A Thief's Treasure (4 page)

“I’m so happy you decided to stay. You’ll make an amazing member of the clan and I’m excited to have you on our side.
 
I’m happy I could finally call you an ally and not just admire you from afar,” he admitted.
 
He squeezed me even tighter, my head against his chest.
 
It felt weird and unfamiliar, but at the same time it was a nice and novel feeling that I wanted to have forever.
 
We pulled away before it got too awkward, stepping away from each other and putting the distance there again.
 
We didn’t do anything besides stare at one another for what seemed like minutes until I decided it was time to break the awkward conversation that befell us.

“Well I better get doing.
 
Got a big day tomorrow training with your dad,” I voiced.

“Yeah.
 
Well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.
 
If you need anything you can always ask me,” he replied.

“Okay I will.
 
Especially if I need to be kidnapped again,” I quipped.

He chuckled at that and after we bid each other goodnight.
 
I closed the door and checked out my room.
 
It was spacious to say the least with my bed and two night stands on both sides of it.
 
There was a lamp on top of each along with an alarm clock on one.
 
It had a very whimsical feel to it, and I felt like I was by the ocean even though I hadn’t been to one in years.
 
The walls were a cream
color
and there were little shells along the walls.
 
There was a mahogany desk that had some books on alchemy on the surface of the desk.
 
There was also a little living room on the other side with some chairs, a couch, a coffee table, and a TV mounted on the wall.
 
There was a stereo system as well along with a DVD player and a laptop on the table.
 
Finally, there was a bookshelf that was of pure wood and had a slew of my
favorite
books in there.
 
It was awesome and beyond what I had expected.
 
It was amazing and I knew I had to thank them tomorrow, but for tonight sleep was starting to overtake me.
 
I grabbed the sweats the t-shirt that was left on the bed and changed into that, curling up under the covers.
 
I fell asleep almost instantly and even though I was nervous about tomorrow I knew it was going to be a lot of fun in the end.
 
I was excited to say the least, and soon I was fast asleep and waiting for tomorrow.

Chapter Five

I woke up the next day to the ringing of an alarm clock.
 
I didn’t remember turning it on.
 
This was probably something Eliza did in order to make sure I was ready for today.
 
When I looked over however my eyes bulged.
 
The red letters said 6 am and the thing was ringing off the hook.
 
I turned it off and went back to sleep.
 
Why the hell was I getting woken up so damn early?

After about five minutes the door slid open.
 
I thought it was Eliza so I pretended to sleep.
 
After a moment though I opened my eyes, and within a moment I was attacked by tickles.
 
After laughing for a few minutes I pushed off my assailant, who fell onto the other end of the bed.
 
After I came back from my torture I looked to see who it was, my sleepiness replaced with embarrassment.
 
Sitting right across from me was Darren and he was clad in only a pair of shorts and a muscle shirt.
 
I could see his big biceps and his abs from underneath, and I couldn’t help but flush at that sight.

“Morning sunshine.
 
How did you like that?” he said haughtily.

I flushed crimson at his tone, obviously very flustered.
 
“Fine.
 
What the hell are you doing in here?”

“My parents told me to make sure you’re awake.
 
We’re doing some heavy training and we want to finish before mid-afternoon so I wanted to make sure you didn’t try to sleep in you lazy bum.
 
So hop to it.
 
We’ll see you downstairs in five minutes.
 
Don’t worry, we’re just training and you don’t have to look all pretty for me,” he teased.

I flushed again at his last remark.
 
“Shut it.
 
Now get the hell out of here, I have to get ready,” I muttered.
 
He scrambled off the bed and walked downstairs, smiling in triumph as I started to finally wake up.
 
I managed to get out of bed and found within the dressers on the side a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, a hoodie, and a pair of socks.
 
There was a pair of running shoes as well identical to my own and I put those on.
 
I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and made sure there were no
flyaways
with a couple bobby pins.
 
After a couple minutes I made it down to the breakfast table where the rest of my makeshift family was already eating.
 

“Hello there Alyssa.
 
Did you sleep well?” Eliza asked.

“Yeah except for the whole having to wake up at the crack of dawn to go train,” i muttered.

“It’s the best time to harness your power.
 
Trust me sweetie, I hate it just as much as you but you have to get used to it.
 
It’ll all be for the best in the end anyways,” she said happily.

“True.
 
So what do we have to eat?
 
And how long do we have?”

“You have another twenty minutes to eat and then you will meet us out by the back.
 
I will teach you about harnessing your power and who knows maybe you’ll produce something,” Anthony instructed.

“Cool,” I replied.
 
I grabbed a plate and stuffed it full of food, eating quickly despite the time I had.
 
I would like to get a nap in before we started, but I doubted that would be okay with the others.
 
