Fate's Gambit: A Half-Blood's Odyssey

Chapter I: A Thief Makes Her Escape

I tiptoe through the house, applying slight pressure to the floorboards ahead of me to see which creak or not. Silence is my best friend in this case. Moonlight shines through the window I climbed through. Right now nothing catches my attention. Nothing in here glimmers or shimmers or shines in the light. Moving upstairs, I keep quiet and look around. Doors. Plenty of them.

I open one with ease. It's a closet.

I open another one. A bathroom.

Another. This one appears to be a study. I might be able to find something good in this room.

There's a desk at the back wall. There are books on either wall beside the desk. If I were looking for books, I'd be a librarian instead of a legendary thief, but books are not my target. I'm looking for only the shiniest of valuables. The more they shine, the more they're worth.

I tiptoe over to the desk and open the drawers installed on them. The first drawer yields money. Nice. The next drawer only holds useless papers about who-knows-what. Not interested. The last drawer contains what seems like business cards. I sift through the small cuts of paper and a smug smile spreads along my face.

Safe code: 15, 25, 10

I place the small note in the interior pocket of my cloak. Now to find that safe, assuming it exists in this house somewhere.

I step back out into the hallway and look around. There's still one more door I haven't opened. I sense something different in this room than the rooms prior. I gently place my ear against the door.

It's muffled through the door, but there's snoring coming from the other side. Sleeping persons aren't new to me, I deal with them all the time. I attempt to open the door but it's locked. Taking out my lockpick, I start working on the door. Even the strongest of locks are no match for- crkt!

The lockpick broke.

No worries, I have another one.

Crkt!

There goes another one.

"Okay, third time's the charm," I mutter to myself.

Click!

"Yes!" I whisper loudly.

The door creaks as it slowly opens, though this doesn't cause any disturbance to the residents sleeping within the room. In the corner of the room, I spot a vanity. It's only when I get to the vanity that I notice the jewelry box sitting on its counter. It's locked. Unlike the door, however, I open it right up on the first try.

Pearls and gems and jewels and gold! Rings and bracelets and necklaces galore! I just love how they shine and sparkle, and now they're all mine. I empty the contents of the box into the satchel under my cloak and resume my search for sparkly shinies.

I spend a few minutes carefully searching the room for more valuables and turn up empty-handed. The last place to check is the bedroom closet. Clothes, clothes, more clothes, safe. Safe! A safe sitting on the floor of the closet, hidden under all of the hanging clothing.

"Jackpot," I smile wide.

I reach into my cloak's interior pocket and retrieve the note from the study room. I can almost barely read it in the faint light from the streetlamps outside.

Crouching down, I turn the dial one way, turn it the other way, then back another way. With a click, it opens. There's tons of money in it, just as I'd known there would be. I start stuffing my satchel with the banded stacks and bags of coins that were once hiding from me inside the safe.