⌜ chapter three ⌟

"What was that? Hm?" Inej questions as she looks at Kaz; he puts away his pocket watch. "You want to tell me?"

"You'll have to be more specific." He tells her as he starts going through the things on his desk.

"It was one thing when we had at least a week to find a way across the Fold, but sunrise? We have to say no."

"No."

"That's a no to the job then?"

"That's a no to saying no." He says as he looks up at her.

"We can't go!"

"Can't we?" He questions, and she straightens her arm to pull up the sleeve, revealing what seems to be a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist.

"I can't go." She tells him.

"You will." He says as he continues with what he's doing. "I have a plan."

"No, you don't."

"Inej."

"I've worked for you long enough to know when you are still figuring things out." She tells him, and he looks back at her. "And you don't know how to pull off this job."

"I still have six hours, and right now, you aren't helping."

"Maybe you crack out to find a way across, but that doesn't solve this problem, does it!" She snaps as she holds her wrist in front of him. "Or maybe now you're planning to replace me with her!"

"I feel like I shouldn't be here for this conversation." Arya says as she gets to her feet. "I'll just go into the other-"

"No!" Kaz yells as he glances her way, and she rolls her eyes as she sits back where she was before. "If I can't crack this, no one's going anywhere." He tells Inej.

"If you do?"

"Then maybe you stay here." He snaps as he looks at her again, and she looks genuinely taken aback.

"Maybe I won't be here when you get back." She takes a step away from his desk and then turns around and leaves.

"Inej! Inej!" He calls after her, but finds that she's already gone.

Arya looks over at Kaz, seeing his head drop because he knows that he messed up. She can see that he genuinely cares for her, and what he just said really hurt her.

"Keep your comments to yourself." Kaz says as he starts back toward his desk, seeing that Arya's still looking at him.

"This may come as a surprise to you — since you've learned so much about me in the half a night that we've known each other — but I'm not typically one to kick a man while he's down." The brunette says as she leans back in the seat that she's been in since they got back to the club, resting her head on the top of it as she stares at the ceiling.

After a couple minutes of listening to Kaz rummage through his things, Arya gets to her feet and walks over to a painting that he has of the Fold. It's a large, black mass. It holds some resemblance to storm clouds, especially with the lightning that seems to ripple through it.

"If I didn't already know what hell looked like, I'd probably think this is pretty close." She says, and Kaz lifts his head to look at her.

"You know what hell looks like?"

"The demons used to describe it when they came across me. They wanted me to know what it looked like when they tortured my father. Of course, they didn't know that he was my father; just that he was important to me. Family." She tells him. "Actually, this might be pretty close to what it looks like: monsters, carnage, the hopeless dead, and tormented souls."

"What makes you think your father's in hell?"

"No, uh... He's not anymore, but he used to be." She says as she looks away from the black mass on the painting. "His soul was pulled from hell by an angel. Too bad divine intervention isn't as good in reality as it is in theory. Actually, I think we might've been worse off after they came back to earth."

"Angels?" He quirks an eyebrow.

"Mhm. Celestial beings that live in heaven." She explains. "My world's version of a higher power."

"You're saying that they're real?" He asks, and she nods as she looks at him.

"Unfortunately. Angels, demons, heaven, hell — they're all real." Arya says as she walks over to his desk to stand across from him. "I don't know what similarities they hold to your...Saints, but maybe don't tell Inej what I told you. The angels aren't all they're cracked up to be. I hate them, personally. Well, all but maybe one."

"Why not tell Inej?"

"Because I've learned that faith in a higher power is a lot less about what's really there, and a lot more about having hope." She tells him. "If you lose hope, what do you really have left?"

Kaz looks at her for a moment longer, still processing everything that she said, before returning his attention to what he was doing before she mentioned hell. She turns away from him and walks toward the door, using the hatch in the top of it to look out at the people in the club.

"Eating is something that the people in this world do, right?" Arya asks as she looks back over at her keeper. "I had been busy when I got dropped here. I haven't eaten in at least a day."

"I'm not your errand boy."

"Well, I'm not allowed out of your sight, and I'm starving." She argues as she walks back over to where he's working. "Not to mention, you and Inej have both pointed out that my clothes don't do well to help me blend in here."

"Fine." He turns on his heel to look at her. "If it'll make you shut up."

"Has anybody ever told you that you are incredibly charming?" She asks sarcastically as he walks away from her.

