The way we met

The sky was particularly dark tonight, with the moon hidden behind some low clouds which I could barely make out. I held my breath as the guard wandered past the little black alleyway where I was hidden. I let it out slowly, careful not to make any noise, feeling my heart beating loudly in my ears. He settled down on a small wooden crate under the cold glow of the fluorescent lantern by the entrance of the museum. I smiled to myself as the guard looked around, sighed, and finally slumped off to the basement where low bass could be heard, along with the occasional raucous laughter and shattering glass. Some sort of nightclub, no doubt. 1

I waited until I was sure I heard the soft clunk of the door of the club opening and closing, with a two-second long period of green and pink lights and lively music spilling onto the street. With the guard safely out of the way, I let the palms of my hands move away from the rough brick of the alley wall and rolled my shoulders, which were stiff from being still for so long. A slight breeze picked up, blowing a newspaper to my feet with the date August 15, 1961. Last week's. I pulled some of my stray brown bangs behind my ears and followed by pulling on silk black gloves to match the rest of my tight black attire. 2

Before moving into the dark street lit only by the one lantern by the entrance, I asked myself once more if I really wanted to go through this. I kept on telling myself this was all for the best, for the sake of love. I would have wanted to take on stealing the diamond anyway, eventually, though maybe not this soon after apprenticing to Jordan Klyde, my uncle and master thief. I'd really only finished the extent of my training a month or so ago, but I felt confident, and I was determined to find Indigo, the young man I had seen in the underground meeting two nights ago. I had been sitting in a corner with a cup of cold black coffee, bored, when I heard his voice. It made me instantly sit up and look around for the source of it. It was soft and precise, like leaves rustling on the wind, and when I saw him it only added to my intrigue. He had large blue eyes that were almost unnaturally dark, but they glowed in the dimly lit room like blue fire. I asked a fellow next to me what his name was, and when he told me it was Indigo, I instantly understood why. It almost made me laugh, too, thinking how perfectly our names went together: Indigo and Scarlet.3

I didn't know much about him, aside from the fact that he would be here tonight, stealing the Tyjar diamond after the guard went off to the club, as, according to Indigo, he did every night at about one or so. I was going to talk to Indigo after the meeting like a civilized adult, but he vanished out the door so quickly I didn't even get a chance to talk to him. But what better way to get to know him than to aid him in a dangerous robbery?4

Sure enough, I saw something moving very quickly out of the corner of my eye. Any untrained pair of eyes wouldn't have noticed his swift, languid movements through the darkness, jumping from toe to toe like a dancer. I moved down the alleyway in the opposite direction, planning on entering through the side. I hoped that I could time it right so we both arrived at the diamond at the same time.5

I clambered over the fence effortlessly and jumped off it into a roll, already pulling at a little pouch on my ankle that had a series of small tools in it. The side entrance was very small but had a lot of locks on it, so I would have to work quickly to get there at the same time as Indigo, who was a very skilled thief from what I had heard. I wasn't too worried, though. Picking locks was one of my specialties.6

Sure enough, within two minutes I had all the locks opened and set on the ground. I pushed the door open and slid inside silently. I had spent the whole of yesterday finding a diagram of the inside of the museum so I could navigate through the halls very well, even in the darkness. As it was, the diamond was right above me, on the next level. I strutted off forward and to my right, the darkness so complete I had to take a little flashlight out of my ankle-pouch to see better. I walked briskly but was careful not to let the soft leather soles of my shoes make any noise. 7

I arrived at the entrance into the big vault where the diamond was stored along with a large collection of other valuables. The diamond was in a specially guarded case in the center of the room. Indigo was not there yet, and it dawned on me that unlike me, he wasn't in a hurry and was probably taking extra precautions not to be noticed. Nevertheless, he arrived in the room less than ten seconds later. He tiptoed to the center of the room without hesitation, and only when he was right by the diamond did he notice me edging toward him. I saw him flinch a little at the sight of me; he probably thought he had been caught by another guard who had been wandering inside. He quickly spun on his heel and sped back out the entrance until I hissed his name and told him to wait, at which point he slowed a little in the other doorway but looked at me suspiciously and was obviously ready to burst into a sprint at any moment. 8

"You know my name." It was a statement, not a question.9

"I'm Scarlet. I was at the meeting at Vickrey's the other night."10

"I thought you looked familiar, though it's hard to tell in this dark. Why are you here? If you got my idea, forget it. I'm not sharing this prize, not even with a lass as yourself."11

I felt myself blushing a little in the darkness. I realized how ludicrous my whole idea sounded, and I was almost tempted to turn and leave right then and there, but I figured I had already come this far so I might as well proceed. 12

"I wanted to meet you," I began tentatively, ignoring his accusation.13

"In the middle of the night in a museum stealing a diamond?" he smirked.14

"Don't put words into my mouth!" I snapped. "You vanished so quickly after the meeting I didn't even get a chance to introduce myself. But I figured you wouldn't mind if I caught up with you here."15

"Right." He sounded bemused, but maybe a little curious. "Shall we continue this conversation outside? Right now I have some bigger things on my mind." He motioned at the diamond. 16

"Oh, right," I said, laughing softly.17

Working together, the process was actually quite easy. I could hold down all the switches and undo the locks while he took it out, and it would have been a lot harder with only one pair of hands working. 18

The whole evening seemed to be working out perfectly. We even began to lose our caution a little as we walked out the front door, using steps that were a little louder and talking a little more freely. When we stepped out the front door, we saw that the guard had returned, and he looked at the two of us in shock. The three of us stood completely still for about three seconds and then everything went into motion, Indigo and I racing down the street and the guard yelling after us. But it was no use; his old, untrained muscles were no match for ours.19

Indigo and I hid out in a little abandoned apartment about a mile south of the museum. We played cards and talked and got to know each other. 20

And that was the way we met.