THIEF! Chapter 15

A Pause Before the Storm

"Yes. I will help you. You can depend on me." Allyssa's face was gravely serious as she made her promise. Then, as if a weight were lifted off her shoulders, she burst into a smile. "But, Liana, I never thought you would end up being the thief."

"Then I'm finally doing a good job at it," Liana replied with a grin. "Or more correctly, we are. It kind of became a team effort over time. Speaking of which, we need to all meet, to discuss how we're getting in."

"Let me guess. In addition to you two, there's Jenna, Angel, and Bobby. Am I right?"

Dragon stared openmouthed. "How did you know that?"

Allyssa almost laughed at the girl's expression. "Just because I didn't know what you were up to, doesn't mean that I don't notice anything. You four are always together at school, like your own personal clique. Although Jenna seems to have the rest of you under her thumb." Liana glared at Allyssa for that. "The whole school's noticed that, though they don't know what you're doing. They think you guys have parties or something."

"Oh." Dragon looked away, annoyed. "Well, I wouldn't know that, since I don't go to school."

Now it was Allyssa's turn to be surprised. "You're not going to school at all? You really should." Dragon looked properly horrified. "Liana, who is this girl?"

"She's a street thief I met, and, erm, kind of took in."

"Even though I live in Bobby's house." Dragon pointed out.

"Well, yes, that's because his house has the most room and in any of ours, you would be noticed right away. But now that you mention it, Allyssa, I think Dragon should go to school." The girl made another face. "Oh, come on," Liana chided her, "you don't really want to free load off Bobby forever, do you? Even though he's rich enough that he could manage that…"

"No," Dragon said uncomfortably. "I just don't want to go to school."

Liana sighed, shaking her head. "We'll talk about it later," she said in a voice that brooked no arguments. "And in the meanwhile, we have to check in with the others, and then listen to Jenna's battle plans." She took out her cell phone and dialed. "Hello, Angel? Allyssa's with us. We're going to come over now." She turned off the phone and was about to put it away, when she noticed a reddish stain on it. It was blood. Her eyes moved to her hands, then up her arm and to the rest of her body, seeing the harm the broken glass had caused, not only to her flesh, but also to her clothing. Her blouse was completely ruined, torn and bloody, ready to fall off her body, and in the slashes her arms and shoulders had been bleeding profusely, though they had stopped by now. Her jeans were torn at the knees just like Dragon's now, and also stained by the crimson liquid. Looking in a full length mirror that had cracked, but thankfully not shattered, from the battle, Liana saw that her face and neck bore a few nicks and cuts too, though not as many as her arms. She tilted her head slightly, barely recognizing herself, and a piece of glass fell out of her hair.

The other girls examined themselves, finding similar damage on themselves. Allyssa bore the most injuries. She had never tried protecting herself from the glass, and so she had been the most affected by it. She was bleeding from dozens of places, and the blood ran down her body in little red streams, like some horrific rain. It was her back and neck that had received the most punishment from the falling pieces, and her shirt there was almost literally shredded, and hung off her torso like rags. Even her hair was ruined. Long, chocolate colored strands that had been cut off littered the floor, and what was left looked extremely choppy. As she shifted to look at her legs, Allyssa had to take off a piece that had imbedded itself in her skin. But worst of all were her hands. Broken and bruised, they were an awful mixture of purple and red. Yet for all that, Allyssa was the most calm of the group. She saw her two pokemon, Rhyhorn and Umbreon, lying hurt as well, and returned them to their pokeballs after soothing them somewhat.

Dragon had been the least affected. Standing in the corner during the battle, she had been hit with much less glass than the other two. Her large T-shirt was ripped in only a few places, though it was stained. But the overall effect on her jeans had been only ripped slightly, and rather artfully, the girl thought. They were unmarked Dragon decided to help too. Summoning Espeon, she had the psychic pokemon lift all the broken glass away from the floor and into the trash can, so the girls wouldn't hurt themselves further by moving around.

The girls all looked at one another, and spontaneously burst out laughing. "I think we're all going to need a wash and some new clothes," Allyssa said. "Liana, you're about my size, so that won't be a problem, but everything would be far too big for Dragon."

"Don't worry," Dragon responded. "I like big shirts, ok? And I'm keeping these jeans. They look even cooler now." That elicited another laugh from the other two.

The girls took turns cleaning off in the shower, and tending to their cuts. They all emerged in new clothing, courtesy of Allyssa, who had had to bandage her hands. The three left the house, and walked to Bobby's, to meet and plan.

"You sure took a while," was what Jenna used to welcome them back. Then her eyes narrowed. "You're all wearing different clothes. And you look like you got ambushed by an angry Scyther. What gives?"

Liana and Dragon looked at Allyssa, who shook her head. "Sorry, Jenna. Our lips are sealed."

"Humph." Jenna said, pouting. "That's no fun. I bet you just had to battle."

The girls all shrugged, not giving Jenna anything. "Let's just say that we owe Allyssa a new room, and she owes me a new CD player. And Angel had better have another copy of that CD."

"I've got like 10 of them." Angel's voice yelled up from the basement. "Come down, you guys, we need to plan out our final move." The four moved downstairs, to meet Angel and Bobby.

There was pizza on the table, and the three newcomers took the opportunity to get some. Allyssa and Liana also let their pokemon out, to rest more comfortably after their great battle. Umbreon and Flaafy decided to eat pizza too, while Rhyhorn and Kirlia stuck to more conventional pokemon food. Noctowl hadn't done much, so it wasn't hungry. Jenna, Bobby, Angel and all their pokemon had already eaten. After a while, Jenna stomped on the floor, impatient to get down to work.

She cleared off the table, and spread a blueprint of Allyssa's house on the table. Everyone wondered where she had gotten it. Jenna looked remarkably like a general, outlining a battle plan to his troops. "First things first: Liana, you need to go tell the police tonight about the meeting." Liana nodded. "Now, I think we all need to be there. Everyone has something important they can do. This is what we're going to do." Jenna brandished a pen, with which she illustrated her plans, telling each person what they would do, where they should be, and when. "Any questions?" There were none. Perhaps there would be in the days before the meeting, but for now, everyone's purpose was clear. "Alright, let's get moving."

They split up into two groups: Angel and Liana were at the computer, working on her message to the police. The rest headed back to Allyssa's house. Once the two had finished, they would join the others, since Liana would not go out until darkness had taken complete control of the city. At that time she would go to Dream's house, and deliver her report:

"The next meeting will be held three nights from this one, at this location." Allyssa's address. "It will be between the same men, with one new addition, a Mr. Felix Raltan, whom I believe to be the hit man, or the connection to him. They have apparently decided on murder as their only option. Happy hunting. And do not be concerned about the niece, Allyssa. She will cooperate with the police."