Anarchy

II

CHAPTER 2,
"ATTEMPTED ROBBERY."

▬▬▬▬▬

❝Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings.❞

— John Updike

▬▬▬▬▬

Anna followed Evie and Mal through the door to their dorm room, her eyes giving it a quick once-over. She curled her nose at the open curtains and the pink rose bushes outside. The beds held white sheets and comforters, the trunks at their ends old and wooden.

"This room's brighter than my future," she declared.

Mal grumbled in agreement, walking toward the window and drawing the curtains together until they overlapped, "That's better."

"This place needs a serious makeover."

Evie, despite being perfectly content with the room, turned to her friend, "What do you suggest?"

"Well, the vintage rugs are rad as heck." Anna shrugged, "They can stay. But I'm thinking darker curtains. Maybe gray? We can make new quilts, replace the trunks with black ones. Make them more standardized."

"What does it matter?" Mal inquired, flopping down on the bed on the far right, "We get in and get out. Let's not stay here any longer than we have to."

Anna walked over to the bed on the opposite side of the room, leaving Evie in the center bed. She let her duffle rest on the trunk lid and tossed her backpack against it before sitting down and grimacing as the mattress creaked.

"Do you have a plan as to how to get the wand?" she inquired.

Mal blinked at the ceiling, "No."

"Then I think we're at least going to have to learn to survive here. Plus," she grinned, "the walls and floor aren't made of cement. I want to make it my own."

"We'll get fabric for the quilts tomorrow," Evie agreed.

"Meanwhile, we have a robbery to plan."

▬▬▬

The plan sucked. That was evident to her as they strolled right through the front doors of the museum Fairy Godmother's wand took residence in. Neither turrets nor stained glass windows couldn't deter the five teenagers prepared to misappropriate the power of the mainland. Still, to sneak around the vacant streets while the princes and princesses that'd greeted them earlier in the day were tucked neatly between their silk sheets under their headboards made of solid gold — It was just too easy. Something was bound do go wrong.

As they sauntered up to the door, Anna pulled an orange from her bag and cut a slice out of it with her pocket knife, popping it into her mouth. Stress eating, her father's gruff voice scolded in her head. You're a disgrace to the Bad Wolf name.

There was a guard in the front room when they got there. He sat in his chair, keeping an eye on the security camera and flipping through a comic book. He seemed to be slacking, if you were to ask Anna.

Mal's first spell didn't work, but on the second try the guard fell fast into a deep slumber, "Who's got the lock?"

Anna handed the witch her orange and pulled a chain with a bump key from the inside of her shirt. Rattles from the lock and a turn later, she was opening one of the two doors and ushering her friends inside.