The next morning, Winnie awoke to an empty room.
She almost couldn't believe she had fallen asleep.
Why had her mind allowed her this gift?
Did it have anything to do with what happened with Kaz last night?
Stop.
That memory was going to stay hidden deep in her mind. Locked away and the key tossed to the side.
She got up to put her waistcoat back on and turned around to the sofa to see Kaz's blazer and waistcoat were gone.
So he was gone too. But where?
A knock on her door answered her question.
Jesper turned the handle and walked in.
"Up and at 'em, blondie. We still have to figure out a way into the Little Palace and as a former resident your services are required to help us."
"Kaz didn't come up with something?" Winnie asked as she pulled on her waistcoat.
"Clearly not. He's been downstairs brooding for the last couple of hours. Told us not to wake you, despite our protests."
Winnie looked down at her buttons and did each one up.
A vivid flicker of her undoing Kaz's buttons came into her mind which she swiftly put back in its locker.
"How does Arken seem? Has his complaining ass come up with anything?" she asked.
"Nope. He's been oddly quiet and keeps walking over to the group who were performing last night for some reason."
Winnie walked over to a small mirror which hung on the wall next to the door and fixed her hair into a half up half down style with strands falling from the front over her face.
"Interesting. Well, if he's not going to chip in someone has too", she said as she walked past him out the door and down the stairs to the pub.
As she entered, she saw Kaz standing at the bar which his hands resting on the wooden surface. Inej was to his left and there were three glasses of beer out in front of them. Arken was nowhere to be seen.
Winnie took in a small breath making sure Jesper would take the seat to the right of Kaz so she could put someone in between them.
Once he had, she took her own seat to his right and stole one of the glasses of beer.
"Hey, that's mine", Jesper complained.
"Zip it. I've just woken up", she said as she took a couple of big gulps of the beer.
"Do either of you two have any plans up your sleeves?" Inej asked her and Kaz.
Kaz glanced towards Winnie, but she refused to look at him in the eye and instead chose to look down at the glass of beer she was cradling in between her two hands.
"I was thinking, what about secret passages. There has to be some in there, right?" Jesper asked and the other two joined him in turning towards Winnie.
She kept her glance down at the glass.
"I only know of one. I used it to escape but I couldn't tell you where it is. I was only shown it once. Besides, the entrance to it is on the Palace ground and can only be accessed by a shadow summoner. I won't be able to show it to you or open it since me going anywhere near those grounds is off the table."
After a minute of contemplation Jesper added, "I mean, Kribirsk isn't the worst. We can open up a bar. Brew East Ravkan beer for the Westerners?"
"Shut up, Jesper", Winnie, Kaz and Inej all said at the same time in the same fed-up tone.
"I miss Milo", Jesper said sadly and took a sip from another one of the glasses of beer.
"Who's Milo?" Winnie asked.
"The goat", Jesper replied in a shocked voice.
"I named him Mace", Winnie remarked.
"And I named him Milo. Since I'm the one who had him in my care last night and on the train, I think I take precedence on the name."
Winnie was far too exhausted to argue with Jesper again over something stupid, so she simply rolled her eyes and took another sip of her beer.
"Friends", Arken said as he came up behind them.
At the sound of his voice, Winnie downed what was left in her glass.
"What are you so cheery about?" Kaz asked, noticing the large smile on Arkens face.
"This is Marko", Arken started and pulled forward a short man with long black hair and a beard who had tears scattered across his face.
"Marko is the leader of the traveling troupe known as the Pomdrakon Players. They had been invited to perform in this year's Winter Fete."
"A life-long dream", Marko said sadly.
Winnie and Inej shared a look across the bar.
"Yes, yes. A chance to get inside the Little Palace. But they lost their star performer due to an unfortunate freak accident. They are in desperate need of someone with the skills to replace their star performer and as Ketterdam's premier talent manager, I had an idea", Arken said.
Winnie remembered the girl from last night who fell from the silks behind them.
Arken, you sneaky bastard.
If she didn't loathe him so much, she would dare say she was impressed. Being around the four of them had clearly rubbed off on him.
