A shadow passed over his eyes, and Benj snapped them open. Priest was standing over him with an infuriatingly cheerful smile.

"Good morning, sugarplum," Priest cooed patronizingly. "Slept well last night?"

"Yeah," Benj croaked. "I think so. What time is it?"

"Mid-day, you lethargic lout," Priest ridiculed. "Do you want the good news or the bad?"

"Bad news, I guess," Benj said, sitting up in bed.

"The bad news is you missed breakfast and will have to…" Priest waved a hand in circles, "fast until lunch."

"And the good news?"

"Why, it's lunchtime time now," Priest said with a flourish. "You should hurry before before you miss that too."

The two walked into the common room and sat at the table. In front of them lay bowls of steaming sausages, potatoes, fruit, and hot bread. Benj picked up a berry, and Priest slapped it from his hands.

"All here?" Priest asked as Reese walked into the room.

"You're worse than your brother's boyfriend over here," Priest directed the insult at Reese. "Where were you at breakfast this morning?"

"Don't act like you've never missed the prayer before," Reese replied, sitting and folding his hands. "The creator forgives when the heart is humble. Isn't that what they taught you in monk school?"

"I just don't know you have a humble bone in your whole body."

Jafa slapped the table, "Well, let's get on with it then!"

"Bow your heads," Priest said and then continued. "Great Creator, we know that you don't answer the prayers of the criminals, but if you did, we would ask for a successful robbery and offer to give the church six percent of our takings. Well, we would give you six percent, but five percent will be easier to calculate, so we'll do that and throw in an extra half of the talent for your supreme favor. All who agree say aye."

The table sounded with a unanimous "Aye," and Benj followed suit.

"What's the whole prayer thing all about?" Benj asked, leaning over towards Priest.

"It's like this; we commit crimes of a very specific nature. It's not as bad as other things, like killing your grandmum's dog..." He said, casting an accusing look at Jafa.

"It peed in my boot!" Jafa explained. "Not on; in. The thing had it coming."

"Well, anyway," Priest said, giving a disgusted look. "Like I was saying, our crimes aren't as bad as other crimes because we usually have a semi-good cause. Because of that, the Creator might be more inclined to bestow his blessings on us in contrast to, let's say, the common thug. But he might be less inclined than your common do-gooder, so we try to sweeten the deal a little bit."

"That sounds a little bit like bribery," Benj blurted, causing the table to look at him. He tried correcting himself by adding, "But alas, we're all thieves anyway, right?"

"In this business, you are faced with your own mortality enough that you either get religious or superstitious," Priest explained. "For us, it has become a combination of both. It helps to stick to the same ritual even if it is religious in nature."

"We haven't had a single death since Priest showed up," Reese said from across the table. "It was working for us, so we made it a part of the routine."

"Now he appropriates our hard-earned money to a bunch of bald-headed monks after every job," Draiden complained, stabbing a sausage and putting it on his plate.

"I would rather be a bald-headed monk than have your ratty, unwashed hair," Priest retorted.

"You're not supposed to wash it," Draiden said, holding one of his matted locks. "It would lose its form."

"So, why do you call Lucia 'Bash'?" Benj asked, changing the subject.

Lucia shot a furious look around the table, daring the first person to speak.

The table broke into an uproar of nervous laughter.

"Keep that up, and you'll find out sooner than you'd like," Reese warned, stabbing a sausage on his plate.

"Now that everyone is in a good mood," Priest said, "Let us conduct business."

"Right," Reese agreed, "We have a big job tonight, and as you know, my brother hasn't shown up yet. This means Bird here gets a trial by fire."

The table murmured comments and jokes.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Reese continued. "My brother has trained him well enough, I'm sure."

"Or Priest should have offered ninety percent," Draiden mused.

"We would offer you if we knew you would have any value," Priest said offhandedly. "That's not a bad idea. Do you have any gold teeth, or are they just yellow?"

Draiden threw a spoon at Priest's head, but he dodged it without looking up from his plate. He must get that a lot, Benj thought.

"Calm down, Draiden," Priest said. "We're running low on cutlery as it is without you tossing them around all the time."

"Anyway," Reese said, "Bash, I have you on locks, as always."

"Got it," Lucia responded neutrally.

"Pots and Jafa," Reese got the pair's attention. "The goal is to hit them over the head. Let's leave the killing to the assassins, hmm?"

