I only have a few more minutes before they place a hood over my head, then drape a noose around my neck. Not long after that, they'll whisper to me, then I'll drop through a trap door under my feet. I'll hang because I stole a scarf. But I met him, Alaric, and he taught me how to be a better thief. He broke the rules and took me to The School of the Seven Bells, an underground school that teaches the art of thievery. The students have all been kidnapped from the sector, where they were orphaned children doing hard labor from the age of three. They never knew there was a world on the other side of the forty foot wall. It isn't glamorous there, but it's better than never living. Alaric and Trig train them and they go into the borough and pickpockets. The money will buy them a life in the borough. For me, it was never for the money, it was always about him. He'll never know what he means to me.
There he is, standing with terror in his eyes. Nothing can save me now. My name is Rumor, and I'm a thief!