𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃//𝐊𝐚𝐳 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫

𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈.

CHAPTER 2I

Pekka Rolllins

     "What do you fear, Pekka Rollins?"

Pekka Rollins' eyes flew open. Moonlight streamed through his window, cutting through the blackness of his elegant room. A figure sat in one of the chairs in the corner of the room, their legs draped lazily over the arm of the seat. Pekka sat up immediately, eyes widening in fear.

"I said, what do you fear, Pekka Rollins?" A woman's voice—no, a girl. "Is it the same old thing? Monsters and demons? Physical things that are too ridiculous to actually be real?" She picked at her nails, just barely visible. "Or maybe you fear for your son's life. Is that it?"

"Who... who are you?" Pekka asked cautiously, beginning to shiver from the unnatural cold that had appeared out of nowhere.

She chuckled. "I am everybody and nobody. Your worst fear and your favorite dream. The old woman on the street who you didn't help and the boy whose life you ruined. You still haven't answered my question. What is it you truly fear?"

When Pekka didn't reply, she stood up, the moonlight revealing her features. The shadows behind her moved like they were a living thing, ready to pounce at any moment. She couldn't have been older than eighteen, her flaming red Kaelish hair curling down her back. Then it clicked—Brekker's little Grisha that'd been changed from jurda parem. He'd seen what it had done to others, and now she was doing it to him.

She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "You see, I was hoping you'd make it easy for me and just tell me. Now we must do this the hard way." Pausing, she turned her face to the moonlight. "Well, depends on your definition of hard. It's really more of an inconvenience for me."

In an instant, the girl was at Pekka's bedside, the glint of a knife in her hand. Pekka's eyes widened. "How did you get in here?"

"The question you should be asking is what damage I left behind."

Pekka narrowed his eyes. "What did you do to my guards?"

"I didn't need to do anything," she replied, shrugging. "They're easily distracted and hardly what I would call 'top quality.'"

"Why are you here? Did Brekker send you?"

Now, she laughed. "You might not be able to understand this, but not everyone who associates themselves with Kaz Brekker is indentured to him. We have free will, Rollins." In the span of a short breath, she had pushed him back down, her weight keeping him there. Her knife was cold against his neck.

"What do you want?" he croaked.

"I want you to suffer, Rollins," murmured the girl. "But you won't. Not yet, at least." A scream tore through the air.

Fear seized Pekka, his stomach dropping. Pekka struggled under the girl's weight, but the knife dug deeper into his skin, drawing blood.

"Shhh." She watched him carefully as another shriek pierced the silence. Pekka glowered at her.

"I will kill you if anything happens to my son," he spat.

She smirked and the scream stopped. "Oh, I know. You should be glad I'm not in the child-hurting business. No, I'm here to remind you of the life you could still have."

His face flushed from anger, hands curled into fists under the silky covers. "I am the King of Ketterdam, you little—"

"I suggest you move far, far away from Kerch," she interrupted him. "Or I fear I might have to change what kind of business I do." A third child's scream, louder and scarier than the other two, tore through the silence after her words. Pekka panicked again, even if he already knew it was a trick.

The girl was gone like a leaf in the wind, sinking into the shadows like she was a part of them. Her voice continued to speak to him, though.

"You will never come back here, Rollins," she said. "You will have a nice life, far away from Ketterdam and everyone here. Enjoy your life with your son in the Wandering Isle, where you belong."

Then she was completely gone, taking the cold with her. Alby. Immediately, Pekka stood up and rushed to the door to his bedroom. They flew open and he ran through the hallway, past the guards still posted there. They came to attention, stunned expressions on their faces as he barrelled past them, careening down the hall to his son's room.

Ice had spread across the door, making it nearly impossible to open. Pekka looked around frantically for something to break the ice with. How did she even get to his house?

He grabbed a cudgel from one of the guards and started hacking away, but it was no use. The ice was frozen solid, as if it had been that way for years.

Then, the ice started to thin and slip down the door frame as if it were melting. Pekka didn't stop hacking at the ice until it was all gone, then threw the cudgel to the ground.

He threw the door open. Light from the hall spilled over the bed. Alby was on his side, sleeping soundly, his thumb tucked into his mouth. Pekka slumped against the doorjamb, weak with relief, clutching his chest. The screams had sounded so real. Then he saw the toy his son was clutching in his arms. The lion was gone. In its place was a black-winged crow, cracking and thin ice on most parts of the stuffed animal.

Pekka recoiled as if he'd seen his son asleep with his cheek on a hairy-legged spider.

He shut the door gently, wiping his wet hands on his trousers, and strode back down the hall.

"Get Shay and Gerrigan out of bed," he said.

"What happened?" asked Doughty. "Should I call a medik?"

"Tell them to start packing our bags. And gather up all the cash we have."

"Where are we going?"

"As far away as we can get."

a/n— It might seem like it's done, but I told you all that there will be cameos of Brynn and Sasha in Rule of Wolves (in theory) and there will be! So don't leave just yet! Let me know what you thought!