"Guy pulls a knife on me, he's going to get it in 'is heart," Jafa made a stabbing motion with his fork, "As always."

"Priest, Draiden, I don't care if you cheat, but if you're going to make a wager," Reese said. "For the love of dumplings, don't cry about losing; just pay up."

"Wager?" Draiden asked.

"Two silver talents, colored ropes, and if you get caught cheating, it's four," Priest wagered. "Cheating includes anything like what you pulled last time. We'll put it up for a vote if you think of something new."

"It's a deal."

"Good luck."

"Last and most interesting," Reese said. "Benj, you run point. Focus on people first. Only move to the hidden stashes after the all-clear. None of this run in all crazy before you checked the place out. That's how people die."

"Got it," said Benj.

"Are we bringing a loader?" Draiden asked.

"Not this time," Reese said, shaking his head.

"New guy then," Draiden pointed at Benj. "Bird, you're loading the cart."

"We're all loading the cart tonight," Reese overruled. "That reminds me, the house has two floors. It's big, and it has a stone wall around the parimeter. Don't take anything you can't lift over the wall. Bird, if you find anything that you need help collecting, get a bagger and move on."

"Blue rope it?" Draiden asked.

"Yes," said Priest. "If I catch you pulling ropes, Draiden, you're going to need a bigger spoon to defend yourself with."

"Meet out front at sundown," Reese said with finality. "Oh, and dress for the occasion this time. I don't want any style points tonight."

When they were finished eating, Lucia stood up, "Benj, walk me to my room?" she asked.

Draiden cocked an eyebrow at them.

"Calm down, Draiden," Lucia scolded and left with Benj close behind.

She opened the door to her room. Blue and gold tapestries hung from the walls, and a simple dresser and bed sat to each side of an otherwise small and empty room. She quickly picked up several delicate pieces of clothing off her floor and put them in her bottom drawer.

"So, are you really good at picking locks?" Benj asked, nervous about being in a girl's room.

"Not as good as I can smash windows," she said bluntly. "Are you ready?"

"No," Benj said, "I didn't understand half the things they said in there. What are blue ropes?"

"Priest and Draiden are competing over who gets the most valuable items. After they fill a sack, they tie them off with their own personal ropes. The blue rope means that you - the point - found them, so they can't take credit for it when we count everything up. At the end, they will see how much each has bagged, using their own-colored ropes, and name a winner. You only have one bag usually, but you're expected to beat both of them."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure I'll be able to do that," he admitted.

Lucia explained what to expect, and she told him that his biggest problem was making sure no one was in the house. It seemed that the more she tried to help, the more concerned he became.

"How do I spot them before they spot me?" He asked, feeling his time rapidly approaching.

"Don't worry," Lucia tried to calm his nerves, "The Soundsight will help you find people. It will also help with false walls, just knock on things and watch for changing sound patterns. Breaking things usually helps. Oh! And always check the bookcases. Behind books, inside of books, on the top or around. You get the point. You'll do fine.

"One more thing, use signals. Point with one finger for one person, two for two people, and so on. Rock your hand back and forth for sound coming from wherever you point. Make sure you don't miss anyone before waving anyone in. A thumbs up means it is free and clear, and punch your hand to bring in Pots and Jafa."

"Got it," he said.

"You'll do fine," she said again. "Just be confident and appear to know what you're doing."

"How am I doing so far?" He asked.

"Awful," she said, sitting on her bed patting the spot next to her.

Benj walked over and sat on the furthest part of her bed, away from her.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I don't like talking about this, but if I don't tell you, someone else will…" she said slowly. "Two years ago, my father borrowed money from Darius."

"Who?"

She looked at him incredulously, "The Grand Marshal of the Crownsmith organization. He's the one in charge of everyone."

"Oh, good to know."

"So, my father borrowed money from him and used it to build a spice cart so he could take his business on the road. You know the one. Everything was just fine until he missed some of the payments. Business was slow for a while. Anyway, they took me to pay off the debt."

Benj was silent.

"They gave me to Gallows Reese, who put me in a house to work off the debt. I couldn't, uh, you know. I was scared, and there was this man looming over me, so I-" she paused, "I kicked him in the balls… Twice."

Benj smiled. "That's why they call you Bash."

