The Merry Men Masquerade

21. The Break-In

The plan was simple, but Ronan explained it to Elena twice in the time it took to reach their destination, and once more to her and Sadie as they hovered at the treeline, just out of reach of the Merry Men residence.

His back was to the property. He watched the other two peer over his shoulders as if searching for something to reveal it as the home of a famous band of thieves rather than an unremarkable old house in the woods.

"Sure you're alright going in?" Sadie prodded. She stood behind Elena, folding and tying the veil into a makeshift mask over her nose and mouth. Though she spoke into Elena's ear, her eyes were on Ronan. "Might be scary in there. I'd be more than happy to swap roles."

They were here to act as his lookouts. Sadie would circle the house from the outside (and had whined about this extensively), ready to alert Ronan if anybody appeared out front or back. Elena would follow him inside to watch the halls in case someone slipped past Sadie's notice or, in the worst case-scenario, a member of the group had stayed behind.

And Ronan would go room-to-room, filling his bag with a very specific selection of items.

The plan was simple, and exceptionally petty.

"I am quite certain." Elena straightened her spine. Ronan nodded his head, both in approval and as a message to Sadie: Yes, I'm alright.

To prove it, he turned around to face the clearing in the woods and the home he'd run away from.

The house wasn't large to begin with, but it had always looked smaller at night. Browner, too. If Sadie and Elena were still looking for something extraordinary from the outside, they wouldn't find any. Ronan had always loved that about it.

He started across the lawn. Elena scurried to his side, and Sadie matched his pace, delighted.

There were no lights on. That was a good sign. Ronan wavered a second too long at the front door; it had a new coat of paint. A dark, rich brown, probably the only color Vito and Tony had agreed on. He ran one hand down the grooves until he reached the lock, one he knew would be troublesome to pick. He had chosen it, after all.

Sadie leaned over his shoulder as he went to work. "Ooh," she crooned when he twisted the knob and the door popped open. Troublesome, but not impossible.

Ronan shared a glance with Elena. She didn't say anything, didn't nod her head, and yet he heard the unspoken let's go anyway. Huh.

The door shut behind him, taking the rustling of night with it. He heard Elena's intake of breath at the darkness, or maybe the silence, but she didn't hesitate when he moved forward.

He stopped not ten steps later, in front of the china cabinet near the entrance. Though, "china cabinet" was a generous term. Second-hand, low-quality china had gradually been replaced with their most eye-catching spoils so that it functioned more as a trophy case. Ronan was after two trophies in particular, leaned against each other on the middle shelf: a golden amulet with a lapis center and a long, thin knife whose blade and hilt were embossed with tiny illustrations of some ancient myth.

Vito had never cared much for gemstones or jewels, but he had a proclivity for history and art. The souvenirs he kept reflected that. He had spent months trying to translate the runes on the amulet and discover the legend told by the knife.

Ronan swiped both from the cabinet.

At his side, Elena was distracted, grazing the tips of her fingers over a small statue of the goddess Aphrodite, sculpted from crystal.

"That one's mine," Ronan whispered.

"I had a feeling," she said. "It's what I would've taken."

He didn't know what to say to that. He considered for a moment taking the statue, and everything else he hadn't stopped for on his way out. At the thought of leaving no trace of himself in this house, he shut the door. "This way."