“A bushy prickle?” I asked before bursting out laughing. “Organic adamantium solution? Now remind me, do we get ours straight from outer space or is that shipped through Amazon?”
We were back on the bus headed home, having managed to make it off Miles’s property without encountering any other issues. I hadn’t had a chance to tell Ollie everything I’d learned while traipsing around the house, since I’d been too busy making fun of the little story he’d told Mrs. Bailey.
“Go ahead and laugh, but she bought it, didn’t she?” he said, folding his arms over his chest.
“But adamantium?” I asked, shaking my head at him.
“It was all I could think of,” he said, shrugging.
“You better hope her grandkids aren’t fans of X-Men,” I said, my laughter dying down to a chuckle.
“Well, feel free to come up with the lies yourself next time,” he said, scowling. “I was only trying to save your butt, remember?”
“You’re right, Ollie. My bad,” I said, forcing the smile from my face. “You really did do a good job back there. She didn’t suspect anything.”
He gave me a bit of side-eye before seeming to forgive me.
“Thanks,” he said finally. “Yeah, it sort of came naturally. You know, because of the improv stuff.”
I nodded like this totally made sense.
“So what did you discover while you were off sneaking around?” he asked.
I brightened.
“I found it, Ollie,” I said, excited to share the details with him.
This feeling actually caught me by surprise. When I’d agreed to let Ollie join me on the job, I thought he’d mostly get in the way or be a liability. But I was beginning to realize that part of the fun of a con was working with someone while doing it. It was reveling in the excitement of coming up with a plan and then being able to celebrate with someone when you were victorious.
It was a part of the whole experience that I’d never known was vital.
Before now.
“Found what, exactly?” Ollie asked, mirroring my excitement. Then he suddenly looked worried. “Not the tiger, right?”
“No, not the tiger,” I said, brushing that off. “I found it. Miles’s secret treasure room.”
“And?” Ollie asked, bouncing up and down in his seat a little. “What kind of treasure are we talking about? Art? Rare Egyptian figurines? Diamonds and rubies?”
“No clue,” I said, just as excitedly as if I’d said yes to all the above.
Ollie’s face dropped.
“I don’t get it,” he said.
“You need voice recognition and a fingerprint scan to get into the vault, and obviously I didn’t have those on me when I found the room, but that doesn’t really matter. And neither does what’s inside,” I explained quickly. “The point is, I found it! There’s a hidden room where a billionaire stores his most valuable stuff and I found it. Can’t steal something you can’t find. Get it?”
Ollie nodded slowly like he was humoring me.
“Okay,” he said. “So we know we’re going to steal something, we just don’t know what we’ll be stealing yet.”
“Right,” I said.
“But we know where it’s hidden,” Ollie continued. “So we’re…good?”
“Yep!” I said, smiling.
“And we’ll be breaking in there…soon?” he asked.
“That’s the best part,” I said, reaching inside my jumpsuit and pulling out the envelope I’d stolen off Miles’s desk.
I handed it over to Ollie and watched him take out the contents and scan them.
“ ‘You are cordially invited to the Miles Masquerade Gala to benefit the National Constitution Center,’ ” Ollie read out loud. “ ‘Please join us at Miles Manor on the Fifteenth of September, for drinks, dinner, dancing, and a live auction to benefit the NCC. Dress in your best masquerade ensemble. RSVP. Please present your invitation at the door.’ ”
Ollie looked up from the invite and blinked at me.
“We’re crashing a gala?” he asked.
“It’s not crashing,” I argued, grabbing the card from his hand and waving it in front of his face. “We have an invitation. See?”
“In a week,” he said, sounding awestruck.
“No time—” I started.
“Like the present,” he finished, shaking his head at me.
“See? You’re a natural at this, Ollie,” I said, clapping him on the back jovially. “Now all we need to do is get our covers together, do some digging into Miles’s financials, work out a plan that will get us both his voice ID and fingerprint, brush up on my pickpocketing skills, prep you for the performance of a lifetime, and pretty much plot out the largest heist this town’s ever seen. All while going to school and making sure my uncle never finds out.”
Ollie let out a laugh that sounded on the verge of hysterics.
“Easy peasy,” he said before slumping back into his seat dramatically.