Show Wesper meet

Part 13

Wylan's POV:

Horse hooves clopped a dull, repetitive rhythm, tugging the carriage through the dirty streets of Ketterdam. Behind him, Wylan heard the doors of a small, wooden window being drawn back and he turned his focus from the reins to the boy behind him. Jesper. 

It was just his luck that he had managed to end up with the one person he was desperate to avoid. He rolled his eyes with an expressive sigh, turning away as Jesper leaned through the gap and rested beside him. He focused on the slight tinkle of the bells on the reins as they moved instead.

 Wylan observed the blocky walls of the carriage. The splintered wood up the side of it. " A rat- catcher carriage," He said, "I thought he said he got this from a friend?" 

 Did Kaz really have friends though? People that owed him something, maybe, but Kaz wasn't the type to have any sort of close relationship with people- he was Dirtyhands, the Bastard of the Barrel. 

Then again, neither did Wylan.

"Friend-ish," Jesper confirmed, " She did manage to remove the rats, so, there's that." He played with a small, gold ring on his knuckle.

"How do you know Kaz?" Jesper asked, the curiosity evident in his voice

" I can't honestly say that I know Kaz,"  Wylan dared a look Jesper's way, momentarily forcing himself from the grip of the reins. "He asked me to make a few phosphorous bombs for him," 

Wylan hesitated, " I didn't want to." 

"Why not?" The response was immediate.

" Cause' I knew that he'd use them for something like this." He felt Jesper nod and give a little shrug beside him.

"Did it work?" 

Jesper nodded, the faintest outlines of a familiar smile curling on his lips, " Ohh, it worked," he said, " Not many people can face general Kirigan and live to tell about it." 

For a change, Jesper actually seemed impressed.it brought a familiar warm tingling to Wylan's cheeks.  He gave Wylan a sidelong look before asking, "Where did he find you?"

He was referring to Kaz again.

"I was apprenticing at the tannery, so I guess he knew I was good with chemicals."

Jesper frowned. 

"Tannery... That sound familiar. Have we met before?"

 Again, Wylan wanted to sink into the moulding walls of the carriage, to hide from Jesper's questioning gaze. The whole ordeal was so absolutely ridiculous it made him want to scream. 

He didn't scream. Instead, he turned away from the boy, almost grateful when the stadwatch neared the carriage, forcing Jesper to duck behind the safety of the little wooden doors.

" We're clear." Wylan confirmed as Jesper popped back into view.

He muttered a small thanks.

Wylan allowed himself a small gasp of air. He nodded. He couldn't bare the awkward tension between them any longer, he had to say something, " I know that you're not thrilled about being paired with me," he certainly wasn't either, " but you should know that, you can trust me."

He felt the piercing gaze of Jesper's stare like daggers in his back.

" Just to be clear, I trust you because Kaz trusts you."

 " And you trust Kaz?" 

A long silence. 

"Listen,"  Jesper's tone turned icy, " I am not about to dissect my long-standing working relationship with Kaz Brekker with a total stranger."

The words hit Wylan hard. Like a stab to the gut. 

A total stranger. 

Wylan couldn't help but turn at that. He searched Jesper's stone-grey eyes for anything- just a flicker or familiarity- but he found nothing. It was like some kind of cruel taunt.

Jesper's gaze remained cool." Eyes on Pekka's driver." He ordered.

" he's rounding the corner." 

" follow him."

So he did.

They turned into a small, open square- only to be met by nothing.

" he's gone."