The Light Thief Read online

  Contents

  FREE BOOK!

  I. The Thief

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  II. Escape

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  III. Confrontation

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  IV. Lightbringer

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Epilogue

  Thank You

  A Simple Favor

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  The Light Thief

  Book 1

  David Webb

  This book is dedicated to Abby Simms.

  This is the most I could show my appreciation for all your help and support without putting your name on the cover.

  Thank you.

  What is to give light must endure burning.

  Viktor E. Frankl

  Part I

  The Thief

  1

  As seventeen-year-old Aniya Lyons sat across the table from her date, a forgotten man stumbled through the alleys of the Hole, slipping on blood that drained from his side.

  As she avoided eye contact with her potential suitor, the man outside began to lose vision, forcing him to walk blindly through the already darkened town.

  As she feigned interest in her admirer, the dying wanderer lost consciousness and fell in a pile of trash behind the very same tavern in which Aniya was currently trapped.

  “Did you hear me?”

  Aniya’s eyes flickered upward. The warm roll she had stuffed inside her mouth had a wondrous taste, one that took her away from the dimly lit tavern, far from the underground city of Holendast, away from the Lightbringers, and somewhere into the free world far above, which would have been nice if it weren’t for the blackened sun that hung in the air.

  But her date’s question had brought her crashing back down to her seat, across from her least-favorite Potential yet.

  “Sorry, what?” Wet crumbs spat from her full mouth. Noticing the grimace on his face, Aniya swallowed and wiped her chin. “I’m sorry, Everett. Have you tried these rolls?”

  Everett’s eyes narrowed. “I get the feeling you don’t want to be here.”

  He was wrong about that. She could stare at the plates of food that drifted by her nose all night long. Rations were decent, but enough to always keep her wanting more. Seeing the hurt on his face, she softened.

  It’s not his fault.

  “I’m sorry,” she said again, this time putting effort into sounding sincere. She swept her black hair away from her face and let him look into her eyes. It wasn’t that he was unattractive. In fact, his gaze was striking, his jaw chiseled, and his physique strong. But whether it was the way he introduced himself by his last name, the way his nails were immaculately trimmed, or the way he organized his food into neat piles on his plate, Aniya couldn’t relate to the man at all.

  Everett sighed. “Maybe we should have canceled after all.”

  “We could have tried, and they might have let us because of the blackout, but I’m running out of time to choose. I don’t have the luxury of waiting for the power to come back on, so they would have made us do this whether it was a Black Day or not.” She placed a hand on his, ignoring unpleasant chills as her skin touched his. “It’s not you, I promise. It’s just . . . do you really think you’ll find love based on an algorithm?”

  “They say it’s pretty accurate.”

  She scoffed. “You trust your future to a bunch of whack-jobs with flashlights on their heads?”

  At this, Everett’s eyes widened, and he held a finger to his lips, but it was too late to stop her.

  “You think the Lightbringers have your best interests in mind? You’re okay signing away your love, your work, your family to—” Aniya couldn’t go any further. She swallowed her words and hid behind her glass of water.

  Everett glanced around the tavern and lowered his voice. “You’re lucky none of them are close by.”

  She scoffed again. “In the middle of the Hole? We’re not important enough for them. Just important enough to control us, herding us into the perfect lives they’ve laid out for us.”

  “Keep talking like that, and you’ll probably lose whatever choices you have left. You’ll wind up like your brother just like that.” Everett snapped his fingers.

  Aniya bristled. “Like you’d report me. This is the Hole. No one cares.”

  “I care. If anyone else finds out, I don’t want to be associated with you, and I feel sorry for the poor soul you wind up with.”

  She let her fork fall to the table as she pushed her chair back. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that.” She walked away from the table, her anger winning out over her hurt.

  Aniya crossed the tavern, sat on a stool, and slumped over the bar. “I need a drink, Gareth.”

  From the opposite end of the bar, a large man sauntered over, cleaning a glass with a wet rag. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Aniya, but you still have three months left before I can agree to that.”

  “Gareth, can’t you pretend you haven’t known me since I was born, just for tonight?” Aniya rolled her eyes. “I’m in the middle of one of my government-sponsored courting sessions.”

