The shelter for everyone had been extremely exhausting. The twins didn't end up having to stay until 5, managing to finish everything by 4. Skylar and Silvester managed to gain a lot more information than they expected, so they both considered it a huge success. Both waited outside for Carmelita to pick them up, which she soon arrived after hearing they finished early.
Skylar was eager to go home, as she was the most tired. She wasn't used to working as hard as she was, and most of the mattresses were heavy. She threw herself into the backseat and buckled her seatbelt, clearly exhausted and ready to go home.
"So, how was it?" Carmelita asked. It was nice to get the apartment to herself for a while, as she did enjoy being alone sometimes. With two kids, however, that was difficult so she took advantage of the alone time she could get.
Silvester opened the back seat and buckled himself in too. He wasn't as tired as his sister, but his arms were sore from the lifting and the sorting. Nothing in there was really heavy, but it still was a lot of work.
"It was fine." Skylar sighed. "I'm just tired."
"I liked it." Silvester smiled, a bit deviously.
"Savannah was there." Skylar added. "She's actually pretty cool. I hope you don't mind mom, but we wanna hang out sometime."
Carmelita smiled a bit. She was happy Skylar managed to get a new friend. "That's fine. Just don't…well hang out too much with her mom." Despite Penelope's efforts so far, nobody, including Carmelita, trusted her entirely yet. In the back of her mind, she wished Skylar had picked a different friend to play with, but beggars can't be choosers. Skylar hardly had friends, so Carmelita was not too upset with her about Savannah.
The shelter was a little bit away from the apartment, but not too far as Carmelita worked very close by. Skylar and Silvester soon ran up to the apartment as soon as Carmelita parked her car, eager to get inside. "Would you two just give me a minute?" Carmelita snapped. This wasn't unusual for the twins to run up to her door, but it always annoyed her. She wished they'd just wait a few minutes for her to catch up, but this was of course too much to ask.
She hurried up to the door and fished out her keys, ignoring Skylar and Silvester literally shaking to get inside. She unlocked the door, letting the heathens inside. Skylar and Silvester bolted to their door and threw themselves on their bunks.
Carmelita soon followed, a bit slower. She peeked her head through the open door and looked at the kids, who were clearly exhausted. She smiled to herself, satisfied that her kids went to help out with charity. It wasn't everyday that her kids would help out the community together, so she was quite proud of that. "I'm going to make dinner." She stated. "Are you two going to be alright?"
"We're fine, mom." Skylar annoyingly answered. "I'm just probably going to play my PlayStation later."
Carmelita turned away and looked back at Skylar. She couldn't help but be suspicious about her. She just couldn't help but wonder why Skylar all of the sudden wanted to help out the community, even if she needed the credit. Skylar did not care about school at all, in fact Carmelita was normally fighting her to take these extra credit opportunities to bring her grade up. Despite her thoughts, she decided to dismiss her suspicion. Maybe Silvester just managed to talk her into it. She thought. She exited and closed the door, leaving the twins alone.
Silvester waited a minute to make sure their mom was really gone. As soon as he was sure, he pulled out his notebook and began to draw on it. Skylar rolled over and noticed him writing, so she climbed down her bed to see what was up.
"Okay, Skylar. Here is the plan." Silvester started to scribble some drawings. "Can you give me a quick rundown on what you saw?" Silvester handed her the pen and notebook for her to draw what she saw. "Be as accurate as possible, please."
Skylar quickly scribbled some drawings on what she could remember about the building. She was not an artist by any means, but she tried her best to draw everything in a way her brother could understand. She drew the upstairs bedroom she was in most of the day, all the windows, and all the vents. When she was finished, she handed the book back to her brother, who reviewed it quickly. He soon realized the plan he thought of earlier was most likely going to work, relieving his nerves.
"Okay, I got it." He drew some diagrams of the plan. "So, Skylar, what's going to happen is you're going to have to run across the rooftops to the shelter. It's going to take you a good minute, so make sure you're ready to run for a while."
"Nah, probably about 30 minutes max. I can scale those rooftops like nothing." She smiled.
