“What we’re talking about here is a heist. You guys do realize that, right?”
“Yes, Jamie,” Kasey sighs. “We know.”
My kitchen island looks bizarre right now. My cookbooks, the jar full of coffee beans, my bubbler, the vase with the flowers a customer never showed to pick up - all of it has been hastily shoved aside. Now there are two laptops, several textbooks from Kasey’s Museum Studies class, printed pages of her notes, and, in the middle of it all, the map, unfolded.
Aiden leans over to see what I’ve got pulled up on my laptop, then groans.
“Dude, did you really just look up what the jail time is for robbing a museum? You better be using a private tab.”
“Of course I am! This isn’t helpful, though. There’s no one answer, apparently.”
“Yes, obviously, Jamie,” Kasey says, her lip twitching. “Clearly there’s a difference between us stealing one historical object from a local museum and - I don’t know. Lifting $500 million worth of artwork from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Which someone did, by the way, and they were never caught, so. I guess they should be our inspiration?”
“Are we not even going to consider just going to the museum and asking to borrow the thing?”
“Couple of problems there.” Kasey chews on her thumbnail as she thinks. “First of all, museums don’t typically go around loaning objects to people for no reason, especially people in no way qualified to handle them, who can’t explain what they need it for and who aren’t affiliated with some larger institution. Secondly, we have no idea what’s going to happen when all four objects are put on the map. We could damage the artifact, and then we’ll be on the hook for it. And lastly… if we ask them for it, and they refuse to loan it to us, and then it goes missing, who do you think they’ll suspect?”
Aiden folds his arms over his chest, frowning, and I open my mouth to answer, but… it quickly becomes obvious that neither of us can think of a retort.
“Isn’t this - wrong, ethically?” I ask, pushing my laptop away. “We’re taking an object of historical value from someplace where it’s being viewed by the public, right? Kasey, you really don’t have anything to say about this? I thought you’d accuse us of like - ‘diminishing the cultural landscape’ or whatever-”
“Not necessarily,” Kasey answers, her eyes narrowed. “We don’t even know if the artifact is on display. Museums don’t have everything from their collections on view at one time. The Metropolitan Museum alone has two million objects, seventeen departments, and that’s without including The Cloisters, where they keep all the Medieval stuff. And, it’s not always the case, but... a significant portion of the antiquities owned by the major museums are stolen, anyways. Sometimes openly, brazenly. Just look at the Elgin Marbles.”
“That sounds vaguely familiar."
“Yes, Aiden, because they constitute half of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon. A man named Thomas Bruce straight up went to Greece, took them, and sold them to the British Museum. Shiploads of carvings. The Greek government has been trying to get them back for years. They keep a space open for them at the Acropolis Museum, in case they’re ever brought home.”
“Fucked up,” I mutter, and Kasey nods.
“It’s become more sophisticated,” she continues. “We’re talking suitcases full of cash. Bribes, hush money, smashing ancient sculptures to sneak them into the country and then having restoration teams and conservation staff put them back together. Smugglers, fences, Swiss bank accounts, traffickers, looters, global supply chains. When the UNESCO Convention was signed in the 70s, it created tighter regulations about this stuff, and the director of the Met at the time, he said… the Age of Piracy is over. But that wasn’t entirely true. This isn’t ancient history. The chief antiquities curator at the Getty Museum was put on trial for this kind of thing in 2005. Don’t get me wrong, I love museums, they’re my happy place, but… I’m not sure how bad we should feel about taking one thing from one of them.”
I chew my lip for a minute, then look to Aiden, who is clearly deep in thought.
“Except,” he says slowly, “Will told us that the museum is somewhere close to Ketterbridge. We’re not talking about a giant like the Getty or the Met. We’re talking about something small, regional. Probably with a tiny collection.”
“That’s the thing,” Kasey answers. “I didn’t think there were any museums near Ketterbridge. Will said that it’s close, yes, but how close? Are we talking about driving to a bigger city, or are we looking for someplace small and remote, someplace not a lot of people would know about?”
“Either way,” I cut in, “This is a crime, you guys! We’re talking about stealing something.”
“What we’re talking about,” Kasey fires back, “Is rescuing someone who’s been lost for two hundred years!”
There’s a stretch of silence. I blow out a very loud sigh and drop my head onto my arms.
“This is all easy for you to say, Kasey. No prison can hold you.”
“True even before I died,” she agrees. “Look, I won’t force anyone-”
“I’ll do it,” Aiden says. “I can do it on my own.”
Kasey and I swing around to stare at him.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, my fingertips turning cold.
