Lost Magic

Chapter 1

"Alright baby, talk to me."

It was a mantra he never failed to repeat before attempting a crack. To his left he could feel Lexi roll her eyes at his antics, but he ignored her. She didn't understand, she couldn't. Every job was different. Each one required its own special care and understanding, especially a safe like this.

One guarded by magic.

He glided his dark fingers softly over the metal. He could feel the power coursing through the entirety of the piece. Whoever had done this had been strong, very strong.

"No weak points." He said after a moment, sitting back and throwing Lexi a smile as he tugged on a lock of his curly hair, thinking.

"This one is going to take some time. If I mess up at all it will be locked forever. Who did you rip this from?"

"Cross is going to be here in thirty minutes, that's how long you have." She said, blatantly ignoring his question as she took a moment to adjust the scarf that covered the majority of her face from view, leaving only her dark eyes exposed. "Don't lollygag, Banksy."

Banksy chuckled deeply before turning back to the safe. It was relatively small, easy enough to hold up between his hands, but it was heavy. Far too heavy. Even using both his hands and his considerable strength he had trouble lifting it.

He placed his left hand onto the top of the safe and drummed his fingers for a moment, the nub where his middle finger used to be moving in time with the others, but not actually making contact.

"Can you open the damn thing or not?" Lexi snapped, sitting up straight after almost ten minutes of listening to the steady tap tap tap of Banksy' fingers.

He flinched as the shadows in the room jumped and seemed to bend towards him. He took in a deep breath and rapped his knuckles on the safe. "It's magic, alright? Last time I rushed a job, this happened!" He held up his left hand, which would have been giving a rather rude gesture had the digit not been previously removed.

"I'll get it open, why don't you take a walk or something? You're making me nervous."

She stared at him for a long moment before finally nodding. Pulling up her hood she stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her. For a moment the shadows around Banksy stayed angled towards, as if poised to strike, before finally relaxing back into their natural state.

He let out a long sigh of relief and turned back to the safe. Reaching up, he hooked a finger under the collar of his shirt and fished out the chain of his necklace, pulling up an assortment of rings.

Pulling a few select ones free, he slid them onto his fingers and began to run his hands around the safe until he felt a small tug. Smiling he let the tug guide his hands until it was securely pulled to the right side of the safe. Bringing his hand back a few inches he gave the metal side a smart tap with the ring.

Shriiiiiing

He pulled his hands away quickly as the metal box began to crack apart and reform, expanding over and over again until the safe had nearly tripled in size.

"Ah." He nodded. "That would explain the weight. Big girl aren'tcha? That's good."

He ran a knowing eye over the still featureless front of the safe. He recognized this make now. He took in a deep breath before whistling a quick tri-tone. The surface of the metal shimmered, but still remained blank. Tilting his head he tried again, this time holding each note longer. The shimmer returned and after a moment, a single keyhole appeared in the center, surrounded by runes. He ran a finger over the markings.

"Property of... unimportant... do not open unless blah blah blah... insured by the Grand Pegasus Corporation... well that's good because they are definitely never getting any of this back."

Banksy took a moment to laugh at his own clever quip before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his pick set from a worn leather case. Humming to himself he inserted the tension wrench with gentle ease before bringing up one of the picks. He actually loved breaking into magical safes. For some reason, people never through to put very good traditional locks on their magical safe. Probably thought the magic was enough.

Wrong.

"No lock is unbreakable, no door forever sealed." Banksy said happy as he clicked the first pin into place. The rest soon followed and after a moment he felt a give as the wrench turned fully and the safe was finally open. "Not when I'm around."

"Good."

"Gah!" Banksy jumped to the side, crashing against the bed as he grabbed at his heart with his hand. "Damnit Lexi! Don't sneak up on people like that! It's scary."

"Mmmmm." She replied with little to no concern for his words. She swung the safe door open and rifled through the contents, allowing a hefty portion of old currency and precious stones to fall to the ground.

Banksy didn't bother to chastise her as she finally pulled her hand free, holding up a small, folded up letter. "Package recovered Cross should be here within the minute."

"What about the rest?" Banksy waved a hand over the valuables. Lexi barely gave it a glance as she exited the room.

"You can take the rest of his back with you if you want. I'm sure we can find a fence for the jewels. Leave anything that can be traced back to us or the client."

"Will do... you crazy witch." He muttered under his breath as he ripped one of the dingy pillowcases from the bed and began to stuff it full of loot.

"I'm sorry Banksy, did you say something?" Lexi asked, her covered head appearing back through the cracked door. Banksy froze before rapidly shaking his head back and forth. Lexi narrowed her eyes before once again leaving.

"Hmph."

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How was chapter 1? Comments and votes much appreciated.