Thievery || Edith and Valeria
Valeria hated this. She truly did. Was that stopping her? No. Every time she nearly back out, every time she regretted everything she was doing, the feeling of choking and struggling for air came back to her, along with the not so subtle threats. She had to do it. Or the people she cared for the most would suffer for it.
In the dead of night, long after curfew, she was walking through the Institute. Over her shoulder was a small bag with a torch. She wore gloves to hide her finger prints and dark clothing to blend. Her mind was a whirlwind. Why couldn't they have asked someone who actually had abilities suited to this? Someone with compulsion or invisibility? She was as good at this as any average human. Probably worse, given her anxious state. The only thing that made her good was that she was weak, she had a weak spot.
Oh, and she could pick locks. Not that many people knew that. Valeria had learnt that to pick her own lock, not others, because she would forget her head if it weren't attached to her body; keys were often misplaced or locked in. This was a handy skill when she found out that the Dean's office was locked. A few nerve wrecking minutes later, she was in. Now, she just had to find it.
Her heart beat was through the roof as she searched. Thank god for filing and organisation. It only took ten minutes to find the masterlist, but it felt like an eternity. She placed it in her bag and continued searching.
In a locked drawer (one more picked lock) she finally found the map. Passageways she didn't even know existed were marked, secrets of the island. She was inspecting it when the lights flicked on. Valeria froze, a rabbit caught in headlights.
