The Shadow Thieves

by Alexandra Ott

  “You let Gannon hide the coin to prove you trusted him, but you never really planned to give him any power. You were just using him to kill your brother, and then you were going to kill him and take the coin for yourself. And you know that if he comes over here to take it from me, he’ll do the same to you.”

  Gannon whips around, staring at her. “Is that true?”

  “Of course it isn’t true,” Leta snaps. “She’s trying to turn us against one another.” But something about the way she says it doesn’t come out quite right, and Gannon frowns.

  “You’re lying!” he shouts.

  “It isn’t a lie!”

  “All right, then,” he says, suddenly using his calm, charming voice again. “In that case, you won’t mind if I take the coin from the girl myself.”

  Leta’s eyes narrow. “On second thought,” she says quietly, “the girl is right. I do mind.”

  In one swift movement, she draws a dagger and plunges it into Gannon’s chest.

  Keene lurches away from her, dragging Ronan with him, as Garil Gannon slumps to the floor, blood pooling around the blade stuck in his heart.

  Kerick jolts forward, toward Peakes and Beck, but Leta anticipates the move—she whirls around, brandishing her bloody knife, placing herself between her brother and the prisoners.

  I can only stare in horror as Gannon dies on the floor.

  The weight that’s been in my chest ever since I looked into the mirror lifts, so suddenly that I almost gasp.

  Leta doesn’t even look at Gannon. “Hand over the coin, girl,” she says, “or Keene will slit your brother’s throat.”

  “I don’t think you want to do that either,” I say quietly, trying to keep my voice from shaking. Did I just kill Gannon? Did my words do that? Or did it have something to do with the mirror, and that weird weighty feeling?

  “And why not?” she says, her voice deadly and low.

  “Because if you kill my brother, you lose your only leverage over me. If you kill him now, there will be nothing stopping me from handing this coin over to the king. And something tells me you don’t want him to have it.”

  More pieces click into place as I think about it, and I blurt out my next words. “The coin does have some kind of magic, doesn’t it? Just like the legend says. That’s why you took the coin from the king long before you tried to fight him tonight. Because you’re afraid that if he has the coin while you fight him, you’ll lose. And that’s why you hid the coin away instead of bringing it here tonight to use its power yourself—you’re afraid of it.”

  Leta’s expression betrays nothing, but it doesn’t have to. I’m right, and she knows it. “What do you want?” she says. The words I’ve been waiting to hear.

  Only, now I don’t know what to do with them. What do I want?

  A shiver races down my spine. I’ve made a terrible mistake.

  I just told her that Ronan was her only leverage, which of course was a lie. Beck is leverage too. She doesn’t know that—and I can’t tell her. If I ask her to free both Beck and Ronan, then she’ll know the truth. And once she knows I care about them both, then all she has to do is threaten one of them and I’ll have to hand over the coin. At which point she’ll probably kill all three of us, not to mention the king.

  Which means I cannot ask her to let Beck go.

  If I ask her to let me and Ronan go, I’ll be leaving Beck behind. No, worse than that—I’ll be handing over the coin to Leta, who will use it to kill her brother and then probably kill Beck and anyone else loyal to the king, for good measure. It would destroy Beck, the king, and possibly the Guild itself.

  If I try to save Ronan, Beck might die. If I try to save Beck, my brother might die.

  Either the mirror was wrong or I messed everything up. I don’t know how to save them both.

  “Ticktock,” Leta snaps. “Make your request, girl, before I change my mind and kill you myself.”

  “All right,” I say, stalling for time. “I . . .”

  It’s like I’m standing in front of the mirror again, facing the same question. What do you wish for?

  Beck or Ronan. Ronan or Beck.

  I am torn in two.

  I take a deep breath. “I . . .”

  There has to be a way out. The mirror was right about the coin, so it must be right about this. I refuse to choose between them. I’ll save them both. Maybe I’ll save everyone. Beck and Ronan and Peakes and Kerick and Mead and myself and . . .

  Kerick.

