6. Book Thief
The night was dark when Viki and her brother approached the house of an unaffiliated herbalist, that was selling his medicines to the poorer people. He wasn't part of the alchemy guild, which was good since Nathan would never let her go against them because they were too close with One-Eyed Shark, Edward Samson.
The two of them sneaked towards the window, walking through the empty street, and she took out a knife from her pocket to try and open it. She couldn't go too hard on it to not make any noise, which was a major disadvantage. The first one didn't budge, so she tried the others. Her brother kept following her all around the building as she kept trying one by one, without any success.
- Fuck - she cursed under her breath when the last one bested her.
- Let's try the door - said Tom.
- Do you have the tools?
- Of course, I do.
Her brother first looked around, to see if anybody was around, but the street seemed to be empty. Then he started to move towards the entrance, with his sister following in his footsteps. He had to lean over to see where the keyhole was in the darkness of the night, but he found it and then used his tools. Basically a few bent sewing needles.
They were a rare thing since most of them would break during the bending.
He wiggled them inside, while Viki stood on guard next to him, scanning the vicinity for any movement. Everything seemed to be going well since she didn't hear anything getting closer, or didn't notice any movement. Then she heard a click, signalizing the lock gave up.
- I've got it - said Tom, and gently pushed the door open, to have a peek inside. - Nobody there.
- I'll go in, you keep watch - she said to him.
He made space for her, moving to the side, and Viki entered the main room, shrouded in darkness. If she really focused, she could see the faint outlines of the things inside. She made the first step, gently, slowly, expecting the wooden floor to make noise, but it didn't, so she took the next one.
She had more patience for this than her brother, which made her better at robbing the houses. Still, she didn't have that much practice, since Nathan would rarely approve such jobs.
Eventually, she got to the counter, which she felt with her hands first, prior to noticing it with her eyes. With this new reference to the space around her, she could get behind it, and then start looking around.
The space behind the counter was filled with herbs hanging from the ceiling, stacked on the floor, and stuffed on the shelves of a big-ass rack. She made some noise, looking through all of that, but not enough to alarm anybody inside. She was listening very carefully after any sound she made to make sure of it.
It took a while for her fingers to bump into something else than dried plants and jars, but she finally found it. A book. A thick one, with a leather cover, and letters imprinted on the spine. She traced them all with her fingers, but since she never learned to read, she couldn't tell what the title was.
Since acquiring this was the solemn purpose of this whole dangerous endeavor, she took the book and slowly made her way out of the house.
- Take this - Viki whispered to Tom, giving him the book.
He silently followed the command, but as soon as she turned around to go back, he stopped her by grabbing her arm.
- You are going back? - he asked surprised.
- We need more!
He sighed, and let her go. Viki immediately vanished in the darkness of the room. She returned to the shelves, but after looking around for some more time, she was unable to find anything. It seemed like the only book present there was just stolen. Even after carefully double-checking, there was nothing.
So there was only one option, to go and check out the other rooms. The owner probably was sleeping in the backroom, but she felt like there is no other choice.
It took her a moment to locate the door, and even more to carefully open it. She was so afraid of making noise and waking up the herbalist, that she was extra careful with everything. The handle finally went all the way to the bottom, creaking only a little.
She peeked through the narrow space between the door and the frame, but it was too dark to see anything, so she had no other choice, but to go inside. After inhaling a lot of air, and holding her breath, she finally did it.
There was a window, and just below it, a bed where the man was sleeping. The fact that he didn't wake up before, when she attempted to get inside through the windows, told her he has to be a deep sleeper, but she still remained cautious.
She got enough light from the stars, to see the faint outlines. Next to his bed was a bedside cabinet with a single candlestick, and something that looked like another book. She also noticed a wardrobe on her left. A big one, where he could have stored even more literature.
She started with the hardest part, slowly approaching the sleeping man, and picked up the trophy, then slowly, on her toes, approached the wardrobe, to open it very carefully.
It made nasty creaking noise, and she quickly reacted by freezing in place and looking over her shoulder. He didn't wake up, so she slowly attempted to open it slightly wider, to at least be able to get her hand in, and feel if there are any books inside.
She was very slow with moving her hand and went through each shelf inside. There were mostly clothes in, but at the top was hidden what she was looking for. More books.
She picked them one by one and piled them up on the floor. There were five positions, all pretty thick, and with monocoloristic covers. She couldn't check the titles, so she just took all of them, and without bothering to close the wardrobe, snuck her way out of the room, and returned to her brother.
- Let's go - she whispered to him.
- Take it - he said, giving her the previously acquired book. - I'll close the door, and lock it.
She nodded, took the book, and went outside, on the street.
Tom carefully locked the door, and they both soon after vanished in the darkness covering the city.