Hey Sunshine

Fifty Million Illegal Activities

AS ANOTHER SECURITY GUARD crossed the front floor, Wylan rapidly ducked and hid behind a large door frame. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. "When did Father update his security so much?"

The security guard didn't look like he was going to move from his post for awhile - goddammit, goddammit, Wylan needed to get to Jesper now - and hesitantly, Wylan nudged the door a little more shut, trying to close it silently. He had almost gotten it completely shut when -

- a thick black cane rapped lightly on his knuckles and he flinched, more from surprise than anything else. He paused and turned around slowly.

"Hello, Wylan," Kaz said calmly, terrifyingly pale face glowing oddly in the barely moonlit room. "Having a nice stay at your fathers?"

Waves of relief sank around him, and forgetting nearly every warning sign Kaz had ever given him, Wylan took massive steps forward and pulled Kaz into a hug. The man himself let out a grunt of surprise but surprisingly let himself be hugged by the ginger.

"I am so glad you're here," he said quietly to the stiff man on the other end of the hug. "I saw Matthias and Sergie but I didn't really - I was kind of - I am so happy, and I just want to get out of here, I'm sorry for all the trouble my father and I are causing you."

"T's not your fault Wy," a cheerful voice said from behind. "And what am I - chopped liver? Where's my hug?"

Wylan released Kaz and spun around to see a grinning Nina, standing carefully behind the door so the guard wouldn't be able to see them through the crack. "Nina!" he whispered, and the girl pulled him into another hug.

"Thank you," he whispered, tightening his arms. "Thank you so much."

Kaz snorted. "We weren't going to leave you here with your asshole abusive father. What do you think we are - demons?"

Wylan shot the man a pointed look. "Kaz, I have heard the names Matthias calls you. And one of them is literally just the word 'demon' in Russian."

"Matthias calls everybody names," Nina brushed off, giving him a massive smile. "I've been called a witch by him before - and not even in the fun, seductress, kinky sex kind of way. More the 'I hate your guts and want you to die in a hole' way."

Wylan winced, thankful that his own boyfriend was a lot more... Jesper-ish. Speaking of, "Where's Jesper?" he asked, staring around the empty room. "I don't suppose Inej and Jesper have just been keeping alarmingly quiet...?"

The hope faded away after a few seconds, replaced by a throbbing ache. God, he just wanted to see Jes and Inej again, just to know that they were alright.

"We split up," Kaz rumbled, his gravel-streaked voice sounding hard and unforgiving despite the slight apology in his eyes. "They're currently at your door. Which - how did you even get out, and then get past them? Were you not in your room after all?"

Shit. "Kaz, Nina," he remembered. "Kaz, Nina, we have to go, Kuweii hasn't been here in ages, he's probably forgotten. He didn't send Jesper and Inej to my room. He sent them to my father's."

Kaz and Nina exchanged glances. Nina bit her lip determinedly. "How far is it from where we are now?"

Wylan gauged the distance. "Not long. We're on the right floor, we just need to walk across this for a while. But that means getting past the security guards, and I have no idea when father hired them or even anything about them really. They don't have a relationship with me, like I do the other servants in this house."

Kaz examined the crack, face unreadable. "I don't here any terrified squawking from either Jesper or Van Eck," he finally said. "That means... he's probably... they might... " he trailed off, staring at Wylan with dark coffee eyes. "Wylan, how far does your father's reign go? Outside of this house, how influential is he?"