corvus//kaz brekker

twelve

Nina helps me the best she can. She's not a healer but she's pretty handy with first aid. I wait for her and Inej to step out of the room before I sneak out. I don't want to see Kaz right now. I don't want to see much of anyone right now. Not after what happened.

I'm on a mission of my own. To find out who the man on the roof was. He's not going to get away with what he did to me. If I kill him where no one sees they can never connect the cut marks back to me.

I stop dead in my tracks when it suddenly starts to get dark. I notice shadows gathering in front of me. The shadows from into some type of monster. I hold my hands up and send a shadow towards it trying to cut it in half. It does nothing. Then just as quick as the shadow came it's gone. Standing in its place is the Darkling.

"This can't be real." I shake my head. "How are you here? You can't be here."

I look around. There's no one else in the alley. No one to tell me I'm seeing things.

"That was one of my nichevo'ya," the Darkling tells me.

"The nothings," I translate.

"Exactly," the Darkling says. He steps closer to me. "You're a smart one Tereza Damcevski."

"Why are you here?" I question. "How are you here?"

"I am here, Miss Damcevski, because there is something you can offer me," the Darkling tells me.

"I can offer you?" I ask.

The Darkling nods as he steps even closer to me. "You Miss Damcevski are a Shadow Summoner."

I shake my head. "No. You're wrong."

"I am not," the Darkling insists. "You can summon shadows the same as me. Well the same as me before my training."

"So you came all the way here to tell me you know who I am?" I ask.

"I came all the way here to offer you a spot by my side," the Darkling tells me.

"By your side?" I question.

"One Shadow Summoner is strong but two," the Darkling says. "Two can rule the world."

I shake my head. "No. I won't hurt people like you have. I won't."

The Darkling nods. "You say that now, but people can change Miss Damcevski."

Before I can say anything else the Darkling is gone. Like he was never here. Like he didn't just confirm my worst nightmare.

I sneak back into the tomb without having anywhere else to go really.

"You've been lying low?"

I don't turn to face Kaz. "I've been gathering intel on Pekka's assassin. I've discovered what bladesmith supplies him with bone-cutters and fillet knives."

"Taxidermy tools," Kaz states.

"His name's Mogens. I've got his address," I tell Kaz.

"That must have cost you," Kaz states.

I finally turn to face him. "He intends on taking me alive, so he can put me back in the Menagerie."

"I won't let that happen," Kaz tells me.

"Why should I believe you?" I question. "We were ambushed, Kaz. Whatever this is, this blood feud you have with Pekka Rollins, I don't believe it's about some Saints-forsaken club. You are gambling with our lives, and I deserve to know the reason. You owe me that much."

"Tereza, your arm," Kaz says.

I see the fresh blood seeping through my jacket sleeve. I pull my jacket off. Kaz turns away. I wince as I pull the bloody bandage from my arm.

"Pekka Rollins killed my brother," Kaz says.

I take a breath. "Then we destroy him."

I try my best to clean the wound on my arm. It's not very easy. Kaz steps towards me and holds his hand out. I hand him the rag. Kaz gently brushes the cloth along the wound, and I gasp.

"Is there anyone to protect you?" I ask.

"Was there no one to protect you?" Kaz asks. "Look for Mogens' tells. Signs of an old injury that point to a weakness or a repeating action that tells you what he's going to do next."

"Do I have one?" I question.

"Your inability to use your Grisha powers," Kaz tells me. "You focus on not letting go and not on fighting the person in front of you."

"Um..." I turn to face Kaz. "What's yours?"

"The limp. The cane," Kaz says. "No one's ever smart enough to look for the real one."

I hear someone clear their throat. Nina is standing in the doorway.

"What's the safest way from here back to the Slat?" Kaz asks.

"Rozenstraat onto Buysberg," I tell him. "Why?"

"We need some new blood," Kaz tells me before leaving.

"It's not what you think," I tell Nina. "Believe me."

"Uh-huh. 'Cause I was just thinking that he's shit at first aid," Nina tells me. "You might need a hand with this before I go to the Hellshow."

She winks at me, and I smile. I gasp when she goes to clean the cut.

"I'm sorry," Nina tells me.

I know what I have to do. I head to find Mogens at his shop.

"You could have just rung the bell, little one."

I step out from behind the shelves. "Ding, ding."

"No worries. I know all the right places to cut so I can slow you down."

Mogens goes to shoot me with the crossbow, and I slice his arm with a shadow. I'm not here to play nice. He'll be dead by the end of this, and no one will be any wiser on my powers. I'm not gonna let him hurt me again.

"You know all the places to cut," I say. "I know all the places, too."

Before Mogens can move I slice him in half. It's more than he deserves. Someone like him deserves pain. But that's the one thing he can feel. I stand over his body.

"May Saints receive you and forgive what can be forgiven."