"Yeah, but then," she continued, "after that, I ran out; this man tried to stop me, so I kicked him in the balls, too. They found me trying to leave the city. They were going to kill me when Reese, this Reese, suggested that I could be useful to his crew. While I was learning the ropes, my dad got sick and couldn't run the spice route, so they had me take his place. They said if I tried anything, they were going to kill him. He's all I have left. That's how I met you."

"They needed you to take over selling spices so you could pay them back for the money they loaned your dad?" Benj surmised, "That's why were you cheating people?"

"All the money I brought back they would keep," she said, "They would even check the ledgers to make sure I wasn't keeping any money from them. I also needed the money to take care of my dad. When he was sick, they beat him for not working. They were going to just let him die. If he did, I would run away tonight. I've been planning an escape. Then I found you. So, if something ever happened to my dad, I was planning on running away to your bakery. It sounded romantic; a baker and a spice merchant. It gave me hope. Even if it didn't work out in the end, it was nice knowing that I had a backup plan."

"How do you work for people that did this to you?" Benj asked, incredulous.

"Reese is a good man. He's not supposed to let me keep my share of the loot from jobs because it's supposed to go towards the debt," she explained. "He's been paying me out of pocket, so I have enough money to take care of myself."

"But you're technically a slave?" he asked.

"It's not so bad," she explained. "But, if I ever get the chance, I've come up with a hundred ways to get back at Gallows Reese...." Tears welled up in her eyes.

Benj moved next to her on the bed but thought better of touching her, "You don't have to worry about him."

She put her head on his shoulder and cried softly, "Do you see why I don't like to talk about it?"

"Lucia, listen to me," Benj said, heartbeat warning him to tell her. "Gallows Reese isn't coming back."

Lucia snapped her head up, eyes slightly swollen, "What do you mean?"

"He's dead," he whispered.

"Dead?!" Lucia yelped.

"Shh!" Benj silenced her and dropped his voice to a low whisper, "I killed him."

"You killed him?" she repeated with a surprised whisper.

"Yes," Benj said. "With his own sword."

Her eyes got wide and serious.

"Benj, if you lie to me about this, I swear," Lucia said.

He assured her that it wasn't a lie. He explained to her that was one of the reasons why he wanted to leave.

"You're my hero." she said simply. "But you can't tell anyone, ever."

The two spent time talking until sleep unexpectedly took them both.

A loud knock came to the door in rapid succession. Knock, knock, knock! The door opened. Benj lifted his head surprised to still be lying next to Lucia, and even more surprised she was holding his hand.

"You two, quickly now!" Priest bellowed in, "It's almost time, and neither of you are ready!"

Lucia jumped off her bed, rushed to her drawers, and pulled out a set of neatly folded black clothes."

"Come on, come on, come on," Priest said, snapping his fingers. "Get your stuff together. We're meeting outside now."

Lucia looked at Benj standing next to the bed like he wasn't sure what 'get ready' meant. She pulled out another set of neatly folded black attire and tossed them to him.

"They're men's clothes technically, put them on," and with the same breath, looking at Priest, she said, "The door?!"

Priest shut the door.

"Turn around," Lucia ordered and turned herself to change her shirt.

Benj was slow to react. By the time her words registered she had already begun to disrobe. He turned away, face flushed red. He quickly began putting his own set of clothes on. They were tighter than he normally would wear, or ever wear for that matter. He would have to work that out later.

When he was dressed, he turned to see Lucia standing facing him with a devious smile.

"Tight clothes really bring out your," she coughed, "Eyes."

"You think so?" Benj asked, widening his eyes, oblivious.

"Never mind," she said, opening her door. "We have to go."

The two of them ran into the main hall; it was empty. They made their way outside.

The sun was setting over the City's rooftops. Everyone was standing next to a horse and a rather large black carriage.

"Glad you two decided to make it," Reese said with a grim expression.

Everyone was wearing black and had serious faces.

"Found these two in the kitchen trying to get a pre-operation snack," Priest said nonchalantly. "A couple of stress eaters if you ask me."

"Next time," Reese held up a finger. "Pack a meal."

The two gave mismatched acknowledgments, and Reese opened the carriage door.

"Everybody in."

The trip was slow and bumpy inside the surprisingly spacious carriage, even though it was packed to capacity. A single lantern hung from the overhead, casting faces into shadow in a circular succession. Benj wouldn't have hated sitting next to Lucia, but he was next to Draiden and beginning wondering why Priest had chided him about not bathing. The man smelled like a field of flowers growing in the middle of a cedar forest. With what little fresh air spilled through the cracks, Benj was tempted to lean closer to the man to purify the air. After a long while in silence, the cart stopped.

