Crooked Crows

5| Inej

I n e j

Jesper likely had no idea how grateful Inej was to be told she could walk above her friends. Granted, he was most likely joking but Inej took advantage of the opportunity anyways. It had been months since she was able to finally get some peace and quiet away from the crew that lived alongside her on her ship, or the prisoners that were kept beneath her. There was no sound of crashing waves against the hull, no strong smell of sea salt in her nose. Inej was so caught up on comparing her ocean life to the one she had in the Barrel, she was surprised of how badly she had missed Ketterdam that she didn't realize she had made the entire walk without even thinking and was standing on top of the Van Eck's roof.

By the time Inej unlocked, slid open, and climbed through one of the house's many windows, she finally noticed how long of a trip she must have taken. Usually she was the first one to arrive due to the rooftops being the fastest route to anywhere in the city. This time, Inej walked into the living room with the seats full of the faces of her friends looking back at her, clearly puzzled by her late arrival.

After a moment of silence while standing in the doorframe, Wylan burst from his seat and ran to greet Inej in a tight hug. So many hugs, Inej thought as she remembered the first time Jesper hugged her and she had flinched. She's a lot better with physical contact than she was two years ago when she left the Menagerie, but sometimes she couldn't help the surge of terror that ran through her. Wylan didn't seem to notice how stiff her spine was as he let her go and smiled from ear to ear. 

"So," Wylan said eagerly while running a hand through his red curls. "How many slavers did you catch?"

"Just thirteen," Inej responded, shrugging slightly.

"'Just'?! Inej that's great news," Jesper added while sitting on one of the many couches. "I saw some of the prisoners as they walked away from Fifth Harbor. What did you do, starve them in the hull?" he continued, his constant smirk turning into a full smile.

"It would have been more but we came across a few... complications," Inej said while looking into the distance. "There are still so many bad people out there that need to be caught. I can't stand to think about the same thing that happened to me happening to other girls."

"Good thing you have a map with detailed lists of all the routes slavers travel," Kaz said while looking down at his boots shyly.

"What?" Jesper and Wylan said at the same time, both looking equally as stunned by the news. Nina knew all about the map Kaz had given Inej. "Where did you get that?" Wylan added.

The night before Inej left, while her and Kaz were sitting on the roof of the Slat, Kaz had given her a departing gift.

"Do you know where you're going first?" Kaz asked, looking up and meeting Inej's soft gaze. Her long brown hair had gotten loose from its braid, and her hood had fallen down from a gust of wind.

"We're heading to Ravka first, of course. I have to drop my parents off. And then while we're there we are hoping to gather some information on what their ships have been bringing in and which ships have been carrying some suspicious cargo," Inej said as she grabbed her hood and brought it back up and over her head again. "Specht says we're likely to cross the True Sea to Novyi Zem and then to The Wandering Isle. But besides that, I'm not sure."

"Ever since you told me you were leaving, I needed Roeder to prove his worth as my new spider," Kaz said nonchalantly. Like he was trying to hide his disappointment. I'm just a valuable investment, Inej had thought. He reached into the hidden inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a tattered and folded piece of paper. "His first task," Kaz continued, "was to gain information from all the sailors in the harbors and to find out which ships are going where and what they are and aren't bringing back to Kerch. I've highlighted the routes of ships that Roeder suspects are full of slavers."