Sleight of Hand

Chapter 10

Trebor and Aivilo made their way back into the kitchen where they'd last seen Kurtis, but he wasn't there.

"Where did he go?" Trebor wondered aloud. Aivilo merely shrugged. Trebor looked around, trying to decide where he'd look for him. On the side of the kitchen where the dining table stood was an entryway that led into the liv­ing room. There was a sliding door made of glass on the opposite wall, and the ocean was visible in the distance. On the side closest them was another entryway, but the con­tents of the room were obscured from their vision. Trebor elected to go that way.

He peered into the dark room. It seemed to be filled with various sized boxes, like a storage room. There was a small window on one wall that let in light, but the stacks of boxes obscured it.

"I can't see anything," Aivilo muttered, and flicked on the light switch that was beside the doorway. The light blazed on, and Trebor blinked the stars out of his eyes. He refocused his vision so he could see.

This is what I get for training to see in the dark, Trebor thought sarcastically. He made his way further into the room, and stopped at a stack of boxes. He flipped open the flaps of a box and studied the contents. Then he started to rummage around.

"What are you doing?" he heard Aivilo ask behind him.

"Aha!" He exclaimed. He fished out a small box and held it up for her to see. When she just cocked an eyebrow at him, he removed the lid from the box and pulled out a small, studded earring. It was specially crafted to cast a shadow when hit by light and amplify it.

"I see you've found your belongings," Kurtis said, appear­ing in the doorway.

Trebor replied, "We were actually coming to find you so we could ask where they were, but we found them first."

"I was going to distribute the boxes to everyone if you'd like to help."

Trebor put the lid back on the box of his spare earrings and put the one he was holding in his lobe. The feeling of it was so familiar. It brought him some comfort, but only marginally.

Trebor picked up his box and set it on the floor beside the one it had been stacked on top of. Trebor opened that one too, and began to paw through the articles of clothing until he could determine whose it was.

"Why aren't these labeled?" Aivilo asked as she too began to dig through a box. Kurtis shrugged.

"When I fled the Mage, I didn't have time. I guess I just never thought to do it."

Trebor's ears caught the inflection in his mentor's voice when he said 'Mage'. He bit his tongue to keep from saying something he'd regret. He was still plenty mad at Kurtis, but he couldn't let Aivilo know that. Then she'd be suspicious.

"This one is Hanna's," Aivilo said, holding up a leather gauntlet. Trebor had the vague memory of Hanna wearing it while a bird was perched on her arm.

Aivilo dropped the gauntlet back into the box and picked it up. She carried it out of the room, and Trebor heard her say something to Hanna.

He returned his atten­tion to the box he was going through. He squinted down at the contents, then sighed impatiently.

"Where are my glasses?" he asked aloud, returning to his own box to dig. Since he'd been trained from an early age to focus on targets—especially ones from a distance, and while in low light—his near-sighted vision suffered for it. He didn't wear his glasses hardly ever; not since the night he'd saved Aivilo's life. It brought back too many clear and harrowing memories. He'd been especially careful not to wear them when he'd been around the Elite for months. He didn't want them knowing he had a weakness. His vision was probably worse now because of it.