King Carter IV of Landrea has two sons. His eldest son is Alfonso I, Prince Regent of Landrea who in turn is the father of Princess Magnolia. His younger son is Carter, Prince of Landrea and father of the heir apparent, Prince Lance. Prince Lance was appointed heir apparent by his uncle on his twelfth birthday because at the time, Alfonso did not have any children of his own. Two years later when Magnolia was born, Prince Lance kept the status of heir apparent.

“Dear cousin, what have you done now?” said the man to the abecedarian. The man was about Chad's height with shaggy, glossy, dark brown hair held back by a metallic headband. He was wearing green robes with a white sash, designating him as a master enchanter. He was followed by another man who was slightly taller than him with shoulder length, light brown hair and, based on his clothing, he was not a magician. As they approached the group from one direction, abecedarian Julie Starling appeared from the opposite direction.

“Royal Cousin—what are you doing here?” gasped the abecedarian in a state of surprised panic and still recovering from Jet's blow. Regaining some of his composure, he continued, “As you can see for yourself, these apprentices tried to ambush me. I was able to take three of them out before that one,” pointing atChad, “surprised me with a shadow. There were two more, but they ran when they heard Your Highness coming. Please deal with them—”

“Oh, cut the crap!” interrupted abecedarian Starling. “Excuse me, Your Highness,” she said, turning to the enchanter, “but I know these other three apprentices to be associates of Lord Lesterly. Though they have never been verified, there have been several reports of Lord Lesterly and these apprentices harassing other students. As for Chad and Jet,” she said pointing to them, “I can vouch for them. Though they have been in trouble a few times in the past, they are not the types to initiate something like this.”

At the mention of Chad and Jet's names, the enchanter looked slightly surprised and a shadow passed over his face. “You are excused, Master Starling,” he said. When he said this, Chad realized that Julie Starling's outfit, which used to be orange through and through, was now accented with white. So, apparently she had become a master over the fall equinox. “Believe me,” continued the enchanter, “I know the tendencies of my cousin.” He then turned and addressed Lord Lesterly. “Stanley, I will speak to you later. If I hear the smallest whisper of you stepping out of line before then, I will make sure that you never become a master. Am I understood?”

“Yes, your Highness. You have made your point,” replied Stanley, or Lord Lesterly. Chad wasn't quite sure who he was yet.

“It wasn't a point; it was a threat that will be carried out. Now get out of my sight and take these miserable looking apprentices with you. You two,” he said pointing to Chad and Jet, “I would like to speak with you. Master Starling, if you would excuse us.”

“Your Highness, if I may,” replied master Starling, “I really don't think these two are to blame. I—”

“I will take that into consideration,” interrupted the enchanter, “now, if you would.” He waved in the direction that master Starling had come from. Looking none too pleased, Master Starling left them.

Turning back to Chad and Jet, the enchanter addressed them. “I heard Master Starling refer to you as Chad and Jet. Would you happen to be Chad Lawrenceson and Jet Miller?”

“Welcome aboard the trouble wagon,” Jet whispered to Chad before answering. “Yes, that is who we would happen to be.”

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“I was hoping so,” said the enchanter, with a bright smile on his face. This was not the reaction that Chad had been expecting. “First, let me introduce myself. I am Lance, Master...”

“Ahem,” the man behind the enchanter suddenly interrupted him.

“Oh, you're right,” replied Lance, “I should introduce myself properly.” Turning back to the others he started to introduce himself again, this time more somberly, in monotone, and even a little glum. “I am Lance, Prince of Landrea, heir apparent to the throne, and master enchanter of Lord Ferdinand's Academy of the Knowledge and Practice of the Art known as Magic.” As soon as he was done mumbling off his titles, his bright smile and cheery attitude from earlier returned and he continued. “That being said, please just call me Lance, or if you really feel a need to be formal, then Master Lance is also good. This is Curt, he—”

“Ahem.”

“You're right, I am sorry, I need to do this right. This is Curtis, Baron of Past. As I was saying, he is like the little brother that I have never had. You won't find a better friend or a more insightful man in all of Landrea.” In response to this, Curtis gave the prince a brief nod. “Now that I have introduced us, back to what I was saying.

“I would like to personally thank you for what you did over the equinox.”

“Wait, you mean we're not in trouble?” asked Jet.

“You mean because of the incident just now with my cousin? Of course not! Stanley has always been a bit of a bully, though it seems to be getting worse not better. You know he's not really my cousin. He is actually the third cousin of my cousin. So, I am not really sure what our official relationship is, but I just call him cousin to keep things simple. There is no way I would take his word over an outstanding individual like Master Starling.”

“Ahem.”

“Right! As I was saying, thank you for your help with the shadow men. It was thanks to the man you caught that we were able to get back what was stolen. Seeing as it is not public knowledge, you probably haven't—”

“Ahem.”

“Oh, surely it can't hurt to tell them some of it?” At this point in the conversation there was a pause of several moments while the prince and Curtis looked at each other. “I agree. I will only tell them about those parts.” Turning back to Chad and Jet, the prince continued. “As I was saying, this isn't public knowledge, so please don't tell anybody what you are about to hear. I feel like you deserve to know since it is thanks to you that things didn't get any worse.

“On the day of the equinox, the entire royal family was celebrating...an event. The shadow men took advantage of the event and snuck into a different part of the castle and stole.. an item. Well, long story short, because of information that we got from the captive we were able to ambush the shadow men when they tried to deliver the st... item to their client. This was also the first time we have heard anything about the shadow men working for anyone besides themselves.” As he finished Curtis again gave him a brief nod.

“See, what did I tell you? The most insightful man in all of Landrea.” said the prince. “Well, I am sure you have classes you should be getting along to.” Then, turning to Curtis he said, “Come, Curt, we must prepare for my class.” Then he left. Curtis gave them a brief nod before he followed.

“What in the world was that?” said Jet. “Chad, the weirdest things happen when you are around.”

“What? Me? I thought you were the troublemaker and this kind of thing was normal for you?” replied Chad.

“The brawls are normal, but not getting involved with shadow men and getting thanked by a prince after beating up his cousin. I mean, how did they even know we were here?” asked Jet.

“That I can explain. I called for help, remember?” said Chad.

“There is no way they could have heard that and Master Starling definitely couldn't have in the middle of practice.” In response to this Chad just smiled. “Wait, you threw your voice with magic, didn't you? You are supposed to be new here. How do you know all of these different kinds of magic?”

“Well, that one everybody in the village knows. The rest I learned from my father or figured out myself. Hey, I gotta go, I am late for magical staff. See you later!” Chad started off in the direction of the dueling grounds.

“Bye!” called Jet, then added to herself, “What kind of village are you from that everybody can throw their voices?”