Time Thief

Chapter 1 - Death of an Acquaintance

Please don't forget to comment! I would love to hear what you think :D

Chapter 1

Allison was stuck. Not figuratively, like when someone says they have no idea what they are going to do next in life. No, Allison was stuck in every literal sense of the word. She had been scaling the side of a museum, grabbing anything that would make a good hand or foot hold. When she was a few feet away from the roof she realized there were no more hand holds except the very edge of the roof. She would either have to give up, find another way into the museum or jump and hope she caught the edge of the roof. 

She knew it would take far too long to climb back down and look for another way it, not to mention she ran a greater risk of getting caught that way, and Allison Butler did not quit! Her only choice was to jump and pray she actually caught the stupid ledge. She took a deep breathe, made sure the ledge she was standing on would hold the weight of her jumping and leapt as far as she could. 

By some miracle she caught the ledge with both hands and was able to pull herself up onto the roof. The museum had originally been an old church and the contractors had decided to leave the bell tower in place. Luckily for Allison, that proved the perfect entrance and also put her almost right next to her prize. She climbed the small tower before slipping under the bell and looking down the hole that led to the ground floor. The rope had been removed from the bell so Allison's only choice was to carefully climb down with a hand and foot on each side of her on the inside of the hole. 

She reached the bottom with ease and dropped down the last couple of feet, landing silently on the cold stone floor. She unclipped her belt of tools and removed three silver spheres that were roughly the size of baseballs. She rolled them across the floor in different directions and they let loose a gas allowing her to see the red lasers that filled the room. They were thicker around her prize than any other artifact in the building. But that didn't worry Allison. To her, more security just meant she would have more fun retrieving it and the victory would be that much sweeter. She held a radio up to her lips and pressed the talk button. 

"Are we good?" she asked. 

"All clear, boss," a male voice came from the other end. Tony had recently become her assistant after he stumbled upon her stash of stolen artifacts. She could have killed or blackmailed him but Allison wasn't a killer and hadn't known him before the incident, so she had no blackmail, and she needed a lookout. 

She pushed her pack behind her and put her headphones in her ears before turning her iPod to her favorite song. She had never been a good dancer but she was very flexible and the music just helped her concentrate. The lasers were spaced too far apart to pose much of a threat and whoever had installed them had left a good three feet of space between the inner lasers and her prize. She stood by a large orb that was only slightly small than a basketball. It was white but very transparent at the same time. Allison wasn't sure why this object attracted her but it was hers now. 

She reached out to grab it when the she heard a thunderous boom from above her and moved back just before the ground where she had been standing was struck by lightening. She looked on in bewilderment not knowing how in the world she could nearly be struck by lightening in an enclosed building. Without realizing it she stepped into the lasers and instead of hearing an alarm she felt the ground under her open. She hit her head on the ground hard enough to knock her out cold and the last thing she heard was the floor above her closing again. She was trapped. 

* * * 

Allison was awoken by cold water being thrown in her face. She coughed and shook her head. Her vision was blurry but soon cleared. She was in a small room lit only by candles and three men in black robes stood in front of her. The one holding a bucket smiled at her, but it wasn't a friendly one.