There was a knock at the door.
“Hey kid,”
Grayce looked up from his book as Renegard popped his head around the door before shouldering it open.
“Can you do me a favour?” he asked sheepishly, keeping his voice low. Grayce’s brow furrowed as the man pulled a small cotton drawstring bag from his apron pocket – the contents made a slight clink, the sound of metal hitting metal. “Relics’ gift has arrived early but she’s onto me like a hawk, she knows I’m up to something.” Renegard flicked a glance over his shoulder. “I’m paranoid I’m going to leave it somewhere and she’ll find it, or I’ll lose it, can you hang onto it until everything is ready?”
Renegard passed the small gift to Grayce who took it, nodding. The gift was light, but with the weightiness akin to a piece of jewellery.
“Ren?!” a female voice called from down the hallway. Fear alighted across the older Magicians’ features and he hurriedly slipped back out through the door, before his head reappeared briefly to silently mouth thank you and disappeared again.
Grayce rose the small parcel up to the light of the window, glancing over the intricate patterning on the bag’s cloth exterior, before peaking inside. Renegard had mentioned what he had purchased, but Grayce hadn’t seen any photo of it. Curiosity got the better of him, he peaked inside. Coiled in a nest of silver chain was an ornate, gothic cross. Grayce lifted it from the bag to the light and smiled, Relic would love it. The sudden sound of quickened footsteps along the hallway drew his attention. He stilled, the gift poised in his hands.
“Time to go, new contract has just dropped in–” Relic’s voice mused as the door opened. Grayce hurriedly replaced the gift back inside the bag, and in a panic, dropped it beneath his desk as he fought to retie the drawstrings. The door opened as the bag bounced off the clutter at his feet and to the ground, thankfully falling out of sight. Relic’s eye’s narrowed, glancing over his awkwardly hunched position in his chair.
Grayce cleared his throat, jumping to his feet and nodding enthusiastically. Unwilling to draw more attention to the clearly suspicious activity the Magician had walked into, Grayce quickly collected his coat and gear, guiding Relic out of his chamber. When he returned, he would find a place to hide Renegards’ gift.
* * *
Hindsight should have led Grayce to make up an excuse to quickly return to his chamber to recover the present and properly hide it before leaving The Sanctuary, but the fear of discovery led him not to. Now on hands and knees, crawling beneath the desk to recover the bag amongst the dust, forgotten books and unfiled papers from past assignments, he was met with a horrible discovery. He’d spotted the canvas bag easily enough, but the contents that had been inside the bag, were gone. At first he thought it must’ve fallen out, but clearing out the space revealed something much more frustrating then it being lost. Now clean, Grayce could see that the wooden floor had been scratched at, with impressions of claws digging into the wood.
He let out a groan, kicking himself for having not made sure it was safe before leaving. It was obvious now what had happened to it. The Sanctuary had been dealing with a thief within its walls and roof for several weeks now. While all the occupants inside were thieves themselves, this thief was suspected to be of the critter kind. Grayce had caught sight of a racoon hanging around the front grounds of the hotel the other day back and one of the other Magicians had heard scratching and tiny footsteps above their own chamber. Marks and scuffs were abundant within the old hotel, but fresh new ones had been appearing within spots where there previously weren’t any. The same marks that Grayce saw beneath his desk where the empty canvas bag had fallen.
None of the Magicians had been able to find where it had built it’s nest, nor bothered much to put any effort into finding the thief. Until now the stolen items had been simple junk or unimportant to the owners. Renegard had entrusted Grayce to look after Relic’s gift in fear of loosing it himself, but now Grayce had gone and lost it. He had to get it back, and he couldn’t let Renegard suspect what he was up to. He needed to figure out a way to lure the racoon out so he could follow it back to it’s treasure trove.