4. Thea

Chapter 4

Thea

T hea jerked awake, her hair falling into her eyes when she sat up. Frowning, she pulled the strands to her nose, confused why it didn't smell like her usual shampoo, but instead of leather and spices.

Reaper grumbled at her from his pillow, seemingly just as pissed off at being woken up so abruptly.

"Swiper!" came a familiar voice, followed by another bang at her front door. "Come on, open up!"

Thea scrambled from her bed, yanking her sleep shirt down before peering through the peephole. Roach stood there, smirking and holding two takeaway cups as well as a random sunflower. She liked to joke that nobody could take her down, like a cockroach, which was where the name had come from. It wasn't her given name, but Thea found out pretty quickly that secrecy was preferred amongst thieves. It was harder to fuck someone over if you didn't know their real name.

"Don't worry, yours is chocolate, and the sunflower was just randomly left on your doorstep." Thrusting the left cup as well as the flower at Thea, Roach walked inside as if she owned the place. "Come on, you don't have long before the security change."

Thea groaned, sipping on the drink before placing it and the sunflower on the side table. Two flowers in two days; that was a new record. Stretching her arms, she realised she felt great – refreshed, even. Turning, she found the bedside lamp was off, which was probably the reason she'd slept so well.

"Give me ten," she said, heading toward the bathroom.

Roach reached under the coffee table for the plans they'd been prepping for the last week. "You have five."

Knowing she didn't have enough time to shower, Thea ran a brush through her hair, quickly braiding it before brushing her teeth. "You have the enhancements?" she shouted with a mouth full of toothpaste. She was able to spit and rinse before Roach replied.

"Nose and eyes."

"No hair?" Thea searched for the T-shirt and jeans she'd left on the floor, only to find them in her wash basket.

I'm losing my fucking mind.

"Nah, just wear a subtle shade. Not pink."

Once dressed, Thea opened the vanity mirror above the sink and grabbed one of her rings, only to frown when the mirror didn't squeak. She closed it, quickly opening it once more as if the swift attack would suddenly make it squeak again. The mirror had one hinge that was broken, causing part of it to rub against the side every time it moved. It was one of the things she hated about it and had planned to fix eventually. Yet the hinge seemed fine, the edges lining up without rubbing.

"Ro, am I going crazy?" Reaching down, Thea placed her ring on her second to biggest toe, her silver hair immediately transforming into a dull brown. It was made from ash wood, and every time she wore it, the charm slowly depleted until she'd have to save up for another.

"What?"

"I think I'm… Never mind." Eyeing the mirror one last time, Thea walked back in to find Roach had already set up the paperwork on the coffee table.

"Swiper, tell me you've memorised this?" She barely looked up from the plans in front of her. "You promised me you'd study the layout, so you'd be ready for today."

"Of course I memorised it." That was a lie, but she'd figure it out. She worked best under stress.

Roach pursed her lips, painted the same dark shade as her blunt bob. It matched the sharpness of her jawline, emphasising her narrow facial features. "High stakes means high gains. You're the one that told me you needed the money and wanted to learn what I do. Watches and wallets are never going to cut the same numbers."

"This is nothing compared to what you do." Thea sat beside her, eyeing the blueprint. She specialised in sleight of hand, something her father taught her when she was around six. Although, he probably didn't think teaching his kid card tricks would equate to a career as a pickpocket.

"Well, it's a start," Roach muttered.

She specialised in heists, particularly the researcher and tech expert of the team. For the past year she'd been showing Thea that there was more to tricking people out of the content of their pockets. Every job she'd found, Roach got a cut.

"How's your dad?" she asked, her gaze direct. "He feeling any better on the new drugs?"

"As good as he can be." Thea nodded, her smile straining. "I spoke to him last night."

"Good, I know how hard it can be." Roach's eyes softened before she blinked it away. She'd lost her mum in a similar situation, so understood what Thea was going through. It was information they'd shared after one too many cocktails. It was weird to know that about each other, but not their real names. "Tell me how the fertility statue went," she said, changing the subject.

Thea gestured to her new statue. "As you can see, it went well because now I have a marble dick. It's definitely a statement piece."

Stretching over the back of the sofa, Roach grabbed the shaft. "What are you going to do? Sell it?"

Thea snorted. "Who's going to buy it?"

Roach raised a single, dark brow. "Maybe you should offer it to Grey? He'll have someone."

Thea grabbed it from her hands, slamming it down on the table. "The arsehole wasn't even going to pay me, and he brought a knife."

"I told you to be wary of those forums." Roach barely curbed her laughter. "That's where the crazies are."

"Don't laugh. I've found a few jobs on there." It was where the chunk of her money came from. Excluding the statue, because that was a shit show, she'd successfully stolen a handful of family relics from a disgruntled aunt, a grimoire for a particularly dodgy looking witch, Harper's chalice, and not to mention a one-of-a-kind painting from Nivo Pilkinson. That job paid close to six figures, and because she'd found them herself, she kept every single penny. There was no fence tax, or Roach's administration charge.

"So, you're ready for today? Because Grey's fencing this and you don't want to piss him off. I gave this job to you because I know you can do it; you're ready. But if you're not confident, I'll just do it and take the entire reward." She picked at the hem of her black dress. Where Thea loved bright and colour, Ro loved everything simple and achromic.

"No, I'm ready. Just give me the cosmetics."

Nodding, Roach reached into her bag for the charms that were exclusively found in the Undercity. Changing hair colour was one thing, but changing something so drastically as a facial feature was classed as black magic, and therefore illegal. Subtle changes were fine, such as adding or removing freckles, changing eye colour or even a cup size if you were an honorary member of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee. But Thea was about to change her nose shape, as well as the size of her eyes.

Going out with black market charms that cost more than her rent was a risk, but Roach was right, Thea needed the money.

"I've threaded them onto a necklace for you." Roach put it over Thea's head. "I'll kill you if you lose them. I'm not doing this from the kindness of my heart. Not even my thirty percent cut will cover these."

Thea wanted to laugh, but she knew Ro wasn't joking. Their relationship was complicated: not acquaintances, but not exactly best friends, either. Money always came first, and personal information was kept to a minimum, unless they'd had one too many drinks. Roach was never supposed to know where Thea lived, but luckily the flat was under an alias.

Holding the necklace out, she waited for Roach to grab the small vial of blood. Witches were the only Breed that held a specialised enzyme that could activate the enchantments, and with Thea being Fae, and Ro being human, it meant they couldn't do it themselves. So, Roach was forced to pay a witch for fresh blood each time she wanted to use them.

It was a pain, and another reason Thea stuck to her hair colours. They were simpler, and lasted months rather than hours.

Roach turned the vial onto her finger, collecting a single drop before smearing it across the small, wooden disks before tucking the necklace beneath Thea's shirt.

The magic tingled, and Thea could feel her nose swell and her eyes shrink. "How do I look?"

Roach smiled. "Like you're ready."