Early that morning, Alicia met with Susan and Perry. They gave her a brief rundown of what was expected of her and reminded her again that she couldn't tell her other siblings what was happening. Susan was more understanding about the difficulty of it while Perry played the hard-line.
"Well, I said I would help out, so I better get to the restaurant," Alicia told them getting up to leave. Susan squeezed her shoulder and Perry followed her out with his arms crossed.
Perry nodded twice at her at the door and watched as she went. Alicia didn't look back. She walked slowly to the restaurant.
The second she walked in Rocco handed her a checklist and rushed off. Alicia looked at it and helped make sure some of them were taken care of, some she put spells on to fail when lifted just to delay her brother and sister from getting to the venue on time. She felt terrible about it but keeping them safe was her motive.
Alicia was lost in thought when she heard Rocco speaking to her. "Hey, you said you were helping, can you take this wine over to the event space? Emilia and I are just about to finish loading up the second load of the food." Rocco said to Alicia as she fidgeted with a napkin.
"Course, happy to!" Alicia forced a smile. Rocco gave her a curious look, and she added. "Still just thinking about the match yesterday, glad we won, but it was weird." That seemed to be enough for Rocco at the moment, and he hurried off after hearing a crash somewhere.
Sighing Alicia made sure the wine was secure and used her wand to get it to float in front of her. She left the restaurant and opted to walk. While she didn't show it, she did notice the DMLE officer that was following her and keeping an eye on her. She figured it was Derrick who didn't trust her not to get involved or do something.
She had just rounded the corner and had just gotten through the security checkpoint sent up by the organisers of the event when she felt a rumble looked up and saw a side of the warehouse explode. She flew backwards, the wine dropped to the ground a few bottles breaking adding to the sound of broken glass. Pushing herself up from where she'd landed, she sprinted towards the building. She felt someone's arms wrap around her, picking her up and pulling her back.
"Let me — " The words didn't come out of as she watched emergency teams rush in her breath caught and it felt like an hour and seconds until she saw a stretcher with a body on it come from the smoking side of the building and she saw who it was.
Her sister.
The closer the event drew near, the more nervous and excited Elle became. Those were the normal emotions she felt whenever she and Trenton were gearing up for a job, but this one had raised the stakes. They'd be set for life with their take after the art was sold on the black market, and it would be the most impressive job they'd ever pulled off as the pair of art thieves. All the while no one in her family knew a thing. She knew some of her friends had their suspicions, but in their small world, no one ever asked too many questions.
"I talked to the buyer this morning," she told Trenton shortly before it was time to meet Emilia. She'd already dropped Callie off of her parents' and had made arrangements to pick her up early the next morning. Trenton would begone, and Elle and Callie would meet them once they were in the clear. "He'll meet us at the agreed location one hour after I send the owl."
Trenton wrapped his arms around Elle's waist; he looked as excited as she felt but without the nerves. "Perfect." He kissed her and pulled away with a grin. "Ready for the heist of our lives?"
"Ready," said Elle and gave him a quick peck before untangling herself from him. "Come on, it's time to meet Emilia."
An hour or two later, they were entering the warehouse with an arm full of boxes and trays of food. She and Trenton had gone ahead of Emilia who said she would be along soon with Rocco with the rest of the food and wine. As she walked into the warehouse, she scoped out the security and was pleased that the layout and placing of the art was as she'd expected based off the information she and Trent had collected. She'd been prepared for a couple hiccups, but so far everything was going according to plan.
After she'd placed the food trays in their proper spots on the tables, Elle smiled sweetly at Trenton. "Babe, would you mind holding onto this for a few moments? I want to check out the art real quick before we get too busy setting up." Passing her messenger bag to Trent, Elle's voice was sweet and steady for the benefit of security, event organizers, or anyone else that might have been around. As with a lot of their jobs, a clever extension charm had been placed on the bag. In it held their potions, a few Muggle tools if needed, and room enough to house the art once they made their move. Far too small for anyone to ever expect prized and valuable artwork to be hidden inside.