Jafa passed out sacks and different colored ropes to Priest and Draiden. Benj was given a single sack with strands of blue rope. Pots held similar items. Benj noticed some of them using a single strand to tie the rest to their waistline. He copied them.

The carriage became dead silent. No one moved. The anticipation hung heavy in the air like pipe smoke in a tavern. Three taps on the outside of the carriage signaled Pots to dim the lantern. The darkness swallowed everything but the sound of steady breaths and the smell of Draiden's hair.

Two taps. Everyone stopped breathing.

A single tap. Draiden's leg tensed.

The carriage door swung open, flooding the inside with fresh air that bit at the sweat beads on Benj's face. Everyone spewed out in one fluid motion. They were parked in front of a stone wall, twelve feet high with a rope draped over the side lazily swaying in the breeze.

"Point first," Lucia whispered to him. "Wave us in when the front is clear. Wait for me to open the door before you start clearing the house."

Benj walked past the crew, who were diligently adjusting their gear, and put a hand on the rope to climb over.

"Don't forget this," Reese handed him the Soundsight.

"Not on my life," He took the bracelet, put it on his wrist, and climbed the rope with the sound of his hands and feet moving with every motion.

At the top, Benj saw the house. It was large and surrounded by a rich green garden with trees blocking any outside view that had been unimpeded by the surrounding wall.

All lights were off.

Benj waved the 'Clear' Signal and jumped, gliding across the yard. He waited on the back porch while Lucia made her way across the lawn towards him.

"Did you try the door?" she asked.

"No, I thought you were on locks?" he asked.

"It's a common courtesy," she said, pointing at the door. "Not all doors are locked."

"Fine," he said and put his hand on the latch. He was fully prepared to ask if she was satisfied if the handle was locked, but it gave way, and the latch clicked open.

"You were going to say something rude if it was locked, weren't you?"

"No!" he whispered loudly.

"I don't care, either way," she said quietly, "You should probably get going before everyone gets here."

Benj touched the bracelet unconsciously and made his way into the house. The sound patterns bounced off the latch where the door came shut. He stepped through sound patterns as they bounced off chairs and walls. Having the Soundsight made it easier to see where the moonlight didn't shine through the windows.

At the end of a large seating area, two flights of stairs jutted up to a tall balcony overlooking the long open area towards the back door. Sound patterns tumbled in from the top of the stairs and gently bounced around. He investigated the sounds, moving up the stairs and down a hallway.

"-It had his address on it. So, I took it and tossed him into the river." A man's voice from another room. "Lucky find I think."

Benj peaked around the door from where the voices came from.

"Why 'ello mate," A man's voice came from behind him.

Benj spun around just as a man grabbed him. Two others came out from behind the door.

"What's this?" One of them asked.

"Caught this one lurking around. Looks like he had the same idea," The first man said. "What do you think you're doing? We got dibs."

"I uh…" Benj stammered, "...Saw this place. It looked like a good place to lay down for a nap."

"What should we do with him?" One man asked.

"Kill him," the first man said.

"Wait!" Benj said, "I'll make you a deal."

"I'm listening."

"How far down do you think the drop from the balcony is?" Benj asked, nodding towards the railing. "Long enough to break someone's legs?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Toss me off, and if I survive, let me go," Benj said.

"What a creative little idea," one of the men said. "I haven't heard a more reasonable offer in all my life. Toss him!"

The two men picked Benj off the floor, hoisted him over the guard rail, and released him on the third swoop. Benj turned around and coasted down and forward towards the back door.

I just need to get to the others, he thought as he hit the ground, slid, and ran.

"That little twat just tricked us!" Benj heard from behind him. "Get that floaty little pinprick and find his relic!"

Footsteps stomping downstairs enveloped Benj in a cascade of waves as he fled toward the entryway. When the door was within reach, he swung it open and launched outside. The cool night air rushed away the stale smell of the house.

"We have company," Benj said and stood in front of the door, far enough back that the chasers couldn't knife him before they were taken out.

"Three of them."

The door swung open, "You little ba-" The first man started saying before collapsing limply on the ground. The other two followed suit, landing on top of each other as Jafa and Pots clubbed them each of them over the head.