Once he's gone, Arya walks back over to look at the painting. It's strange — she knows there are murderous creatures inside and that many have died trying to cross it, but something about it seems to intrigue her. She supposes it's because she's always tried to find the beauty in the evil.

A noise from the back makes her turn. "Inej?" She calls. "Inej?" The brunette starts in the direction that it came from, but she stops when she sees two large men come into the doorway instead of who she was expecting. "My life can never just be easy, can it?"

"Where is Kaz Brekker?" One of them asks, and she looks at him.

"Who?" She raises her eyebrows.

"You're in his club."

"Um... Six-foot, dark hair, bad attitude?" She shrugs. "Sorry, never heard of him. I think I'm in the wrong room." The brunette swipes a letter opener off of the desk and swings it at one of the men, but he takes a step back.

The tip of the blade slices across his cheek bone, and he hisses in pain as the other man makes a grab for her. She ducks under his arms and slams her elbow into his ribs before trying to make a break for the door. He gets a hold of her arm, but she doesn't go back the way he was hoping, and instead they roll across the floor.

Arya loses the knife when he lands a punch to her face, and then she brings her knee up into his ribs. She manages to force him to the side, and then she tries to go for the knife, but he grabs her and gets his hand around her throat.

Kaz walks back into the room then, cane in one hand and a plate of food in the other, as the man halls her to her feet. Green eyes land on him as Arya pants. "Oh, Kaz. I thought you said cats. I'm allergic." She says, but then his grip on her throat tightens.

"Stop talking."

The other man goes after Kaz, and he manages to take him down just as quickly, slamming his head down onto his desk. Arya gasps as the man holding her continues to squeeze her throat and make it impossible for her to breathe properly. She's trying to pry his hand off of her as Kaz looks up at her from where he's now on his knees.

"Evening." A man greets as he walks into the doorway, and Arya's then turned so that she can see him as he speaks. "Mr. Brekker, is it? And his associate." He looks at her, and she wheezes an inhale as the man holding her lets up a bit on her throat.

"You're a long way from home." Kaz says as he looks at Pekka Rollins.

"Am I?" He questions, removing his hat as he moves closer before sitting down in front of the younger man. "Like you were earlier? When you took a Grisha from the Orchid."

"The Orchid isn't Dime Lions turf."

"Well, it's a new acquisition." He smirks. "You heard it here first. Now." He looks at his henchman, and he tosses Kaz's cane to him. "Now, I know you saw Dreesen. You got the jump on whatever job he has. I don't know the details, obviously, just that you have a little travel hazard ahead of you. So, here's the deal. You can do nothing, walk away from it. I'll tell Dreesen I'm taking over for you. Then we're even."

"Not even close." Kaz doesn't skip a beat.

"Hang on." He leans forward and uses the top of the cane to grab Kaz by the back of the neck as he leans forward. "The other option is... I'll cave your head in with your own cane and dump you in the harbor...and your little girlfriend too." He looks up at Arya, and she struggles against the man holding her, and Kaz hears her struggling to breathe as the hand around her throat tightens again. "That first option seems better now, doesn't it?"

Pekka lets go of Kaz and gets to his feet. His eyes land on Arya then, and her jaw tightens as she looks at him.

"Tell me..." Kaz starts, and he looks back at him. "Have we ever made a deal before?"

"You and me? Nah." He glances at his henchmen. "Otherwise you'd know better. Or you'd be dead."

Pekka looks back at Arya, and she struggles against the man holding her as he moves closer to them. The hand on her throat loosens, and she inhales deeply as she stops struggling, regaining her composure as she glares at him.

"I like you." He chuckles. "Little fighter. I think I could use someone like you. What do you say, hm? Leave the boy, move on to bigger and better things."

Her eyes turn colder, harder. She throws her weight back as she quickly raises her legs into the air, and slams the bottoms of her combat boots into his ribs. Pekka stumbles back, and the man holding her throws her to the ground hard. He uses his foot to force her to roll onto her back, and then his boot is on her throat, applying just enough pressure to cut off airflow without injuring her neck or throat. She can't get him off of her because she's not strong enough to move his entire body weight with only her arms.

"Let her go." Pekka tells him as he straightens out his vest. "She can stay at the bottom of the Barrel, if that's her wish."

