Perennial

Chapter 1 -- Vex

Hearing police sirens when you've done nothing wrong can sometimes send this little jolt of adrenaline through you. When you are actually in the middle of doing something obviously illegal, it's even worse.

It's certainly not the ideal thing to hear when you're breaking and entering on a Friday evening (or is it Saturday morning? I've lost track...) as you and your cousin are trying to sneak back out of a prestigious private school.

We already have what we came here for. (Just some old records, it's not even a big deal. The professor we stole them from won't even miss them.) Why do the police need to show up now of all times? Just when I'm about to head home and finally (finally) get some sleep?

But no. Just because I hear sirens doesn't mean they're coming for me. I mean, we aren't the only criminal element active in the city tonight. We never are. It's probably just a coincidence. Those happen.

Unfortunately, those sirens just get louder and louder, and by the time I make it to a viable window, there's a nice little police perimeter being set up outside the building.

So naturally, I turn to glare at my partner in crime. "What did you do?!"

He turns to me, offended. "What did I do? Why do you just automatically assume it was me? It could've been you!"

Maybe not the most professional of exchanges, but Digit and I can't exactly turn off our instincts to bicker with each other. Maybe it's our clashing personalities. Maybe it's that we're cousins who grew up together. Maybe it's a mix of both. Or maybe it's the fact that Digit is an idiot.

"I wasn't the one in charge of disabling the security system." I hiss back.

Whatever alarm got tripped, it must have been a silent one. I can't remember exactly what security system this place has, but it's a monitored one, and given the police response time in Paradis, one of us must have triggered something about ten minutes ago, which is right about when we broke into the professor's office.

Ideally, no one would have known about the break in, at least, not until Monday morning. This is... not good, to say the least.

"I was in charge of security for the building. What about when you hacked into his computer? Maybe he had some weird firewall or something."

I shoot him a look I reserve for the stupidest of comments (unfortunately, it needs to be frequently employed when dealing with Digit) and say, very slowly, "I didn't hack anything. I used his own passwords. Other than being as slow as a snail, that computer didn't do anything to endanger us or our mission."

Digit rolls his eyes. "Well. Maybe you missed something."

I grit my teeth. "I can't believe we're related. The IQ difference alone..."

"What was that? I can't hear you over the sound of us getting trapped here." He gives me a deadpan expression and points to the cops outside.

I throw my hands up. "Fine! There's nothing we can do about the security system now! How do we get out? Can we just make a break for it?"

Digit tilts his head from side to side. "I'd recommend a distraction first."

Right. Misdirection, like in sleight of hand. Think, what would make a good distraction...

"What about a fire?"

Digit grins. "Oh, now you're speaking my language. How about in the library? Lots of kindling there."

I want to protest. I mean... books! I love books! Burning books feels like an entirely different kind of crime than what we've already committed. Almost not even worth it.