“OK, Ella, what the heck are you thinking, agreeing to have Reginald the Idiot with us? Do you want us to get caught?” Naomi demanded as soon as we were inside our beach house.

Ella rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Think about it. We will have the idiot son of two famous heroes with us while we're here. When they're looking for suspects, we'll be near the top of the list. But now we not only have alibis from servers, guides and others that will see our fake Naomi, we also have Reginald Stirling, son of the two guests of honour. If they claim we did it, they'll be insulting not only him, but his parents.”

“Can we actually fool him? He's going to be with us a lot,” Clarice pointed out.

“He's an overly emotional moron, who thinks with his sword, not his brain. We'll just have to break up into smaller groups during our vacation, so he'll never notice that one of us is missing. Plus, he'll be with Petra most of the time, since he's supposed to be her guide and bodyguard, which helps us in another way.”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “How does having a guy who wants to kill me, spending time with me, help us?”

“You have the weirdest luck possible. I'd rather not have you directly working with anything that will get us arrested. Using you as a distraction, and as proof that we're just innocent school kids on vacation, is perfect for you,” Ella said.

I could understand her logic, and not having to do any direct crime was a weight off my shoulders. Still I didn't like being seen as a danger or a problem. These were my friends, I wanted to help them.

Calci patted me on the back. “Petra, this really is a good idea. With Reggie watching you, you're giving all of us a good alibi. Cheer up and try not do anything that will make him want to kill you.”

“I'll try,” I said, doing my best not to sound like I was marching off to my death.

Honey Suckle looked around, playing nervously with his pointy ear. “Petra, what exactly happened when Mrs. Stirling took you away? When you both came back, she was really quiet.”

Sighing, I rubbed my forehead. I'd been trying to forget about that. “She asked me about when my weird luck started. Then she pulled out some kind of glass ball and tried to look in it. It cracked, fell to the ground and split in half. Mrs. Stirling kind of stopped everything right there and didn't ask anymore questions.”

“That's it?” Ella asked.

“Well... I think I heard something shaking, kind of like dice. It happened just before the crystal ball broke.”

My friends all looked nervously at each other. I sank down in my chair, wishing that I wasn't the centre of attention. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, something was always happening to me that made everyone look at me. Or want to kill me. It was all so different from when I'd been a boy. As a boy I'd been just strong and quick enough not to be a target for most people. And there hadn't been anything special about me to make me stand out, even though I wanted to. Why did I have to become a girl to get attention?

“Ella, couldn't you get the embassy to hire someone to look over Petra and figure out what's going on?” Naomi asked.

My roommate shook her head. “Probably not. So far we've had a succubus queen, a demon, and a major hero all find something strange about Petra. None of them seem willing to talk about what it is. Anyone I hire will probably do the same. We'll have to figure this one out on our own.”

“Joy,” I said, my voice completely deadpan.

Gold sighed, putting his arm over Clarice's shoulder. “Is your family cursed? Or do you have any odd ancestors?”

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“I don't think so. The oddest thing that happened to any of my family was an uncle who flunked out of Doom Valley. He got turned into a dog for a few years.”

“OK,” Ella said, leaning forward in her chair, “we aren't going to find out what's going on with Petra anytime soon. I have some information on the Elixir of Life. My sources have told me that it's stored in the city treasury most of the year.”

“Then there is no way we're getting it without an Ancient Dragon, or a master thief,” Calci said. “Dwarf treasuries are very tough. We don't like anyone getting at our treasures.”

“Here's the important part. Every year at major celebrations they release the Elixir of Life for citizens to drink. Bottles of it are sent to locations all over the city and while they're guarded, they can be broken into,” Ella said, grinning wickedly.

“And do we know where these locations are?” Naomi asked.

Snapping her fingers, a map unrolled itself on the large coffee table. “It just so happens that I do. My people are working on getting details on security and the building blueprints. We'll go after the least guarded one. Tomorrow we'll split up into two groups. Calci, Honey Suckle, Naomi and Antoine, you're with Ivy and I, we'll check out the six locations on the mountain side of the city. Clarice, Gold, Petra and Reginald will look at the ocean side locations.”

“What am I supposed to tell Reginald, while we're looking over these places?” I asked.

“You'll mostly just be wandering past them. See what types of buildings they are, if they're open to the public and look interesting, go inside. Claim you're interested in the culture, architecture, history, or whatever it's for,” Ella said.

“Why can't Calci and I go along the waterfront?” Honey Suckle asked.

“Because we need Calci to help us navigate the tunnels. She grew up in a mountain and can actually read Dwarven runes. It will be a lot faster if she's with us. And since you're dating, it would be odd if you weren't with her.”

Ella looked around the room. “Listen, I picked these groups very carefully. Ivy is protection. I can probably get a few doors open in the less touristy part of the city. Naomi and Antoine are observant and we need to keep Naomi mostly away from Reginald. With the other team, Petra and her paladin are a pair, and he's dumb, but tough. Clarice and Gold are seemingly harmless, but very smart and will catch little details, while being two lovebirds.”

We all had to agree that that actually made a lot of sense. Since we had to use my nemesis, we might as well put him to good use. And Clarice and Gold didn't look like criminal geniuses, or any more evil than typical teenagers.

“Good. I'll have maps for each of us first thing in the morning. They'll have interesting locations marked down, along with the places we need to scout out. Tonight make sure your demon eyes are rested up for tomorrow, we'll be taking a lot of pictures. We're tourists having a good time, it's expected. Take pictures of each other, selfies, anything that looks interesting, and make sure it looks like you're having fun. Any questions?” Ella asked.

There weren't any. But the fun filled atmosphere of earlier that day had vanished, replaced by nervous energy as we realized that we were actually going through with our plan.

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Reginald forced himself to look his parents in the eyes. He'd been humiliated once again by Petra, but he still had enough honour not to hang his head in shame.

“We're very disappointed in you,” his father said. “We thought that you'd learned not to be so hasty after your failed test. You're far too much like your uncle.”

“I'm sorry, father,” Reginald said, forcing the words out.

His mother went to his side and put an arm on his shoulder. “We know you don't like the punishment we're giving you, but it will be good for you to see that things aren't as black and white as you believe. Petra and her friends are going to Doom Valley, but that doesn't mean they're pure evil. Some of the students are actually there to get a proper education and will become valuable members of society after graduating.”

“Yes, mother.”

Sighing, his mother ruffled his hair. “You also need to learn how to relax. Tomorrow, you'll pick out a nice outfit, no armour, and only a small weapon. I expect you to take some pictures, buy some fun things, and try to have a good time.”

His face heated up at the thought of having fun with Petra and her friends.

“Don't be like that. Ella has promised me that they won't do anything to humiliate you and they'll try not to annoy you. You'll be tagging along helping them and making sure they don't get pick-pocketed or harassed, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself a little.”

“Yes, mother,” he said, gritting his teeth together so hard it felt like they were about to break.

“Excellent,” his father said. “I expect to hear all about it tomorrow before supper.”

Reginald silently swore that he would do everything his parents asked. But he was going to keep a very close eye on the devious Petra. She and her friends had to be up to something, and when he discovered what it was, he would happily capture them all and hand them over to the police.