"Right." Silvester eyed her and tapped his pen. He scribbled some more diagrams as he spoke. "Okay, so this window here…" He pointed to a window on his diagram he had drawn. "...this is the window you're going to enter since it's anchored to the neighboring building. Run along this line, open the window, and run through the upstairs portion of the shelter. There's a window right across from the one you entered, but it's not going to be safe to exit." Silvester thought some more. "If my calculations are correct, most buildings' AC vents lead up to an entire unit, which is usually at the top of the building. I've seen guys all the time work on stuff like that, so you should be able to climb through the vent and crawl up the shaft. It shouldn't be too hard since the vents on the roof aren't in a straight line, so it should have ramps for you to climb up."
Skylar raised an eyebrow. "What if they don't?"
Silvester smiled. "Well, Skylar, if you know me I always have a plan B." He ripped out the page he was drawing on and wrote on a new page. "Plan B is that you will exit out that window I told you about earlier. The thing is, you'll have to walk along the wall to the gutters that are at the end of the building. Climb the gutter, and you'll be on the top."
"That actually sounds easier." Skylar grew confused. "Why can't I just do that instead?"
Silvester dropped his shoulders down. "Well, going through the vents will ensure you're not seen. Climbing on the gutters risks you being spotted. The homeless shelter isn't checked often, but keep in mind how close the station is. You really wanna risk it?"
"Well, no." Skylar shrugged. "I guess I'll do it. I have to admit I don't like crawling too much."
"Oh, before you leave, you're gonna need this." Silvester climbed underneath his bed with his feet and his fluffy tail sticking out. Skylar giggled, not being able to help herself. She tugged on Silvester's tail, making him squeal. "Hey! Don't do that!" He yelled.
Skylar laughed. "Sorry, had to."
"This is serious!" He commanded. He dug around under the bed and retrieved a very familiar item. He climbed out from underneath and handed it to Skylar, who was now very confused.
"The…the Thievius Raccoonus?" She began to ask herself so many questions, and hoped their mom wouldn't walk in and see her holding it. "Where did you get this?"
Silvester didn't answer her, just smiling a bit.
"You didn't." Skylar quickly put two and two together, realizing exactly what her brother had done.
Silvester smiled nervously and nodded at her. He wasn't exactly proud of himself, but he wanted that book just as much as his sister.
"So, I guess you're a Cooper too after all." She laughed. "Hopefully uncle B doesn't go looking for it anytime soon."
"I don't think he will." Silvester grinned. "He didn't even know it was out of the case, doubt he will go looking now."
"That's true." Skylar blew some dust off the old book, observing its shiny gold leather bound cover. She examined the sides and noticed the pages were lined with a very thin layer of silver. It was slightly heavy, as it was the thickest book Skylar had ever seen before. It looked beautiful and special. She couldn't believe she was finally holding it and finally able to really READ it. "This…thank you Silver. This means the world to me."
Silvester blushed. "I figured so. Just don't be telling nobody about it."
Skylar smiled. "I promise I won't." She held the book to her heart and smiled. "Thank you so much."
Skylar carefully studied the book as much as she could before they left at night. She observed as best as she could all the Cooper moves her ancestors wrote over time. The book felt fragile to her, so she was afraid she was going to tear it or something. Some of the pages were written in a way she couldn't understand, while others she understood perfectly. Reading all evening, she managed to learn the ninja spire jump, climbing against ledges, and better techniques sneaking around. She had to wonder about the cane the book was referring to. She had no way of getting any sort of cane, so a lot of the moves were useless to her. She wondered if the cane would make her little attacks a lot easier, but she was afraid to ask about it. She figured regardless she can still break into that museum with no issues. Silvester had it all figured out after all.
With their bellies full from dinner, they watched the sun set from the window, nervous about the whole heist. The sky quickly turned from a cotton candy pallet into darkness. Checking the time on their alarm clock on the dresser, they only saw it was 7:00.
"I can't wait too much longer." Skylar said nervously.
"It's not too much longer." Silvester assured. "You read what you needed to in that book?"
Skylar smiled. "I did. I didn't finish it, obviously, but it was the most beautiful book I've read. That's coming a lot from me considering I hate reading. It really is a work of art." She handed the book to her brother. "You really need to take a look at it."
