Unknown Villian

If you were a seven-year-old kid who had just seen their father get killed and your mother fell ill and two men came in and offered to help pay for your mother’s medical bills, what would you do?

Well, I took their offer.

The Jackson Brothers. Kane Jackson, a man with darkened skin and light green eyes, gave me the money after I did the orders that Niko Jackson, a man with light brown skin, dark hair, and blue eyes, had given me.

I did everything they asked, but it wasn’t too bad.

But Kane paid me too little and Niko started giving me more work than I could handle.

After six years had passed, my mother hardly got better, so I called a meeting with them.

“What do you want to speak about, sweetheart?” Kane asked me when I walked into their office.

“I… uh…” I stuttered.

“Come on, Evie. You can spit it out.” Niko said as he walked behind me and brushed his fingers through my sweaty thin blonde hair.

“I can’t work for you guys anymore,” I told them, dragging my amber-brown eyes to the floor.

“Do you want to deal with this or should I?” Niko asked Kane.

“You can,” Kane told him.

“Look, whatever it is, my mother has barely improved since I’ve worked for you two for six years now,” I told him.

“And this will help you get that money to help her,” Kane told me.

“Indeed it will,” Niko said as he sat on Kane’s desk. “It’s the most important job you can do for us.”

“What is it?”

“Maybe she’s not suitable enough for it,” Niko said as he stood up, turned me around, and pushed me towards the door.

“No, I am. I can do it.” I stopped them.

“Then can you steal something?” Niko whispered in my ear.

“I can try. But it might not be good.”

“In about five years from today, the princess will be going through the town to give back to her subjects before her eldest brother becomes king. I want you to steal all the jewels on that carriage, but you must bring the remains back to us.”

“No. I can’t steal from the royals.” I finally turned to face him “Do you realize how much trouble I could get in if I get caught?”

“Indeed, I do.” He said with a smile, “Kane and I will train you to be an excellent thief.”

“Can I think about it for a moment?”

“Yes, of course!” Then he walked back into his office with Kane.

As I was thinking, I knew I had to do this for my mother.

Make sure she will get something out of this.

Then I realized that she would get her life back from being ill.

So after a few minutes, I walked back into their office and said, sadly, “I’ll do it.”

“Great!” Niko said, “Then let’s get to training.”

A year passed, and he had me working on weapons that weren't my strong suit and the first time I ever used them and he even taught me how to kick and punch people.

Then the next year passed, and he had me go with an outfit change. Tight, long-sleeve black shirt and black leggings with a black cloak over it to keep my identity hidden and had me practice the battle moves he taught me.

In my third year of training, he taught me how to pickpocket people by playing them like a game. The easy trick was to run into them and have them distracted by your words and that’s when you pickpocket them without them feeling it.

In the fourth year of training, they kicked me out of the house and set traps, then had me try to steal it without getting caught in one of the traps. Of course, I got caught in one of them because they never taught me how.

The last and final year of training was when I had to steal the jewels from the princess so we worked on my weaknesses.

“You’ve done amazing these past few years,” Kane said as one of my throwing knives hit the center of the target.

I am eighteen now and have gotten much stronger with that last year of training.

“Almost a week until you can get your hands on those jewels.” Niko said, “And I’m very proud of your progress.” He whispered in my ear.

I smiled slightly.

“Now, we must get ready for her final test,” Kane told Niko.

“Wait, final test?” I asked.

“There’s always a final test when it comes to these things,” Niko told me before he walked off.

Niko has always been the one there for me unlike Kane, who just focused on the money and the power.

After training, I went to visit my mother.

“Evie dear, how is it going?” She said when I entered the room. “I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“I know and I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy with work lately that I haven’t had the time to see you.” I said when I sat in the chair next to her. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” She said through a wheezy cough.

“It doesn’t sound like it,” I said as I placed my hand on her forehead. “You’re burning up. Here,” I walked over to a bucket and filled up a cup of water. “Take a drink of water.”

“Thank you, Evie.” She drank out of the cup.

I saw motion in the window in my peripheral vision and saw Kane standing there and he motioned for me to come out and meet him.

“Evie?” My mother asked when I spaced out, “Do you know that man?” She asked when I looked at her.

“Yes. I work for him. Just give me one minute.” Then I got up and left her. “Kane, she’s getting worse! We need to do something soon.”

“Well, you're just in luck, sweetheart!” He told me.

“How? She’s dying!”

“Go get changed into your all-black.”

“Why? Now is not the time for training.”

“The princess is early.”