Take Back the Light

Chapter 16

Normally, Alana probably would have sprung out of bed, blaster in hand, ready to fight the intruder. But the lull of the Slyren's song still echoed in her head as she blinked blurriness from her eyes.

"What?" she asked groggily as she sat up with a yawn. "What happened?"

Trixie sighed and repeated herself. "Someone broke into the hideout."

The second time around, the sentence actually processed. Alana's brain began to turn on, and she hurriedly climbed out of bed.

"What?!"

"Relax, she's already gone," Trixie said. "She tore up the place looking for something. We had a slugfight and she got away. I can't believe you slept through it."

"Sonic was helping me sleep," Alana yawned as she hurriedly dug through her closet to get her slinging gear. "I'll be down in a sec."

Trixie nodded and hurried back down to the living room. Alana quickly put on her shirt and pants. As she fastened her bandoleer, Ash and Mage jumped on her shoulders. The rest of her slugs began to stir as well. At the sight of their slinger prepping up, they began to file into her backpack.

"Can't believe somebody got in here," she noted as she slipped on her boots. She felt like she had experienced a break-in before, but she couldn't place her finger on the exact time. But the daunting feeling of knowing about an intruder felt familiar.

Alana pushed the thought away as she hurried downstairs, skipping the stairs and jumping from the handrail of the second floor. The rest of the gang was sitting in the living room, looking around dejectedly. Alana glanced up at the ceiling- globs of Jellyish goo littered the hideout, and one of the windows was shattered.

"Looks like you guys had a party without me," she noted. Eli laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you missed out on so much fun," he said sarcastically. "Some girl broke in, looked around for something, then left."

"What did she look like?" Alana asked as she sat down in her usual bean bag chair.

"Brown skin, teal clothes, bright pink hair. Used a lot of Arachnets," Eli added. "Any idea who she was?"

"Doesn't ring a bell," Alana said, shaking her head. "She doesn't work for Blakk?"

"That's what I thought at first," Eli admitted. "But I asked her and she told me she didn't. No reason to lie about that in her situation. And she wasn't using ghouls. I'm more worried about the treasure she was talking about."

"She tore up our living room looking for treasure?" Alana asked, crossing her arms. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm pretty sure there isn't treasure anywhere here."

"Obviously she's after the legendary Shane treasure," Trixie said, sitting down on the couch and propping her feet up on the coffee table. Alana sighed and nodded. She'd heard a bit about that on the streets, and it always annoyed her.

"If it's so legendary, how come I've never heard of it?" Eli asked.

At that moment, the other members of the Shane Gang were thinking the exact same thing. None of them, however, thought it needed to be said out loud- except, apparently, Kord.

"This wouldn't be the first time your dad kept something secret from you," Kord said quietly. Alana frowned and her fingers tightened around the metal plating on her arm, but she said nothing. Eli glanced down at the ground.

"Just think," Trixie said quickly. "You could have a vast fortune hidden somewhere. You could be rich!"

Pronto squealed excitedly from where he stood behind the couch, but Alana just sunk down in her bean bag chair.