Aiden looks over at me, biting the inside of his cheek.
“You’ve let me drag you into all kinds of shit, Jamie, but we could get in real trouble for this. I should do it alone.”
He has got to be joking.
“Cool idea, dude! Incidentally, I just want to let you know that you’re literally the dumbest person alive if you honestly think that I would let you do this by yourself!”
“Jamie-”
“Guys.” Kasey waves a hand between us. “Stop it. We don’t even have a plan yet, and we can’t make one until we identify the object and the museum. And maybe… maybe when we have that information, we can think of a better way to handle this. In the meantime, we need to get researching.”
Aiden runs a hand over his face.
“You’re right. The good news is, we have parameters. It’s got to be someplace in-state. Someplace with objects from Will’s lifetime in their holdings.”
“Okay, but listen,” I jump in desperately. “If we do this, we need to be sure that we’re not going to get caught. Alright? We’re not doing it unless that’s the case.”
“Well, good news on that front.” Kasey taps her chin. “If we are talking about a small, regional museum, security won’t be nearly as tight. Think how easily you guys took those files from the Forest Industries Council.”
Aiden opens his mouth to say something, and I hold a hand up.
“Promise me right now,” I say quietly, to both of them. “Promise me that we’re not doing this unless we have an airtight plan, and we know that we’re not going to get caught.”
“How can we possibly ensure that, Jamie?”
“I know how,” Kasey murmurs. We both turn to look at her, but it’s Aiden whose eyes she meets. “We use the tool that no other museum robbers have. We use magic.”
~~~~
“Aiden, you don’t have to do this, you know.”
He lifts his head from my stomach, where he’d been busy laying down kisses. “You want me to stop?”
“No, not this,” I answer, and he smiles, pressing his mouth to my skin again, his hands gripping my hips. “I mean you don’t have to do this whole museum thing. I know that Kasey would understand if you didn’t want to. We can try and - maybe find a-”
“A what?” His breath rises goosebumps everywhere it touches me. “Another historical object from the Post-Revolutionary period that also happens to be related to Will in some way?”
“If not that, then - another way to-” My words fall apart in my mouth as Aiden drags his tongue along the ridge of my hip bone, his hands sliding up my pajama shorts to rest on my thighs. My fingers tangle in his chestnut hair, my thoughts melting into incoherence. “You’re - doing - that - on - purpose.”
“Mmm, yes I am.”
I push him over, flatten him onto his back, and fling my leg over him. He reaches to take me by the neck, pulling me down into a deep, mind-numbing kiss, and it takes me a minute to remember what the hell we were talking about.
“Your aunt,” I say, directly into his neck, “Just gave me a whole talk about not using your magic for stuff that you don’t really want to do, or don’t really need it for-”
“My magic is for helping people.” Aiden’s voice is dropping lower and lower the longer I spend with my lips against his throat. I sit back to look at him as he speaks, my fingers spread on his chest. “This would help Will and Kasey. This is exactly what it’s for.”
He leans up to kiss me again. I pull my head back before he can, slap his hand away, and slam his shoulders to the bed, throwing all of my weight into pinning him down. I caught him off guard, and it comes off a lot more forceful than I meant. Aiden breathes out a sharp, ragged exhale.
I was trying to get him to focus and listen to me, but this move has the instant opposite effect. Lust flares brilliantly in his blue eyes, setting them on fire, and, straddling him as I am, I can feel the way it spreads down his body. An answering burst of desire rushes through me, and my fingernails sink into his shoulders.
The mugs sitting on my dresser explode into fractured pieces of porcelain, spilling cold chamomile tea onto the floor.
“Aiden.” I struggle hard to keep at least the loosest grip on reality, trying to remind myself what’s at stake here. “Listen to me. Anytime that anyone ever asks you to do magic, you can say no. You shouldn’t feel bad about it at all, not even for a second. Not even if I’m the one who asks you. Especially not if I’m the one who asks you. You’re allowed to ask yourself what you want. What’s best for you.”
He reaches up to stroke his knuckles down my cheek.
“I appreciate that, okay? But it’s not an issue here. This isn’t something we’re doing for personal gain. It’s not like we’re jumping onto the black market with our take. We can even give the artifact back after we summon him, assuming it’s not blown to bits like the pocket watch. This is purely to help Will. I’m not worried about it being a misuse of my magic. Honestly.”
I nibble my lip, staring down at him.
“But - you’ll tell me, if you ever feel like-?”
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.” The sincerity is clear in his voice, and in his face.
