Crenshaw really is surprisingly abundant with abandoned buildings. Perhaps it's a status issue - people not wanting to be so protected. Well, fine by Lucius. You have to sleep somewhere, so best to make it somewhere defended and defensible.

Not that he is either sleeping or in the place he's chosen for himself tonight. He's been living in what was once someone's garden shed, preferring a dwelling where he can see all the exits. But a shed doesn't come with many niceties, and some of these abandoned houses definitely do. So on some of the nights when sleep is difficult to find, he dons a mask and takes advantage of the cover of darkness to do a little raiding.

It goes perfectly well until someone (something?) just plain walks through a solid wall onto the stairway in front of him. Lucius drops the blankets he had been carrying immediately and starts to draw his sword.

"Stay back." He tries to pitch his voice lower, attempting to sound older than twelve.