Heist

Prologue

It was nearing the end of the year and she was sitting on a beach in the Dominican. She sipped on her mai tai, trailing her fingers in the white Punta Cana sand. It was an absolutely beautiful place, and for a moment she wished they could stay there forever, the three of them. But unfortunately for them, she was a realist and her team needed to get back to work.

The sun didn't help her pale skin. She couldn't tan, being a vampire and all. No, they didn't spontaneously combust once the sun hit them. It was just uncomfortable, which was why she had a huge umbrella shading her. She drained her drink and motioned for the cabana boy to bring her another.

As she lazed on her chaise, she watched her friend, Hunter, as he did a backflip on his board, sending her a cheeky grin as his sister, Penelope, sped the boat toward the dock.

What a show-off, she thought with a smirk.

The girl rolled her eyes and tilted her chair back. A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see a young boy handing her a drink. She smiled, taking it from his outstretched hand. He asked her if she needed anything else and she shook her head in response. He walked off and she closed her eyes, enjoying the serene sound of waves crashing into each other.

Her peace was short-lived when an excited high-pitched scream echoed over the beach. She didn't need to open her eyes to know who it was.

"Mary! You should have come with us! It was a blast!" Her best friend said as she slid onto the chaise next to her.

"Why would I do that when I can sit here and drink?"

"You can drink anywhere! Waterskiing is so much fun!"

"You can water-ski anywhere too, dummy," Mary snickered.

Even though her eyes were closed, she knew Penelope was frowning. She could feel her frowning. She sighed and snapped her eyes open, rolling to her right slightly to look at her.

Penelope and Hunter Jenkins had the exact same shade of wavy, light butterscotch blonde hair and the same blue eyes. They were such a deep colour, they almost looked purple. She was always staring into Hunter's eyes. She couldn't help it.

Penelope wrinkled her teeny button nose at her and stuck out her tongue. Mary threw sand at her and her friend squealed.

"It's going to stick to me, Mare! I'm wet!" She whined.

"I don't need to know about your sex life, Pen. Save it for the bedroom."

Penelope scoffed and glared at her as Hunter jogged toward them. "She is being a brat."

"What did you do this time?" He asked, sitting at the edge of her chair.

"Nothing! Ugh, I hate when you guys team up against me."

"Pen, she's my friend too. If I don't side with her, we both get sent to the doghouse."

Penny scowled at him, and took a sip of the forgotten drink. She grinned at the flavour and sipped it happily.

"So! Now that our vacation is over, where should we head next?"

"We could go to Tanzania. I hear you can find taaffeite out there and it's worth like two thousand per carat." Penelope suggested.

"Shit," Hunter breaths. "Providing we can find some, though."

"True... I was talking to one of the employees here. She mentioned a bunch of mythological BS, but something she said intrigued me." Mary sat up and peered at them under the glaring rays of sun.

"We're a part of that mythological BS," Penny pointed out.

"Okay." Hunter said, hesitantly, pulling Mary's feet into his lap. He pointed a finger at his sister. "But! There's a rumour of a golden book."

"Like the Book of Mormon?"

Mary glared at Penny. "This book is about us, not Mormons, doofus."

"If a book exists, why haven't we heard about it?" Penny asked. "And who would we sell it to?"

"I don't know," Mary admitted. "But it would be worth a lot to all the species if we had it. We could get top dollar for it."

"Okay, this is dumb." Penny waved her hands in the air. "We need something concrete."

"Fine," Mary groaned. "You're right. It's a waste of time talking about something that doesn't exist."

"Wait. There's a bunch of museums in the States that have all kinds of rare artifacts and gemstones and shit. Why haven't we hit them up?" Penny suggested.

Mary shot Hunter a look and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that what you guys want to do?"

"It's better than raiding casinos. More money, which means we go on fewer heists and that means less attention on us." Hunter shrugged.

Mary sighed. He did have a point. "Alright. Which State should we hit up first?"