The Gone Thief

Chapter 8

Jez checked her makeshift pockets again. She recounted her small stash of stolen coins again and again as she listened from the shadows, just out of sight of the figures arguing a few yards away. Even with a thick cloak to mask her features, she was sure that she stood out against the empty pier. Everything outside of the palace walls felt completely alien even though she had lived in the city her entire life. That was why she was so desperate to leave the island. Hidden in a place where no one knew her name, the Crown would never be able to hurt her again.

She wondered if the princess had noticed she was missing yet.

The conversation broke apart and one of the figures took off down the pier. The other turned his glasses to the city, a magic arrow flying circles around him like a pet bird. She knew it wasn't wise to sneak up on someone while his weapon patrolled for intruders, but Jez was running out of options. She pulled back the hood and stepped out into the moonlight.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to come out." A smile flickered across the boy's face. Jez's heart dropped; apparently, she hadn't been as sneaky as she had thought. She opened her mouth to speak, but another voice floated out of the darkness.

"I met Asa on the way over here." Another figure stepped into the light, the smirk on his face clearly meant for the taller boy. "Thought I should check on you and make sure you hadn't lost your mind."

"It was your idea."

The second figure crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't think you would actually do it."

"If it's important to you, it's important to me," the taller figure replied. "And nothing is more important to you than Nessa."

Hel sighed softly. "It's hard to imagine, all three of us on the same ship together. Hopefully, she'll have moved past wanting to hang your head on the wall like a trophy by then."

The taller boy groaned, and Hel took his hand. "She'll come around. Just you wait."

"I'll probably have figured out how to regrow your ear by then though."

"Technically she doesn't know that's your fault," Hel said. "Technically she never asked."

"Great, so we just have to keep that a secret for the rest of her life."

"Keeping secrets is your specialty, Kasch. Speaking of which," the shorter boy held out a hand and the magic arrow settled into his palm. The point glinted in the faint lantern light as he twisted it between his fingers. "You never told me where you got this."

"You never asked." Kasch shrugged.

"Consider this me asking."

"I bought it. A sleazy merchant had me convinced that it was magic and would follow my every command. Try to be seventeen and not buy it after that."

"What do you mean 'convinced'? It's not magic?" Hel gripped the arrow around the shaft like a javelin and hurled it across the pier. It wobbled a couple of times in the air before plunging toward the ground. Kasch reached out a hand and the arrowhead froze just before it struck wood.

"Not in the slightest. It's not even made of okken metal. Fortunately for him, I was."

"He almost got away with it." There was a hint of admiration in Hel's voice. "Or did he?"

"Oh, absolutely not." Kasch summoned the arrow back and tucked it into the breast pocket of his jacket. "No one scams me and gets away with it."

"You killed him?"

"Obviously."

Jez's stomach dropped. She pressed herself back against the wall and glanced up and down the pier. There was no one else moving about, no one docking or leaving. She had no other options.