by Elle, Leen
Sophie waited until they were safely on the third floor of the house before she questioned him.
"Teddy ran outside." She glanced around her. "This is clearly not outside."
"I taught the kid everything he knows." Robert smiled a soft smile. It was so gentle Sophie wondered how someone like him could maintain it. "I promised him once he could use my room as a hiding place. If I guessed right, I don't want to blow his cover by letting everyone know his secret spot." Robert slowly opened the door to his bedroom.
Just like he'd believed, Teddy was lying curled up on his bed.
Sophie was impressed by how well Robert knew Teddy. Even Gwyn, who was with him every waking moment, hadn't been able to find him.
Teddy's eyes widened as he saw them enter. His fear faded when he realized Gwyn wasn't with them. He rushed to brush away his tears, obviously embarrassed.
Robert pretended that he didn't notice anything wrong. "Hey, kid." He crossed the room to plop down beside Teddy. "I need some help." He reached in his pocket and tossed Teddy his cell phone. "I've been working on this level for a while, think you can beat it?"
Teddy glanced at him curiously before opening up whatever game Rob had on his phone. In only a few minutes Teddy was finished, and tossed it back to Robert with a grin. "Liar. That level was nothing."
Robert was leaning against his headboard, his eyes closed. "I guess we have many liars in this house, huh?"
Teddy's face fell into a frown. He'd momentarily forgotten why he'd been so sad. "Yeah, I guess so."
Sophie, not knowing what she should do, took a seat in Robert's computer chair. She was watching them closely, but decided against making any comments. Rob seemed like he was handing the situation his own way.
"You must be pretty mad."
Teddy crossed his arms, looking as though he might start to cry at any moment.
"Gwyn did lie to you. Your mother isn't coming back."
Robert was being honest, but he wasn't speaking cruelly. He was being firm with Teddy, who couldn't be treated like a child with a subject this serious. It was a different route than Gwyn had taken, as she'd treated him like he was still a young boy. Robert understood that Teddy wanted the truth, and was giving it to him as calmly as he could.
"You think Gwyn's a bad person for lying, don't you?"
Teddy hesitated before nodding.
"She was wrong for doing that. She should've told you the truth." Rob paused for a long moment. "Teddy, your mother was a bad person. While what Gwyn did was wrong, what your mother did was worse. The bad person in this situation isn't Gwyn."
"Don't talk about my mom like that." Teddy shoved Robert in the chest. He'd moved so quickly Sophie hadn't seen it coming.
Robert allowed Teddy to take his frustration out on him. "Teddy, you feel hurt don't you?" Teddy paused at his last comment.
"My heart feels heavy." Teddy collapsed against the bed, his lip quivering.
"I think Gwyn has felt that way for a long, long time." Robert ruffled Teddy's hair. "She's been a good big sister, hasn't she? I think she's done her best to keep you safe."
Teddy couldn't argue with that. He sat still, his lip continuing to quiver.
It was a brief moment, but something had broken inside of the boy. Teddy's shock and anger had been wiped away to be replaced by a raw sadness. It wasn't an emotion many children his age had felt. Sophie's heart ached as she watched how crushing his disappointment was.
The moment Robert opened out his arms, Teddy dove into them, his last struggle with composure breaking. The tears which had been falling silently were now echoing with his sobs.
Sophie felt tears come into her own eyes, as she began to see herself reflected in Teddy. The pain of losing someone was universal. Teddy had lost his mother to a reason that was completely different from how Sophie lost her grandparents, but she understood what he was feeling.
Pain for losing someone precious. Pain for not being able to stop it. Pain for not understanding, and pain for feeling like the world was unfair.
She hadn't realized she was moving until she was on the other side of the room. Unconsciously, she'd taken Teddy's small hand in her own as he sobbed into Robert's chest. She squeezed it tightly, hoping the contact would be a promise to him. A promise he would get through this.
Her eyes locked with Robert's. His deep blue eyes were watching her emotionlessly. He seemed like he was trying to look through her, judging her every movement. She stared back confidently, refusing to let him see whatever he was looking for. This moment wasn't about her, it was about Teddy.
Robert seemed to read her thoughts through her expression. His lips curled into a small smile as he ruffled Teddy's hair again. His arms tightened around the young boy, whose sobs were growing quieter.
"Hey, kid." Robert whispered to Teddy. "We love you."
Sophie felt her throat close at Robert's declaration. It was so out of character for him, but sounded so sincere.
Teddy seemed surprised as well, looking up to stare at him.
"Even if your mom isn't here, we are. You have Gwyn, Rylan, and me." He continued.
"I have Sophie too." Teddy reminded him.
"Sophie too." Robert agreed, glancing up at her briefly.