At the mention of needing someone who can do silks, Winnie stood up and walked around to Inej.
Kaz and Jesper both turned to face the small Suli girl with expectant looks on their faces.
"Inej, you don't have to-" Winnie whispered to her friend.
She knew that being around silks only bought up memories of Inej's past, and with it her family.
"As a friend once said, if I can't crack this none of us are going anywhere", Inej cut Winnie off.
Winnie gave her an understanding and appreciative glance.
Inej began taking off her knives and handed them to the shadow summoner and with a small smile walked past her towards the silks.
Winnie closed her hands around Inej's most prized possessions before turning around and coming face to face with Kaz, making eye contact with him for the first time that day.
She spoke with her eyes as if to say I don't approve of this.
But after being met with Kaz's familiar blank expression, she walked past him to take her place at the front of the audience to watch Inej.
Jesper, Kaz, Arken and Marko followed her and watched as Inej gracefully wrapped herself around the silks and put on an astonishing performance which garnered gasps of entertainment and cheers from the audience.
Winnie and Kaz both kept averting their gaze to Marko, watching for his tells if he was impressed enough to let them join him.
When Inej had finished, the audience erupted into cheers and Winnie and Jesper happily joined in.
Marko walked towards Inej, "The Saints must have sent you. Yes. The show will go on. Now."
He snapped his fingers and one of the troupe members bought forward a costume with stripes of red, orange, and yellow, covered in glitter.
"Can you fit into this?" he asked as he held it up.
Inej's look of horror made Winnie let out a scoff before she bought her hand up to her mouth.
"Of course she can", Jesper said as he came up behind Arken with a smile.
"Those are her colours, but the thing is, Inej comes as part of a package deal", he continued as he spun Arken around and gestured to himself, Arken and Kaz.
"No free rides", Marko scolded. "What are your talents?"
Before anyone could protest, Jesper was pulling out one of his guns and whispering something to Inej.
He took a seat with his back to where Inej had tied herself up in the air using the silks. She had a playing card in her mouth and was hanging upside down.
Jesper bought up a mirror and angled it so he could see behind himself.
He blew an air kiss at his own reflection causing Winnie to let out a sigh and roll her eyes.
His gun was raised in his right hand over his left shoulder and after he had kissed the barrel of it, he pointed it to aim.
After a few seconds, Inej was turned in the perfect position. Jesper fired his gun, and the bullet went right through the card.
Inej worked her way back down elegantly and Jesper took in the applause of the audience with a radiant expression.
Marko laughed with glee as he took the card from Inej and hugged Jesper with approval.
Jesper sent Winnie a small wink whilst she slowly clapped sarcastically at his exaggerated performance.
Marko turned towards Kaz.
"The stage is yours, sir", he said to Kaz who met him with a blank expression.
Winnie raised her eyebrows and a small smile formed on her lips as she turned to Kaz.
"I'll make my own way", Kaz replied quickly.
Winnie let out a scoff before Marko turned to her.
"And what about you, young lady?"
"Oh, I have many talents. But they're not exactly ones to perform in front of an audience", she said in a flirtatious tone as she took a step towards Marko.
"I'd need a more private space. If you catch my drift", she whispered to him.
Marko swallowed hard and smiled greedily.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have one more tag along. Especially one so beautiful", he replied.
Winnie didn't see Kaz's hands clutch his cane tightly whilst his jaw clenched, and eyes filled with anger.
"Perfect. I won't be coming along, I'm afraid. So I offer up my place to him", she said pointing to Arken.
She knew Kaz could find a way in himself, but unless Arken could rise the same level of cheer from the crowd with his engineering equations, he was going to need help getting a spot in the troupe.
Marko began stumbling over his words trying to find a coherent argument to protest, but Winnie stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you. I wish you all luck in your performance", she said as she turned to walk off.
Inej trailed her closely whilst Jesper walked off, giving Marko a pat in the back. Arken smiled softly and then followed, leaving Kaz who glared hardly at the troupe leader before limping towards the exit.
