“Joe, stop eating already.”

I ignored Miranda and shoved another pastry in my mouth. There had been plenty of food at Oliver’s Rest but none of it had been this fancy. I picked up a goblet of some sort of white wine that was bubbly and sweet. I downed the whole thing and grabbed another donut thing filled with rich cream and dunked in chocolate.

“Seriously, Joe. Shouldn’t we be doing something about your quest?”

“Try this,” I said shoving a berry-topped tart into Miranda’s hand. “It’s magical.”

“There is something very wrong with you.”

“Ha! That’s what I say to Nora.”

Miranda grumbled and then took a bite of the tart. “Damn, this is good.”

“See!”

Stella pawed at my leg. “Sorry girl, none of this is good for you.”

“People are starting to look at us,” Miranda whispered.

“Alright fine, come on.”

Together we weaved through the crowd until we were near the double doors leading out into the garden. I leaned against the towering marble column there and watched the sea of creepy overly dressed nobles pretending to enjoy each other's company. Everything felt very forced.

I followed the Count with my gaze as he waddled through the crowd, the crown I needed sitting askew atop his head. The pink mohawk made him look like a flamboyant rotund cockatoo. At least he would never be difficult to find. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the life of the party. People swarmed him. That would make it very difficult to steal the crown.

I have to say, I was a little disappointed by the crown. It was nothing more than a shiny braided steel circlet. There were no gemstones or decorative motifs. It didn’t even glow with magic. How could something so important be so unbelievably bland?

The manservant named Eric was following the Count around like an enormous beefy shadow. There was something off about the guy but no amount of observing was given me any hints.

The door to the ballroom opened with an irritating trumpet fanfare. Everyone in the room turned to it except the Count.

It didn’t matter that the man walking in was wearing a ridiculous wolf mask or that he had a glamourously dressed woman hanging off both muscular arms I knew who he was immediately. Miranda, Stella, and I slipped back into the shadows cast by the column, hoping the man wouldn’t recognize us.

Count Banksia was standing with a small group of people nearby and Theo Thundershield made a beeline for him.

“Count Banksia, it is an honor to be invited to your shindig,” Theo said.

The Count turned, a sour look coloring his painted face. “I don’t recall sending you an invitation.”

Theo stiffened as I bit my inner cheek to keep from laughing. I suddenly liked the Count a whole lot more.

“Regardless, the Elders and I are grateful for your support.”

“Well, you and your beautiful ladies can make yourselves comfortable. I’m afraid I have important business to get back to,” the Count said waving them off.

Count Banksia and his entourage moved away. The pink-haired man whispered something to a woman beside him eliciting a mocking look back at Theo and a laugh. Theo glowered after them and gripped his sword.

“If I didn’t need that bastard's cooperation I’ll take his head off,” he muttered.

One of the women on his arm lifted up on her tippy-toes to press a kiss to the man's cheek. “Don’t worry, we only have to play nice until he gives us what we want.”

Miranda gripped my arm, her eyes just about popping out of her head. I squeezed her hand and gently eased us back toward the garden doors. I hadn’t recognized her without her axe. We slipped through with a small group of other people and disappeared into the shrubbery maze at the base of the stairs.

“Joe, that was…”

“I know. We can’t let them see us.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We know the Count’s going to be out here at midnight, we just have to wait.”

“How do we know that?”

I flushed remembering she hadn’t read the same note I had. “We have to find the Banksia tree.”

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Stella growled, the hair on her back standing on end. I grabbed Miranda and pushed her into a bush, diving in after her. I reached out for Stella but she avoided me.

The High Priest and a group of his red-robed followers tramped from a section of the maze. The High Priest glared and kicked out at Stella.

“Piss off you animal,” he snarled.

Stella’s paws started to glow. Don’t attack them, girl. Don’t.

“When are we meeting with the Count your Holiness?”

The High Priest turned and smacked the man who had spoken with his staff. The man stumbled back, clutching at his face.

“Be silent,” the High Priest snapped. “The people mustn’t think we’re here for any other reason than to join the party. Do you understand?”

“Yes, your Holiness. I apologize.”

“I don’t understand why we keep doing this. If you did not bless the crown the moron would lose control of the people and we could take charge.”