"Will it get better?" Teddy placed a hand on his chest. "Will I be happy again?"
"Of course." Robert flicked Teddy's nose playfully. "It might not be right now, but it'll get easier day by day. It's a part of growing up."
"I don't want to grow up anymore." Teddy rubbed his wet cheeks.
"Neither do I." Sophie grinned, squeezing his hand again. "Let's stay young forever."
"I second that." Robert smiled, helping Teddy brush away his tears.
Even though Teddy seemed exhausted, he cracked a grin. Surprising both Robert and Sophie, he broke away from them to stand up.
"I have something I need to do." He said, answering their unspoken questions. "Gwyn needs me right now."
Teddy exited Robert's room before either of them could stop him.
"For such a small kid, he's very strong. When I lost my grandparents I cried for days." Sophie watched Robert's door with pained eyes.
"These kids are stronger than we know. They've learned to support each other."
"He's only eight." Sophie whispered. "Having to accept such a horrible reality..."
"Teddy and Gwyn will be okay." Robert was staring at her again. She couldn't shake the feeling that he was trying to support her now.
"Another promise?"
"Maybe." His eyes crinkled in amusement.
Sophie sighed, letting silence fill the room for a few minutes. Her chest felt heavy, like she'd left something unresolved. She knew better than to be concerned. Every time something awful happened in the past, she'd had this feeling. It was a product of the fact that sad things couldn't always be wiped away with words alone. Yes, they'd promised to support Teddy, but that didn't take away his pain. Like Robert had said, it would take time for this wound to heal.
Time not just for Teddy, but for all of them that would be affected by his pain.
"Do you think we need to go downstairs and help?" Sophie felt like Gwyn needed her as well.
"We've done all we can. Rylan will take care of the two of them. I imagine they have a lot they need to talk about."
"I don't feel like I've done anything at all."
"You have." Robert's eyes had grown serious again. "You've given him something the rest of us couldn't."
"What's that?"
"You've given him another person he can trust. It might not seem like a big deal, but for a kid without parents, that's the best gift he could have."
Sophie wondered why Robert was telling her this. He had this unexplainable way of making her feel better, just by his words alone. She knew he was liar, and she knew he was manipulative, but she believed him anyway.
For the moment, though, it seemed like he was being sincere. Maybe it was his promise that she could trust him, or maybe it was h
er need to trust in someone.
She decided to let her suspicions slide just for tonight.
"You look like you could use something to get your mind off of everything." Robert pushed himself off his bed, and disappeared into his closet. A few moments later he returned with a book. It was aged and smelled like dust, but it succeeded in catching Sophie's interest.
She offered out her hand, and he gave it to her. Sophie ran her hand over the old cover, which had no visible title.
"Take a break from thinking about your parents, Cleo, or being a thief."
"If you act this kind, I'm not going to trust you." Sophie warned.
"If you're that concerned, think of this as study material." Robert shrugged, looking like he didn't care if she read it either way. "I thought you would enjoy it."
"What's it about?" Sophie asked, opening to the first page. By the yellow, worn pages, she knew the book was ancient.
"The best thief in history." Robert replied, smiling mischievously.
"Why am I not surprised?" She couldn't deny her curiosity. She'd always loved reading stories about thieves. "How is a book about stealing going to get my mind off being a thief?"
"If you don't want it, give it back." He held out his hand, but she smacked it away.
"Fine, I'll take it." Sophie flipped through the first couple of pages, her eyes roving over the words.
"Don't ruin it." Robert ordered. "Go to your room and read. I've spent too much time with you today as it is."
Sophie scowled as she got up to leave. He'd helped to momentarily take her mind off of things, but the heaviness in her heart still hadn't faded. She didn't feel like arguing with him, and her scowl fell into a frown.
He noticed her expression and his voice softened. "Don't worry about the kids. Everything will work itself out."
"I don't like you pretending to be a white knight." Sophie muttered, making him grin. "It's confusing."
"I'll be my usual self tomorrow." He assured her.
She rolled her eyes as she left his room, walking silently back to her own. She had no idea how to take his acts of kindness, but she was too overcome to think about it just then.
Sophie glanced across the hallway to Gwyn's doorway where she could see light peeking out. She could hear the three kids talking in low voices, but they were all calm, smothering the last of her worries. Robert had been right when he'd said they'd work it out themselves.
She entered her room as quietly as she could, hoping not to disturb them. Plopping down on her bed, she lifted the old book and opened it to the first page.
For the first few chapters, she was too caught up in her thoughts to really understand what was going on. When she realized she wasn't really reading, she restarted at the beginning.
