A Thief and Her Lackey

Chapter Two: Carmen

Carmen studied Zack. How could she turn him into a duke?

Take away the accent first, that was for sure.

"Countess Cleo expects a duke to speak in proper diction. Repeat after me. Park the car in Aardvark Yard." Carmen said to Zack.

"Park tha cah in Aardvark Yarhd." He replied, and Carmen could still hear his Boston accent. She placed her hand on his chin.

"Park the car in Aardvark Yard." She repeated, moving her hand as she said the saying again. She removed her hand.

Zack took another attempt. "Park tha cah in...hold on, I'm gonna get!"

Carmen listened to the million times it seemed he said over and over again. During that time, she thought. She reminisced about the first time she met the two Boston siblings.  It was during her first caper when she ran into the two attempting a robbery at a V.I.L.E hideout to pay back for a car the two had handmade with some guy's money.

Carmen's gaze glanced over to the door, where she thought she saw Ivy, spying at the two from outside. She was confused. Why would Ivy be spying on them? Did Player put her up to this?

She decided to ignore it. She turned he attention back to Zack, as he failed again and again to lose accent. "Let's try something else, shall we?" Carmen said, taking Zack's arm and dragging him to his next stage of training.

She saw Ivy's quick glance once again, as Carmen walked with Zack to his next wonderful adventure as a Duke. Carmen was still confused. Ivy had a curious yet jealous look on her face that made Carmen wonder.

"Red?" A voice said in her ear.

She snapped back. "Yeah, Player? Any new intel?" Carmen took her mind off of Ivy and focused on the task at hand.

She could hear the typing of Player's nimble fingers. "None yet. You just weren't responding when I first called you."  The typing stopped. "Is something bothering you, Carmen?"

She had to think for a second. Was there something nagging at her?

"No, Player," Carmen replied with ease. "Something just popped into my head. That's all."

Carmen knew that Player was no longer worried because he didn't say anything back. She continued to walk with Zack to a table she had Ivy set up. Carmen sat him down at one end and she sat at the other.

She picked up a fork, indicating for Zack to do so also. "Table fork."

Carmen watched as Zack followed her movements and held the fork in his hand. "Ok..."

She placed the first one down, scooping the second one as she did so. "Salad fork." Her pose was elegant, as she taught Zack about duke-like behaviours.

He was getting bored already. "Got it." He replied, slumped over the table.

This went on for a while, Carmen showing him the proper way to act, Zack just bored and Ivy staring at Carmen.

She gave Zack some time to go over everything he had been taught, leaving her and Ivy alone together outside.

"So, uh..." Ivy said after a while.

Carmen cleared her throat. "Don't say anything." She looked around the room. "I don't want to know about your strange behaviours when I was with Zack."

Ivy blushed before looking away, too. Carmen saw it spread across her face and grinned.

They heard a thud from inside the door. Carmen rushed to open it, seeing Zack on the floor, eyes drooped closed. She heaved him up, along with a little help from Ivy.

The two awake friends carried the sleeping male in their arms as they plopped him on a soft couch before chuckling softly.

After they shared a laugh, Ivy walked away to her smaller room. Carmen watched her go, as long as up to her door, when it closed so she could get some sleep.

Carmen sat on the opposite couch of the one Zack was sprawled across. She smirked as she too, drifted off to sleep before the caper the next day.