I am sitting at a gambling table beside my new best friend, Jesper. We get along very well, and our senses of humor are similar. We have become the new feared duo within the Crow Club, if anyone so much looks at the other the wrong way, we will at least hurt them. And we go through with threats if we give them.

As I watch the game taking place, the man sitting across from Jesper asks,

"Hey, you take Zemeni coin, yes?" The man throws a bag of coin at the man handling our money, and I felt there was something wrong with the transaction. I watch Jesper's reaction to the man's question, as he is from Novi Zem and will be able to handle the man better than I. Jesper looks at the man with an inquisitive look.

"Let me see that." He asks of the man handling the coin. The man throws a single coin at Jesper, who inspects it thoroughly.

"The Lucky Nine casino up the block has had trouble with counterfeit coin lately. Heavy, but brittle." Jesper looked at me, and I listened to the man's heartbeat, which was most definitely quickening in fear.

The man we were accusing jumped on the defensive, "Oh, come on now. I've been here for hours. My money is good, no?" Now I had complete proof. When someone is lying, their heart jumps all over the place, and his just did.

"Liar," I said quietly to Jesper in a sing-song voice.

Jesper nodded, and I began to smirk, excited to see what would happen next. Now that he had my confirmation, Jesper became cockier.

"Zemeni coin can take a bullet. But the knockoff......" Jesper trailed off. He threw the coin in the air and pulled out his gun while doing so. One loud shot was heard, and I couldn't tell what he did until I saw the coin laying on the table with a bullet hole right through the middle.

"Damn Jesper. You could have at least been off centre." I said in a joking manner. Jesper smiled at me as the man was carried away by our guards. Jesper reaches to the centre of the table to get the money laying there but is stopped by a cane being thrust onto his hand violently.

I look up with a smile to see Kaz, my other best friend at the Crow Club. He knew I had my secrets just like I knew he had his own. We respected each other's boundaries but were constantly scrutinizing the other for small pieces of information we could against the other when the time came. I was the only member of the Dregs who could usually figure out Kaz's plans, and when I couldn't, I was pretty damn close.

"No loud noises at the table Jesper. You'll scare off the pigeons." Jesper looks terrified as he responds with a simple, "Wouldn't want that, boss." I start to chuckle as I watch the interaction, which makes both boys look at me.

"What now, Vik?" Kaz asks me sharply. "Oh nothing," I reply, still laughing my ass off. "I just find it hilarious how scared he is of you. You wouldn't hurt any of us." Kaz just gives me one of his death glares, and my laughter dies down. He turns back to Jesper.

"Shouldn't you be on the door?"

"Yeah, right away boss."

As Jesper goes to leave, I stand up as well, lightly punching his shoulder. As I do so, I whisper in his ear, "Scaredy-cat", and Jesper just says, "Oh, shut up," as he walks away.

I turn my attention back to Kaz as he dramatically throws his cane from one hand to the other, and lightly turns his head in a gesture for me to follow.

"Why do you purposefully scare the hell out of that poor boy, Kaz?"

"It brings me entertainment, Vik. Come on." I could tell he was getting slightly agitated with me, so I followed without a hassle. As we made our way to what I now knew was his bedroom, we were stopped by Rotty, whom both Kaz and I despised.

"Early for action, innit Kaz?" His annoying voice asked. I cut him off before Kaz had the chance, saying "What do you want Rotty?"

"Someone stole a DeKappel from a merch's private residence last night." It was at this point I stopped listening since I already knew who stole it and exactly where it was hanging. As Kaz stopped to talk to Rotty, I proceeded up the staircase to his bedroom, where I sat on his bed, waiting for him to come up.

I noticed the window was open, so I figured Inej must be lurking somewhere. While we didn't get along at first, we have long since reconciled and are friends now. Not quite as close as Jesper and I thought.

Finally, Kaz came into the room, glanced at me, and walked to his sink. He began to take off his gloves, which surprised me. I've never seen him without them. It took him longer than me, but he then realized the window was open and started to put his gloves back on. I sighed in frustration, I thought we were making progress in our friendship, but Inej just had to go and ruin our moment.

"Hello, Inej. What information do you have for me tonight?"

She looked at me, silently asking if it was alright to talk with me in the room. Kaz looked slightly annoyed she even had to ask and said,

"She's ok, Inej."

"I have a lead on a job. A big one. Enough money to change lives."

"It doesn't take much to change someone's life in the barrel." I snicked at Kaz's reply, and he lightly smirked at me in the mirror.

"A million kruge?" This made both Kaz and I look at Inej in both disbelief and excitement. A million kruge would completely change all of our lives, I could rent a decent apartment out of the barrel. I asked the next thing I knew Kaz was thinking.

"What's the name?"

"Dressen, a wealthy merchant"

"Dressen." Kaz said again, "I've heard of him. He could afford it." I could almost see the gears in Kaz's brain turning as he thought about the possibility of that much money.

"The question is, what's worth a million kruge to him?" he said next.

"He's looking for a crew willing to cross the fold into East Ravka and bring back something."

I began to slightly panic at the business proposition. I couldn't go back to Ravka, my father would find me and make me come back to Little Palace. However, I couldn't exactly tell Kaz that, because he would probably turn me in for the ransom.

"The Fold?" Kaz asked in disbelief. "Well, of course, certain death pays a million. He didn't say what he wants nicked?"

"No," Inej responded, "But he's taking meetings tonight, starting at midnight."

"Tell me you followed him," Kaz said to the room.

"Of course she did, she isn't that big of an idiot." As soon as the words came out of my mouth, Kaz looked at me annoyed, and Inej slightly smiled.

"He brought someone in from a ship. Took a way back to his house in the garden district to avoid attention. I would have followed him inside, but Dressen's hired some private security. I would have had to use my knives to get closer."

"Private security," Kaz said again. He has a habit of repeating things.

"Anyone we know?" I asked.

"A Zemeni man. I think his name is Tendo. You know him?" I shook my head no as the name didn't sound familiar to me, but looked to Kaz for his answer.

"Yeah, he gambles at one of Pekka's clubs, so I won't have leverage him."

Seeing where Kaz was headed with his train of thought, I said, "But Pekka will."

He looked at me and nodded, walking to his desk on the other side of the wall with Inej trailing behind him. I stood and followed, standing in the doorway.

Genuinely wondering, I asked, "So, what's our move now?"

Kaz took a minute to respond, first glancing at the stolen DeKappel hanging on his wall.

"You both believe in a higher power, If we're gonna survive a round trip through the fold, we'll need a miracle or two."

Well shit. There goes my plan of staying undercover.