Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

11. Lock Picking

Eternity found herself being pulled roughly away from the lead imp, who wiped the spit from his eye, snarling at her. It was only now that Eternity realized his teeth were very, very sharp. Her confidence faded and she bit back a whimper.

"Should we kill her for that?" One of the other imps questioned.

"Not yet," the lead one hissed, "she was with the other girl. She may know something. Our master will want to question her for information about her little friends."

"Look, I don't know who your master is," Eternity forced herself to yell, trying not to sound panicked, "but I'm no use to him. I know nothing. I only met Lili today!"

"Yet you walked together like old friends, and you encouraged her to run," the imp challenged.

Eternity attempted to argue, but the imp dismissed her with a wave of his gnarled hand, "take her and lock her up so she can be transported to the master."

"Listen here, I'm no ones' prisoner you gross little-"

Her angry words were cut off by two imps roughly lifting her up even as she kicked and spat out every curse word she knew in a mix of English and Spanish, whatever she thought was harshest for each word. The imps ignored her tirade as if she was a mere annoyance, and that disrespect only made her angrier. But even with all that rage, she still couldn't pull away.

She was dragged through an alley, away from any bystanders that could have potentially intervened on her behalf. Her arms hurt as they were grasped too tight, and she knew she would be bruised from this.

"She won't stop kicking and cursing, should we knock her out?" Eternity heard one of the imps ask through her own stream of vulgarity. 

"No. Just shove her in the transport container. It'll muffle her and our master built it to contain magic, so she cannot try anything," the lead imp replied.

"Jokes on you," Eternity crowed, "I don't have any magic!"

 At least, nothing that was ever of any help when she needed it. 

The teen was shoved forcefully into the transport container, which looked like any old wooden crate used to haul large items to market. But this had been reinforced by magic, she could sense it oozing between the atoms of the wood even as she twisted within her prison. This magic wasn't the overpowering fire of Lili's magic. This felt slippery and slimy and unnatural. Eternity curled in on herself, wanting to get away from it.

The cage had been built for a stronger beast then her, and after feeling the force of Lili's power, she wasn't surprised. Even if Eternity did have magic she wouldn't be able to use it. Luckily, she had never wielded true magic, and she had learned to get by without it, even if she was an outsider because so. 

Small holes had been drilled in the top of the crate. Eternity was just glad the imps master wanted his captives alive, because suffocation in the dark sounded like hell. Now a few rays of sunlight got through those holes and made it possible for her to see. It wasn't much - but it was enough. Luckily, her days in the home, sketching by the light of the streetlamp just below the window when it was supposed to be lights out had trained her eyes for this.

She spotted the lock, one of the simplest locks around. A smile grew on her face.

Eternity would never claim to be a master lock picker, because that was a downright lie. But Abigail had taught her a few simple tricks. It didn't come in handy often - like her pickpocket abilities, it was rare and saved only for moments of easy opportunity. Eternity did hope to be a well off artist someday after all. She wasn't going down the crime path.