Paris - Chapter 1

The auctioneer was taking a dreadfully long time. Paris noticed, smiling gleefully. She looked at her fingernails- perfectly shaped and vaguely smooth- then studied the rest of the crowd who still looked earnest; rich women in fancy dresses and men in fancy suits, leaning forward as if willing it to begin. The gold-laden drapes looked almost droopy, not appearing old, but in their essence, they screamed their age. The Moonstone Lair had not been refurbished or redone in a long time. The House of Moonstone didn’t bother with it anymore, at least not their leader, Loi Davins. Loi… what to think of her? Paris’s feelings were… mixed, you could say. But what to think of someone who was your sister, who had the same last name and the same smile and you played together until you were wrenched apart and thrown onto the street with a warning that if you were to say anything when you saw your sister with a gleaming crown that you would be dead very recently after that? There was confusion, but Paris knew in her heart that if Loi glanced into her sister’s eyes once she would crumble. And where would that get her with the authorities? Clearly nowhere except jail or death. 

“Paris Ashdown.” She heard them whisper, earnestness and frightfulness intermingling. A marvel, a legend? No. As real as those whispers. And those whispers didn’t know who she once was; that was fine. The name Paris Ashdown was all the world needed to know- just before she dashed off with something precious.  

“Like now.” She murmured, pulling her hood over her head- Opernia had done well, even without the hood, nobody would be able to tell who she was anyways. Masking magic, she thought, grinning, is quite extraordinary. 

Paris glanced down at her brochure. The Ages-Old Rulers of the House of Moonstone, something like a council for the house, had emblazoned the slip of paper with a few things that were not really, she decided as she finished reading, not important to her. 

Paris’s watch let out a slight sound, and she stood up and excused herself- it was time. The rows of people let loose a couple of disgruntled sounds as she brushed them. She murmured a few sorrys and then made her way to the bathroom. Nobody was in there with her, and she smiled, relieved. Waving a hand in front of her, she took her other hand and reached around in her pocket, then pulled out a glowing crystal. 

“Thanks Zaine.” She whispered, and then said loudly- but not loud enough to be heard outside of the bathroom- “Ioshcuneer.” The word weaved its way out of her mouth, twisting smoothly and finishing with a slight accent only magic-users had- or at least, Paris had never heard somebody with no apparent magic use it. Paris smiled, and at the word the bathroom wall- decorated with crystal snowflakes for the winter season- shimmered as if it was silk and drew back, revealing a room. Paris stepped into the room, and the shimmery curtain settled back over the wall with no trace left behind. She was in. Glancing around, she noticed a sharp, hovering beam of slight red light. It wasn’t fully on, but still, there were lasers. Paris stayed close to the wall as she took a device out of her pocket and threw it at a laser beam.

Instead of going through the beam and making a rather loud sound as it hit the floor, it hovered slightly above the beam, and once the beam flickered slightly and then disappeared completely, it floated back to her hand. 

“Alright.” Paris murmured. She was close to the prize; she could see it, but with the Houses guarding artifacts, you could never be sure. Some of the things they owned- like the ones she stole as much as possible- had a great amount of security. 

She glanced around again. The artifact gleamed in the evening night, moonstone never looking so precious. Tiptoeing, she was nearly there when… “Izzet!” She nearly screeched, but dialed it down to a whisper. “W-what are you doing here? I-” The 9-year-old grinned, curly blonde hair bouncing up and down. 

“Zaine sent me in for backup!” She chirped. God, Zaine- Paris thought, and forced a smile. Backup was good, she told herself, and in no way was Izzet a burden. 

“Fine, okay. We’re- you know what our target is. You go around the back, I got the straight shot.” Izzet nodded- a young, determined face, and she shot up into the air, hovering until Paris nodded back- then she zoomed through the air silently and hovered right behind the glass case of the artifact. By then, Paris had found her way to the front of the glass, and she handed a device to Izzet. It was a small air-pod looking case with a hook at the end of it. Izzet floated over the top of the case, and Paris’s stomach clenched as she pressed a button and released the hook. The smash and the sound of the glass being broken remained silent, thanks to Zaine, who’d hacked something in the building and turned on a feature that allowed no sounds to escape from the room.  Paris really wasn’t the most tech-savvy one in the group.

Paris sucked in a breath and cursed quietly.  

Stop, stop.

The only thing she needed to do in this moment was focus on her job. 

Izzet glanced her way, nodding, and Paris reached forward, her fingertips glazing the glass…

Then the alarms started going off.