Silvester nervously held the book. He felt as if he wasn't deserving of reading it, as he knew he could never perform any of the moves or skills the book instructed.
"You're a Cooper too." Skylar smiled. "Read it."
Silvester hesitantly opened the book, revealing the old pages full of words from his ancestors. He smiled while reading it, but as he turned to read about Slytunkhamen Cooper II, he saw a little note scribbled at the bottom, hardly visible. He blinked his eyes twice, confirming what he saw. He read the note and discovered whoever wrote it was very scared. "Skylar…" He said nervously. "Read this."
He handed the book to Skylar, who hadn't noticed the note when she read the book. "Bentley, please help. I'm stuck with Slytunkhamen II, and we are in trouble. SOS. Sly." Skylar turned pale reading this, realizing Penelope was wrong. She had told everyone Sly was in 1500 BC. Quickly looking at the date the page was written she noticed it had said 1300 BC. Penelope was only partially right. "How hasn't uncle B noticed this?" Skylar wondered.
"I'm not sure, but we need to go now. We need to save dad." Silvester tucked his tail underneath his legs. "I'm sorry for what I said about him."
Skylar stood up, handing the book back over to him. "Don't worry about it. As soon as mom falls asleep, we get moving. That artifact might be from 1300 BC Egypt, but we won't know unless we try." Skylar climbed up into her bunk and tucked herself into the covers, trying to get as much rest as she could. "Wake me up as soon as mom is asleep."
Around 9 o'clock at night, Paris' streets were now pitch black, only partially illuminated by the street lights surrounding the streets. Silvester poked his head out the door and noticed his mother's room. He snuck around and opened the door very quietly, noticing his mother fast asleep on her bed. He quietly shut the door, making sure to not wake her. Carmelita was a light sleeper, so Silvester had to be as quiet as he possibly could. He snuck back over to their room to wake his sister up, who was in a light slumber in her bed.
"Skylar, she's asleep." He shook her gently, waking her up.
Since Skylar never went into a full sleep mode, she managed to get herself up pretty quickly. She grabbed her beanie, mask, black long sleeve shirt, and her leggings. She carried them to their closet, shutting their closet door so she could change. She didn't take long to change, only just a few minutes. She opened the door for some more room and laced up her long black boots. She grabbed a hair tie from the dresser and tied her long curly hair into a bun, tucking it under her beanie. "Wish me luck." She whispered. She was extremely nervous considering what had happened last time, but she had faith in her brother.
Silvester handed her a radio so he could talk to her. "Be careful. Let me know if anything comes up."
Skylar nodded and opened the window up, quickly climbing through it. When Silvester saw she was gone, he shook a bit closing the window behind her. He had faith in his sister, but there was that fear in the back of his mind they were going to get caught. He sat on his bed and tucked his radio next to him. He quickly pulled out his laptop and pulled up Skylar's location, who hadn't even left the parking lot yet. Skylar carried a small device for Silvester to track her during things like this, just in case something happened and Silvester couldn't figure out her location.
Skylar climbed up the building as she had done on Christmas eve. She swung herself, grabbing the pipe that was on the side of the building. She quickly climbed upwards to the rooftops, careful to avoid passing any neighbors' windows. The pipe felt cold against her hands, but it wasn't as bad as the time she snuck out to meet Penelope as she had gloves on this time. She looked down at the parking lot, feeling a bit of sadness. "Hopefully I'll be back." She nervously told herself.
She climbed more to reach the roof, which was extremely flat, making it easy to walk on. She simply walked casually to an anchoring line leading to another building and smiled. "Leaving now, Silver." She quietly whispered into her radio. She started to run along the wire, as this was never a problem for her before. She quickly reached the second building and looked back at her apartment. She couldn't help but feel proud. She was on a heist again.
It took some time, but Skylar managed to break into the homeless shelter her and her brother volunteered at earlier. Just as they had planned. She jumped through the open window on the third floor, entering the building. It looked a lot creepier than it had during the day. Large buildings weren't the same in the darkness. She couldn't help but feel the silence radiating through her ears. It was almost like the place was haunted, but Skylar knew it wasn't. She slowly walked over to one of the vents she had seen earlier. She figured that one wouldn't be too hard to climb into since she could use the bed as leverage. She stood on her toes, trying to reach the vent, but she just wasn't tall enough.
