She was crouched beside me, her breathing shallow with anticipation and though I loathed her being there, she was actually a comfort when I had the jitters.

The mission wasn’t hard. Not this time, anyway. Leon had made it clear that we were only to take what we needed and nothing more.

I hated being bossed around—especially by Leon. He was a snob, but the others adored him, which might be the reason I hate him so much.

Solia’s dark eyes flashed as only hers could and she looked to me with a smirk. “Ready?”

“Duh.” I scurried forward, still half-crouched. She followed with silent ease. I hated that too.

Then her hand wrapped around my wrist as she hissed, “Stop.”

I did. Nothing would be worse than not listening to her and getting found out by Leon. He would have my hide. “What,” I snapped back, my voice low.

She didn’t answer but pressed one finger against her lips in a universal Shh.

Something was wrong.

I searched the room, sweeping my eyes from side to side. No one was here but us.

What’s with her?

It figured that she would try to freak me out of my skin. She’d tried it several times earlier and all of them had been successful.

Since I saw no reason for alarm, I jerked my arm away from her. “There’s nothing to worry—“

An alarm near the front of the store began to blare and red lights flashed from the ceiling.

Solia cursed under her breath and glared at me. “It was your job to turn it off!”

I didn’t answer her and ran to the front door and looked up. The buzzing was from right above the door. “Motion Sensor,” I told her. She was already beside me.

“I’m not stupid, Jackie.”

Well … I don’t know about that.

“We didn’t even have a chance.” I looked over my shoulder at the hardware store. “So much for spray paint.”

She glared at me, her eyes drilling a hole in my head. “If you had been—“

“Shut up!” I hurried to one of the nearest shelves and grabbed a hammer on display. “Here.”

She stared at me for a moment, then took it and eyed the alarm. “Okay … will this work?” I was about to punch her.

“Just do it!” I whirled, headed for the back door. “I’ll get the paint.”

The buzzing was an insistent mosquito that had invaded my ear. It was abruptly cut off with a loud clang. I was almost surprised that she had done what I said. If there was one thing that she hated, it was being told what to do by me.

I knew I had seen paint cans earlier, when we had snuck in before lock-down. There had been a man on duty, so we had hid in the women’s restroom for about twenty minutes—an hour ago.

It had taken him much longer than we had thought it should to make sure everything was in order. But the only thing that counted was that he hadn’t checked the bathroom.

I frantically searched the aisle for the cans, knowing that they were there, but not seeing them because of the dimmed light.

Then they were right in front of me. A red one, green, yellow, blue. I grabbed the first one I saw. Black.

She was already at my heels, whispering, “Hurry!”

If I wasn’t in such a hurry to get away, I would have had a quick retort prepared. I didn’t. So I kept going. The back door was (near the back, of course) to the west side of the building. We didn’t have enough time to make it.

Police sirens were already on the way, shrieking into the night.

She passed me and turned down the next aisle. “This way!”

I growled under my breath and followed, can of paint clutched in one hand.

The aisle was a dead end—nowhere else to go. Solia reached the end before I did and slammed into the wall, not able to slow her momentum. I laughed and spun just as I reached the wall to double back.

There was a door at the end of the next aisle over. Thankfully, it was unlocked. She was quick to follow me up the flight of stairs that led to the second floor, I assumed.

I took the stairs two at a time. The sirens were drawing closer.

How long do we have?

She got to the top first, both of us winded and breathing heavily. “Where … now?”

I was doubled over, hands on my knees to keep me standing. The can rested at my feet. My eyes covered the room. There were no means of escape but two windows.

They won’t help us … we need a way out without them seeing.

The sirens had stopped and I could hear shouting outside. We didn’t have forever to think of a plan. We had now and now only.

Solia crossed the room to a door that stood in the corner—one that I hadn’t seen. It was locked. Her eyes grew desperate and I knew that she was out of ideas. So was I.

“We need to get it open,” I told her without need. She already knew. But there was nothing we could break it open with.

Why do we need it open?

She nodded and ran to the other side of the room as I grabbed the spray paint can and stuffed it into the thick cloth belt I had wrapped around my hips. I lifted my shirt up past my stomach and stuffed the belt underneath and tied it tighter around my waist to conceal it.

She was back at the door with a clothes hanger stretched out to pick the lock.

I could already hear someone pounding on the door below. “Hurry!” I bounded across the room in three steps and slammed my elbow into one of the windows. I was immediately glad that I had worn long sleeves for once in my life.

It shattered outward, showering whoever was below with shards of glass. Silence followed. Time was what we needed, and to get it, we needed distractions.

Solia was panting now, her breath coming in short, quick gasps. Panic had taken her, as it had done to me already. “I can’t get it,” she hissed.

The banging resumed and then splintering wood.

They broke down the door? Just to catch us? Sweet.

I had to admit, though, my brain wasn’t at its best either. There was only one thing left to do. “Out the window,” I whispered. “Now!”

She was across the room and beside me before I had a chance to get one leg over the sill.

Feet pounded below as they searched for the door that they would need to get to us. I was thankful that it was hidden in one of the back aisles.

“I’m first.” She nudged me to one side and slipped through easily enough, trying to avoid the glass that lined the sides. I followed her.

Not that I thought scaling a brick wall would be easy or anything, but it was definitely not as I’d expected. I groped for a hold as soon as I had purchase with one of my feet.

It occurred to me that I must look ridiculous—clinging to the wall as I was, leaning hard into it, though there was nothing to lean into. Then my weight shifted and I began to fall backwards.

Where did she—

A gloved hand flashed from above and grabbed my wrist, the finger like talons in my skin. I knew it had to be her. Solia had already reached the roof.

I scrambled up the rest of the way as she nearly pulled my arm from its socket. Not that I minded. She had saved me from falling. (Certainly not from death. I would have survived a two story fall. But getting caught … that was another thing entirely.)

Her finger was again raised to her lips. I almost rolled my eyes at her, but knew it would only make things worse. We were in it together, and if one of us went down, the other was sure to follow.

Her voice came as a whisper. “We move soon. Stay still until we’re sure they aren’t going to find us. They should be in the room by now.”

I nodded and stared into the night. Pitch dark.

We crouched there for what seemed forever. I eventually eased myself into a sitting position, but fully alert. Solia remained standing beside me, ears pricked for an alarm of some sort.

When car motors finally revved and faded away, I was positive we had remained motionless for more than an hour. In reality, it had been mere minutes for them to give up their search. They had known that they wouldn’t be able to find us. We had tricked them so many times before.

She peeked her head over the edge of the roof and peered into the darkness below. “Look,” she whispered.

I crawled to her side and poked my head over the edge just enough to allow my eyes past. A street lamp had been turned on. Something on the sidewalk below glittered in its widespread light. The glass.

She grinned and slapped me on the back. “Nice thinking—smashing that window. We were toast.”

Something else caught my eye to distract me enough that I hardly heard her praise. It came again, larger this time. A shadow.

Something was moving in the darkness beyond the lamp’s light.