Once I was done I had about five minutes to spare so I put my plate in the sink and ran to the bathroom.
 
I jogged outside in the dense fog to where Anthony and Darren were standing.
 
Darren was wearing another muscle shirt and shorts, and I couldn’t help but want to wrap my arms around him and feel his taut abs.
 
I knew I couldn’t though; it was time to train and not time to screw around.
 
Tony was in a sweat suit and had the stern look he always had on his face.

“Okay you two.
 
Give me two laps around the forest and come back here in fifteen minutes.
 
I’ll go easy on you today Alyssa and give you twenty if you needed it because it is your first time,” he instructed.
 
Darren nodded and started to run and I followed after him.
 
I pulled off my hoodie and left it by Anthony, running around and into the dense forest.
 
I tried to keep up with Darren but he was as in shape as he looked and it was almost impossible to do so.
 
I followed him, but due to the fog I lost him halfway through, leaving me alone in the forest for a second.
 
I thought on it and I started to follow the trail, the eerie denseness of the air was only a small barrier to my ability to find him and soon I was out of it and running past Anthony again.
 
He gave me a nod of approval and looked at his watch.

“Impressive Alyssa.
 
Let’s not try to get lost in the forest this time though shall we?” he chided.
 
I nodded subtly and ran back into the forest again.
 
This time it was easy to go through and soon I was out of it like I had done this a million times.
 
I ran to Anthony and Darren who were already waiting for me.
 
Darren was starting to stretch and just seeing his taut ass bending over like that made me decide to run faster.
 
When I got to them I stopped, trying to catch my breath.

“Good job Alyssa.
 
You’re doing great for your first day.
 
Now I’ll give you guys five minutes to stretch then I want 200
pushups
and 500 sit-ups done in fifteen minutes.
 
I don’t care how you go about it but I need you to do that for me,” he stated.
 
I nodded and started to stretch, loving the feel of my taut muscles getting used like that and treated nicely after.
 
I extended my torso and reached the base of the ground, laying my hands and my head on it.

“Wow you’re really flexible,” Darren teased.

“Well thanks.
 
I try to be,” I responded.
 
I wasn’t going to let this guy ruin my training and tease me with his body.
 
I finished stretching and went onto the sit-ups and
pushups
.
 
It was hard at first, but soon I was done with all of it.
 
Darren was long done and waiting for me as I finished up the last fifty of them, a teasing smile present on his face.
 
Once I was done I sat up and looked at them, my breathing ragged but my body feeling like it was ready for more.

“So what’s next Anthony?” I asked.

He smiled and walked over to me.
 
“Well Darren’s going to practice his fire alchemy but I want to test out your powers.
 
Why don’t you come with me to another location?
 
That’s the beauty of living on the outskirts of town, you can have all the land you need and no one will disturb you,” he asked.

I followed him to a place that had a lake, some rocks, some trees and a small fire pit.
 
It looked out of place and sort of eclectic, but I dismissed it.
 
There had to be a reason for me to come here right now and I’m sure it wasn’t to have a little chat.

“Now I want you to tap into your powers and I want to see what your strongest alchemy is.
 
That is what we’ll ignore first and focus on the weakest in order to make you the strongest alchemist of all the elements.
 
You can pick which one you start with, I just want to gauge you on your power,” he instructed.

“Okay.
 
But how do I tap into it?” I asked.

“You have to stand like this and breathe deeply.
 
Focus on your target and your power will come to you.
 
Don’t worry, you’ll be fine and if anything happens I’m here to clean up the mess,” he explained.
 
He stood with his legs apart and with his hands in a triangular shape.
 
It seemed easy enough, but I was starting to doubt it would work.
 
I’ve stood like that a lot and nothing’s ever happened to me.
 

I decided to take the rock first.
 
I walked over and placed my hands like that.
 
Breaking in I focused on the smaller rock.
 
Within a second a small flash of light appeared and the rock was broken in half.
 
It wasn’t a clean cut and there was still a few parts stuck to it, but it still cut through the rock.
 
I gasped at the sight; did I really just do that with my hands.

“Wow,” I voiced.

“Yep that’s what it looks like.
 
Now why don’t you try the air now?
 
Try to make that grass move?” he instructed.

I followed his request and started to try and move the grass in the same position I used before.
 
Even though there wasn’t a single breeze the grass moved with a very nice and calming breeze.
 
It got a little bit faster but then calmed down.

“Very nice.
 
Not a ton of power but you still were able to make it move,” he voiced.

I turned to the fire pit and imagined a fire being there from the trees.
 
After breathing a big flash of light appeared and soon a big and burning bonfire was in front of me.
 
It was amazing, and I stared at it in compete awe.