  Rosalia’s voice echoes in my head: Save the king, and you save Beck.

  Save the king. Save the king.

  To hand Leta the coin is to kill the king. So I can’t do that. But I can’t hand it to Kerick, or Keene might kill Ronan. I can’t hand it off to anyone. I have to—

  The idea flashes through my head, and I don’t stop to think. I hold the coin out, like I’m offering it to Leta, but I’m bringing it closer to Kerick, too. Both of them follow my movements, their eyes glued to the coin.

  I drop it.

  The glass smashes against the ground, splintering into a thousand jagged pieces. Before anyone else can react, I reach down and snatch up the small circle of silver.

  Warmth sinks into my palm, and a jolt surges through my veins like a bolt of lightning. For a second my surroundings vanish completely, and nothing exists but me and the power, bursting through me like a wave.

  I look down at the coin, which glows in my palm. Its surface seems suddenly reflective, my own face staring back at me, and the image morphs into something different, stretching and growing and playing out in front of me—

  It’s as if I’m looking at my reflection in the wishing mirror, only this time I don’t get to choose what I wish for. The coin shows me an image of myself, looking eerie and beautiful, with a Guild pendant looped around my neck and hundreds of gold coins heaped at my feet. Silvery strands of magic swirl and twist around me, issuing from the single silver coin in the palm of my hand. I am wealthy, I am magical, I am powerful, I can do whatever I want—

  The image in the coin morphs again, showing Beck, laughing, his brown eyes warm—

  It could be mine; it could all be mine. The power sings with promise in my veins. All mine, forever. Whatever I wanted, I could make happen. The coin would help me, it would give me all the power I needed, it will make this vision come true. Everything I’ve ever wished for, everything I’ve ever wanted—

  Except Ronan.

  The thought rips through the haze of the images, a black hole bursting through a shower of silver and shadow. This ancient power will promise me anything, everything—except that. This power is hungry and dark, and if I choose it, I lose Ronan forever.

  I suck in a deep breath and squeeze my eyes shut, forcing the images away.

  I don’t want it. I don’t want it. I don’t want it.

  I may be a thief, but I am also Ronan Rosco’s sister, and I won’t give that up for anything. I won’t choose between Beck and Ronan, and I won’t choose between halves of myself.

  I push the power away, imagine it surging back through my veins and into the coin. The heat is scalding, scorching, as it floods back into my arm, my hand, my fingers. The coin grows hotter and hotter, a burning silver sun in the palm of my hand, but I can’t let it go. I can’t—

  I open my eyes, and the world comes rushing back.

  A cloud of heat and silver sparks has enveloped me, separating me from everyone, but it’s fading now. The coin is fading too, growing dim and cool in my palm. I wrap my fingers around it, gripping it tight.

  I think Kerick knows what just happened—he looks confused and hopeful all at once—but no one else does. No one else knows what I saw, what I was promised. No one else has touched the coin and experienced its power. And they don’t know that I just gave it up.

  Just in case, I reach down and scoop up a piece of broken glass—the nearest available weapon. “Keene,” I say calmly, “I would suggest you drop that knife and let my brother go now. Otherwise, I
might have to use the power in this coin to set you on fire.”

  “She’s bluffing,” Leta snaps.

  “Am I?” I look at Leta. “You know the power this coin holds. You’ve seen that happen to Kerick, haven’t you? You saw what happened when he touched it the first time. How it gave him his power. And I bet you’ve seen what he can do with it.” I narrow my eyes and try to look as threatening as possible. “Tell all of your Shadows to stand down.”

  For a single second, Leta says nothing. Then she looks at Keene. “Do as she says.”

  And just like that, Keene steps away from my brother. Ronan crosses the room quickly, and stands beside me. “Are you okay?” he whispers, so low that the others can’t hear.

  I give him a nod. “Trust me one more time,” I whisper back.

  Leta turns, and I follow her gaze. Several of the Shadows who’d been flanking her have melted away. They saw it all—how she killed Gannon, how I grabbed the coin—and decided to run. But I can’t worry about that right now.

