INIQUITY- kaz brekker

Two

Jumping from a fourth floor window certainly didn't scream 'Welcome home to Ketterdam' but to be honest, it was more favourable than facing Pekka. She was back in the city, empty handed and empty on hope that the demon of a man would hold an ounce of forgiveness in his body. Iris' thoughts were interrupted by an array of scents and sounds as they walked the uneven cobbled streets of the most impoverished corner of Ketterdam.

"We are in the literal bottom of the Barrel," Jesper complained.

"I don't think those smells are normal," Iris grimaced.

"Stadwatch don't patrol down here. We're safer," Kaz strode onwards. "Inej, what did you find?"

Iris and Jesper frowned at his words but jumped ever so slightly at the appearance of a familiar slight girl who appeared beside them. Jesper brushed his shoulder in alarm and settled himself while Iris inched further away from Inej and closer to Kaz who simply stepped further away from Iris. It was like dominos but if dominos were upside down in a parallel universe.

"We're accused of murdering Tante Heleen," Inej.

"Someone beat me to it?" Iris exclaimed in shock.

"Wait, what? We didn't do that, though," Jesper widened his eyes. "Wait, did you do that?" he asked Inej.

"It was Pekka Rollins, wasn't it? He framed us for murder," Kaz turned to face Inej, seething with molten fury.

"He wanted to punish us for taking the job after he warned you off," Inej nodded.

"But why take it out on Tante Heleen?" Jesper furrowed his brow.

"She held the deed to the Crow Club. We cut a deal so Inej could help us with the Sun Summoner, so Rollins killed her," Kaz shook his head in dismay.

"He what?" Iris gasped.

"He owns the club. Everyone who works there now works for Pekka Rollins," Inej's face was pulled into a dark grimace. She had more to say, it was clear something else was troubling her. A raven flew in the iris of her eye but it was restrained, held in a cage and unable to fly free.

"There's more," Inej whispered as she revealed her fateful mark brandished into her skin by Tante Heleen.

"The Menagerie. He owns that now, too. Along with everything else the Menagerie owns," Inej's voice threatened to crack and break, her demeanour and confidence diminishing by the second.

"Why would you give him that much power?" Iris whispered in horror.

"I didn't have a choice. It was for Inej. It was for the good of the Crows," Kaz spoke through gritted teeth.

"There is always a choice. There is always another way round it. You cannot give a man like that even more power than he already holds. He is a man consumed by vengeance and he'll stop at nothing to abuse what he has. No one knows him like I do. As much as they say they do they don't. I've first hand experienced what he is like away from the lights of the city and we will not survive if he remains in control," Iris's voice wavered higher and higher as she spoke.

"Iris," Jesper and Inej both began to speak but the brunette moved away towards the wall, refusing to meet the trio's eyes. She was not angry with them, not at all. She was angry with Pekka, it was always Pekka that was the root of her problems, the reason Ketterdam was rotting her to her core.

"So, Stadwatch are everywhere and Pekka's untouchable," she heard Jesper scoff in the background. The brunette closed her eyes and paused herself to collect up her spilled emotions that has stained the cobbled streets of the Barrel.

Another male voice interrupted her thoughts again and Iris was seriously wishing she could mentally block the voices of men in her head.

"You're coming with me Zusak," Kaz's gruff voice echoed across the street. Iris noticed Jesper and Inej had both departed and her guilt began to wash over her at the thought of what she said.