Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Vesper
By nightfall, Bellamy and Vesper had made it to the Magickless district.
They’d spent much too long for Vesper’s liking arguing about where to go and how to switch out the new notes.
Vesper thought her plan was solid—scout out the location and get a lead on the Embunuh. Eventually, Bellamy gave up the fight.
A part of Vesper wondered if she’d only given in because of how guilty she felt about the past several years, but a win was a win.
They climbed over the fallen, charred crossbeams from the building Bel had burnt down mere weeks ago—thankfully everything took longer to fix here given the overall lack of magic.
They picked through the fallen remnants until they came across a room that was still somewhat intact.
Vesper pushed their bags into a corner, shoving the debris out of the way.
She stood up, wiped her hands on her pants, and looked at Bellamy. She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. “Good?”
Bellamy peeked over her shoulder and saw the bags, nodding before turning to stare back through the remaining foundation of the building to the street.
They’d been careful to make sure no one had followed them, that no one had seen them entering the district or the building, but clearly Bel was still paranoid.
“Would love somewhere with a bed. And walls,” Bellamy muttered, toeing a bit of unidentifiably burnt crisp with her boot.
“Too risky. They can’t trap us here. We have too many escape routes.”
Bellamy groaned. “And if they bring in Dampeners, we’re fucked.”
“I don’t think they employ any. Dampeners don’t survive to adulthood…
” Vesper replied anxiously. She knew that wasn’t entirely true—there were rare cases in which Dampeners managed to tame their magic long enough to reach their early twenties.
Those Dampeners were often sheltered in the Magickless district, not by their shit employers.
She still had a hard time believing they’d expend the resources for that.
“Why couldn’t we have stayed home? You ward the place to shit, they couldn’t get in there,” Bellamy whined, taking a different approach for no reason.
“Oh yeah, and then we what? Wait them out while our supplies dwindle and we starve to death? Great plan.”
Bellamy kicked another part of the building. “Could’ve had your whores bring us supplies,” Bellamy grumbled.
Vesper rolled her eyes. Fighting would get them nowhere, but she also couldn’t help it. Some habits were hard to break.“Could’ve had your sister bring supplies.” Vesper said under her breath. She might have been a bit bitter that Bellamy had never mentioned that detail of her life.
“Fuck you,” Bellamy snapped, stomping through the building.
Fuck. She couldn’t leave. They couldn’t split up.
“Bel!’ Vesper called in a loud whisper. “You can’t fucking leave.”
Bellamy grumbled and stomped back, plopping onto the ground, her body tense and curled in on herself. She faced away from Vesper.
Vesper knelt and shuffled through her bag, finding a towel for Bel to lay on—a meager peace offering. But they really couldn’t afford to be fighting right now. She handed it to Bellamy, who took it without comment.
Vesper would give Bellamy first shift sleeping. She didn’t think they should sleep together; one of them had to stay up to watch.
The night was uneventful, aside from tossing and turning uncomfortably on the hard, ashen floor. Unsurprisingly, their new situation paired with sleep deprivation did not help them make up in the morning. Bellamy continued pouting from their argument, and Vesper stayed annoyed with her behavior.
If they survived, there was a lot of animosity to work through.
She watched while Bellamy tugged on her boots and listened to her standard bitching about the fruit bars.
Vesper chuckled, and Bellamy threw the bar at her head and called her “an even greater cunt than before.” For some reason, that made everything feel less tense, a bit of normalcy returned.
Vesper kissed Bellamy’s head when she stood up to join her, pulling her into a hug that just felt right. Shortly after the sun started cresting, illuminating their hiding spot and leaving them vulnerable, they made their way toward the meeting spot.
Vesper had been able to scrounge up some meager face coverings. They were typically used for Dewa Illusori practitioners. Seeing as this was the Atenung district, they might look a bit suspicious. Better than having their full faces on display though.
They needed to set up somewhere with a good view of the hotel. Vesper wanted to get there well before they were supposed to meet their client. Bellamy wasn’t convinced this would help anything, but Vesper wanted to know if the assignment was legit or if they were truly being set up for a hit.
She figured if the assignment was legit, then only one person would be sent to meet them. If it was a hit, then there might be a team—at the very least, there would be two. And Vesper and Bellamy would be just another contract.
Now, they just needed to find a good hiding spot.
Vesper dragged Bellamy down every back alleyway, scouring the nooks and crannies for somewhere they wouldn’t be spotted.
Bellamy was ready to call it quits, complaining the whole fucking time and driving Vesper mad.
Then, Vesper spotted an old, rusted fire escape on one of the dilapidated buildings near the hotel.
Raising an eyebrow, Vesper nodded silently toward it. Bellamy followed her gaze, eyes widening.
“Absolutely not,” Bellamy answered Vesper’s silent question in a harsh whisper, as if they weren’t the only people in the vicinity.
“Tactical advantage,” Vesper argued, matching Bel’s whisper.
“Fuck no.”
“Come on, Bel. Why not? It’s the best we’re gonna find. You know they wouldn’t check the roof. They will check the alleys.”
Bellamy tugged at the end of the ladder and then wiped the crumbling rust now stuck to her hand on her pants. “That thing is not stable. Why bother trying to get a leg up if the fucking ladder is gonna take us out anyway?”
Vesper snorted, then quickly tried to recover before insulting Bellamy further. “It’ll be fine. I’ll go first.”
Without waiting for a reply, Vesper pulled the ladder down as far as it would go and started climbing. She knew Bellamy would wait until she was all the way up, but she also knew Bel would follow, probably cursing her out the entire time. But a win was a win.