Elemental Thief

Chapter 3

Ridley did her best to think of anything except the dead woman as she ran all the way home: The smell of rain, the slap of her shoes against the pavements, the spray of water every time she hit a puddle. By the time she reached Kayne's Antiques, her throat burned and she was completely out of breath. She leaned her forehead against the glass door for several moments, allowing her heart rate to slow and making one last effort to shove the image of that still body from her mind.

As thunder rumbled overhead, she inhaled deeply and pushed open the door into the antique store. The familiar chime of the bell above the door greeted her ears, tinkling again as the door eased shut behind her. "Hey, Dad," she called to the man sitting behind the heavily carved oak desk on the far side of the store.

He looked up and peered at her through his jeweler's glasses. "Oh, sweetie, you're home." He tilted the magnifier lenses upward and smiled. "How was tutoring?"

"Same as usual," she answered, shrugging out of her wet jacket. It wasn't a lie. She had been at the tutoring center before sneaking into the apartment of one of her students to retrieve the stolen pearls she'd overheard him bragging about. It was only after that quick and easy robbery that she'd taken a detour to Aura Tower. Busy day, she thought to herself, breathing out a long sigh. "Did you eat lunch?" she asked as she slipped between the displays of teapots, clocks, books, and other old objects. Maverick Kayne tended to forget about meals when he was fully absorbed in his work—which appeared to be the case right now, given the numerous minuscule watch pieces and tiny tools spread across his work surface. "I left something in the fridge for you, remember?" Ridley walked around the counter with the antique cash register and stopped beside her father's desk.

"Uh ..." His eyebrows, flecked with gray, pinched together. He twisted his wedding ring around his fourth finger. "Yes. I did have lunch. Oh, and you don't need to worry about doing anything for dinner. Shen brought something over from his mom."

"Hey," Shen said at the sound of his name. Ridley looked up and found him standing in the doorway that led to the back rooms, his hand raised in a half wave and his straight black hair almost touching the doorframe above him. "I left the dish on your stove upstairs."

"Hi, stranger," Ridley said, her face breaking into a smile. "Didn't see you at the rock wall this morning. Did you end up having to work?"

"Yeah." Shen slouched against the doorframe. It was a bad habit of his from years of being self-conscious about his height. "Sorry about that. Mom needed help. Is Meera doing any better?"

"Well, I don't think she hates it anymore, so that's progress."

"Great." Shen brightened. "It's only taken us, what, five years to convince her to give indoor climbing a go?"

"Approximately. But she still says, and I quote, 'This is one of the stupidest sports ever.'" Ridley rolled her eyes and leaned her hip against the side of Dad's desk. "Anyway, thanks for bringing dinner over. I could have come and picked it up."

"And saved me the looooong walk across the road from our shop to yours?"

"Yes. That long and arduous walk."

"It's a strenuous one indeed," Shen said with a long-suffering sigh.

"I don't know how your short legs ever make the journey."

"It's a mystery. I should be winded and out of breath right now."

"You two," Dad muttered without looking up at them, and they both started laughing. Shen and his family lived across the road above the Chinese takeout shop his parents owned. Mrs. Lin had been sending food over at least once a week since Ridley and her father moved in above Kayne's Antiques after the Cataclysm. Ridley and Shen had been friends almost as long.