Oooh, I had the opportunity to meet the Original. The One, the Only, Reginald the First. The magic raven that Reginald the Second was the shadow of.

Nope! No thanks!

One of those bastards is enough.

And as much as I'd love to shmooze the Countess, I had work to do. I'm sure I could trust Owen and Booth to do the job they'd been assigned. But I had a side job I was still working on, and providing the kiddos some support in one of the most risky sections of this heist was just good business.

It had always been the plan to get into the guardhouse. This wasn't the exact way we'd planned, but as they say, no plan survives Prince Disaster. Or something.

Owen knew right where he was going and led the way with Booth trailing after, still trying to wipe off sparkles. Neither boy glanced at me as I trotted after them.

The guardhouse was on the opposite corner of the Palace … yard? No, that wasn't right. Despite the fact that this was a Palace, it had once been a castle. There was a word for this area inside the wall, but I'm not the kind of geek that would know it.

Owen walked right in. Man, this kid is rocking the 'act with confidence and no one will see you' schtick. I didn't think the kid had it in him. The front room was small. There were benches on either side and an empty desk in the center. There were two doors on either side of the desk. A young woman in uniform was seated on one of the benches fixing a buckle. She looked up when we entered.

"The Sargent's inside," the woman commented and went back to working on her buckle.

Owen just nodded to her and marched in the right hand door. I was impressed! Seth hadn't given us intel on this building. Owen must have gotten inside earlier when I didn't see him.

This was the command center. And there was almost no one here.

Fantastic.

The room was simple with a couple of desks and tables. A bulletin board was covered in notices and one whole wall was a blackboard with lots of notes on one end. The room had several windows and was well lit with natural light. There were a few doors leading elsewhere, and based on their location I'd say at least one was a stairwell up, and the others were probably offices or even a deep closet.

That closet could be some kind of evidence locker. A cat can hope. Booth obviously can too, as he was eyeing those doors. Too bad there was so much light in here. It was going to make sneaking harder. At least the fresh air was nice.

The only occupant of the room was an older guy with a dad gut. He had a basket on one of the tables and was laying out quite the picnic for himself.

"Sergeant sir," Owen said. "I was told by Pr- ah, Sir Kaban to bring this worker here and get him cleaned up."

The Sergeant frowned and studied Booth. He was wearing a servant's uniform that had been magically recolored in a very multicolored and vibrant way. "Why here? I'd expect the servant's wing would be better for that."

"I didn't question him, sir," Owen said. I saw Owen's eyes quickly flick down to the Sergeant's fingers and back up. So I looked too. Just a wedding ring, dammit.

"Was Sir Kaban planning to come here?"

"Yes, sir. I was told to wait here for him."

The Sergeant studied Owen. "Town guard, hmm? Alright. Washroom is there. There's nothing we can do about his clothes."

"Thanks," Booth said and headed for the washroom.

Owen waited outside the washroom like he was guarding it. There really wasn't anything else he could do with the Sergeant here. The Sergeant ignored him and went about setting up his picnic.

We didn't have that much time before Kaban showed up. We needed to search that closet. That meant I had work to do. Sigh.

Hey, something smelled good! The Sergeant pulled out folded cloth napkins, a real plate and a wineglass, and all the things for a fancy lunch. He had a cutting board with a small loaf of bread, and put a small chunk of cheese next to that. A bowl with sliced fruit followed, and then the main course.

Freshly grilled fish. That was still steaming. What shit.

The Sergeant sat at the table and picked up a lemon slice and squeezed it over the fish.

I scooted under the table. I could hear the Sergeant picking up the salt shaker. I only had an instant.

From between the Sergeant's feet I reached up with one clawed paw and snatched the fish right off his plate.

The Sergeant bellowed in rage and flung himself back to glare under the table. I crouched with my ears flattened and my stolen prize in my mouth. I was the picture of guilt. He got a good look and then I darted for the open window. I paused on the windowsill and glanced back, daring the Sergeant to follow me.

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He did. He leaped up and tried to grab me, but I was outside before he could. I could hear him thundering out after me. Even better, the woman from the front room tailed him outside.

With my mouth full of delicious fish, the fuzz hot on my tail, I led them a merry chase for at least ten minutes before I settled to eat my prize, in full view of the Sergeant, in the top branches of a tree.

Sometimes I love my job.

From up here I could see in the window at Booth and Owen. They were both leaving the room I thought was the closet, and Booth was relocking the door with a piece of wire. They both looked happy.

Could that be success? Was I right in thinking there were more of these rings around and that the guards would likely have one?

To the best of my knowledge, neither Booth nor Owen knew Detect Mana, so they wouldn't be able to determine if what they found was magic or not. I would need to get paws on that ring before they gave it to Seth. Manageable.