A powerful hum filled the air as the High Priest turned to face the new whinger. His robe flared out as he spun and slammed his glowing staff into the man's stomach. The man tried to scream but no sound left his lips as his body blackened. A powerful thump shook the shrubbery we were hiding in as the man’s body shattered into a pile of ash.

“Would anyone else like to question me?”

A resounding silence followed his question. Miranda buried her head against my chest. I held her as she shook and watched as the High Priest and his followers marched off toward the stairs. The ash pile that was once a man swept away on the breeze.

Stella barked, the glow encompassing her whole body. I threw myself from the shrubbery ignoring Miranda’s cry and dove on top of Stella.

“Don’t do it,” I said, stroking her head. “They’re not worth it.”

“Joe this is getting crazy,” Miranda said crawling out after me. “We have to get away from here, it’s just too dangerous.”

“As soon as midnight hits we’ll get the hell out of here, I promise.”

“I’m scared. We’re going to be found out. They’ll kill us. We’ll be turned into ash just like that guy was.”

I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Calm down. We’ve dealt with worse than this before.”

“Name one time.”

“You don’t want me to do that, Miranda. You really don’t.”

Her eyes watered but she held herself together. “What’s the plan?”

“Find the banksia tree. Once we’re there we wait for the Count’s dirty rendezvous. We take the crown and head for the stables. We steal a horse and get the hell out of here.”

“Huh, that’s actually a decent plan,” she said.

“No need to sound so surprised.”

“Should we ask Nora for help?”

I bristled. “We don’t need her help. I’m not even sure she’s on our side anymore.”

“Joe, she’s playing a part. You have to know that.”

“It doesn’t matter. She’s all rush in and beat the shit out whatever stands in your way. That’s not what we’re going for here. We need stealth, that’s how we’ll win.”

“Spoken like a true thief.”

“Good, that’s what I’m aiming for.”

I took her hand and pulled her deeper into the maze. At first, I’d thought it nothing more than a simple garden but the further we went the more I thought it might be something different entirely. The first hint came in the form of murderous wallabies.

We rounded a corner in the maze and ran into a dead end. I mean, literally a dead end. The corpse of a standard-sized croc lay mutilated on the ground surrounded by a mob of wallabies. Each small bouncy creature was a vivid color unlike the standard grey or brown you’d expect them to be.

Miranda shrieked and every one of the seven wallabies turned to face us, hissing past sharp jagged teeth that they should not have. Molten rock dripped past the lips of the red wallaby while shards of ice dropped from the one that was pure white.

I’d never moved so damn fast in my life. I shoved my hands into my pockets and strapped Stella's vest onto her before she started charging. I wasted time changing into my leathers before drawing my swords and Shadow Rushing around a blast of boiling water cast by the dark blue wallaby.

I backstabbed one of the creatures, watching its health drop by half as its name flashed above its head.

Elemental Jack.

I spun and slammed my blades into another. This time the name was mildly different but I understood why. Apparently, some creatures were defined by their genders.

Elemental Jill.

The dead croc began to writhe before punching the floor and clambering to its feet. Organs that looked very important dropped from its torn open midsection splattering across the manicured lawn beneath our feet. The croc roared as it had in life, its form glowing with pink fire.

The wallabies hissed and as a mob attacked the croc with claws and elemental magic alike. Stella, aglow with golden magic charged, the air warping around her as she slammed into a wallaby. The beast's health dropped to zero from that single hit.

I danced around the brutal battle, backstabbing and retreating as I whirled about. I sunk my blade hilt deep into the final wallaby. It screamed and hit the ground, its body glowing with sweet lootable's as it died.

Miranda withdrew her magic. Sweat rolled down her face and her shoulders slumped. The croc crashed back to the ground, dead again.

“Split fifty-fifty?” I asked.

“Deal.”

I rushed to the first dead wallaby and opened up the loot window.

Wallaby pelt

Elemental gemstone

30 x Gold

I took it all and moved on to the next. By the end of it, I had three pelts, four different elemental gemstones, two wallaby tails, and a decent chunk of gold.

“What even is this place?” Miranda asked.

“I’m not sure but we’ve got time to burn so let’s look for more.”

“Shouldn’t we be looking for the tree?” she asked.

“We can do both.”

Miranda beamed and twirled her skull-topped scepter like a baton. “Let’s do this thing.”