The Glass Slipper

Jack and Ali perched themselves at the edge of a skyscraper. Below them was their target. A mansion. Simple as that. White marble walls, three balconies and a double wide front door. That was how Jack viewed it. As a mark. To others, it would be probably be a beautiful work of architectural art, but not to him. He just had to break into it and then get out of it.

“Who needs a house that big? I mean really. It probably takes ten minutes just to get to a bathroom,” Ali commented. Only to shut up when Jack gave him a threatening look. “What?” Ali shrugged.

With Ali quiet for as long as he could get, Jack looked back to the mansion and assessed the security details. Three roaming guards wielding rapiers. An archer on each corner of the roof. Probably some extra guards inside just to make sure. This guy was cautious to say the least.

Ali sat down on the edge and asked, “So this is the mayor’s house? Didn’t know a city salary could afford a place this nice. What are we stealing?” Jack reached into his coat pocket and revealed a picture of a knife. “Ooh. Shiny,” Ali said and took the picture, “Let’s see. Steel crested with a star sapphire and a hilt wrapped by black silk. Impressive. Simple, but sturdy. Looks old. Not ancient mind you, but maybe a decade since it’s been used.”

Jack smirked at Ali. He may have been a comedian, but if there was anything he knew, it was merchandise. Anything from ancient gold crowns to new age ebony recurve bows. Ali was the fence you wanted.

“I’ll meet you down there,” Ali commented and watched as Jack stepped off the edge of the building.

Jack fell head first to the ground, not even phased by the stories passing by him. Letting the wind rush through his clothes, Jack span around slowly and touched his feet to the concrete. A second after he landed, a vortex rose around Jack, lifting the dirt and loose rock into the air. Jack stood up and shook his legs. Not a single joint was out of place. A perfect landing. Looking back up, Jack could just make out Ali laughing at him twenty stories up.

Smirking, Jack slipped his hands into his pockets and walked towards the gates of the mansion’s grounds. As he came to about five feet from them, Jack kicked off the ground and sailed over the gates, landing silently on the other side. Without a single second in the grass, Jack hopped again and flew towards the mansion, stopping in the bushes.

Jack turned around and waited. The minute Jack spent stuck behind that bush felt like an hour. His anxiety was taking the best of him. Finally, the first guard showed up and Jack moved. In a flash, he was out of the bushes, had a hand around the guard’s throat and back into the bushes. With a quick chop to the guard’s throat, Jack left the unconscious guard and kept moving. He had little to no time to do what he had to do.

Kicking off after each step, Jack was a simple blur in the wind. No one saw him move as he grabbed the last two roaming guards and left them passed out in the bushes. Once that was done, Jack had an even shorter time span to go by. Leaping from the yard to a balcony and from there, the roof. Still moving, Jack grabbed the first archer and pulled him to the next, grabbing onto his collar as well. Using his momentum, Jack stopped in the middle of the roof and let loose each guard, sending them sailing into the last two and off the roof.

Jack let out a sigh and walked over to the edge where the guards fell. From there, he could see them move. That was good. He didn’t want to kill them. Done with the easy part, Jack walked off the building and strode to the gates, where Ali should’ve been waiting for him.

As Jack close, he could hear knocking and Ali yelling out, “Special delivery for Mayor B.B. Wolf! Hurry up! It’s a live donkey! I don’t know what to with it! Oh and do you have a bag! Or three!”

Jack opened the gate and pulled Ali inside, clasping a hand to his throat. Ali put his hands up and said, “Alright. I surrender. I do have a question though.” Jack raised an eyebrow. “What do I do with the donkey? I really didn’t understand that part of the plan.” Unable to control himself, Jack laughed.

Together, Ali and Jack walked casually to the mansion’s front door. At the door, Jack began to limber up, looking like he was about to kick it down. Ali bravely jumped in front of his path and said, “For all your silence. You’re missing the stealth part.”

Ali then whipped out a small set of lock picks and smiled. With a welcoming gesture from Jack, Ali knelt at the door and began picking the lock. With a few moments of his focused talent, Ali had the door open and was bowing sarcastically. Joining in the joke, Jack clapped. “Thank you. Thank you. Your far too kind. Oh please, stop,” Ali joked. Jack smiled and stopped clapping, walking inside with Ali saying, “Why did you stop?”

The two thieves slipped inside and shut the door quick. Now it was time for silence. Even Ali Baba, the great comedian, managed to keep quiet long enough to slink through the shadows of the hall. Little light reached into the halls, giving the two all the cover they desired and much more.

After a minute of blindly walking through the halls, Jack and Ali met a guard. Ali was anxious to take him, but before he could, Jack stopped him, holding him down long enough to let the guard to pass. Once the guard left, the two continued on through the halls until they met a pair of doors. Each one shining a beautiful maroon and lined with gold filigree.

“Now what do you suppose is in there?” Ali whispered to Jack, who he saw smirking.

That was the only hitch with this heist. Neither Jack, Ali or Sinbad had any way of scoping out the inside. Mayor Wolf really was paranoid. All of his servants lived on grounds and were watched when they left for supplies. No one outside knew the inside, but here were two outsiders trying to find a specific room.

Jack and Ali waited for the clear and then moved from their hiding spot and to the doors. Ali quickly went to work on the lock as Jack kept watch at the corner. Not soon enough did Ali get through and the two moved on to the other side.

“Whoa,” Ali exclaimed as they took in the view, “Now that’s flashy.”

Jack didn’t disagree. The room reached back a field’s length and every five feet, a glass stand arose. But that was the least. Where the flash lied was the items within the glass. Jack could see crowns from every region. Scepters wrapped in silk. Swords made of pure silver and gold. Spears tipped with platinum. Piles of gold doubloons from the gulf islands of the coast. Treasures measuring beyond that of King Cole himself possesses.

“Do we only take the knife?” Ali asked, eyeing a crown crested with diamonds.

Jack smiled and pulled him away from the display. Together they searched through the hundreds of treasures until they found it. And find it they did. Only to be discouraged by the protection. The old knife remained steady in glass case like the others, but was kept elevated thirty feet from the ground on a spire lined with iron spikes sharp enough to pierce steel.

Ali whistled and asked, “Is it just me or this knife a lot more valuable than we originally thought?”

Patting Ali on the shoulder, Jack went to work. Hopping to the first spike, Jack grabbed above him, twisted and slung himself upward. Upside down, Jack took hold of another spike and used his momentum to take another spin, sending himself flying up again. After a few more twists and spins between the spikes, Jack touched down at the highest point and steadied himself alongside the glass. The name Springheel proven deserved once again.

Quick and calm, Jack unsheathed the small knife he had tucked in the back of his belt. Slowly, Jack scratched a circle into the glass. With a tap, the circle fell inward and left Jack free to grab the knife. Though he hesitated. This was way too easy. Something was wrong. Instinctively, Jack looked behind him, but found nothing. He knew that. He was thirty feet up. What would be up here? Shaking it off, Jack reached inside and grabbed the blade, dropping back to Ali with it in hand.

“Well. How did it go?” Ali asked when Jack landed. Jack tossed the knife to him and started walking away. “Alright. Let’s go. I got a date,” Ali Baba bellowed out as he slipped the knife into his pack.

Getting in the mansion was simple. Getting out. Even easier. The two thieves retraced their steps back through the halls and left through the already unlocked front door. With the guards still unconscious, Jack and Ali left the grounds without even a single person knowing they were there.

Striding in celebration along the streets, Ali kept going on about Jack flipping through the spikes like a monkey, twisting their prize in his fingers. Jack laughed and bounced around. He had done good and he knew it. He deserved a little praise.

The night was good for Jack. That was until Ali stopped him and directed his attention a few miles away. A pillar of black smoke rose into the night sky like a nightmare’s monster.

“Uh… Jack, where is that coming from?” Ali asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Jack knew where it was and he then realized while the heist was so easy. Without a second thought, Jack ran off. Ran off to his burning home.