broken thieves

seventeen

Crystal,

I can't stay here anymore. My time with the Winter thieves is over, and I'm off to start the rest of my life. I'm sorry for what I've done, or the trouble I might have caused, but there's nothing keeping me here any more. It's been fun. Thank you for changing my life.

Claudia x

After reading over the note in my hands, I pass it to Blake beside me, not sure what to think.

I can't find it within me to be sad. The whole time Claudia has been around, I've felt unsettled. She would always say the wrong things, always giving me looks as if I'm below her in every way possible. Then she pushed me over and told everyone about my mother, which made me momentarily lose some of my best friends.

But it's definitely a shock. When I saw her walking away last night, I never would have thought that she was on her way out of here. Maybe I should have gone outside, said something to her, but I'm not sure if that would have been the best idea. She wouldn't have listened to me.

I watch Blake as his eyes scan over the note. His face is expressionless as he hands it to Jayden, although there's a crease in between his eyebrows accompanied by a small frown. He doesn't say anything.

"So she's really gone?" Maeve asks, looking over at Crystal. All of us are stood in Crystal's kitchen, both Vasquez and Winter thieves, where she apparently found the note first thing this morning. She shares the house with Lilith, Aspen and Fauna, and I'm guessing that none of them had seen Claudia leave last night if the confusion on their faces is anything to go by.

Crystal nods her head. "My guess is that she left late last night," she says, sky blue eyes travelling around the room. "Did anyone see anything?"

I feel like I should stay quiet, worried that the people here might think I was the one who drove her away or something. It would make sense; it's no secret that Claudia and I were never friendly to one another.

But Crystal, and the other Winter thieves, look sad and concerned. I don't blame them. I'm sure if one of the Vasquez thieves were to leave out of nowhere, there would be a lot of mixed emotions among all of us. If I was the last to see Claudia, they at least deserve to know that.

"I saw her," I say, breaking the silence in the room. "Last night. I saw her out of my window."

"Did she say anything?" Lilith asks.

I shake my head. "I didn't speak to her. I just saw her walking away with a bag."

"So... she's left on her own accord?" Pandora wonders out loud. "Out of nowhere she just decides to... leave?"

Danielle shrugs. "She's not been in anyone's good books recently. I'm not entirely surprised."

"You did slap her in the face," Aspen snaps, a little too harshly. One glance around at the Vasquez thieves tells me that none of us know what to say, not wanting to get involved.

"Aspen, it wasn't Danielle's fault," Ophelia says. She runs a hand through her bronze hair-- the exact same shade as Adam's. "It wasn't anyone's fault," she adds, dark green eyes swiftly meeting mine. That one look is enough to reassure me.

"Of course you'd say that," Aspen mutters.

Aspen and I have become good friends. She was the first Winter thief I recognised after meeting her at the nightclub all that time ago. But I really don't like the way she's speaking to Danielle.

"I don't want any blames being thrown around," Crystal says with authority. "Thieves leave their group all the time for some reason or another. Sometimes a person simply wants to escape from this kind of lifestyle, which honestly is completely understandable."