Chapter 2

~~~~LOKI~~~~

They arrived at a small cabin in the summer court a few days later. They walked in to find Jesper reclining lazily in his chair asleep. 

Inej chucked at the sight. 

"Oi!" Loki called out tipping the chair backward with her foot. The chair leaned and then fell with a large crash, Jesper's head banging harshly on the ground. 

"OUCH!" He roared holding his rattled skull, "What was that for?" 

"You are on lookout. We leave for the ship tomorrow morning before the sun has time to see what we're up to, you hear me?" Loki addressed the crows. 

"Sure boss, but do you have to crack my skull in the process?" Jesper groaned in annoyance.

They all settled in to sleep quickly, though Loki's was not as peaceful as she would have liked. 

Loki had always been a trickster. She got in trouble as a child for her lying and sticky hands, the only person who really stood up for Loki was her brother Jordie. 

Brother in the loosest sense of the word. They were both raised in an orphanage in inner-city Hybern, adopting each other as siblings. 

She thought of all the kids as her siblings, but her relationship with Jordie was special.

One day, when Loki was seven years old, the matron of the Orphanage came back, more crazed than usual. She had always been a neglectful, abusive bitch but they had never seen the look in her eye before. 

Unknown to the children in her care, the matron had managed to piss off the King of Hybern's niece and nephew at a bar that night. 

The King of Hybern's DAEMATI niece and nephew. 

The twins had messed with her mind to the point of insanity, so when she came back she began slaughtering all of them. 

She ripped the children apart with her bare hands. 

Loki watched as the matron bit through Jordie's throat with her teeth. 

In an attempt at survival, Loki once again relied on her tricks. She pulled Jordie's corpse on top of her, allowing Jordie to protect her one last time. 

She felt Jordie's blood running down her porcelain skin, it seeped into her clothes, into her hair, into her skin. 

She felt the cold touch of Jordie's flesh on her skin. Disgust and horror filled her but she did not move, she could not move as she watch the matron slaughter the rest of them. 

Twenty-seven children. Her siblings. All slaughtered like cattle. But she could not move. 

No one came.

No one helped them. 

No one to mourn with her. 

She was alone. 

Loki gasped awaked, sweat coating her skin as she raced to the bathroom, emptying her dinner into the toilet. 

She had not been the same since then. 

She hated the feel of other people's skin, even after all these years Loki still felt Jordie's flesh when others touched her. She felt the iron grip of the matron. She felt the cold hand of death that she had continued to avoid until now. 

Loki Brekker hated being touched, she hated touching others. 

Rumors about the reason behind her iconic gloves were some of her favorite tales of gossip in the barrel. 

'They're scared' 

'They are claws'

'They're stained red with the blood of all her victims.'

'She had magic that destroys anything she touches so she has to wear gloves. '

That last one had always been one of her personal favorites. 

Loki calmed herself. Throwing water on her face, ignoring the deep purple eyebags glaring at her from her reflection in the mirror.

Loki had tasted the horrors of the world, so she spat it back and became worse than the monsters haunting her.

She steeled her cold heart and became the monster that monsters run from. 

But inside, she was a broken twenty-year-old fae who lost too much too soon. 

"Move your ass'! Matthias and Wylan should be at the boat waiting for us." Loki announced startling the two sleeping girls from their sleep.

Loki listened to the whispers of the book, allowing it to lead her to where the cauldron is. She figured, like calls to like,  so the book could probably bring them to that cauldron. And boy was she lucky it did. 

Even Loki wasn't entirely sure if her strategies were genius or sheer dumb luck. But she knew gambling well enough to know not to question when the odds swung your way.

With that, they headed to the dock to make their great escape from the Summer Court.

~~~~~~NYX~~~~~~

The Inner Circle had been in a panic for days searching the entirety of Velaris for the book. Not even Azriel's shadows could find the thieves, or for some reason, they were refusing to. 

They were all frustrated to no end that someone could sneak into their house without a trace. Angry at themselves for what dangers these must lead to. 

"Let's just ask a suriel!" Feyre said on the fifth day of their search. 

Everyone agreed and Feyre, Rhysand, and Nyx set out to catch a Suriel. 

It didn't take long, as apparently, Nyx had inherited Feyre's unnatural ability to become besties with the gossiping Suriels. 