He removes his foot, and Arya gasps as she reaches up to clutch her throat. The brunette turns onto her side in a coughing fit, and she tries to straighten herself up.

"Come on." He throws the cane down on the desk, and then his other henchman shoves Kaz to the floor beside Arya before the three men leave.

Kaz pushes himself up, looking at Arya as she struggles to catch her breath. Her face is red as she tries to slow her cough by breathing through her nose, but it's still a struggle. Slowly, she manages to steady her breathing, and then she drops her hand from her throat.

"Are you alright?"

Arya hesitates for a moment as she looks at him, her green eyes meeting his blue ones. "Now that I can breathe." Her voice is hoarse as she nods.

"How badly are you hurt?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"The biggest blow was to my ego." The brunette tells him. "I'm okay." She looks at him for a moment longer before getting to her feet.

Arya moves back toward his desk and she picks up the cane that Pekka discarded there. She looks at the crow's head before tossing the cane into the air and then catching the opposite end of it, then she turns and holds it out toward Kaz. He takes it and then turns for the door, prompting Arya to follow after him.

The two make their way to the bar where Jesper's standing, and they see Inej walking toward the door.

"Are you alright, boss?" Jesper asks when he sees the still disgruntled Kaz stop at his side. He watches Kaz grab the shot that was just placed in front of him, and Arya chuckles when he covers his mouth to mask his mild irritation.

"No." Kaz slams the empty glass down on the counter. "I've been warned off the job."

"By who?"

"A jackass with a scruffy face." Arya grumbles as she reaches up and rubs her neck.

"Who do you think?" Kaz glances at Jesper.

"Did he remember you?" He asks as his boss turns away from him, looking down at his pocket watch as he faces Arya.

"If he had, we'd be dead." He says, and his gaze turns briefly to the brunette beside him; her eyes are scanning the club as she absentmindedly touches her neck.

"What happened to you?" Jesper moves closer to Arya, and she grabs his hand when he reaches toward her, forcing it down as she looks up at him. He raises his eyebrows when he sees the angry look in her eyes. "I was only going to move your hair. It looks like you have a bruise."

The brunette lets out a deep exhale as she lets go of him. "Sorry." She mutters, and he reaches up to do as he said he was going to. She looks away from him as he looks at the discolored skin.

Kaz watches her as Jesper carefully places the back of his index finger under her chin and tilts her head to allow better lighting on her neck. There's what looks like fingers bruising on her skin.

"You said you weren't badly injured."

"I'm not." Arya says as she turns her head to look at Kaz. "This is nothing compared to how I've been hurt in the past. It'll heal."

"This is from Pekka's men?" Jesper asks, and she looks at him briefly, but doesn't answer before she looks away from him.

"Sunrise is in five hours." Kaz says.

"Yeah, but we're off the job now, right?" He asks as his boss moves past them to look out at the club.

"Never make decisions out of fear, Jesper." He tells him. "Only out of spite."

"Well, greed always worked for me." He smirks, and Kaz glances at him.

"Go guard the door." He orders, and then Jesper walks away.

Arya looks up at Kaz as he looks around the club, pushing his hair back. "You're too young to be so angry all the time." She says, and he looks down at her.

"You don't know anything about me."

"Hm. It's a wonder I don't, considering how friendly and open you are." She says sarcastically, and he turns to face her.

"I'm not here to make friends."

"I noticed." She nods, not backing up despite their close proximity and the obvious annoyance he constantly feels toward her. "Gets lonely though."

"Was that a question?"

"No. That was me speaking from experience." She tells him. "I stopped making friends when all the people that I loved kept getting killed. Now I'm just looking to go home."

"To be alone?" He questions.

"My world may be hell on earth, but it's still my world... And I have my own Pekka Rollins to go back and kill." Arya adds as she looks away from him, resulting in her missing when his expression softens. He can see the pain in her eyes at the mere thought of whoever this person is.

The brunette's still watching the people in the club when something seems to catch Kaz's attention. He turns away from her, his focus lasering in on something that she's not seeing the way that he is, then he makes a motion to the man who told them that Dreesen was looking for a Heartrender.

"What is it?" She asks as she looks from him to Kaz.

Instead of answering, Kaz turns to the bartender and tells him to get Arya something to eat. He then looks down at the brunette again. "Come straight back when you have your food." He orders before starting back toward his living quarters.

"Yes, master." She mutters, rolling her eyes as she turns to look at the bartender.