"How did you dig these guys up?" Jafa asked, pointing at the mound of men with his club.

"They were robbing the place," Benj said, overwhelmed with excitement. "I think they found the guy dead and had the same idea we did."

"Good work, Bird," Reese slapped him on the back. "Finish clearing the house. Jafa, Pots, search these three. Anything they have gets a blue rope."

When Benj found the rest of the house empty, he gave the 'clear' signal. He immediately went into the room where the three thugs were searching and picked up where they had left off.

He searched the bookshelf. It was four tiers high and lined the entire wall of the space. He began pulling out stacks of books and placing them neatly on the floor. There was a thin book hidden behind some others. It was labeled, 'The Dark Magicks." He put it into his bag and kept searching.

He needed to move faster. Books fell on the floor as he slid his hand, shoveling the books off the shelves. Three books stuck together fell on the floor in unison. They were lighter than any single book and hollowed out in the middle and made an airy thump. Inside was a gold ring with some kind of curly-horned animal, a smaller light-colored metal ring, and nine gold royals.

Found it, he thought as he picked each off the ground.

He put the gold and the small fortune into his bag. As soon as he picked up the smaller ring, the sound waves vanished. The Soundsight stopped working. He tossed the ring into the bag and the waves appeared again, from all directions.

Benj curiously picked up the ring again, and the waves stopped. Already feeling queasy from the sound sight, he put the ring on his middle finger and continued searching the other books. He found nothing and started searching the desk.

He pulled out drawers and dumped the contents out on the floor. Papers of no importance poured out and settled effortlessly around him.

Draiden walked in and asked, "Find anything?" His question failed to form waves in the air.

"Yes, but I don't think there's anything else in here," Benj said looking around, "Unless you want to double check the pile of books on the floor."

Draiden nodded, turned to leave, and then paused. "Well, well, well," he bent down and picked up a black coin purse off the floor, presumably from one of the robbers. "Nothing else in here, huh?"

Benj swore to himself. How could he have missed something so obvious?

"Looks like I found this fair and square," Draiden said and opened it, "Not bad, looks like I owe you one for helping me out here." He took a rope off from around his waist, tied it around the sack and walked out of the room.

Benj began searching other places. There were spare bedrooms, sitting rooms, drawing rooms, offices, and dining rooms. He found a drawer with four ornate knives and a small sack of coins when a single whistle sounded. It was the sign that it was time to go.

Benj made his way down the stairs. After looking around to see if anyone was looking, he jumped down the last flight of stairs. Instead of gliding down them, he landed halfway down the stairs, tripped, and rolled onto the floor.

Priest came around the corner carrying three large sacks, "What happened?" He asked.

"I, uh, tripped," Benj said, confused as to why he had fallen.

"Are you okay?" Priest asked.

Benj searched himself for injuries. He was fine.

"Just my pride," he replied.

"Well, stop lying around and help me carry these bags."

"Sure," Benj said and held out his hands. He was still shocked that he didn't glide down the stairs as expected. He figured that it must be the ring. He made a mental note to play around with it later and tried helping Priest with his bags. Not only did I only fill half of a sack, but Priest had three, he thought to himself.

"Not these," Priest said, "those." He pointed behind him.

Benj looked behind Priest and was shocked to find two large sacks filled with items and wrapped with Priest's black ropes. He took them and walked out of the house.

The whole crew was passing out sacks, hand over hand, over the wall. Benj handed off Priest's bags and finally his own, tied with a single blue rope, and passed it over with the rest.

Benj was the last person to climb over the wall. Again, he didn't glide but landed straight down when he jumped. This ring must be some kind of anti-magic relic, he thought.

The doors closed on the carriage with all the bags inside. Reese took the reins and moved forward without them. Another carriage moved up to take its place. Everyone got in.

"Eleven and a half bags," Pots declared.

"Get anything good?" Jafa asked Priest.

"Maybe," he said vaguely. "I guess we'll just have to find out. Bird?"

"Same," Benj said, still upset about not noticing the robber's coin purse on the floor. "Whatever happened to those three in the house?"

"Let's just say they're going to wake up with one dastardly headache," Jafa said, rubbing his head. "It would be a shame if they didn't wake up and leave before anyone goes into the house. Otherwise, they'll get landed for our robbery."

The ride home seemed shorter than the one there. Everyone was more relaxed. Benj sat next to Draiden again. This time, he wasn't upset about it.