Chapter 14-Among the Green

                                    

                                          
•???•
Things were going as planned. The shadows did well to mask the dashing yellow light that was speeding through the hallways of the school. The newly acquired Thunderstone was being put to good use. 
It had been a few nights after the first gem was stolen. The gargoyles had been instructed by the headmaster to be on high alert ever since then. The figure, however, was already ten steps ahead. It took him no more than five minutes to find his way out of the school building and into the main quad undetected. Making it past the gargoyles was the easy part, though. 
The true challenge was actually locating the Floral Stone. 
He thought for a moment, scratching his chin as he stood in the middle of the empty courtyard. He paced around for a few minutes, thinking hard and mumbling to himself.
"Now where would they have kept it?" He hummed. 
The air was colder than the thief had expected. The chill breeze gnawed at his fingertips, throwing his train of thought off of it's rails. 
"Damnit." 
He sat down, scratching his chin. Where would an artefact like that be kept? Perhaps in a location with enough protection to house it? Or somewhere nobody would ever expect? It's anyone's guess, really. There wasn't any way he could be completely sure. After a few minutes of thinking in the chilly nighttime air, he thought of a place. 
His eyes glowed an electric yellow. Bright golden bolts sparked around his heels. And in a flash, he was gone. 
•••
The school gardens were quiet. The soft silver haze of the moon made it look almost aetherial. Somewhat like the stories he'd been read as a child. Stories of forests with enchanted grass and critters that would whisper the secrets of the realm to each other when everyone else slept, to the trees that walked in the dead of night when they were sure they weren't being watched by any curious elementals. Though, even as a child as young and impressionable as he was, he never believed any of those stories. 
The greenhouse was within view. Another flash of yellow light, and he was right outside it's glass doors. He had fond memories of this building in particular. He'd developed a friendship of sorts with the plants when he was a student. Though after the incident, he figured they might have forgotten his face. It had been thirty years since it happened anyway, no way they would...right?
He pushed the door open, making his way through the humid house of plants as quietly as he could, holding himself back from coughing and sneezing from all the pollen and spores flying around in the glass box. 
"Note to self, get a mask." He mumbled through the fumes.
The plants seemed to be resting, not one of them reacted to his presence. Perfect. He looked around, inspecting all of the fauna that he though might house the treasure he was looking for. But, fifteen minutes was all the figure needed to realize that the Floral gem was, indeed, not here. 
Or so he thought. 
He quietly groaned in frustration and turned to leave, when he caught a glimpse of something. Something shiny. He tilted his head upwards ever so slightly, and through the dark of the greenhouse, saw something glimmering in the moonlight. The greenhouse was built with wooden frames to reinforce the glass, each one engraved with patterns of leaves and flowers and twisting vines. Fitting for a house of plants. The entrance, however, had what the rest of the frames didn't. 
A green gem.
The floral gem. 
"There you are." The figure smiled. He reached, and within a few seconds of gentle prying, the gem popped right out of the frame and into his hand. A bright green glow pulsed from the gem and his eyes emitted the same green glow. Moments later, he felt the surge of magical energy flow through his body. 
'Yes, this is it.' He smiled to himself. He opened his bag and dropped the Floral stone in with its brother, and walked out of the greenhouse. 
Two down, eight to go. 
~~~~~
Author's Noted
I'm back from my break! Also, happy New year's everyone! I'm so glad I got this chapter out in time to close off the year. I'll get another one out in the new year. It's been a rough year for me, but I pulled through. As for this chapter, I'm really happy with how it came out, especially considering the fact that I came up with this on the fly, and wrote an entire chapter right before this, so my creativity is a bit drained. The mystery of the gem thief continues. What'll happen next? You'll have to find out in the new year. But that's all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all in 2024.
-BlueBoyHalo14