  Gareth nodded over her shoulder. “That him?”

  Aniya turned to watch Everett staring at them, his sour mood hanging over him so richly that it should have spoiled his food. She turned back to Gareth. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “For that, little one, I’d say tonight is an exception.” Gareth laughed and poured her a drink from a large, brown jug.

  Aniya took it, turned to the table by the wall, and raised her glass toward her neglected date, who glared back at her. She smiled for the first time that night.

  “You know, you’ll have to choose eventually. You’ve been at this for nearly a year now. Most people choose within the first month.”

  “I think most people have a better pool of candidates,” she said, downing half the glas
s in one swig. “Seriously, that’s the best the Lightbringers can do?”

  Gareth shrugged. “He’s not your only option.”

  “No, but the other four jokers aren’t much better.” Another gulp, and the glass was empty. “Though I will say he is, without a doubt, the worst one yet.”

  “One of those jokers will be your husband, whether you like it or not,” Gareth said grimly. “If you hadn’t waited until now to decide, you could have gone through the six-month appeal process for a certain bricklayer.”

  “Nicholas?” Aniya laughed. “That would be the most awkward marriage imaginable. He’s my best friend.”

  “Most people would count it a true treasure to marry their best friend. People like your parents.”

  “They got lucky, especially since they didn’t get a choice.” She furrowed her brow. “Why don’t they understand that I don’t need any of them? I can work just as hard as any of my suitors.”

  “No doubt,” Gareth said. “But my heart would break if you had to take part in relocative servitude. It was hard enough to watch William go.”

  Aniya looked down, hiding a tear that inched down her face and dropped onto the bar, staining the surface with awful memories. The mental picture of her brother being taken away for good broke her heart all over again.

  “You should count yourself lucky that girls are exempt from servitude. I wouldn’t—”

  “Doc!”

  A young man came running from the back room. A quivering candle threatened to fall from his hand as he panted.

  Gareth turned around with a stern rebuke. “Careful, boy. Unless you want to ferment the wine yourself, you’ll not run inside and break half my inventory.”

  “Come quick!” The intruder turned to run again but was held back by Gareth’s hand clutching his collar.

  “What did I just say, Roland?”

  Roland turned around, breaking free of Gareth’s grasp. “There’s a guy out back, Doc. He’s bleeding out into the alley. It was the Silvers.”

  Gareth relaxed and shook his head. “You know I can’t interfere in that business. I could lose my license.”

  “You don’t understand. He’s been shot!”

  Gareth’s eyes widened as his face turned to steel.

  “Stay here.”

  “But Doc . . .”

  “Stay here,” Gareth repeated. With that, he disappeared into the back room.

  Roland sighed and approached the counter. He snatched a cloth and began wiping down the bar, though his movements seemed aimless and distracted.

  “Don’t get many of those?”

  “Huh?” Roland looked up.

  Aniya gestured toward the back room. “Not many shootings?”

  Roland shook his head. “The Silvers don’t waste their bullets on just anyone. As much of an annoyance as they are, they don’t often kill people.”

  “That’s what my parents say. Not as many people to work for them if they do.”

  “And they don’t need another revolt on their hands. I think the Chancellor learned his lesson after last time.”

  “Yeah, but we lost.”

  Roland shrugged and tossed the cloth backward toward the sink. He missed, and it landed on the floor behind him, but he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he turned his attention again to the bar, dipping his finger in a nearby puddle and moving it around into a shape.

  “Why don’t I ever see you in Assembly?” Aniya asked. “You’re always here.”

  He smirked but didn’t look up. “Why would I want to go somewhere I don’t have to go?”

  “Everyone has to go. Even I skip classes sometimes, but I’m always there for morning roll call. I missed it one time, and—” Aniya shuddered. “Let’s just say I’m never doing that again.”

  Roland dipped his finger in the liquid again. Whether it was water or alcohol, Aniya couldn’t tell. “They don’t care about me.”

  “Of course they care. Well, not care, but you know what I mean.”

  He shrugged again. As he finished his tracing on the bar, Aniya studied the liquid drawing to try to figure out the pattern. It looked like a hand, but if it was, it was missing a finger.