  I clear my throat, bringing Leta’s attention back to me. “Free the prisoners,” I say, pointing to Peakes and Beck.

  Leta doesn’t untie them, but she backs off. Both Peakes and Beck scramble forward, moving toward me and Kerick.

  Suddenly Keene lunges toward Beck, his knife gleaming—

  Ronan snatches the broken shard of glass from my hand and leaps in front of Beck, blocking Keene’s path.

  I doubt Ronan has any idea how to use that piece of glass as a weapon, but Keene doesn’t know that. He backs off, slinking toward Leta, and Ronan bends down to slice through the ropes binding Beck’s hands. As soon as the ropes fall off, Beck whips out his own knife and helps Peakes.

  Once both Beck and Peakes are free, I turn to Kerick. “I think this belongs to you.”

  I hand him the coin.

  A flash of silver sparks explodes from Kerick’s hand, and Beck pulls me back as the shower of magic envelopes the king. It lasts only a moment, and then a shimmering, twisting tornado of gray smoke bursts from the silver haze and lurches toward Leta, Keene, and the remaining Shadows. The thick smoke swirls around the room, the heat of the magic simmering against my skin, and a bright white light bursts from the king. I blink, and when I open my eyes, Leta and the Shadows are gone.

  The king stands before us, looking the same as he ever did, the coin clenched tightly in his fist. Ronan, Beck, Peakes, and the king’s guards are the only ones left beside me. Gannon’s body lies alone on the floor. I sneak a glance at the other corpse, the one that I was too afraid to look at before. It’s Ivo, the bodyguard from the Shadows meetings.

  Mead is nowhere to be seen, but he wasn’t standing with Leta and the other Shadows when they vanished. He must have slunk away at some point when no one was looking. Typical.

  “Alli Rosco,” the king says calmly, meeting my eyes. “This is a surprise.”

  “Er . . . you’re welcome,” I say. “Well, it looks like you’ve got everything under control now, so we’ll just be going—”

  “Wait.” He glances from me to Beck to Ronan to Peakes. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to leave just yet.”

  Peakes looks panicked. “I’m sorry, sir,” he blurts. “I—I didn’t realize what the Shadows were planning, sir, or I never would have—as soon as I realized, I tried to stop them—”

  The king shakes his head, and Peakes falls instantly silent.

  This is it. The part where the king offers us an amazing reward in thanks for our service, like Beck thought he would.

  Except the king doesn’t look like he’s about to hand out a generous reward. At all. He frowns, his eyebrows drawing together, his gaze fixed mostly on Beck. Like someone about to deliver bad news.

  “Unfortunately,” he continues, “I can’t allow too much information about what happened tonight to circulate in the Guild. There may still be those who wish to remove me from power, and too much knowledge about these events could enable them to do so. For that reason, I cannot allow either of you”—here he looks at Beck and Peakes—“to return to the Guild.”

  For a second, his words don’t make any sense.

  He’s throwing Beck and Peakes out of the Guild.

  Peakes’s mouth drops open, and Beck flinches as if from a physical blow. For a moment, they both stand silently, seeming unable to comprehend it. But I understand.

  I always thought it was strange, that Kerick would pick Beck for this assignment when there are so many older, more experienced thieves to choose from. I thought it was because it was so risky and Beck was expendable. I was half right.

  Kerick is secretive about the coin for a reason. He can’t have other thieves in the Guild knowing how much power the coin holds, how easy it might be to overthrow him if they obtain it. So he had to have known all along that he would do this, that no one can be allowed to know what Beck knows about the coin.

  One way or the other, the king never intended for Beck to return to the Guild.

  Beck unfreezes all at once, having finally understood. “I’ll take memory potion,” he says quickly. “You can wipe my memory of the coin and what it does.”

  Kerick considers this for only a second before shaking his head. “Memory potions are often unreliable, and altering such specific memories would be difficult. One doesn’t maintain his power as king by taking chances. My sister just reminded me of that.”

  “I won’t tell anyone,” Beck says. “You know I won’t.”

