R I L E Y

My day was going well. At least, as well as it could be going in the current circumstances with an organization of assassins who were after us.

I stood in the kitchen, holding my hand over a series of potted plants. The stems sprouted upward and the leaves elongated at my will. I enjoyed watching the vividly colored petals unfurl.

But then, Jake Evans appeared at my side. "What?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the plants I was growing.

"I have a task for you."

"And what makes you think I'll do it?"

"Things aren't exactly exciting here," he remarked, making a pointed jab at the way I was choosing to spend my time with the plants. "I figured you'd like a bit of a thrill."

"That's not the real reason. Why me?"

"I need a thief."

I scoffed. "What makes you think that I'm a thief? If anyone here was one, it would be you."

He didn't smile at my attempt at humor, though I supposed that wasn't exactly expected from him. "You can lie to the others, but I know the truth. You've pickpocketed Hunt several times and I suspect that he's not the only one you've stolen from."

I nonchalantly brushed my short hair from my face with my fingers. "Hunt was irritating me. What does it matter to you, anyway? You're not exactly the morality police."

"It matters to me because I need you to steal me something."

I frowned at him, still not entirely sure how he'd caught me pickpocketing Hunt when I'd been so careful. "What do you want me to steal?"

Jake leaned against the wall and crossed his arms menacingly. "Adiago Hundsen, as the leader of the Crepuscule Club, did a lot of paperwork concerning gang interactions and intelligence. I need you to salvage as much of that paperwork as possible."

"Finn burned the place down," I reminded him flatly.

"Hence the word 'salvage'."

I shook my head, still trying to make sense of things. "And why can't you do it yourself?"

"I have more important matters to attend to."

"So now I don't even get the most important job? Find someone else, Evans."

"You know, Shires will probably go with you if you ask nicely." He spoke casually, but I knew that he was manipulating me. And it was working.

A slow, devious smile spread across my face. "Fine. I'll do it."

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

I sauntered over to where Kane was sitting in an armchair reading a book. Standing in front of him with a hand on my hip, I waited for him to notice me.

When he did, I saw his hazel eyes flick up to meet my gaze over the pair of reading glasses he was wearing. "Can I help you?"

I gave him a grin. "You sure can."

He put the book down and removed his glasses. It was a shame, really; I thought he looked good in them.

"Jake asked me to go to the remains of Hundsen's lair to recover some paperwork. I could use a big, strong man to help me move the wreckage out of the way."

I had to bite my lip to keep in a laugh when I saw the slightly exasperated look on his face. He looked away from me in embarrassment.

"What do you say, are you in?"

He watched me for a second while he decided. Finally, sighing, he relented. "Yeah. I'll drive."

So that's how I found myself driving with Kane Shires back to Hundsen's lair, one of the last places I'd ever thought I'd be going back to.

As we got closer to the entrance into the alleyway, I turned to the boy next to me and remarked, "We're getting close. You scared?"

"If it has anything to do with Jake and his schemes, then yes," he answered drily, making me chuckle.

"I have no idea what he's planning," I remarked lightheartedly, "But it cannot be good."

"Who knows what goes on inside his head?" He paused. "Why did he ask you do do this, anyway?"

I froze. It was one thing for Jake to be aware of my criminal wrongdoings, but another for me to willingly tell Kane. I wasn't ready for anyone to know, especially given the reason I got into thievery in the first place.

"Because I'm good at sleight-of-hand. Plus, I was bored."

Before he could ask any more questions, we arrived at the same place Jake had taken us to before we'd stormed the Club's lair. The entrance of the alleyway was bathed in the late afternoon sunlight, shooting yellow light into one side of the narrow passageway.

We stood before it together, looking down into the dark depths of the alley. "After you," Kane said, gesturing for me to go ahead of him.

Kane and I walked through the passageways together. Even though the Club was no longer near I still felt oddly wary; we were still in their territory, whether they were home or not.

Finally, after being seemingly lost in the alleyways for a long while, we reached the remains of what had once been Hundsen's formidable lair. I gaped at the destruction that Finn's power had caused on the building.

The building was now a massive mess of charred debris. The metal frame of the building still stood, but it was only a skeleton of what had once stood there. And thankfully, it was completely abandoned. Not a single thing stirred.

I took a tentative step towards the wreckage and wrinkled my nose when the sharp scent of smoke was blown towards me on a gust of wind. Kane lifted a fallen beam that was blocking the entrance and threw it to the side. As it landed with a deafening thud behind us, we walked into the ruins.

"Hundsen's office was that way," Kane remarked, nodding to the left, deeper inside the open-air building. "We should start there."

"Agreed," I said stepping over a pile of ashes.

As we walked together, avoiding fallen rubble in our path, I glanced at Kane. The late afternoon sun hit his tan skin, giving it a golden sheen. A few dark curls of hair hung over his forehead. When he looked at me with those amber eyes, I had to remind myself to breathe.

It was all fun and games to flirt shamelessly with him and watch his shy, demure reaction, but it was another thing to know that he had the same effect on me.

I gave him a quick smirk as he watched me and then stepped aside as he lifted another piece of rubble that was in the way of the office.

During our imprisonment in the Club's lair, I hadn't been inside Hundsen's office. However, from what I could see now, it had probably once been grand. The desk was nothing more than a charred mass of wood. All the decorations and furniture were burned to a crisp.

The only thing that was semi-untouched was a metal storage box in the corner. It had been partially crushed from above by a rogue piece of the metal roofing, but other than that, it was still usable.

"Bingo," I said as I walked over to it. If anything here was holding Hundsen's files, it would be that cabinet.

Crouching down, I slid the first drawer open. There was nothing inside. I tried the second and third drawers but they were empty as well.

"Hundsen must have known that Jake would be after these files," Kane reasoned as he slid the third drawer closed. "He probably burned them all."

"Maybe not all of them," I remarked, standing up to face the top drawer, which had been broken by a metal piece of the ceiling. It wouldn't budge when I tried to open it, the damage done to the top was preventing it from working.

Kane picked up the debris from the top as if it weighed nothing. I took a step back as he gripped the cabinet's handle and forced it open with a metallic scraping sound.

Thankfully, I saw that there were a series of bound papers inside. Kane and I exchanged happy grins before I picked up a random group of papers.

"What do you think these are for?" I asked, rifling through the packet curiously.

"Taking into account Hundsen's evil and murderous nature, I think I'd rather not know."

"Well," I said as I grabbed the rest of the papers, "Jake wanted them for some reason, so they're obviously important."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Come on, let's get out of here."

I smirked. "I knew you were scared." But I followed him toward the place we'd come in through.

"Not scared. Just...wary. I don't want to be here for any longer than I have to be."

"Agreed." I looked around the area as we neared the exit. "Is it just me, or was this a lot easier than expected?"

Kane shrugged. "I guess. But the Club isn't here anymore. There's no one stopping us."

No sooner had the words left his mouth when we noticed that someone was blocking the entrance. We stoped abruptly. The man did the same, having seen us at the same time we saw him.

And when I looked into his face, I recognized him as one of the Club members. They'd caught us.