I let out a heavy, relieved breath. “Okay. That’s going to make things a lot easier for me.”
“For me, too.” Aiden smiles and touches his thumb to my chin. I release his shoulders, shift my weight back onto his lap, and quirk an eyebrow.
“Oh. You’re still-”
“Yeah, well, you’re still sitting on me, man.”
With extreme regret, I climb off and flop down next to him on the bed. He sits up and leans over to push open the window. A few stray droplets of rain make their way through the screen, riding a gust of frigid air. I tuck myself up against Aiden’s side, let his heat seep into me. He folds an arm around me, resting his chin on top of my head.
“This is ridiculous,” I say, a few minutes later. “So now we’re ghost hunters, timber executive impersonators, accidental arsonists, time travelers, bar brawlers, and museum thieves? That’s too many things, and we’re not qualified for any of them. I work in a flower shop, for fuck’s sake.”
“Hmm. When you put it like that, the whole robbery thing sounds kind of - less intense? Weirdly?”
“Oh, good. Let me go ahead and add ‘heists’ to the special skills section of my resume.”
“Come on, we all agreed to your terms. We’re not doing it unless it’s the only way, and we’re sure that we won’t get caught. We have a lot of research to do before we even make a decision, so just - don’t worry, for now? Please? Let’s at least get the facts before we start planning or panicking.”
I automatically start gearing up to argue, then stop, trying to actually wrap my head around what Aiden is saying.
“I can’t believe you said that you’d do it alone,” I finally grumble.
“Jamie… when I’m doing something dangerous, you’re under no obligation-”
I press my nose into his neck, squeezing him tightly. “Nothing I do for you is out of obligation. Okay?”
He traces his fingers along my side, leaving only the rain to break the silence for a minute. “Okay.”
“You guys?” someone says.
I scramble upright in bed, startling Aiden.
“Jamie? What-?”
“Oh, Kasey, Jesus Christ,” I breathe, pressing a hand to my chest.
“I’m sorry.” She winces. “I didn’t mean to overhear any of that, I - I was just standing outside ‘cause I couldn’t figure out a way to knock.”
Aiden sits up next to me, reaching for the glasses. He slides them on, and I discover that no-shirt yes-glasses Aiden is… Wow. Is it weird if I take a picture? No, yeah. That would be weird, probably. I turn back to Kasey, my heart still hammering, although now I’m not sure from which thing. Both?
“How long have you been listening?” I ask.
“Not long.” Kasey strides over and sits on the bed, pulling up her legs and folding them beneath her. She looks at Aiden, a worried pinch between her eyebrows. “Hey... I hope I didn’t make you feel like you have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. I know that this is a crazy fucking thing we’re planning, and - I don’t want you to think I’m being cavalier about using your magic. I should have realized what that sounded like, but, I just lose my fucking mind when I think about Will.” She blinks rapidly, then turns and stares out of the window. “You guys don’t - don’t know how lucky you are just to get to touch each other. I haven’t gotten to feel anything in so long, I can’t even feel the floor that I walk on, or this bed that I’m sitting on right now... and I just - really want…”
Apparently Aiden has noticed the way that Kasey and I hold hands now, because he offers his to her like I always do: palm up. She looks down at it, chews her lip, and rests hers on top of it.
“It’s okay,” he murmurs, and she takes a deep breath, steadying herself.
“Look, if we do this, I promise you, I will come up with a plan that’ll get you guys out of there safely. I’m the Ghost Office manager, for chrissake.”
“I believe in you. And Jamie does, too.”
“No one has more faith in you than I do, Kase-face,” I tell her, my heart suddenly aching. “I only freaked out because - this is scary, and-”
“I know. I know.”
“You want to stay in here, tonight?” Aiden asks.
Kasey thinks it over, then crawls up next to us.
“Ghost Office team sleepover,” she mumbles, and Aiden laughs.
“Missing Will, though,” he adds.
“Well - he’s dissolved, right? So isn’t he kind of - everywhere, right now? Including here.”
“That’s true, Jamie,” Kasey yawns. “Maybe that’s why the planchette is out in the living room spinning like crazy all over the ouija board, right now.”
I vault upright again, staring down at her. “It’s doing what?”
She grins, her eyes already closed.
“Hah. Knew you’d fall for that.”
“Wow, I hate you,” I groan, and Aiden laughs again.
“Alright, okay, shut up, you two.” He rolls onto his side and slips his arm around my waist, pressing a kiss to the back of my neck. “Everyone go to bed. We have a heist to plan tomorrow.”
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