CHAPTER THIRY-FIVE
vol ii — home turf

THE TRIO CONTINUED walking through the gorgeous buildings, admiring the landscape of each and every turn, the brick placed perfectly on each building. Dinara was completely awestruck by the way that everything was put together and managed to be kept in such a clean state, seeing as there was always another student no matter which direction they turned. Everyone was polite, saying hi and greeting anyone they saw, bright smiles plastered into their faces. They entered the courtyard, Dinara immediately catching sight of a man who had some resemblance to Jesper, looking to confirm her suspicions, seeing the boy lifeless as he stared at the man.

"Da," Jesper croaked, worried about the way his father would react to him being with a group of misfits.

Colm looked up with a relieved grin, happy that his boy was safe and sound. "Jes!" he cried, crossing the courtyard to wrap his boy in his arms and hold him tight. "All Saints, I thought you were dead. They said you weren't a student here anymore, that you'd just vanished and — I was sure you'd been stuck through by bandits or the like in this Saints-forsaken place."

"I'm alive, Da," Jesper said. "But if you keep squeezing me like that, I won't be for long." Jesper let out a cautious laugh, worried about what he would be telling his father about his past and what really happened.

"I swear you're a foot taller,"
"Half a foot. This is Wylan and Dinara."
"Nice to meet you. Do you speak Kerch?"
"Da, he speaks Kerch just fine."
"Nice to meet you, Mister Fahey."
"And you too, lad. Are you students as well."
"Saints no."
"I...have studied. Are you hungry, Mister Fahey."
"Starving."
"Maybe we could take him to lunch."
"Perfect. Who doesn't like lunch?"

They started walking, but Colm was more interested in knowing what was going on with his son. "But Jesper, what has been happening? I received a notice from the Gemensbank. The loan is coming due, and you'd have me believe it was temporary. And your studies—"

"Da, I...the thing is—" Jesper wasn't able to finish his sentence, a bullet being fired through the courtyard, landing at their feet and sending up a cloud of dust.

"What in the name that of all is holy—" Colm began, but he was unable to finish as Jesper had shoved his father behind him, pulling him towards a doorway. "Saints! This city is worse than the guidebooks said!"

Dinara was trying to figure out where the shots had been coming from and prayed that Matthias and Kaz had been returning fire. "Da, it isn't the city. They're after me. Or after us. Hard to say."

"Who's after you?" Colm asked, the thought of his only son being in danger was too much to bear and the fact that he could lose him was doing things to his mind. "Brigands?"

"Something like that," Jesper explained. He tried to get a better view of where the shooters were c but only managed to jump back as more shots rang out.

"Where the hell is that bloody boy when I need him?" Dinara asked. She grabbed her pistol that was hanging at her thigh, going silently was no longer an option. She peered around the frame, both her and Jesper letting out two shots before they ducked back, not wanting to get killed. "Wylan tell me you have more than pens, ink, and weevil makings."

"I've got two flash bombed and something new so rigged up with a little more, um, wallop," Wylan said, a small grin coating his face as he thought about all the things he was able to do.

"Bombs?"
"Think of it as a science experiment."
"What kind of numbers are we up against?"
"I feel like a proud mother right now."

"Look at you, asking all the right questions. Hard to tell. They're somewhere on the roof, and the only way out is back through the archway. That's a lot of courtyard to cross with them firing from high ground. Even if we make it, I'm guessing they're going to have plenty more thunder waiting for us outside the Boeksplein unless Kaz and Matthias somehow clear a path."

"Give me five minutes and you'll have a clear path. Wylan get them out of here," Dinara ordered, making a break for the courtyard, wishing for the bullets to miss her. She managed to duck behind a tree, spotting Kaz shooting back from behind a wall, making her way over there. She let out a curse when a bullet grazed her shoulder, but she turned around and fired until she heard the screams of pain coming from that direction. "Got you, bastard."

"Dinara, love, are you trying to get yourself killed right now?" Kaz asked, going against everything that had been flowing through his brain and reaching out to grab her coat, pulling her back into the alcove.

"Not on purpose," she said, accepting the handkerchief that was being handed to her by Kaz, placing it on her wound and tying it off with a string she had found on the ground. "I'll have Nina help me clean that later, so don't worry too much about it."

"Until the blood stops flowing, I'll be over here worrying. Plus, you seem to be on a mission to get yourself killed at the moment, so that only increases how I feel."