She decided to look around before radioing her brother. She noticed a large stick that looked like it could pry off the cover easily. She walked over to it and picked it up, discovering it was quite heavy. She struggled to bring it back over to the bed, but with all her might, she lifted it up and managed to get it on the bed. Struggling a bit more, she pulled the stick in an upright position, which immediately popped the vent cover out of place. Looking up at the empty vent, she smiled largely. She jumped on the bed to get some leverage and managed to jump high enough to enter the AC unit.
The unit was small, but her brother was right. The unit had ramps all along it, making it much easier to climb upwards. She followed the vent and soon managed to reach the top. She noticed a large hole with a ladder attached, leading up to the roof. She climbed the ladder and jumped onto the roof. Standing around, she couldn't help but admire the view from where she was standing. She looked around and saw the museum along with the Eiffel Tower illuminating Paris from a distance. She noticed the police office as well, but it didn't look like it was really possible for any of them to see her. "The view is beautiful from up here." She radioed.
"That's awesome, but you gotta move on, Sky. We don't have all the time in the world."
Skylar rolled her eyes in annoyance. She noticed another cable that led to the museum's roof, just as her brother had said. She ran along that cable pretty fast, but managed to avoid anyone detecting her. Soon enough, she reached the museum's roof. Her nerves started to take over as she remembered what had happened last time, but she managed to push them aside. "I'm here."
Not waiting for a response, she quickly moved a skylight over, allowing herself to enter the museum. She pulled a rope and an anchor from her black backpack she was carrying and tied the anchor to a pipe she deemed sturdy enough. She tied the rope around her small waist and proceeded to jump into the hole she had made. Carefully, she slowly lowered the rope to lower herself to the ground without making any noise. When she reached the ground, she untied her rope and pulled it down, unraveling the anchor and quietly letting the rope fall down into her hands.
She took some deep breaths and simply walked over to her target, the small Egyptian statue behind a display case. "I'm about to break it, Silver." She whispered.
"Hang on." Back at the apartment, Silvester managed to hack into the museum's system and turned off all security cameras. He managed to pull some phony footage to display for the security guard to not make them suspicious. He also silenced all alarms and deactivated all lasers Skylar might come across. "Go ahead." He radioed back.
Skylar tried to open the case, realizing it was locked tight. Without much thinking, she swung as hard as she could, breaking a massive hole into the glass. She carefully reached in and grabbed the statue, which was rather small, and bolted out. She ran as fast as she could to a nearby window to make her exit. Sweating in extreme amounts, she managed to jump out the window and successfully stole the statue. She continued to run until she was off the property and hid behind a nearby building. Taking a short break, she couldn't believe she succeeded this time. "I…I did it." She gasped.
"You got it?" Silvester heard her speak. "Come on, bring it home! Quick Skylar!"
The twins could not wait to get the artifact back to Bentley. As soon as the sun rose, they quickly jumped out of bed. "I'll be right back." Skylar snuck off into their mother's room who was still sleeping. She spotted her big purse and quietly fished out her zebra print wallet. Skylar fished for some cash, managing to find what she deemed enough to take the bus. Quietly, she snuck out and closed her mother's door, who didn't seem to notice a thing.
She went over to Silvester who was waiting in the living room. "You think this is enough?"
Silvester examined the money. "Yeah, it should be." He grabbed his backpack full of some clothes he had packed the night before. "Let's get out of here."
Skylar grabbed her black backpack she had packed as well. They both exited the door, looking back rather sad. They were going to hopefully come home. They just had no choice, they had to go get Sly.
"Do you think we will see mom again?" Silvester asked.
"I think so. Uncle B knows what he is doing, right?" Skylar looked down at her black sneakers. She worried a bit too.
"I hope he takes us there." Silvester worried.
"I'm sure he will. If he loves Sly as much as he says he does, I don't see why he wouldn't. Come on, we have a bus to catch."