broken thieves

thirteen

Aurora

I feel like, when a person looks at Zavier, they wouldn't think he's a talented musician. He looks like he wouldn't be the type to bother with anything like that or, if anything, he'd play the guitar or practice on a drum kit in his garage. But as I sit on the stairs, watching as his hands glide across the keys of the piano, I can see that he's in his element.

He's playing a bitter-sweet melody. It sounds sad, but there are elements of it that makes me feel comforted by the notes. It's a really beautiful piece.

"Agh, I fudged that one up," he says after pressing down on the wrong key.

"Keep playing," I say, giving him a reassuring smile. He looks at me, shifting in his seat as if he's uncomfortable. He did say he's okay with me watching but I don't think he plays in front of an audience very often.

"Yeah. It was sounding so nice," Maeve adds from beside me. My eyes linger on the dark purple of her hair for too long, the colour so different to how it was only yesterday. I won't lie, it looks incredible, but sometimes I can barely recognise her. The good thing is that she's really happy with it. She showed it to me first thing this morning, talking about how Elodie helped her do it, and I'm proud of her for making the drastic change.

"Have you ever played the piano?" Zavier asks me.

I shake my head, fiddling with the back of my earring. "I never got to learn any instrument."

Maeve looks up at me from the step below. "Did you have any other hobby?"

"Nope," I tell them. "I wasn't allowed to do any sports and I was too busy being forced into pageants to join any clubs."

Sympathy fills Maeve's eyes, and Zavier glances back down at the piano and presses down on a random key. Then he shifts over on the bench and pats the space beside him, inviting me to sit there. I stand up from the step, giving Maeve a small smile, and take a seat.

Zavier plays a melody when I've sat down, using only one hand to play the notes. It's only short and seems easy enough to play.

"You want to try?" he asks, rubbing his hands together.

I nod my head, lifting my left hand to the keys, and I find myself smiling as he teaches me the right notes. It's not as easy as I thought it would be and I hear Zavier chuckle whenever I press on the wrong key, but I eventually get the hang of it.

When I finally play it correctly, Zavier pulls me into a side hug. "Well done," he says, grinning in victory. "You'll be as good as me before you know it."

"I doubt it," I laugh. "You're amazing."

He opens his mouth to say something else, before a door behind us flies open. Zavier and I whip our heads around to see Adam storming out of the room, his hands tugging at his hair as he walks over to the front door.

"Adam?" Zavier asks, standing to his feet. But Adam is out the door before another word can be said.

Zavier, Maeve and I briefly exchange very confused looks, before Danielle appears in the doorway of the room Adam was just in. It's the office, where we were shown that horrific video of Chelsea, and Danielle looks weirdly mortified.

"What's going on?" Zavier asks, stepping closer to her and placing a hand on her arm. "Has... something happened?"

"Um..." she hesitates, eyes moving around the room until they land on me. Tears gather at her eyes but she doesn't let a single one fall. "Zavier, Maeve, could you get the rest of our thieves quickly? And Aurora..." she wraps her arm across her torso, as if it could keep her in one piece. "Can I talk to you?"