And this fish is delicious. Way better than the school food. No wonder that guy is swearing at me so much.

I let the bones drop out of the tree and watch the Sergeants reaction. He's upset, yes, but as a mature adult, he was accepting the situation. He was just glaring now, so I jumped down and meowed at him.

It was risky, but I rubbed up against him. One of two things will happen here. I'll get a kick, or a pat. Honestly, either is fine, and will tell me a whole lot about what kind of person this guy is. Well, it took a hot minute and a fair bit of buttering up, but I eventually got a pat.

Heh heh heh. I am a fluffy kitty! Bow before my cuteness!

Professor Kaban showed up just as we headed back inside. He eyed me sternly.

"I see you've found our resident troublemaker, Sergeant," Kaban said.

He nodded. "Stole my dinner a few minutes ago. She arrived with a young servant that had been hit with Princess Lily's new sparkle cannon."

Kaban nodded. "Mind if I talk to them in the office here, Sergeant?"

"Of course, sir." The Sergeant nodded to the boys who had stood up when the adults arrived. "Just please, keep the cat with you. I don't want to lose any more of my dinner."

Oh? Does my nose deceive me? Could there be another fish?

"Of course, sir," Owen said, and snatched me up.

Traitor. After all I've done for you.

Once in the small office, I hopped out of Owen's arms and onto the desk. There were only three chairs in the room, and Kaban took the one behind the desk and waved the boys to sit on the other side.

"I want a full explanation of why you are here," Kaban said. He studied Booth. "You don't know the spells to fix that?"

"I don't, sir," Booth said.

Kaban sighed. "First years," he muttered and cast a few spells in quick succession. His casting was way too fast for me to memorize them, but I could probably recognize them later. Maybe. I did recognize one spell. It was the spell Laur had used to pull ink out of people's clothes during the Copy Spell practice.

Soon Booth was dry, desparkled, and decolored.

"Now, explain."

Oh, I want to hear this. What kind of cockamamie story are you turkeys going to cook up?

Booth took a deep breath, glanced at Owen, and began. "I'm having some family troubles, sir, and I asked my friends for help. Seth suggested we get temporary jobs here, so that's what we did."

Kaban raised an eyebrow. "Why the Palace?"

"They pay the best," Booth said.

"And that's all you're doing here? Nothing else?"

"I'm here to help my family," Booth insisted.

"And I'm here to help my friend," Owen said.

Wow. I'm impressed. Every word was truth, and yet they told Kaban next to nothing. Meh, the guy's smart. He might be able to infer things. But not enough.

"Explain more about your family," Kaban said.

Booth looked uncomfortable. "We're poor, sir. All of my siblings are younger than me. I need to help them."

Again. All truth. That's twice Booth mentioned his family was in trouble. Is he trying to get the authorities to look out for his fam for him?

Kaban tilted his head as if listening to something. "There is no other reason for you to be here?"

"My only intention here is to finish working for that housekeeper lady that Seth introduced me to," Booth said.

Booth, you gave him a point of contact. It's a dead end, but I'm sure the Professor will chase it down. Nice.

"Are either of you working for anyone else, or have any agreement with anyone else about why you are here today?"

"No, sir," they both said.

Again, all truth. There was no agreement with the Skull Gang, nor were any of us working for them. If Kaban had some lie detector spell, it wouldn't have been triggered. And since they found a ring, they no longer had any other reason to be here, but to work.

Kaban seemed to know there was wiggle room in those answers though, and still seemed to be listening to something.

"You've both been tested at the start of school, and had a mana image done. They generally look like trees?" Kaban asked.

"Huh?" The question confused Owen. Poor boy couldn't follow the rapid shift in topic.

"We did," Booth said.

"I want you both to demonstrate your talents for me. Don't cast, just show your talents. It can be something small, I just want to see them."

Well, that's unexpected. What do their talents have to do with anything?

"I don't know how to show mine," Owen said.

Kaban opened the drawers in the desk and pulled out an old, dull knife now used as a letter opener. "Make this sharper."

Owen picked it up. After a moment he showed the blade to Kaban, who dropped a piece of string on the blade. It sliced right through with hardly any force applied. The same blade when Owen wasn't holding it couldn't cut the string at all.

Booth demonstrated turning a small rock into a light stone.

Kaban picked it up and turned it over. "Nice trick," he said, staring straight at Booth, who shifted uncomfortably.

Kaban then looked at me. What? I'm innocent! I swear! I slow blinked at him the way cats do.

There was a quiet thoom from outside and Kaban sighed. "All right. Stay out of trouble and get back to work."

We were off the hook! I don't know what that guy was looking for, but we weren't it.