  Kerick regards him with an unreadable expression. “I know you’ve always been loyal, and I regret that this is necessary. But I believe tonight’s events prove that it is necessary, to keep something like this from happening again.”

  Between the lines of what he’s actually saying, there are other words. If Beck ever decided to turn against Kerick someday, he’d have enough knowledge of the coin’s power to pose a real threat, if he could get other thieves to join him. Forcing Beck out of the Guild and cutting him off from its members lessens that risk.

  Kerick holds out his hand. Peakes is reluctant but resigned; after betraying Kerick by joining the Shadows, he’s probably lucky that this is his only punishment, and he knows it. He reaches into his pocket, withdraws his Guild pendant, and passes it to Kerick.

  Beck draws his own pendant from his pocket slowly. It flashes in the light, reminding me of the first time I ever caught a glimpse of it, that night in Azeland when Beck told me I was cursed.

  Beck runs his thumb along the edge of the pendant one last time and drops it into Kerick’s waiting hand.

  The king turns suddenly to me. “Rosco. I should probably require both you and your brother to drink a potion and remove all memory of the Guild’s existence. But, as I said, such potions are not always reliable, and given your seeming . . . tendency to get into trouble, I’m not convinced that you wouldn’t simply rediscover the Guild eventually. At any rate, I am grateful for what you did tonight. So, as a show of thanks, I will allow you and your brother to leave with your memories intact, on the condition that neither of you speak of the Guild to anyone or become involved with the Guild in any way, ever again.”

  This is the so-called reward. We can leave. And that’s it.

  It’s totally unfair, but given what Kerick just did to Beck, I’m not going to complain.

  “Thank you, sir,” I say quickly. “We won’t tell anyone anything. Promise.”

  Kerick nods. “Very well.”

  The king glances around the room, surveying the damaged Treasury and the bodies on the ground. For a second, I’m tempted to ask him what his magic did to Leta and the other Shadows, but then again, I’m not sure I want to know.

  “Okay, then. We’ll just be going,” I say, nudging Ronan toward the exit. The king doesn’t respond—he stares at the empty spot where his sister disappeared. Beck just stands there, still looking shattered, so I grab his arm and tow him through the opening after Ronan, Peakes scurrying along after us. We close the tent flap, leaving the king alone with what I think
might be grief.

  The second we’re outside, Ronan wraps his arms around me and hugs me tight. “Oh my God, Alli, oh my God—”

  “I’m okay,” I say. “We’re all okay. Now let’s get out of here.”

  I look at Beck. “What happened? Did they hurt you?”

  Beck points to his blackened eye. “This is the worst of it, I think.” It takes a tremendous amount of effort, but he manages a small smile. “That was so cool, Alli.”

  “What, me?”

  “No, the other person who just saved all of our lives.”

  I grin. “Oh, Beck, this is my brother, Ronan, by the way. Ronan, this is my friend Beck Reigler.”

  Beck gives me a confused look, so I elaborate. “I kind of had to tell him about the Guild and everything in order to come down here and save your life.”

  Beck doesn’t appear thrilled at this news, but Ronan offers his hand, and the two of them shake.

  It would almost be a heartwarming moment, but it’s quickly interrupted by Peakes. “Where’s my sister?” he asks. “Has anybody seen her? She disappeared from the guildhall.”

  “Oh, yeah, about that.” I take a deep breath. “She was stabbed by one of the Shadows. She’s hiding out in an abandoned chapel right now. Ronan’s girlfriend went there with some first aid supplies to help her.”

  “I have to go see her!” Peakes says. “Will you take me there?”

  “Yes, of course,” I say, “but there’s something you should know. Ronan’s girlfriend is . . . a protector.”

  “What?” Peakes yelps.

  “Calm down. I explained everything, and I think she just wanted to help. I don’t think she would hurt Rosalia. But I don’t know how she’ll react to seeing you. She might decide to arrest you.” I look at Beck when I say that last part. “So if you don’t want to come until she’s gone, I understand.”