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The thief in red darted through the night and approached a mansion. She tossed a long rope through an open window to scale the walls, and she entered. Inside were countless magical artifacts. She knew she didn’t have long to get them out before the gang showed up to steal them for themselves. Carmen started placing objects carefully in a large sack when she felt a sharp pain in her leg. Looking down, she saw a rodent, about the size of a cat. It was carved out of wood and had glowing eyes, for sure controlled by a wizard. It stood on its long back legs while it held a dagger in its small arms. It had large ears and a lengthy tail. Carmen had heard of the creature it was based on, a jerboa, but they weren’t nearly this big. Was this some kind of defense system? She pulled out the dagger that had punctured her leg with relative ease, it wasn’t put in very skillfully. The wooden critter bared its small teeth at her in return. “Halt, thief!” The voice that rang out from it was that of the enchanter, who sounded to be a teenage boy.
“This isn’t what it looks like. I’m stealing these to stop Vile from getting their filthy hands on them, and then I’ll give them back.” The creature perked up at the mention of Vile, even though they remained obscured from public knowledge. “You’re against Vile?” it asked, ears swiveling curiously. Carmen nodded, returning to grabbing artifacts. The jerboa watched her, wondering how he could trust her words.
A few minutes passed and Carmen was about to make her exit the same way she had entered when the mouse tugged on her pant leg. “I have eyes outside, you weren’t lying, they’re coming!” He climbed up a nearby table and leaped onto her shoulder. “They’re around the tavern area.” The thief nodded and looked out the window. “Hold on tight,” she whispered, and the creature crawled into her sleeve for safety. With one hand on the sack, and one hand on her hat, she jumped out of the window.
She took the rope with her and began running into the nearby forest, illuminated only by the moonlight. The mouse emerged, resting back on her shoulder. “Who are you, anyway?” he asked. “I’m Carmen Sandiego. Who are you?” He thought for a moment about how to introduce himself. “You can call me.. Player. I prefer to stay anonymous. I have eyes all over. I’m.. in the area.” An owl flew above, creaking like wood instead of the typical silent flight. It landed on a branch, allowing Carmen to see that, just like her little sidekick, it was made of wood and had glowing eyes. “There’s an abandoned shed not too far in that direction, not many people know of it.” With his tiny paw, the rodent pointed in a direction, and the human changed her angle to head that way.
Soon enough, the pair arrived at a small, run-down, abandoned shed. The windows were completely blocked off, and the door was locked. “Go around the back and move the boulder.” A little confused, she did what she was told. Around the back was a boulder. Moving it to the side, it was incredibly light. Behind it was an opening into the shed. She crawled inside and moved the boulder back into place, which turned out to be hollow. Standing up, she was in a candlelit area with shelves covering the walls. One side was covered in books about magic and woodcarving, while the other had dozens of little whittled animals, made by the same hands as the jerboa. There was a large worktable in the corner, scattered with wood chips and tools. Pushed to the side was an unfinished crow. The tools were small, as if made for a child, and the same could have been said for the stool that was tucked underneath the table. The whole interior was very well kept, unlike the exterior, which purposely hid the contents.
The jerboa jumped off of Carmen’s shoulder and climbed up a tiny ladder to an empty space on one of the shelves before the eyes stopped glowing and it went still, no longer being controlled. She looked around to see if anyone was in the building, especially the mage behind the enchanted woodcraft. Next to a large handmade bookshelf was a small boy with butterfly wings- a fairy. “Hi. You seemed trustworthy, welcome.” It was the same voice as the one the critter spoke with. He fluttered up so Carmen wouldn’t have to look down at him, and extended an arm for a handshake. “I’ve been trying to investigate and stop Vile for a while, so I was thinking we could help each other.” he smiled warmly at her.
Carmen shook his hand and walked over to the shelves of wooden creations, a lamb catching her eye. She picked it up and traced her hand over the intricate cuts, just like she used to do with the wooden toys her caretakers made for her growing up. “You’re really good at carving. We can be a team. So, what shall we call ourselves?”