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˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  DEADLY GHOSTS ❱
*✧ ─── ❝ ❪ LITTLE GHOST GIRL ! ❫ ❞
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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ ACT ONE ── no mourners 🪶 ⁺⑅

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SIX OF CROWS ⋆ 🪦.
♯ ❝ YOU'RE JUST EARLY ❞
CHAPTER ONE ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚ ₊ ♡ book one ─── age 17
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FOR A DEAD GIRL, MIRIAM DARA'S HEART WAS BEATING QUITE WELL. NOT THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD SEEM TO THINK SO. SHE AFTER ALL WAS NO ONE. NOTHING MEMORABLE OR ENTHRALLING. Though quite morbid ━dead was quite appealing and very useful to be.

Miriam encased death as if it were a simple cloak shielding her from the cold of Ketterdam. She wrapped it around her diligent fingers, and dipped her words in between deceased dreams. Shrouded her eyes in shadows and walked through walls. A pretty little ghost girl. Equally alive and dead. She liked to think it was an extraordinary gift to be both.

And fate had gifted her many more things, but destiny took more than she could afford.

Her steps were quiet, like the a flap of the wing of a butterfly. The streets of The Barrel, a tangle of narrow streets and minor waterways was her terrain, her graveyard to haunt. Like herself, alive and dead, beautifully contradicting, The Barrel is equally parted. The dark and dangers of West Stave where gangs rule ruthlessly and gamblers try to chase a thrill. And East Stave, full of light and music, the colourful costumes of the Komedie Brute. The brothels, while mighty charming looking to outsiders might hold more terrible monsters than East Stave can ever muster.

Music floated out of parlours where the doors had been flung open, and men and women lounged on couches in little more than scraps of silk and gaudy baubles. Acrobats dangled from cords over the canal, lithe bodies garbed in nothing but glitter, while street performers played their fiddles, hoping to garner a coin or two from passers-byers. Hawkers shouted at the sleek private gondels of rich merchers in the canal and the larger browboats that brought tourists and sailors inland from the Lid.

As if she was a shadow herself, Miriam blended into the busy crowd. She moved around like her body was not made of solid flesh. No sound, no little creak as she ducked inside the first little passageway, shielded from eager eyes. Her hand came into contact with the first broken brick and she hauled herself up. But while she might have blended with the scenery, even she could not turn to dust.

"You're late." The monotonous drawl, the sound of rocks scrapping together.

"You're just early Brekker." Her words sounded joking, but even she did not meet the eyes of Dirtyhands as she spoke them. Joking during buisness was a dangerous feat. While she had known him almost as long as she'd been a little ghost drifting around Ketterdam, the boy still managed to sent shivers of fear through her body.

Kaz Brekker didn't say anything, just tapping his gloved fingers against crow cane twice. Taking his silence as an invite, Miriam hauled herself over the last ledge like the graceful little Suli girl she was.

The House of the White Rose was one of the more luxurious establishments on West Stave. It had its own dock, and its gleaming white stone façade looked less like a pleasure house than a mercher mansion. Its window boxes were always bursting with climbing white roses, and their scent clung dense and sweet over this portion of the canal.

Miriam hated the very smell. Russet eyes set on the boy himself. His face impassive, but over the years, the brunette had learned little tells. His eyes always did manage to betray him.

The distaste was as clearly written in them, as it once had been displayed on Inej face when the young Suli girl had spotted the fake Suli fortune tellers with their Jackal mask and unauthentic orange silks for the first time.

Slowly, her upper lip twisted into a smirk, "Any reason you wanted to meet up in a pleasure house?"

Kaz scoffed, eyes focused on the wall where he was leaning against, and with a quick glance, Miriam noted he tried to avoid leaning on his bad leg. "You only ever have to ask Kaz, you're a handsome boy. I might even say yes." She turned her voice sultry, grabbing one of the silk curtains to drape around her body like a gown.

Kaz did not smile, but once again, his eyes betrayed him when he regarded her overly dramatic display. "I'm glad my advances amuse you Dirtyhands." She spoke, her tone back to normal, though their was a hint of pride in them.

