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

II : Madeleine

Madeleine landed with a thud near the back entrance as she carefully did a perimeter sweep to check if she had awoken anyone. Once satisfied, she crept slowly towards the balcony's edge.

Gripping the white metal railing until it felt like her knuckles turned white, she swung her left foot over to the other side. She did a quick scan on the first floor to check if the footfall to aid her descent was there--just as she had planned.

To her relief, she found the small thin ledge jutting out just above the windows of the mansion's first floor. Some were smashed to pieces but most of them were intact.

With a smile, she carefully eased her body further beyond the railing. She took a deep breath to relax her heart now threatening to break free from a cage of bones. She swung her other foot over to the other side. Now both her feet were hanging on midair while her torso was confidently resting on the metal slab.

Carefully twisting her body, the lady thief in black rolled on her stomach. Gently, she slid herself down by gripping the metal fence of the balcony. She shimmied downwards, one hand sliding at a time tracing the fence.

As she neared the end, she carefully shifted her body and changed her grip from the fence to the base. She groaned inwardly as her fingers howled with blind pain while she hung on the concrete balcony base.

Then, she swore.

There was nothing to step on save for the seeping cold air of the night, gnawing on her boots. Which could only mean one thing: the ledge was not there.

Despite the loud protests and throbs of her aching fingers, she shifted her body slightly to the right and dared a glance beneath her.

To her horror, there was no ledge to aid her descent. Rather, it was shattered to pieces--traces of gray pulverized bricks left laying on the grass lawn--like a sledgehammer crashed through.

What luck. Of all the places she could be, she landed above the window where the ledge was broken--one of the few others which were also smashed.

The ledge to her right was reduced to powder as well and two more ledges after that. It was like a fight broke out earlier this day. She wondered how she could've missed something like that.

Every minute she spent hanging on that balcony holding on with her eight fingers would be a risk of exposure. Ten guards were still on duty around the perimeter, and all were alert and doing patrols as of this moment. She had about three to five minutes to solve her growing problem before the guards would come again and triple check the back lawn.

But, there was never a problem too big for Madeleine to fix. She believed that there was always something else.

She shoved the thought of a fight aside, and scrutinized the area around her for any sort of alternative.

She spied a bunch of mature thick pulpy vines just long enough to kiss the wall of the other side where the window was. It might just be strong enough to support the entirety of her weight.

Slowly she eased herself to the edge of the balcony, towards where the base met the wall. Gloved hands grazing against rough cement, she was approaching the vertical wall.