Chapter 48: Heist

I pulled into a parking lot few blocks down from "Leon's Original Designs". Remi stayed glued to my side as we walked to the back entrance. I held my hand over the key pad and whispered "Reveal," as I sent a bit of energy into it. Purple glowing bits of oil from fingerprints rose off the keypad in order. I pressed "6490". The light turned green so I opened the door.

The back entryway light popped on when the door closed. It was a tight hallway that led to several rooms. I poked my head into each room until I found one that looked to be a storage room. Locked boxes of gems lined the walls.

"Open," I said. I sent power out into the room. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. The locks clicked open all at once. I started opening lids and peering inside with my flashlight. Whoever owned this place was incredibly organized. Each box was felt-lined with dividers. The dividers were labeled with gemstone, lot number, size, and other information. It didn't take me long to find the alexandrite and the pearls. I didn't know what size, so I just picked something that had all the same. I removed the divider and the label so it didn't look like too much was missing.

"Have you seen any moonstone?" I asked Remi.

"I can't help you, you know that."

"What are you here for?"

"Moral support."

I scoffed. "I don't need moral support. I need another set of eyes and hands."

He held up his hands innocently. "That's all I can do."

I rolled my eyes. "Very helpful."

The keypad on the back door beeped four times. The back door clicked. I dived behind a stack of boxes. Remi faded into blackness.

"Where the hell do you think it is?" A man asked. His voice was clear as it rang through the hall.

"I know he is working on it right now. It could be in the Leon's office," A women's voice answered.

Footsteps led into a room. I slipped out from behind my boxes and snuck to the hallway just as the automatic light switched off. I followed the voices and the beams of their flashlights to the office door. Inside, two people stood looking around.

"It's not at the workstation," the lady said.

"There's a vault here." The man's flashlight illuminated the front dial.

"Great. Any chance you know the combination?"

He laughed heartily. She joined him after a second. He pulled his fist back and slammed it into the front of the steel vault door. The door dented in. He continued to pummel at it. She joined in. Neither of them looked to have blood on their hands as they dented in the door. Finally it hung off its hinges. The woman leaned inside and pulled out two earrings of opalescent white. She hung them at her ears and laughed. The moonstones were huge and thinly cut.

"Nice," the man said. "I know we have this deal, but let's say you and I take this to a fence instead. I'm sure we can get a better price for them."

The woman tilted her head this way and that. "Do you think she was lying?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Usually humans don't know what they are talking about when it comes to spells."

"She kind of gave me the creeps. I don't know if I'd cross her."

"Yeah, but think about it. These babies go for one hundred million. Isn't that better than some favor by a witch?"

"I mean, yes," she answered.

"Let's do it."

She sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"

"It's a human."

I slunk back down the hall. A heavy hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. "What are you doing here little girl?" The man said. He towered over me. His vice like grip on my shoulder sent tendrils of pain down my arm and back.

"I was just spending the night. The door was open."

He looked back at his partner. "I don't like the look of her."

"Me either, but she does smell tasty." The woman smacked her lips.

"I agree," he said as he turned back to me.

I tried to pull away as the man dragged me closer to him. The thing about me was, I never felt scared until after the fight. I felt a rush of adrenaline, but things never really scared me. I was always able to think and act how I wanted when I got into these tight spots.

I flicked my knife out from my pocket and jabbed it into his gut. The knife resisted and slid to the side. It was like the man's skin was made of armor.

He chuckled. "Nice try, little morsel."

The woman grabbed my other arm. Her fingers wrapped tightly around my arm. It felt worse than the blood pressure cuffs on max. Then, they started to pull. She gave me a wicked grin. My arms threatened to pop out of their sockets. I grunted with the pain.

"Remi," I managed to say around the pain. It came out forced. Each breath ached as the nerves in my arms stretched and pulled where they attached to my lungs.

Anytime now, I thought around the ache. My right arm popped out of its socket. The man laughed as I screamed.

"The little morsel is almost ready. Pull a little harder."

A dark cloud billowed out of the back rooms and down the hall. It flooded the hallway limiting my view of what I assumed must be orcs. The pain from the pulling subsided then released completely. I staggered backward, holding my limp right arm. My back hit a wall. I leaned heavily on it as I tried to peer into the dark cloud. A hand reached up and grabbed my left arm, trying to pull me down.

The lady's face came in to view. "Help me!" She screeched.

I tried to pull my arm away from her grip, which was strong even though she was flailing and screaming.

The darkness enveloped her. It wrapped up my arm like a tentacle in a spiral. Searing hot pain threaded through my arm all the way to my shoulder. I screamed. Remi popped in by my side. He pulled me into his side away from the darkness. The darkness receded. I buried my head into his leather jacket as I whimpered.

His strong arms wrapped around me hugging me into him. "Shh..."

"Where were you?" I choked out between whimpers. Each inhale brought the scent of him into my nostrils and with it a little bit of calm.

"I had another charge. I'm sorry," he whispered into my ear. He stroked my back as I relaxed into him. "I knew you were going to be okay. You're very strong."

Something about that sentence gave me a catch in the back of my throat. It felt like a marble as I tried to swallow it back down.

"What was that?" I asked, my voice a little on the shaky side. "That dark cloud."

"I don't know." He hugged me tighter as he looked into the hall.

I pushed away from him slowly as I tried to compose myself. His fingers let me go, but lingered on my arms as I drew away. My arm ached. I could feel it click and pop as I moved it gingerly. It hurt like a bitch, but I wasn't ready for the pain of replacing it. I turned to the hallway. The automatic light had switched on again. The two bodies on the ground were not as they were before. Their bodies were bigger, thicker, and they had pointed almost floppy ears. Teeth like tusks protruded out the front of their mouths.

"Are those orcs?" I asked.

Remi looked down at them, then back at me. "Are they not human?"

"They look all, weird, like monsters." I took a closer look. "They look like in the books. Orcs, right?"

"How can you see those?"

"Do they always look like that?" I swung a look at him. "Can you see them like that normally?"

He nodded.

"I knew they were always around us, but I didn't realize they all looked human."

Remi shook his head. "Something has brought you out of the Veil."

My mouth drew down in a frown. I knew a little about the Veil and how it changed memories. I didn't realize it was so active in my brain. Hadn't he said something about the Veil earlier when we were in truck?

"We should probably get going," Remi said. He disappeared into the vault room for a minute.

He was right. I had what I came for. I stooped down to the female's jacket and fished the earrings out of her pockets. I snatched up my bag then headed for the truck. Remi joined me just as I left the store.

I felt a wave a relief as I closed the door to the truck. Remi climbed in on the passenger side.

"Seriously, what was that?" I asked.

"I really don't know. I haven't seen anything like it." He turned to me. "I've never seen you scared before."

"I wasn't scared."

"You were clinging to me."

"You were hugging me." I turned the key awkwardly with my left hand. The loud engine turned over rumbling to life and drowned out any response he may have made.

He gave me a pointed look. I shrugged at him, then put the car in drive and headed home.