She liked the fact that Kaz at least did not think her completely humourless.

Her gaze slowly drifted to the wooden panels where a couple peepholes were located. The peepholes were a feature of all the brothels. They were a way to keep employees safe and honest, and they offered a thrill to anyone who enjoyed watching others take their pleasure.

She wondered if Kaz had ever gone for pleasure instead of business. But she quickly dismissed the idea. Kaz would rather choke on his own spit.

"Nina still busy?" She inquired she moved around the little bedroom, little trinkets  were sprawled around the room, but most was void of any personality. Her hands glided over the soft bedsheets before she let herself fall down on the velvet fabric. Her eyes remained trained on the ceiling, hair sprawling around her like raging waves.

"When is she not?"

Miriam hummed, eyes flickering around the ceiling, wordlessly counting the wooden panels. "So when will you disclose this grandiose plan of yours? Inej was scarce on the details. Mostly complaining about acquiring a new hat."

"That is not important now." Kaz deflected with a shrug of his shoulders, he was tapping his crow head cane again. Patience running thin it seemed.

This time Miriam scoffed, as she pushed herself back to a sitting position to glare at the back of Kaz' head. He was looking through the peephole.

There was rustling, soft voices echoing through the wall and Miriam took this as her time to blend away in shadows before Kaz could even mutter the words.

She was out the window again, feet moving along the stone roof, a carefree smile on her face as she moved high up in the sky. It reminded her of the ship that took her to Ketterdam. If she closed her eyes, she could almost taste the salt water on her tongue.

In quick movements, Miriam had crossed the roof and let herself drop down on the stone roof, feet dangling next to the window of Nina Zenik's little parlour room. She could not see them, and they could not see her.

While Inej had been a little spider, gathering secrets in her web—Miriam was brough into the Dregs as a safety precaution. She was very good at making murder look like the common flue taking its next life.

Who would ever believed a ghost had murdered anyone?

Three loud clicks of Kaz' cane, and Nina Zenik would be dead.

Miriam hoped not to hear them today. She quite liked Nina. The girl was from Ravka, like herself, but when they had sparsely spoken, she was reluctant about the details of her past. Miriam knew the girl to be a Heartrender, as she donned a red kefta. She was not happy about the thing, as she complained on numerous occasions. It was after all not Ravkan-made.

"You have crumbs on your cleavage." Miriam rolled her eyes, as she tuned back into the conversation that was happening inside.

"Don't care," She could almost picture Nina's face as she spoke.  "So hungry."

"Was that Van Aakster, the merch?" The brunette heard Kaz ask.

"Yes."

"His wife died a month ago, and his business has been a wreck since. Now that he's visiting you, can we expect a turnaround?"

Always business with you Brekker Miriam thought, as she let her eyes wander to the skyline of Ketterdam. She could see Fifth Harbour, the sun reflected on the surface of the water and ships rocking in the pier.

She blinked, eyes turning towards another sight catching her attention.

The raven sat quietly across from her on a clothing line strung between two small buildings in a side street. It stared at her as if it knew who she was. Her face morphed into a smile, the bird cawing before departing again into the sky.

Miriam chuckled knowingly as it circled the roof she was seated on once before disappearing amongst the buildings.

When she turned her focus back on the conversation inside the White Rose, she noted a part of the conversation had already passed her when Kaz spoke again "You make him feel better, ease his woe and all that ... but could you compel him to do something? Maybe make him forget his wife?"

"Alter the pathways in his mind? Don't be absurd."

The day that would happen, the end would come Miriam thought with a shudder.

"The brain is just another organ," Kaz said, as if he knew more than he let on.

He probably did.

"Yes, but it's an incredibly complex one. Controlling or altering another person's thoughts ... well, it's not like lowering a pulse rate or releasing a chemical to improve someone's mood. There are too many variables. No Grisha is capable of it."

Yet, Kaz amended. "So you treat the symptom, not the cause."

Miriam desperately wanted to get inside, but if she revealed herself now, Kaz was sure to be absolutely furious with her. She rather fight boredom than his wrath.