Elle left the staging area and ventured out into the event space. The private showing had ended some time ago, but it was still too early for many guests to have arrived yet. There were a few too many people in the room than she would have liked though. They had the potions to render those nearby unconscious, but she hadn't expected as many people as this to already be there. She smiled politely at a young, blonde woman Elle didn't recognize who gave her a quick glance as she passed.
Checking her watch, it was only a minute until Trenton would be coming in to 'check' on her, so she took her place in front of the painting they were planning to steal. It really was beautiful; she almost hated to sell it if not for the money they'd be getting for it later that evening.
"There you are," Trenton said, approaching her. "Get sidetracked?" He asked her. He was already counting the number of people in the room as if to decide how many potions he'd need to use.
Elle kissed his cheek and smiled. "A bit, but let's get going."
Trenton smirked and retrieved two small potion bottles from the bag. Once they were released, the others in the room would be passed out on the floor within seconds. They'd use the third potion inside the bag on themselves once they had the art secure as if to show that they'd been victims of the thief too. At the exact same time he used them, Elle was going to go for the painting.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice came from behind them just as she started to make her move. Elle spun around and saw the blonde woman pointing her wand. The rest of the people in the room quickly surrounded both her and Trenton, wands raised.
"Place the vials back into the bag and hand it over-- slowly," the woman said.
Shit. These weren't just any art enthusiasts. These were Aurors; they'd been made.
Both Trenton and Elle had their wands in their hands now. They stood back-to-back, but they were still surrounded.
"The bag. Slowly," the Auror said again, but Trenton wasn't making a move. Elle didn't know what to do, but she sure as hell didn't want to leave here in the custody of Aurors.
"Dublin," she said to Trenton. She hoped he would know what she meant; it had been a job that had nearly gone south, but they'd managed to duel their way out although there'd been one major difference in this and Dublin. They hadn't been made.
A slew of spells came from her and Trenton's wands as well as the Aurors. It had only been a couple of minutes, but Elle knew there were too many of them. An emergency door was on the other side of the room that they could use as an exit, but they couldn't get through.
She didn't see Trenton pluck out another vial from the bag until it was too late. It was to be their last resort if something went wrong. The heist had most certainly gone wrong, but as the one who had brewed the potion, Elle knew that it was too strong to be used in such close quarters. She was blocking several body-bind curses and couldn't move to stop him.
"Trenton, no!"
But it was too late. The potion hit the ground with an immediate bang. A bang that sent Elle, Trenton, and many of the Aurors flying back. Elle felt her body being launched into the air with such force, and she knew she'd sustained injuries even before blasting into a concrete wall and the world going black.
Elle hadn’t felt herself being lifted up onto the stretcher. She hadn’t heard the threats from Trenton as the Aurors arrested him. The pain she felt as she came to was excruciating, and her breathing was haggard. A mediwitch was barking orders at the Aurors and another team while hovering over her.
Her mind was foggy, and she still wasn’t quite sure what had happened or where Trenton was, but she was being wheeled outside through smoke and a sea of onlookers. Very few she recognized but one she finally did. Her sister but not the one whom she would have expected. Alicia.
Alicia’s breathing was heavy as her eyes were wide, her body was covered in a thin black layer of soot and dirt. She couldn’t even find the words to say anything, she did feel someone come and stand next to her. Alicia felt the hand on her shoulder but didn’t dare look to see Perry Derrick standing there in part his hand there in comfort in part to keep her from rushing in. She didn’t even think about the implications of being seen there with the Auror.
Elle could feel her body growing cold in a way that she’d never experienced. Her awareness was lessening little by little, and she struggled to focus on the sister standing there wide-eyed and standing right there with someone by her side. A someone, an Auror she did recognize-- Perry Derrick. Her own eyes widened as realization slowly began to sink in even with a clouded mind.
There was no other reason for her to have been at the scene. No other reason for Derrick to be stuck to her side. Elle was betrayed by her own sister. She coughed several times, the telltale taste of copper in her mouth. She glared at Alicia and managed to spit out, “I should have killed you, Alicia,” just before the darkness set in and the life drained out of her.