A Cheater's Redemption

      "M-maybe it was just a Petpet flying into a window," he stammered. "Momm-ah, ahh, um – M-mother always keeps the windows really clean."

      "Maybe it is," Bertio growled. "But we can’t take that chance." He got to his feet and began to glance around. Eventually he stalked over to the fireplace in the corner – entirely decorative, as the Neohome had the best heating and cooling system that Neopoints could buy – and swiped the fire poker. Tapping it against his palm, his glare drifted up to the ceiling. "Someone grab a candle and come with me."

      "You can’t," yelped Elther. The others all hushed him frantically. In a quieter voice, he continued, "Dad will be really mad if you break that. It’s been in the family for generations. It’s probably not as durable as you think."

      "I think he’d probably be madder if someone broke in and stole something," Oruna pointed out.

      Elther thought she might have a point, but he still didn’t want to get into trouble. His father could be very materialistic and possessive. If his father thought that there had been a way to solve the problem without breaking something, Elther would get in trouble for not thinking of it. That was just the way it had always been.

      "Let’s go," Bertio hissed.

      Oruna and Tiva exchanged terrified glances. Aryn looked down at their game mastering screen, but Elther thought he could see fear in their eyes. He was afraid too, but someone had to hold a light for Bertio. Elther swallowed. They’re my guests, he reasoned. I owe it to them to keep them safe in my house. With a trembling flipper, he reached out and grabbed one of the candles. He gripped it in both flippers to keep it steady as he approached Bertio. "Okay, let’s go," he said.

      Bertio considered him for a moment. Elther thought he might be gearing up to make some smart comment, but instead Bertio inclined his head, then nodded to the others. "Shut the doors behind us," he told them. "And stay quiet. If someone comes downstairs, I don’t want them to know you all are here."

      Elther and Bertio tiptoed carefully toward the staircase that Elther had gone up previously. Both were as quiet as they could be. Elther’s ears rang from straining to hear some sound – any sound – from above them. But all he could hear was the resounding silence that had fallen after the glass had broken.

      Elther followed Bertio and he kept his footsteps light. About partway up the steps, his heart flew up into his mouth. The creaky step! He’d forgotten to warn Bertio! He removed one flipper from the candle and tapped at Bertio’s shoulder. The Kougra started and looked back around, a silent question in his eyes. One-handed, Elther mimed skipping the next step. Bertio stared at him for a moment, as if pondering, then tentatively stretched his leg up to skip the step. Elther nodded in encouragement, then let loose the breath he had been holding.

      Once at the top of the stairs, Elther considered the layout of the house. The broken window sounded like it had been on the south side of the house. That was in the direction of their backyard, and the most likely points of entry were either the guest bedroom or his father’s study. He nodded Bertio down the hallway toward them. As Elther had had no reason to go into either room with his parents out of town, he had left both doors closed.

      Elther pressed his ear against the door of the guest room while Bertio listened hard at the door to the study. A pause, and then both gazed at each other, each shaking their heads. Elther could only hear the rushing in his own ear, and he trusted Bertio to treat the situation seriously enough to believe that he could only hear the same.

      "What do we do?" Bertio mouthed.

      Elther thought a moment. If someone broke in, they were probably a thief. A thief would go for the place that had the most valuables. That would most likely mean the study. Even though, having come in from the outside, they would have no way of knowing which room was which, it was the only lead Elther could think of. He pointed to Bertio’s door.

      Bertio nodded unquestioningly. He held up three fingers before returning his grip to the poker. Elther put his free flipper on the door handle. Bertio nodded his head once, twice, thrice. Elther pulled the handle and tossed the door wide, Bertio lunging into the open room. Elther scrambled after him, squinting so that he could see what was happening, but also squeeze his eyes shut in time if it seemed like the situation was going to get violent.

      But the room was empty.

      Elther followed Bertio’s gaze and saw moonlight glinting off the shards of glass where the once-beautiful bay window had shattered. "Look at that," Bertio growled. "

      "I see it," whispered Elther. "It’s the broken window. We heard it earlier."

