Lost Will of the Dead [Book One] (On Hold)

I : Madeleine

In a night where the moon shone its brightest of the month, Madeleine Carter sat atop the gray roof of a distant mansion crested above a lush green hill far from city proper.

She took a deep breath. Her chest rose and fell in rhythm with the gentle dance of the surrounding pine trees.

She surveyed the twinkle and flicker of the colorful city lights. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She liked the view from up here. She could see every detail of the city beneath as its people snored in slumber.

Lake City River, despite its very plain name, was a wide quiet flowing stretch of water which ran deep into the land to carve its own path to the sea. No person could ever miss the river. It was the only thing long enough to divide the city in two.

Madeleine's smile turned upside down as her gaze was averted towards the west side of the river--and lingered there. It was the crumbling structure of Golden Time orphanage. Its paint used to be a bright shade of golden yellow, now a faded tint of dirty white. Bricks were missing in places where it should be and the roof had long since rusted.

She blamed those money-hungry corrupt politicians. They claimed to say, 'this is all for the people' and would dare to reduce the home of the orphans into rubble for one of their useless water mill projects. Those projects never benefited anyone--except for the richer ones. They could always hog the money.

For the past ten months, Golden Time hadn't gathered a single penny from donations they used to receive from this big food company overseas. She guessed that the politicians must've intercepted or blocked the money transfer before they even heard of it.

Or they could've taken the money for themselves. Those money whores.

Because of this, the headmistress of the house and her very dear friend, Deborah McAllister couldn't feed the children anymore. She needed approximately ten thousand dollars every two months just for food and necessary supplies for fifty children in the orphanage.

That's why Deborah decided to sell the property--lot included--to the richest man in town who also happened to be the mayor. Peter Claymont.

Peter was also the head of the water mill project down at Lake City River. The water mill project was practically just a waste of tax money. The electricity in the entire city was just enough for everyone--even for those in the slums.

She tried to reason with Deborah about it, that there might actually be something valuable in the house. If not, why would Peter want it so bad? He was practically desperate to get his hands on Golden Time. But, Deborah never listened to Madeleine.

Deborah's choices urged her to do this. But she never blamed her friend. What she chose to do was always because of what she believed was right. And no one could tell her otherwise.

Tonight, she would pull the biggest heist yet. She would take from Peter Claymont what the orphanage deserved.

So far, all she ever did as Lake City's infamous thief was from pickpocketing to small heists on rich people's homes. But this time it would be different. She decided to target the mayor himself. Not only because she believed Peter should be responsible for his actions, but also because ten thousand dollars was no joke.

For Madeleine, if it meant that Golden Time, Deborah, and all those children depending on the orphanage would be saved, then it would be worth it to take the risk. She was willing to face anything hurled along her way.