"That was impressive", Jesper exclaimed.
"Your talent may be shooting, but flirting achieves the same thing, if not more", she responded with a small wink.
"I've taught you well", Jesper replied.
Winnie let out a small chuckle and punched him lightly on the arm, making him swing his arm around her shoulders and pull her into his side.
Arken and Kaz walked out of the door soon after.
"You're not coming with us?" Arken asked.
"As I've already mentioned. I'm not going anywhere near the inside of that place. I'll stay here to make sure they don't pull in the guards that will be around here inside. If they do, it'll probably mean they know something is going on. I'll take that as a hint that you've either already been captured or will soon be and will begin to get myself as far away from here as possible. If that doesn't happen, I'll wait until it's dark and use the cover of the shadows to meet Jesper in the courtyard where hopefully he manages to grab us a carriage out of here", Winnie explained.
"Right", Arken replied.
"You should all probably get going. This isn't an opportunity you can afford to miss", she said.
Jesper pulled her from his side and gave her a full hug.
"I'll see you soon. Don't get captured or die or anything, ok?" he said with concern in his voice.
"I won't", she chuckled as she held him tightly.
As she pulled away, Inej was already in front of her and pulled her into an even tighter hug.
"I second what Jesper said. Be careful", she said.
Winnie pulled away and nodded before reaching into her pockets and pulling out the knives Inej had handed to her.
Inej left one behind in her palm.
"I know you don't need it, but it'll bring me some peace to know you have it to protect you. Just in case", she said.
Winnie closed her hands around the blade and gave Inej a grateful look and sweet smile.
She turned to Arken. "You're their brains now. You know the inside better than they do from Nina", she started before walking past Inej towards him.
"Don't fuck it up", she warned as she pointed Inej's knife in his direction. "And also don't die. We need you to get back."
Arken gave her a nod that he understood whilst he trembled slightly under her threat.
Arken, Jesper and Inej took their leave to join the troupe but not before Jesper gave her a final kiss on the cheek.
Once they were out of sight, Winnie turned to Kaz.
"I'm assuming there's no good luck hug coming from you, Brekker", she said in a stern tone.
Kaz simply looked at her with his expressionless eyes.
"You remember the plan, then? You'll find the guard uniforms you need in my bedroom drawers. They always kept spares in there for when I ..." she stopped herself before she could say anymore.
"It's located in the left wing. Second floor-"
"Third door on the left", Kaz finished.
"Right", she whispered. "I'll see you at the carriage, then", she said as she turned to re-enter the pub.
"Wait", Kaz said.
Winnie froze in her steps and slowly turned back around to face him.
"Stay hidden. You won't be in my sight, so I won't know if you're safe", he started.
Winnie tilted her head slightly.
"Just promise me that if anything seems off, you'll turn away. Don't come for us. Just head back to Arken's train and wait there for a few days. If we don't show, then go."
Winnie nodded slightly.
"I want you to promise me something too, Brekker", she said.
"If something does happen to me, you'll do the same."
Kaz lifted his chin and kept his face blank.
"There will be no hope of getting me out of my father's grip if he catches me again. If you try, you're asking for death", she explained.
"He won't catch you", Kaz said sternly.
"I know. Just promise me. Promise me that you'll get them out of here."
Kaz held out his hand for Winnie to shake.
She slowly lifted her hand up to his.
"The deal is the deal", he said as their hands shook.
"The deal is the deal", she repeated.
They found their hands linger in each other's grip.
Winnie pulled hers away and cleared her throat.
"You should go, too. You still don't have a way in."
"Don't worry about me, Marth. I always have something up my sleeve", he replied.
Winnie gave him a soft smile.
She wanted to hug him. To tell him to be careful, to stay safe, to stay alive. She wanted him to tell her the same. And most selfishly of all, she wanted to tell him to stay with her. To protect her. And to come for her despite the danger if she was taken.
But she turned her back to him and walked into the bar and up to her room to wait the night out.
Alone and afraid.
Not knowing if the man she loved was dead or alive.
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Idk about this chapter ... ew <3