The first paragraph she'd skimmed through before now caught her interest. This wasn't just another book about a thief, it was a story she'd known about since she was a child.
After all, what child didn't know the story of Robin Hood?
However, there was something in this book she hadn't picked up on while watching the countless reenactments of Robin Hood in movies or plays. She was familiar with the Sherwood Forest and the Merry Men, but there was one specific aspect of the story that she'd skipped over in the past.
The thief in the tale wasn't really named Robin Hood.
His name was one that Sophie had seen only a few weeks ago printed on the back of a card.
"Robert Locksley." She blurted out, realizing the similarity was more than a coincidence.
Sophie closed the book immediately, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Oh." She whispered.
* * *
Sophie felt reluctant to wake up the next morning. She'd spent the majority of the night reading, and her eyes were still heavy with sleep. If it wasn't for the sound of someone speaking to her, she would've been happy with sleeping the rest of the morning away.
She groggily propped open one eye, glancing at her alarm clock which read eight o'clock.
"I swear I'm going to kill you." She croaked, slinking back against her pillow. "Leave me alone."
"I wish I was as pleasant as you in the morning."
Sophie groaned as she reached for the pillow behind her head. She launched it in the direction of Robert's voice, but she knew from the sound of the soft thud that she'd missed. For a split moment, she considered hurling her other pillow at him, but she'd lost her willpower. She was far too tired to care about getting revenge.
"That's not the response you should have towards someone who's trying to help you." He chided.
"Go away." She ordered, her eyes closing. "Why are you in my room?" She asked rudely, feeling agitated that he was slowly waking her up. In a few more minutes she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep.
"It's more fun this way. If I waited for you to come to me, we'd never get anything done. You're very stubborn."
"Give me five minutes." She pleaded.
"Sorry, I can't do that."
"Okay, give me ten." She continued.
Robert laughed, sounding sincerely amused. "I thought you would be difficult. Which is why I brought this to help you wake up."
Sophie distinctly heard a sloshing sound as he picked up something in a cup. Her first thought was that it was water, and that only meant one thing.
"I'm up!" She bolted into a sitting position, holding out her hands so that he wouldn't throw water on her.
To Sophie's surprise, Robert hadn't been holding a cup of water at all. He was holding a mug of coffee, and offering it out to her in a polite way.
His eyes were questioning, but Sophie was too embarrassed to tell him the truth.
"I'm up." She repeated, calmer this time. She snatched the mug of coffee away from him, and took a greedy sip. The coffee was bordering on lukewarm, leading Sophie to wonder how long he'd been sitting in her room, waiting for her to wake up. "You get ten more creepy points for watching me sleep."
"I thought you'd appreciate me bringing the work to you."
"Nope. I'm mostly just creeped out."
"Well, I'll find a way to get over it." Robert rolled his eyes.
Now that she was more than halfway awake, she began to notice what was going on. He was sitting at the desk beside her bed, having cleared a work area for himself. He'd brought his laptop and various files that were strewn around his station.
"Seriously?" She asked, glaring at him. "You don't have anywhere else to work?"
Robert had obviously decided he was done arguing with her. He ignored her question in order to change the subject.
"I found the first target." He offered, turning to pull up a picture on his laptop. "I went through the trouble of listing, in order of relevance, the people your parents knew during their time with Cleo. This is the man we're going to start with."
Sophie immediately focused on the laptop. She sensed the time for joking was over. She had everything riding on this mission.
"His name's Anton Slavsky." Robert pulled up the man's picture, and Sophie examined it closely. Slavsky was the same age as Cleo and Max, with a shaved head and a peppery gray mustache. His eyes were narrow and cold. A shiver when down Sophie's spine when she realized how threatening he looked.
"He's a thief?" She asked, her eyebrows knitting in confusion. Someone of Slavsky's huge size would not be able to blend in whatsoever. Unless he was at a bodybuilder convention, he would stick out like the giant that he was.
Robert's eyes narrowed as he glanced at Slavsky. "No, he's the man Max put in charge of finding your parents. He has connections with the FBI."
She was momentarily relieved that Slavsky wasn't a good guy. She would've found it hard to trust someone so obviously threatening. Then, she realized she didn't want someone like his as an enemy either.
"Exactly what kind of connections are we talking about?"
"The kind that can get him information on anyone whenever he wants it." Robert scrolled down the man's profile, which was surprisingly detai
led. "As you can probably guess, he's the best of the best when it comes to tracking people. He has an information network that is unrivaled to any other in the country. If there's someone who might have a clue to where your parents hid the paintings, it'll be him."
"You've done your research." She commented, honestly impressed.
"I've been working on this case long before you entered the picture." He sounded uncaring, but Sophie was too curious to let him get away with such a statement.