"The royals of Night. What is it you wish to ask? I will only grant you one question." The Suriel crooned. 

Feyre stepped slightly in front of her son. Even though he was a head taller than her she still acted as if he was a small baby. 

"How do we retrieve the book of breathing?" Feyre's voice was steadfast and strong, the voice of a true high lady.

"You can catch a liar with a lie. You can catch a stalker by stalking them... To catch a thief... You need a thief. Go to Hybern, in the city of Ketterdam. Only Loki Brekker, Queen of the thieves, can get you back the book. The Bastard of the Barrel, dirty hands Brekker... You will need her more than you think, not just for the retrieval of the book."

The Suriel turned all its attention to Nyx smirking, "Especially you son of Night. Yes, you will need Loki Brekker most of all in the coming days. Keep the Lady of Lies close to you, Heir of the night court." 

"What does that mean? Why would I need her?" Nyx furrowed his eyebrows confused by the Suriels demands. 

Feyre had a strange sense of Deja vu. As if she had received a similar vague warning once before. 

With that, they freed the Suriel to relay to the Inner Circle what they found. 

They decided to go all together, leaving Nesta, and Amren to defend the night court in their absence. 

It took a few hours and a lot of winnowing before they finally arrived on the dark, damp street of Ketterdam. 

It smelled like vomit and booze. The streets were dark and littered with filth. If there was an opposite to Velaris, Ketterdam was it. 

"Now what are you skivs doin' in a place like this?" A raspy voice sounded from a dark ally. 

It was an older human woman. She wiped her oil-covered hands on her apron as she approached the group. 

"What are skivs?" Nyx asked his father with his daemati powers, only to get a shrug in return. 

"We're looking for someone, we need their help. We are looking for Loki Brekker." Mor stepped towards the woman her voice strong but friendly. 

"What do people like you want with dirty hands? No offense but you don't look like the type who couldn't handle their own problems just by payin' someone off." The old woman chuckled looking at their neat and wealthy appearance. 

"Please, can you tell us where we can find her?" Feyre interjected. 

"Ya, I can take you to the crow's nest. But you shouldn't walk into the barrel dressin' like that. The thieves will rob you blind and the whores'll be all over ya. Here you can borrow some of my kids' clothes." The old women waved them into the run-down building. Handing them each clothes that were close enough to their size.

They were made horrible and the fabric was stained and dirtied from years of use. 

Feyre couldn't help but remember her years of poverty before she came to Prythian. 

Rhysand couldn't help but remember his time as a child at the Illyrian camps. 

Mor just complained about the horrendous outfit change. 

"Alright now remember, girls don't get too close to the alley's snatchers with drag you to a whore house and brand you quicker than you can pray to the cauldron. Boys don't check your wallets, you'll show thieves right where they are. Walk fast and don't talk to anyone till we get to the crow club." The old woman said walking quickly towards the barrel. 

The Inner Circle did as they were told, trying to blend into the crowd. They finally reached the club and the old woman, whose name they learned was Mira, walked up to the hulking man guarding the door.

"I got a couple of high rollers looking for Loki, they gotta job for the crows," Mira told the man. 

"You can head in, Marco should be working the decks, ask him if Loki's available." The deep voice of the man rumbled within each of them as he moved aside to let them pass. 

They were shocked to see the bustling party scene. "Oh hell yes," Cassian muttered to his son, as they looked across the gambling den and endless booze. 

They shook themselves as they followed behind Mira, trying not to lose the small woman in the crowd. They made it to a table in the back and saw a man shuffling cards at insane speeds. 

Nyx looked in awe of the tricks and quickness of the dealer's hands. 

"Marco! I got some Skivs lookin' for Loki! They gotta job, she available?" Mira shouted over the head of some drunk. 

"Nah sorry," Marco called back focusing on the dealings. 

"We really need to see her now." Rhysand stepped in, attempting to stress the importance of seeing her. 

"Listen skiv, it's not my call. Loki took some men on a job, she won't be back for about a week. You can come back then and see if she could help you." Marco responded sending Rhysand a cold glare.

Rhysand was surprised that Marco didn't seem intimidated in the least. How could he be? His boss was Loki Brekker. 

Rhysand looked back helplessly at the inner circle, all of them realizing that they would have to hope nothing happened in the week they were waiting for Loki to return to the barrel.