Thieves and Magicians

Chapter 2

At some point during the walk, Lizzie could hear someone approach the magician dragging the chest. It seemed like they were asking about the burglary and her. Most likely a cop. To her surprise, the guy lied to them that he had no idea who they were talking about and when asked about the chest he told them about the magic props for the show. Then the cop said something that made Lizzie's heart sink. "Could I see the inside of the chest?" Please don't open it, don't open it, don't do it- "Of course, officer." Shit. The magician opened the chest a little bit and cursed as some props fell out. "My apologies, the chest is quite full at the moment - lots of props were needed for today's show." The magician told the cop in an innocent, yet slightly annoyed, voice - as if he was personally offended that they dared to even think he'd have something to do with it.

The officer wasn't happy about the guy not opening the chest fully but he also didn't think too much about it - the chest seemed to be filled with props to the brim and he understood that having them fall out on the street is a nuisance. The fact that the guy was a quite famous magician with a clean record also helped. Besides, the chest was rather small - no humanoid could fit there alongside all those props, right?

The cop peeked inside but since the chest wasn't fully opened and the thief managed to stay totally still he didn't notice her. "Have a good night, sir. Best of luck with your shows." "You too, officer. Thank you, officer." The magician closed the chest and kept walking. Cops in this city, man. No wonder no cases get solved, the magician thought to himself and shook his head slightly.

Eventually, they made it to the magician's place. "Here, it's safe to come out now," he said as he opened the chest and took the props out so Lizzie could climb out. "Where am I?" she inquired, looking around. "At my house," he responded, put the props back to the chest and sat down on the couch. She wasn't too happy about that but she wasn't gonna complain - the guy did potentially save her from going to prison. "Pardon me but I don't think I got your name," she said and took a seat next to the guy. "Oh, how rude of me. My name is Xavier. What's yours? I couldn't ask for your name either." "Elisabeth, most people just call me Lizzie, though." Xavier smiled. "It's nice to make your acquaintance, Elisabeth." "Likewise," Lizzie responded dryly, not caring about the pleasantries. She had another, rather burning, question in her mind.

"Why did you help me?" Xavier looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression. "Because it's a common courtesy to help people in need?" Lizzie gave Xavier a are-you-fucking-serious-right-now look. "Perhaps but do I need to remind you that I am a criminal that's on the run from the police? You took me in and lied to a cop about not knowing my whereabouts while I was inside your damn box! This makes you an accomplice, you could get in trouble. Why do that?" Xavier shrugged. "I suppose I just didn't want you to get caught." "Why? For all you know, I could be a murderer on the run." "But the cops were investigating a burglary, not murder. Besides, you don't look like a murderer." "Huh?" Lizzie was quite baffled by that last comment.

"And why is that?" She added as much sass to her voice as she could. "Well, first of all," he raised one finger, "it's your outfit. You look like someone who wants to remain invisible, rather than be able to blend in with the crowd when necessary and give themself an alibi. I assume you know there's a gala happening nearby - lots of people and just far enough from the closest apartment complex area." Lizzie snorted. Xavier ignored her and raised another finger while pointing at Lizzie's bare arms.

"Second, your injuries. You don't have any injuries that indicate you were involved in a fight - not even a scratch on your arms. You ain't bleeding from your leg either, so a possible cause is that you jumped out of an apartment window. And third," he raised yet another finger and pointed toward her backpack, "your backpack seems quite full and somewhat heavy. However, when you move, it's a bit tingly. Unless you went to murder someone with jewellery, if I were to take a guess, I'd say that it's stolen loot."

The analysis made the thief laugh. "What are you, some kind of self-proclaimed detective? Also, no offence, but I'd say some of your conclusions are quite far-fetched." "Well then tell me the real story." She thought about it for a moment. There wasn't exactly a point in hiding, so she told him all about the burglary gone wrong.

When Lizzie was finished, Xavier nodded his head as he was processing all the info. "I have just one more question," he said after a while. "Shoot." "What led you down this path? Why are you stealing?" The question itself managed to catch the thief off guard but the magician's curious, yet not judgemental, tone surprised her even more. The thief let out a sigh. Memories of her life in her home village - Nitmery - came flooding back. Of what was before it all went south. "For reasons. If it makes it any better, then I try to only steal from the wealthy for whom it's all just a minor inconvenience." Though she couldn't have cared less what the guy thought of her, she thought that perhaps making herself look at least a bit better would improve her chances of keeping her freedom. "Like Robin Hood?" Xavier chuckled. "A bit more selfish but yeah, something like that." Lizzie laughed as well.

After the silence, that fell over them as the laughter died out, stretched on for too long for Lizzie's liking, she asked: "What are you gonna do with me? Are you gonna feed me to the wolves?" "I have a proposal," he replied, his tone a bit uncertain - like he wasn't too fond of the thoughts lurking inside his head either and was wondering whether he was gonna regret this decision for the rest of his life. "You want to marry me? Take me out for dinner first," Lizzie joked. "Another type of proposal," Xavier said, trying to hold back a snicker. "Well, let's hear it."

There was a quick pause before Xavier started talking: "As I said before, I'm a magician. At the moment, I work alone - however, I used to have an assistant. Unfortunately, he quit several months ago and I've had no luck in finding a new assistant. Working alone sets quite a lot of limits, which means that bigger shows are either much harder or straight-up impossible to pull off." Lizzie could tell where this was going and she could feel her insides starting to twist. "So here's my proposal - become my magic assistant. Just for three months if you don't want to stay for longer."

Lizzie gave it some thought. "And if I refuse?" she asked, leaning towards Xavier a bit. "Well, then I'll call the cops and say that I found the thief they're looking for." "Why, you little bastard! This was your plan all along, wasn't it!?" She stood up and started limping toward the door. She stopped when she heard Xavier pick up the landline. "Wanna try to outrun the cops?" She turned around, now facing the magician and observing him keenly. He had a certain yet neutral expression. She concluded that though he had helped her before, making a run for it right now would most likely land her in jail.

"And why do you want me as your assistant? Do you have some kind of martyr complex? You think you can save me!? Fix me!?" She asked, her voice louder than she had anticipated, her eyes shooting fire at the guy. Why the fuck did I agree to this?! "No, I just think that you would make a great magician - if you think about it, magicians and thieves use the same set of skills, just for different purposes." Xavier put down the phone and sat down on the couch again. He was also extremely desperate, but he wasn't gonna tell her that. Though Lizzie wasn't sure whether she agreed with his comments, on second thought, the proposal didn't sound too bad. Three months of being a magician's assistant for helping her seemed like - more or less - a fair deal.

She let out a sigh and said: "Fine, I'll be your assistant for THREE months, after that, I'm out and YOU are not gonna feed me to the wolves. Deal?" She reached out her hand. Xavier smiled, walked up to Lizzie and also reached out his hand. "You have a deal." Lizzie nodded and they shook hands.

"Um, there might be a problem though. I can't go out." Lizzie mentioned as she let go of Xavier's hand. "You're right, it is a problem." He rested his hand on his chin and thought about it for a moment. "The only person who saw me, however, was one of the homeowners and she saw my face for a couple of seconds only - none of the cops did. So all they have on me is a sketch, which most likely isn't particularly detailed. Where I'm going with this - if we changed some core features about me then I think after a few days it's safe for me to go out again." Lizzie raised her hands and waved them as if trying to ask what do you think?. Xavier's head perked up. He inspected Lizzie from head to toe and responded: "You make a good point. And I have just the tools to make that idea a reality."