      "There’s no broken glass on the ground," Bertio pointed out. "It’s like it was broken from the inside rather than the outside."

      "Then that means they were already inside," Elther said weakly. "If they knew how to sneak inside, why would they break a window to get out?"

      "Maybe they’re trying to get somewhere they can only reach from outside," Bertio suggested. "Is there any room in the house that’s kept locked."

      Elther gasped. It made so much sense. If not for his iron grip on the candle, he could have struck himself across the forehead. "My parents’ bedroom," he said. "They normally keep it locked because that’s where Dad keeps his safe with all of his important files. I locked it after I got the candles earlier."

      "They must be a business rival – or a professional filed by a business rival – trying to steal your dad’s business stuff," mused Bertio.

      "We have to stop them," Elther said. "He’d get in a lot of trouble and lose his job. We might not be able to live here anymore. I-"

      Bertio had clapped a paw over Elther’s mouth. In his panic, his voice had steadily crept louder and louder. "Calm down," Bertio hissed. "We know where they most likely went. I have a plan."

      By the light of Elther’s candle, Bertio led the way determinedly to the staircase to the upper floor. He looked around and nodded to the table holding the vase. "Help me move that," he mouthed to Elther.

      Elther sat the candle on the floor and then carefully moved the vase off the table. He realized that he had stuffed the key to his parents’ room in his pocket rather than replacing it in his haste to show off his finds to his friends. He wondered if it had been that moment of forgetfulness that had forced the thief to resort to breaking a window. Astounded by his accidental luck, Elther lifted his end of the table. Together he and Bertio moved it flush against the door.

      "Now if he wants to leave, he’ll have to go back through the window," Bertio mouthed once Elther had retrieved the candle. "We can set a trap for him there. Let’s get the others."

      Quietly, the pair made their way back downstairs. As Bertio had instructed the other three had closed the doors to the dining room. Bertio opened the door quickly and waved, poking his head in to show the others that the coast was clear.

      "What’s happening?" Oruna asked.

      "So here’s the deal," Bertio began. "We found the broken window upstairs. The glass was broken from the inside, not the outside. So it was broken by someone to get out, not to get in."

      "We think they’re trying to break into the safe in my father’s bedroom," Elther added. "Father normally keeps it locked to prevent a scenario just like this. But the power being out means our security system is turned off, and the thief was able to break a window to climb to the third floor from the outside."

      "We pushed a table to block the door -"

      "The doors swing out rather than in," Elther put in reassuringly.

      "- so even though the thief can undo the deadbolt from the inside, they won’t be able to open the door and they’ll have to go back through the window into the study, and then sneak out however they got in."

      "How did they get in?" Aryn wondered.

      Bertio suddenly looked sheepish. "It, uh, well, it could be my fault," he admitted. "I don’t think I did the best job closing the door, I was worked up earlier. And over a stupid game! I, well, I kinda slammed the door behind me. When I came back from my walk, it was ajar. I figured that maybe when I slammed it, the latch just didn’t take. I’m really sorry, Elther. I think it’s all my fault."

      "Bertio, you need to be more careful," admonished Oruna.

      For just a moment, Elther felt the beginnings of a sort of vindictive satisfaction. All night he had been acting superior, and yet here he was, eyes rounded with guilt and begging for Elther’s forgiveness. It’d be so easy to say no. So easy to blame it all on Bertio. But then... Elther remembered how Bertio had not hesitated to jump to everyone’s defense – Elther’s home’s defense – with the poker. How he had listened unquestioningly to Elther on their way up the stairs. How the two of them had worked together without even needing to say a word.

      Elther waved Bertio off and with his gesture, a sudden lightness fell over him as well. "This is a thief," he said firmly. "If not the front door, they would have come in some other way. The question now is what do we do?"

      Elther looked around. Bertio, Oruna, and Aryn were giving him blank looks. Tiva, however, was staring at the ceiling. Thus far since they had come back, she had been quiet. Her brow was furrowed in concentration and her beak was moving silently as if she was murmuring through thoughts that had been racing in her head. Eventually she looked down, her orange eyes bright with determination, and said, "I think I have a plan."

     To be continued…