Chapter 15

Koa leaned up against a large tree as he waited for Alex to open the door. He heard the click of the lock and moved further into the shadows. A moment later, Alex's face popped out. Koa stepped toward her.

"Hurry up." Alex held the door a bit wider so that Koa could slip past her. He moved stealthily down the narrow hallway. When he didn't feel Alex following he turned around. Alex was still in the process of closing the heavy metal door. Apparently quiet also meant slow.

"Hey, hurry along." Koa hissed, making the over cautious Alex jump and let go of the door.

SLAM!

Koa pinched the bridge of his nose. 'I am surrounded by idiots' he thought. He signalled for Alex to get moving. She nodded and slowly made her way toward him. Koa watched in astonishment as Alex tiptoed her way over. She looked like a thief from a play for children. It was ridiculous.

When they finally arrived in front of the storage room, Alex stopped and pulled out a ring with a key attached. She then dramatically looked down the hallway before putting the key in the lock and turning. Or at least that's what it was supposed to do. Alex jiggled the key, tried to turn, even tried to pull it out of the lock to try again. Naturally the key was stuck.

Without a word Koa reach over and covered Alex's hand. She looked up at him, her mouth hanging open and her cheeks becoming pink. 'What a strange girl," Koa thought before removing her hand from the key and turning the lock. The door opened easily.

The room was not exactly organized. The costumes were hung up for the most part, but the other props appeared to be dumped into random boxes that were placed on the floor and a shelf just above where the customers hung. Koa also noticed a slightly moldy smell. This was going to take more time than he wanted.

Koa pulled Alex further into the room and positioned himself between her and the only exit.

"You can start on that side." He pointed to the back of the room before kneeling down and beginning his search.

"Wait, what do you mean? That wasn't part of the agreement. I only had to let you in."

"This will take one person too long." Koa replied without looking up.

"I have to get back. Dylon is going to start getting suspicious. " Alex's voice was starting to get louder.

"Then I guess you better get started." He replied without emotion.

Koa could feel Alex glaring at him before she reluctantly began to search.

They had only been searching for a few minutes when Koa heard footsteps. He stopped moving, listening to the voices moving closer. He reached up and quietly locked the door just in time for the footsteps to come to a stop right outside the door. Of course that was the moment Alex decided she should announce her presence.

"Koa! I think mmph!" In a panic Koa dove on top of Alex and covered her mouth with his hand.

"Shh." He hissed in her ear.

"Hey, did you leave the light on again?" An accusatory voice came from the other side of the door, followed by the sound of the doorknob jiggling. Koa thanked the goddess he had locked the door.

"Bro, keys." The same voice.

Jingle, jingle. There was no place to hide. Koa looked around thinking what his next action should be. Then suddenly the hand covering Alex's mouth became wet. He looked down at her, his thoughts jumping to worse case scenario. Then he noticed a pink tongue between his fingers. He pulled his hand back in disgust.

"These aren't the right ones. They don't work."

"Hold up, I grabbed the wrong ones."

One set of footsteps faded away.

"What the hell are you doing." Alex looked angrily up at Koa who was still on top of her.

"Shh." Koa held a finger to his mouth before he remembered it was covered in the girl's saliva. Koa wiped his hand on the nearest costume before getting up. We have to find that book now, Koa thought to himself. He again looked around the room trying to think where they would store the object.

CRASH!

Koa turned around to find Alex looking guilty and number of overturned boxes that had fallen from the upper shelves. "Oops" the girl said sheepishly.

Koa felt tension build in his shoulders and head. Not for the first time that day he found himself pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hey, Koa. I think I found that book you're looking for. " Alex had made it back to her feet and held out the green book. Koa's eyes widened. Unfortunately, time had run out. Just as Koa reached out for the book he heard the jingling of keys and the two voices.

"I think something fell. I heard a crash."

No time, Koa thought. He heard the lock turning and did what any thief would do when backed into a corner. He threw Alex over his shoulder and as the door opened, Koa charged head first into the two people standing in his way.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Alex immediately began to struggle, kicking and yelling out.

"This is faster. Stop struggling or I will make it so you are unable to move or speak. " He kept his voice cold as he took off running toward the exit.

"Hey! Over here! Thief! Kidnapper! Heeeeeelllllppp! " Alex took Koa's threat as a challenge and only became more of a burden as she yelled at the top of her lungs and kicked wildly. Koa adjusted his grip holding her legs down firmly.

"Hey, stop!" Koa could hear angry voices chasing after him as he kicked open the door. Without slowing down Koa ran past the wizard who had pulled his scooter over and was not sitting on it. As Koa ran past he called out "Time to go!"

The elf was already halfway down the street by the scooter's motor coughed back to life.