Thieves' Gambit: Chapters 16–23

by Kayvion Lewis
Born into a legendary family of thieves, seventeen-year-old Rosalyn Quest tries to escape the criminal life by applying to college programs outside of the Bahamas, but when her mom disappears, she realizes that the best chance to save her would be winning a competition of international heists.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–15, Chapters 16–23, Chapters 24–34, Chapters 35–47
40 words 6 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. mesmerized
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    “Are you saying you’re fascinated by other thieves? Kind of like being mesmerized by your own reflection, don’t you think?”
  2. pique
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    My curiosity was piqued, but if anyone asked, I’d say it was just me trying to understand my competition better.
  3. clique
    an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
    His voice dropped, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I was in some kind of school clique, talking noise about the populars.
  4. sheen
    the visual property of something that shines
    Age had worn down some of the details, but the fragile high cheekbones, vibrant teal eyeliner, and popping white eyes made it seem like a man was looking out at us from behind a sheen of gold and less like an artifact from a time long, long ago.
  5. stifle
    conceal or hide
    Devroe tried to stifle his smirk with a sip of coffee.
  6. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    Kyung-soon and Mylo watched Count intently.
  7. backfire
    return with an undesired effect
    Another tally in the deal-with-the-devil column. Because that never backfired on anyone.
  8. objectively
    in a manner not influenced by emotion
    “Isn’t it objectively in everyone’s best interest if we cooperate with each other? I don’t see the harm in asking, even if they lie to us.”
  9. de facto
    existing, whether with lawful authority or not
    In my mind she was their de facto team leader.
  10. adversary
    someone who offers opposition
    We were enemies now, and I guess being friendly with the adversaries was not proper thief behavior.
  11. appraise
    estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of
    She was appraising a pile of loose diamonds, while I was trying to think of an excuse to go search for the cute attendant boy who’d taken our luggage.
  12. abide by
    act in accordance with rules, commands, or wishes
    I suppose I should have been glad about them abiding by our little truce. An hour in, and they hadn’t tried to throw any of us out a window.
  13. bluff
    pretense that your position is stronger than it really is
    If someone calls your bluff and you put down a five when you were supposed to put down a king or you put down four cards instead of three, the entire pile goes to you. If you were telling the truth, the pile goes to them. First one to get rid of all their cards wins.
  14. bigwig
    the most important person in a group or undertaking
    About eleven months ago, I got hired for this gig back home. Easy money—raiding a couple hotel rooms at some bigwig places on the strip.
  15. sultry
    attractive and suggesting hidden passion
    He leaned in, dropping his voice to a sultry whisper.
  16. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    He let out a wry chuckle.
  17. ideal
    conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection
    I have his medical information and a personality test, but that’s it. In an ideal world, I’d be able to hunt him down once I turned eighteen, but just my luck, my mom had to pick the guy who wrapped his car around a streetlight a week after donating.
  18. consensus
    agreement in the judgment reached by a group as a whole
    He wouldn’t have been a part of my life anyway—that seemed to be the consensus in the family.
  19. preemptive
    designed to prevent an anticipated situation or occurrence
    “He probably came this way as a preemptive measure.”
    Preemptive. I’m one step ahead of the rest and still behind because of preemptive measures.
  20. lapel
    a fold of fabric below the collar of a coat or jacket
    Toward the very back of the car was the official. Even without the lapel pin I was hoping for, his striped satin tie and interview-ready hair and clean shave were enough to peg him.
  21. pensive
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    Across the aisle from him sat a woman with a tight military-grade bun and a pensive stare.
  22. pertinent
    having precise or logical relevance to the matter at hand
    Think of the lesson you could add to your curriculum. Knowing when to work with adversaries to accomplish your objective. Pertinent information, right?
  23. proximity
    the region close around a person or thing
    Any stranger within close proximity of her man was bound to be a topic of interest.
  24. amble
    walk leisurely
    I took a short breath and ambled through the aisle toward GI Jane’s nook.
  25. blunt
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    “What?” she asked. Super blunt.
  26. feint
    deceive by a mock action
    He was trying to feint me. Keep me guessing where he was going to send it next.
  27. seasoned
    rendered competent through trial and experience
    With precision only a seasoned soccer player could have, he sent the phone sliding straight under Taiyō’s seat.
  28. turret
    a small tower extending above a building
    Cairo was a gorgeous city. A sea of golds and browns. Buildings with arches and domed tops and spiraling turrets juxtaposed with glittering glass skyscrapers and the sparkling Nile cutting through it all.
  29. juxtaposed
    placed side by side often for comparison
    Cairo was a gorgeous city. A sea of golds and browns. Buildings with arches and domed tops and spiraling turrets juxtaposed with glittering glass skyscrapers and the sparkling Nile cutting through it all.
  30. wanderlust
    very strong or irresistible impulse to travel
    “This isn’t a vacation, it’s a business trip,” I reminded her, even though I’d just been thinking the same thing. But we couldn’t both be catching the wanderlust.
  31. ornate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    I let my gaze dip to the bottom floors and the cream steps leading to the ornate front doors.
  32. scrawl
    write carelessly
    Scrawled in sharp red Arabic lettering was KEEP EGYPT’S TREASURES HERE!
  33. gauche
    lacking social poise or refinement
    He was being subtle, but his sights were set on a woman in a purple silk sari, who was rocking a pair of the most gauche twin tennis bracelets I’d seen in a hot minute.
  34. sleight
    adroitness in using the hands
    Master of sleight of hand or not, anyone with two logic cells would know trying to swipe those bracelets was impossible.
  35. blubber
    cry or whine with snuffling
    “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention,” he blubbered.
  36. mull
    reflect deeply on a subject
    He mulled over what he wanted to say for so long, I was about to think he was ignoring me.
  37. alloy
    a mixture containing two or more metallic elements
    As Devroe promised, we were keeping the cell phone smothered and locked behind three inches of steel alloy.
  38. drawl
    speak in a slow and drawn out way
    “Whom you were flirting with,” I drawled.
  39. reconnaissance
    the act of scouting, especially to gain information
    “We may not be able to do in-depth reconnaissance on all the security teams ahead of time, but we can give them a quick once-over. Or at least get a sense for which are impossible to penetrate, and which are the weakest. If we can identify the weakest teams and formulate decent plans for hijacking those, then it would just be a matter of—”
  40. precarious
    fraught with danger
    Mylo slipped into the hall, hopefully not to get into anything too precarious in the meantime. I made a note to warn Kyung-soon about making sure Mylo didn’t do anything risky on the job.
Created on Mon Feb 05 16:11:03 EST 2024 (updated Tue Feb 06 15:52:13 EST 2024)

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