most secure place in the world with. Oh, if only her sister could see her now. She'd laugh her sweet laugh and ruffle Mira's hair, telling her to be careful, not taking her seriously.

She looks for a place to hop down. Spying a stack of crates, she lowers herself down. She missed the body shrouded in shadow a few feet away.

Just as her feet hit the ground, her eyes flash with light and she's thrown against the wall.

Disoriented, ear's ringing, she moves only on instinct. She feels the mist part three feet to her right. She shoots the mass in the shoulder. A grunt, but it doesn't stop. Hands are on her, pinning her to the wall. She stomps its feet. Now the hands are on her throat. She scrabbles for a knife and plunges it into flesh over and over until the body falls.

Able to breathe again, she pulls her bolt out of the man's shoulder. She looks down at his wrist. Razorgull, she thinks before the gunshots start.

She looks out and counts, trying to separate her crew from the rest of them. It's all foggy and the blast still flashes whenever she blinks. She finds Jesper from his height whenever his guns fire, signaling the doom of someone else. She finds Kaz from the shine of his cane, something he refused to leave. Wylan when a flash bomb goes off, Matthias and Nina are side by side, taking out anyone that comes their way. The one person she doesn't see is Inej. She doesn't see her bronze skin, nor her lithe movements, not even the glint of her knives.

Mira pushes through the throng, stabbing anyone who gets too close. Her sight isn't good enough for her to think about trying to shoot.

A bang. A sting in her side. She whips around and lifts the ocean to wrap around the shooter. He drops like a rock.

She keeps moving, searching the edge of the docks for Inej. The sting fades away.

"Come out, come out, Wraith! We have secrets to tell!"

Her feet pound the pavement. She sees three of them. She shoots two of them, but the third runs before she can get the killing blow. He doesn't matter, Inej is the goal. Mira hears a raspy panting behind her. Her hands are up and the puddles around them are already lifting before the voice registers.

"Not an enemy." Brekker.

Mira lowers her hands, dropping the water, and starts climbing. She sees Inej with a knife to her chest. She wrenches it away. "Not while I still have blood, Inej."

The Suli's eyes open. "Mira?"

"The one and only," she ease's Inej's limp weight into her arms. "Forgive me." She jumps down, trying to minimize the impact on Inej, but she can see it still hurts.

Mira is about to pass her off to Brekker when she feels a tap on her hand. "Oomen," Inej whispers.

The vision around her eyes goes red. She has a name. She has a target. Inej is safe.

"Bring him alive, berth twenty-two," Brekker says as he turns away to get their Wraith back to the ship.

Mira climbs back up the stack of crates. Her nerves are on fire as she feels through the mist for anomalies.