  Aniya regretted her disinterested behavior toward Everett as Roland gave her the same treatment. I guess I deserve this. “Do you know much about the Uprising?”

  Roland looked up, and his eyes seemed to come alive. However, after a brief pause, he shook his head and looked back down.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Aniya rolled her eyes. “You used to talk to me all the time. You played with me and William when we were kids. But for the last year, I’ve only seen you here.”

  “Not my choice,” Roland grumbled.

  “What do you mean?”

  Roland shook his head once again.

  Before Aniya could grow any more frustrated, a young girl approached the bar next to her and stood on her tiptoes to see over the edge.

  The girl held up four fingers and asked in a timid voice, “Do you have any bread today?”

  Roland pushed the girl’s fingers down and looked around swiftly. “Careful, Milu. What did I say about coming around the side?”

  The girl ran around Aniya to the side of the bar, away from the busy part of the tavern.

  “It’s too late, don’t—” Roland rolled his eyes and walked over to the girl.

  Aniya looked on, amused.

  “Do you have any bread?” The girl gave a small, sweet smile, again holding up four fingers.

  Roland looked at the floor. “I’m sorry, Milu. We were so busy today that we sold the last of our bread, and we can’t bake any more right now because our oven has no power. I didn’t even get a chance to save some for you like usual.”

  The girl’s smile faded, and her eyes welled up with tears. “But Mama doesn’t have enough for dinner. After the half-ration, we don’t have anything left.”

  “I’m sorry,” Roland said again. He stroked the top of her head and brushed a tear from her cheek, and it looked to Aniya like he was fighting back tears of his own.

  Aniya stepped forward and knelt so that she was even with the girl’s height. “I can get you some food. You just have to do one thing for me.”

  The girl nodded through her tears.

  “Go to the door, open it wide, then shut it as hard as you can.”

  Milu looked up at Aniya quizzically.

  “Go now.”

  The girl darted across the room, dodging much larger bodies.

  Aniya stood and turned around to see Roland giving her a similar questioning glance. She flashed a smile and a wink.

  Old hinges creaked loudly as the sheet metal door swung open.

  Aniya took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

  The door slammed shut, an impressive feat for the young girl.

  Almost instantly, the torches that lined the walls were extinguished by a gust of air, and the tavern was plunged into darkness.

  Aniya opened her eyes. Her vision had already adjusted to the dark, and she took advantage of the confusion to make her move, darting into the crowd and blending into the throng of people. Aided by her small frame, she bobbed and weaved between the raucous patrons, who grew louder now that they were subject to enjoy their food in complete darkness.

  With a flourish of her fingers, a coin disappeared from one man’s pocket and a meal voucher from the next. Almost as an afterthought, she slid past a table and snatched away two small dessert cakes, tossing one of them into her mouth as she moved.

  Satisfied with her plunder, Aniya returned to the bar just as the first torch sparked back to life, and she reappeared before Roland and the girl, a smile gracing her face.

  Roland stared at her with a look that seemed to be a mixture of confusion and wonder.

  “Here you go, Milu.” Aniya crouched down and gave her spoils to the girl, whose wide eyes darted between the prizes presented to her.

  Rather than reaching for the food first, she leapt up and hugged Aniya’s neck, then grabbed
the food and disappeared into the crowd again.

  “I think you’ve made a friend,” Roland said. “Just be careful. You know the penalty for stealing, right?”

  “Only for those who get caught,” she said in a sing-song voice as she poured herself another drink right in front of the young bartender.

  “I wouldn’t wish it on you, but you may be pushing your luck tonight. Someone seems very interested in you right now.” Roland nodded toward the other side of the tavern, which was once again fully lit.

  Aniya glanced back over to her forgotten date.

  Everett’s eyes, it seemed, had never left her. Now, he scowled, likely realizing that she didn’t plan on coming back. Aniya grinned back in indifference, and that seemed to be the last straw. He shoved his plate of food away, knocked his chair over as he stood abruptly, and stormed out of the tavern.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Aniya said, turning back to Roland. “He’s nobody important.”

  Roland didn’t seem convinced but remained silent.

  At that moment, Gareth returned and pointed at the two of them. “Both of you, come.”