"You didn't even give me a chance—," Dinara started, but turned towards the boy with darkened eyes. "How did I know that you were going to be following us? You seem to think that we are incapable of handling ourselves."

"I don't doubt that you are able to take care of yourself, it's the other two that cause my worries to grow. They always seem to be getting into some kind of trouble, which means that your life is on the line due to them."

Dinara went back out shooting, trying to cover the lean figure of Jesper that was running through the courtyard. Wylan had shouted something, a small object being released from his hand, making Dinara dive backwards. She didn't have time to think about Kaz and his phobias, her body jumping on top of his and slamming him into the ground, ignoring the grunt of pain that left his lips. Thankfully, the shooting stopped and Dinara rolled off of Kaz, letting her back rest against the cobble, her chest heaving up and down. The two of them didn't say anything, dealing with the silence that had overcome them, Kaz choosing to lean up against the wall, watching as Dinara laid there with a smile on her face.

( ...⛓... )

THEY HAD MANAGED to get Colm Fahey back to a safe space, the man being silent the whole time, not really knowing what to think about his son being part of a gang. Nina had sat there analyzing the man, a horse blanket wrapped tightly around her body. Kaz was pissed that they had almost gotten themselves killed, correction, almost gotten Dinara killed. Her and her need to keep everyone safe was going to be the downfall of her and Kaz didn't want to be around to watch that happen. He just couldn't deal with the fact that if she was gone, that would be that he would be left alone to deal with the world, and no matter how much he tried to express his feelings, he was unable. But that didn't matter, she knew how he felt and he knew how she felt, so it didn't matter how much time it would take for them to come together.

"Were you followed?"
"No."
"Wylan?"
"You doubt my son's word?"
"Not personal. He doubts everyone except Di."

Kaz turned to look at Jesper's father, placing the manners his parents had forced him to learn at such a young age into play. "Apologies, Mister Fahey. A habit that one develops in the Barrel. Trust but verify."

"Or don't trust at all."
"Wylan?"

"If they'd  known about the passage, the would have followed us or had people waiting in the printers shop. We lost them."

"I counted ten on the roof."
"Sounds right. Can't be sure because of the sun."
"You were the bait."
"Pardon, lad?"
"The bank called in your loan?"

Colm looked startled, wondering how the boy with the cane understood why he was called into town. "Well, yes, as a matter of fact, they sent me a rather sternly worded letter that I'd become an unstable credit risk. They said that if I didn't pay in full, they would be forced to take legal action. I wrote to you, Jes."

"I...I haven't been able to collect mail."
"Jesper—"
"I was trying to get the money, Da."
"They're threatening to take the farm."
"I was close. I am close."
"To the money? We're in a tomb and just shot at."
"What got you on a ship to Ketterdam?"

"The bank moved up the collection date! Simply said I'd run out of time. I tried to reach Jesper, but when there was no reply, I thought —"

"You thought you'd see what your brilliant boy was up to here in the dark streets of Ketterdam," Kaz said, his brow raised as he questioned the man's actions.

"I feared the worst. The city does have a reputation," Colm said, a worried expression crossing his face as he stared at Kaz, not knowing what to make of the boy.

"Well deserved, I promise you. And when you arrived?" Kaz asked.

"I made inquiries at the university. They said he wasn't enrolled, so I went to the constabulary."

"Oh, Da. The standwatch?" Jesper asked, wincing a little as he thought of his father bringing up his name to a security guard.

"Jesper, he didn't know. Man was worried sick about you," Dinara snapped. She didn't understand why Jesper was being so hard on his father, seeing as he was the one who had kept him in the dark.

"And where was I supposed to go, Jes? You know how dangerous it is for...someone like you," Colm said, his voice barely above a whisper. They all knew what he was talking about, the Grisha abilities that Jesper managed to keep under lock and key.

"Da, you didn't tell them I'm—" Jesper started, expecting the worst to come out of his fathers mouth. That was the last thing he needed, everyone in Ketterdam to know he was a frickin Grisha.

"Of course not! I don't understand any of this. Why would you bring me to this horrible place? Why were we shot at? What has become of your studies? What has become of you?" Jesper went silent, not knowing what to say to his father.

"It was my fault," Wylan blurted out. "He uh... he was concerned about the bank loan, so he put his studies on hold to work with a..."

"Local gunsmith." Dinara shook her head at Wylan and Nina, not understanding why they were helping Jesper dig his own grave even deeper with each lie that slipped out of their lips.

colm isn't happy with his son.