"He's avoiding the grief, not treating it. If I'm his solution, he'll never really get over her death."

"Will you send him on his way then? Advise him to find a new wife and stop darkening your door?"

Kaz probably would. Miriam thought, holding back a chuckle.

"Does Per Haskell have plans to forgive my debt?" She heard Nina counter, voice velvety

"None at all."

"Well then Van Aakster must be allowed to grieve in his own way. I have another client scheduled in a half hour, Kaz. What business?"

Ah...now the fun would begin.

"Your client will wait. What do you know about jurda parem?"

Miriam listened with bathed breath as her brows furrowed in confusion. What was Jurda Parem?

"There are rumours, but they sound like nonsense to me." It seemed Nina had known more than she did. Miriam was not too surprised, the Grisha community was tightly knit, and any news of undiscovered secrets or rumours would surely be shared.

"They aren't just rumours."

"Squallers flying? Tidemakers turning to mist?"

"Jurda parem is real, Nina, and if you're still the good little Grisha soldier I think you are, you'll want to hear what it does to people like you."

Miriam didn't know how Kaz was trying to convince Nina, even she was starting to think Kaz had been hit in the head a little too hard.

"Tell me," Nina demanded, and Miriam noted that he lowered his voice, the words not reaching her ears. She held back a scoff. Secrets. Always secrets.

"This isn't about money, Kaz." Nina raised her voice, and it piqued Miriam's interest immediately. She straightened her spine, leaning forward as far as she could without plummeting to her dead and strained to hear the words that were being exchanged.

"Nina, we're going to retrieve Bo Yul-Bayur, and I need a Corporalnik to do it." Whoever Bo Yul-Bayur was, Miriam did not know. "I want you on my crew."

"Wherever he's hiding out, once you find him, letting him live would be the most outrageous kind of irresponsibility. My answer is no."

"He isn't hiding out. The Fjerdans have him at the Ice Court."

Nina paused. "Then he's as good as dead."

"The Merchant Council doesn't think so. They wouldn't be going to this trouble or offering up this kind of reward if they thought he'd been neutralised. Van Eck was worried. I could see it."

That was news to her. Inej hadn't told her Kaz had met up with Van Eck.

"The mercher you spoke to?"

"Yes. He claims their intelligence is good. If it's not, well, I'll take the hit. But if Bo Yul-Bayur is alive, someone is going to try to break him out of the Ice Court. Why shouldn't it be us?"

"The Ice Court," Nina repeated and Miriam felt her own heart speed up at the words. Kaz had to be crazy to think breaking inside that place was even remotely possible.

"You don't just need a Corporalnik, do you?" This confused Miriam slightly. Who else could the Heartrender mean?

"No. I need someone who knows the Court inside and out."

"You're a little skiv, you know that? How many times have I come to you, begging you to help Matthias? And now that you want something ..."

It seemed, Kaz had been satisfied by Nina's sudden changed demeanour as he tapped his cane twice on the hardwood floor.

Miriam grinned, scooting over the stone roof before bending forward to stick her head through the window. "Hello Nina." She greeted, a semi-sincere smile she had perfected over the years displayed on her face.

Allies could be found everywhere in The Barrel for the right price. Friends were as likely as winning in a gambling den.

Nina blinked, looking at her before back at Kaz. "Really Brekker? You posted your little ghost on the roof?"

"One can never be too careful Zenik." Kaz tutted, as if speaking to a little child.

Miriam hauled herself through the window and stepped inside the little parlour before leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "So what is this about Ice Court? And Who is Matthias?"

Hearing the name once more, Nina straightened her back again and glared at Kaz.

"I begged you to help him, and suddenly now you want to?" She spat, "You want something from him?"

"Per Haskell isn't running a charity." Kaz shrugged casually

"Don't put this on the old man," she snapped. "If you'd wanted to help me, you know you could have."

"And why would I do that?"

She whirled on him. "Because ... because ..."

"When have I ever done something for nothing, Nina?"

"The day that happens, the earth will collapse on itself."

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