The room around Lukas erupted into chaos. Miss Danneel was shouting with a knife clutched in her hand and loud footsteps thundered through the house; but Lukas barely noticed. The man from his dreams was in this very room, and that impossible reality had stalled his brain. He was still staring up at the balcony when out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark figure drop to the ground outside. Lukas inhaled a sharp gasp of horror; certain he had just witnessed a man die. But the figure rolled and sprung on his feet before sprinting off into the distance.

A moment later two burly men in overalls burst through the door; one carrying a shovel and the other a pitchfork.

“What took you so long, he’s getting away!” Danneel furiously pointed her knife at the window. They shifted their gaze from the window, to each other, and back to Danneel with a blank expression. “So hurry up and catch him.” Both men heaved a heavy sigh before shuffling back out the door, leaving a trail of dirt and leaves in their wake.

A heavy silence fell over the room and Lukas swore he could hear the sound of Danneel grinding her teeth.

“Um,” Lukas cleared his throat and Danneel snapped her head around so fast he thought her neck would break. “I-I don’t know, I’ve never-” Lukas caught himself; he couldn’t truthfully say he’d never seen him before. “I have no idea who he is.” Danneel made no comment but she stared at him hard. “Well, if there is nothing else; I’ll be going.” Lukas backed out of the room slowly before dashing for the front door.

Had that really just happened? How is he here and why? And where is he now? Lukas’ mind whirled with confusion, disbelief and not a small amount of excitement. He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn’t realise he had made it all the way back home until he sat down on the edge of his bed.

But what had he doing up at Arckvile Manor? Judging by Miss Danneel’s reaction he was not supposed to be there and before he ran off it looked like he stole a book. Just the thought of it made Lukas’ heart hurt.

“Why did it have to be a thief?”

 - - -

Lukas had been only four years old when his father first took him on a job; it had actually been his birthday. At the time Lukas didn’t really understand enough to know what was happening. He thought it was some kind of game and every time he managed to squeeze his way into a building his father had been so proud of him.

It wasn’t until a few years later that Lukas began to suspect these games were not how normal families behaved. Every time he tried to ask his father about it, it just made him angry and he would yell worse than when he drank.

Lukas was eight the first time he heard the word thief. He had been walking through the market and had taken a loaf of bread because he was hungry. He’d seen his father do it a hundred times and had thought nothing of it. Unfortunately Lukas wasn’t as light-fingered as his father and the merchant had spotted him almost at once. Screaming thief at the top of his lungs the merchant had chased Lukas down the street. Lukas had managed to escape but the encounter had left him scared and confused. He had returned home in tears but his father had just laughed when he told him what had happened.

By the time Lukas was ten he was starting to have serious doubts about his family’s line of work and arguments with his father were becoming more common. It had all come to a head after they had been working a job that went badly wrong. They had all managed to get away clean but his father was livid. Lukas couldn’t even remember if it had actually been his fault, but he copped all the blame. The crew split up to avoid attention; and he and his father set out for Roads End to hole up with Master Allwood. Lukas never determined what the nature of their relationship was; whether they had once been friends or colleagues; but more likely his father had some sort of dirt on him. Whatever it was, it was enough to convince Allwood to take Lukas on as his apprentice and when he woke up the next morning his father was gone.

There had been a moment, after the shock of being abandoned, a small hope bloomed and Lukas thought this could be a new start, a chance at a normal life. But within the week everyone in town had heard the tale of the little boy thief that Allwood had graciously taken into his home. After that nothing he did could completely remove the stain from his name.