The War of Elevens| Book 1 of the Space Thief Chronicles

Chapter 1| The Butterfly Heist

Ci:

Pronounced /Kai/

Derived from the Kai people of the constellation kingdoms, meaning "a thousand lost wishes."

***

Earth

Belle Village, Maine 

While catastrophe ensued in the Shifter World, a thirteen-year-old girl crouched behind a counter in the back of a science classroom, opened a mesh tank, and set two hundred butterflies free.

Who knew butterflies could create such amusing chaos?

They didn't at first, though. First, the butterflies rose in a silent wave of color...red, green, blue, and orange wings crested over the science equipment counter and brought sudden life to the stillness of the testing atmosphere. For the seven seconds after the release of the butterflies, everything was like a held breath: quiet, tense, ready for an exhale of action.

And then came the amusing chaos.

Lilly had pictured the reaction of her seventh-grade science teacher, Mrs. Siotang, for the month and a half she had been planning to set a thousand butterflies loose in the school. It was better than Lilly could have imagined. Seeing her teacher's old face contort into confusion and fury in real life was much more satisfying than the sour expressions her mind had cooked up.

Mrs. Siotang lifted a wrinkly old hand to her mouth, which did little to stifle the hawkish screech that escaped her mouth. Her eyes bulged, and Lilly feared they'd pop out of their sockets. That ugly turquoise vein in Siotang's forehead popped out.

Heads of ambitious test-takers jerked up. The fast tap-tap-tap of fingers over laptop keys stopped. Muffled squeaks of surprise mingled with the fast beat of music screaming through Lilly's earbuds as the butterflies dipped and exploded into a silent, colorful whirlwind.

It was a lovely catastrophe.

The scrape of chairs on tile, the sudden movement of bodies, the world caught in vicious snapshots of color, the flicker-flicker of wings, Mrs. Siotang howling like a tortured goose...what a way to kick off the summer! Lilly could have rocked back on her heels and laughed if she wasn't on such a strict timetable.

She had a job to do.

Making sure no one was looking at the science equipment counter, she ventured into the butterfly storm to crawl the twenty-foot stretch to the door. She braced her lips together to keep from laughing. Wings tickled her calves, neck, and hair. Lilly reached the door and cracked it open just wide enough to slither through it while still in her crouch. Lilly heard Mrs. Siotang's explosive shriek through the beat oompahing into her ears: "LILLIAN CART CI!"

Lilly shot to her feet, ripped the earbuds from her ears, and sacrificed a precious second to shoot Mrs. Siotang a wicked smile so bright, it challenged the stars. 

Then she wheeled around, slammed the door behind her, and took off down the hall at a sprint.

Butterflies trickled into the hall from the air vents. There were so many...they came first in twos and then in threes, and soon swarmed in by the twenties. They squeezed through the cracks of windows and doors, painting the boring beige walls of Eldnac Prep with vivid color: fire and ocean and amaranth and rose, colors colors colors. Everywhere was a kaleidoscope.

The hallways charged with movement and yelps of surprise. TESTING: PLEASE BE QUIET signs rattled with the opening of classroom doors. She could hear shouts from down the hall, wondrous and excited with childlike adoration: