Fear Itself

“Try again, Princess,” Avery mumbled, chuckling, swatting my hand away from his pocket.

I whined and stomped my foot. “No!” I agonized rather loudly. My voice echoed down the abandoned subway tunnels. “How did you know that was me? You weren’t even looking this time!”

“You’ve got lead feet,” he retorted with a breathy laugh. “I could hear you from down the damn hall.” He nodded back down the tunnel, to the end of the platform. “Try again.”

This may have been the most frustrating task I had ever undertaken. Pickpocketing Avery was like trying to move mountains with my mind. It was physically impossible, at least it seemed. I had been at this for a good hour now, and I was failing miserably. It was a little unfair, in a way. He was used to being alert and on-guard all the time, such was the life of a West Londoner as far as I had learned. One couldn’t just prance around this side of town without a worry or a care (though I seemed to do so regardless). Avery also knew how to pickpocket and knew what to look for, which I felt was an unfair advantage, especially since I was sure not everyone knew how to do this. Regardless, I had been begging for him to show me how to do it ever since the first of November, just a few days ago, when we walked into a crowd broke and exited said crowd with a substantial amount of money. When I asked him how he did, he simply mumbled, “Magic.”

He was a magician of sorts, not even just when it came to his uncanny ability to somehow always have copious amounts of cash on him at all times. He had even healed up rather quickly, and while he wasn’t sleeping in the tunnels all that often anymore, he still came by to see me. I never quite knew why, but I wasn’t going to complain; it gave me someone to talk to when Dean wasn’t around because Sam wasn’t one for words, Harley was only concerned with causing me pain, and Alex, well… we didn’t talk about him.

Besides, I was much more focused at the task at hand: trying to fish Avery’s wallet out of his pocket without him noticing me. Currently, I was not succeeding. This time, I was sure to be quiet. I approached slowly, stealthily, taking haven behind some of the columns lining the platform. He said my feet were the problem that time around, so I needed to control them. I made no sound when I walked. I kept my feet quick and quiet in my approach, and as I moved, his figure grew closer. There it was: the pocket, the goldmine, the target. Just as was reaching in, his hand grabbed my wrist, and I let out a loud groan. “What this time?” I griped, looking at him defeatedly.

“You’re just… you’re obvious,” he replied with a chuckle, obviously finding my sorrow hilarious. With a pout, I tugged my wrist away from his grasp and crossed my arms. “I could see your shadow on the wall, Princess.”

“Yeah, but…” I tried to contend, but I couldn’t find a proper rebuttal. “Look. This really isn’t fair, Mumbles. You do this, so you know exactly what to look for!” For once, he didn’t have an answer. He looked at me, considering what I was saying. I heaved a sighed. “Can… can we just go out and try it on somebody who isn’t a cold-blooded criminal, maybe?”

“Fine,” he said, finally caving in. I grinned and squealed a little. “But—“ he interjected. “I pick who, and that’s final.”

And he did. We skulked around the market for a little while, considering the best place to do such a thing was a bustling crowd of people. There was a lot of confusion and chaos in the square outside the market. Masses of people gathered around the ruined fountain every single day to purchase their incredibly over-priced, government-offered necessities. We stood aside from them for a few minutes until Avery spotted a kind-looking woman carrying two bags and a purse clutched tight under her left arm. “Her,” he said, nodding in the general direction, but I knew who he meant. “She ain’t armed, but don’t let your guard down.”

“Gotcha, Mumbles,” I replied quietly, watching the woman and projecting her path. I knew what I was supposed to do… but I also knew that I was absolutely awful at what I was supposed to do, and the only logical option I saw was simple: think of a better plan.

Clearly, my stealth skills weren’t the greatest, so I figured I could work in the opposite direction. I could replace sneaking with distracting. That way, being obvious would actually work in my favor, and that was something I could certainly run with. I had to distract her. I had to lull her into a false sense of security, if you will. My psychology books had taught me enough to know exactly how to plant a seed in someone’s mind and point them in certain directions with just a handful of words. Words could be powerful things. Not that Avery would know since he never spoke.

“Go on,” Avery told me, pulling me back to reality. “I’ll be right here.”

So, off I went. I entered that crowd of people, and I had the woman in my sights, but I didn’t take the proper approach. Instead of coming at her from behind, I approached her on, pretending to fiddle around with the pockets of my sweater. In reality, I knew exactly where I was going: straight at her. I collided shoulder to shoulder with the woman, and I heard her bags spill against the ground with her purse. Bingo, I thought to myself, and I had to keep myself from smirking. “Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, ma’am, I can’t believe that I just ran into you,” I apologized, feigning guilt as I crouched down to quickly help the woman with her bags. While she was busy rooting around her groceries, I was busy rooting around her purse with my free hand until I came across the feeling of old leather. I slipped it into the pocket of my sweater just before handing the bags back to her. She thanked me; a pang of regret struck in my chest, but I worked my way back to Avery.

He snorted a little and shook his head as I approached, waving the wallet in my hand victoriously. “Princess, the lesson was pick-pocketing,” he chuckled.

“I know that,” I replied with a nod and a cheeky smile. “My idea was better.”

“That was almost a full-blown con.” A tiny smirk graced him. “I’m impressed.” I grinned wider, and he paused, looking back to the woman as he left. “Go catch up to her,” he commanded. “Give that back.”

I huffed, frowning, mouth agape. “What?” I asked in shock and sorrow. “Why? Mumbles, I stole this all by myself!”

“She looks like she has kids,” he murmured, pulling a cigarette from his jacket pocket and sticking it in his mouth. “Give it back, Princess.”

“Since when do you care about other people?” I miffed. He merely raised his eyebrows, and my eyes rolled in the other direction. “Fine,” I said. “Fine. I’ll give it back.”

I ran to catch up with the woman, practically speeding as she was nearly exiting the square. “Miss!” I shouted as I struggled to breathe until I finally coasted to a stop beside her. She turned to me expectantly, unsure of what I wanted until I extended the wallet back. “You dropped this,” I explained, heaving deep breaths.

She took the wallet from my hand, and I’ll never forget the gratitude plain in her face. “Thank you, dear,” she whispered to me. When she opened the wallet to check that her belongings remained within, I caught a glimpse of a family photo: two little boys and a dog. I looked back to her grateful face, and I offered her a smile. That was when she stepped forward to hug me. When the initial shock subsided, I returned the embrace.

I pulled away from her gently and gave her a nod. “Have a nice day,” I offered with a soft smile before we turned and went our separate ways. I walked back to Avery with my hands shoved in my pockets, and he just laughed, smoke puffing from his mouth. He smiled a little and gave me a pat on the back.

“Good job, Princess,” he muttered, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me back toward the entrance to the metro tunnels. Lesson learned.