Sitting in the subterfuge office after classes had ended for the day, I gave Bob my best smile. “Hi, I'm hoping you could help me out with something.”

Leaning forward in to put his elbows on the desk, the pudgy faced, beardless dwarf smiled back at me. “Of course, of course. What do you need?”

“Well, my friends and I are planning a heist. We want to steal some of the emerald statues at the 100th Emerald Festival being held by the Emerald Mountain Dwarf Clan. We've gotten the forms for an independent study project, and are filling them out this evening. But I thought it would be helpful to get some advice from you on how to pull it off.”

He broke into a grin. “Ah, I like it when students show some initiative, and that's a perfect choice. Beautiful beaches, great food, and best of all plenty of money to be made. So do you have a plan?”

“We're actually looking into it now. We just thought of it yesterday,” I admitted.

“All right. You're making things a bit tight for yourselves, but at least you realize you need to have an actual plan. There was one group of sophomores last year who thought they could scam a casino. They didn't realize it was owned by a demon lord, and they'd thought their magic would let them bluff security.”

I shivered at the thought of trying something like that. Demon lords took a very dim view on people trying to rob them, especially when it's poorly done. Little things like laws and mercy weren't something they considered when dealing with thieves.

Bob must have seen me shiver. “Yep. They got caught. Our lawyers were able to keep them from immediately having their souls ripped out of their bodies and turned into something useful. But they get to spend every holiday working at the casino until they graduate. And if they fail out of Doom Valley, their souls are forfeit. They're some of our best students now, but have a bad habit of screaming whenever they see fire or smell smoke.”

“Um... right. So... what can you tell me about planning a heist?”

“Write me a ten page report on the Imp Gang's theft of the Infernal Diamond. How did they plan it, how they managed to steal, and how they got away with it. I want it in nine days.”

“But, I'm already doing lots of homework and planning for this heist. I don't have time to do another project.”

His cheerful smile turned into a frown. “Petra, we are a good school, not some factory that turns out mindless golems that repeat what they're told. If I simply tell you what to do, you won't learn how to do things on your own, and I'd be a failure of a teacher. So go to the library get the books, and write me up a fifteen page report, that really gets into the nitty gritty details of the heist.”

I was about to say something, then shut my mouth. I didn't want to end up writing a twenty page report on it. Forcing myself to smile, I said, “Thanks. I'll get right on it.”

“You're most welcome. I can't wait to see what happens.”

We were all in the library, using one of the smaller, easy to find, study rooms. Ella sat at the head of the table, getting ready to start the planning session. I was sitting off in the corner reading up on the Infernal Diamond Heist, jotting down anything that seemed important.

“OK, I know we haven't much time to prepare things, but we're on a tight deadline,” Ella said. “Calci and Honey Suckle, what have you got for the Emerald Mountain?”

Calci looked over her notes. “It's a tropical island made out of an extinct volcano, and it has an unusually large number of emeralds. Legends say that the emeralds are because the first god of wealth once used the volcano as a toilet, but no one is really sure. Dwarves found the island after several thousand were teleported there, during the Pub Crawl of Chaos. They saw how fertile the island was, the emeralds, and the convenient lava tubes, and decided to make it their new home, rather than learn how to make boats and sail across the Green Sea. Two-hundred-twenty-three years ago they were discovered by orc sailors from the Bitter Water Tribe. There were some intense negotiations over landing rights, supplying the orcs with food and fresh water, and other things, but they came to a mutually beneficial agreement. After repairing their ships and healing the wounded, the surviving orcs set sail with a heavily armed group of dwarf merchants and a sack of emeralds. From that point onwards the island was connected with the wider world.”

“Is there anything a bit more recent?” Naomi asked, looking at the big stack of notes in Calci's hands.

Honey Suckle picked up his single piece of paper. “Their main industries are emerald mining and tourism. So they are very firm about keeping order, they don't want to deal with emerald thieves or having people scare away tourists. Their police force is considered one of the best in the world, and they're regularly hired by other nations to act as trainers.”

“So it's going to be really difficult stealing some statues and the elixir of life.”

“Well, for this festival they're going to have at least three million visitors,” the elf replied, looking at his notes. “A lot of their attention will be focused on controlling the crowds. If we're clever, we can sneak in grab some of the smaller pieces and get out.”

“Or,” Clarice said, “cause a big distraction nearby and in the chaos get a few statues and run away.”

“We don't want to cause a stampede and get people hurt,” Honey Suckle replied. “And that type of thing will have them hunting us down with everything they have, after locking down the area.”

“But do any of us know how to break through high level security wards and guards?”

I looked up from my book. “What if we get someone inside and they steal it?”

“How will we get someone inside with less than two weeks to prepare things?” Ella asked.

“It's an art exhibit, we could transform someone into an emerald statue with an enchanted bag. When everyone is gone, they transform back into flesh and blood, steal a few of the nicer statues, then they teleport away. No one will see us, the event will continue relatively calmly so we won't be enemy #1, and we can get some insurance money from having our art stolen. That's what the Imp Gang did when they stole the Infernal Diamond.”

Ella smiled at me, making me blush a little. “I like that idea, it's nice and simple. And even if we get caught we shouldn't have to worry about them throwing the book at us. But how will we get our statue in there?”

It was Gold's turn to show what he'd learned. “Doom Valley can sneak in our entry. All it needs to do is get some paperwork in the right place. We'll have to pay the school back for the bribes, but it shouldn't be a problem.”

“Why don't we just put a teleporting switch spell on the statue? Why does it need to be one of us?” Naomi asked.

“They'll be checking for any enchantments on the statues. Something like that would be easy to catch, unless we want to spend a fortune. Transforming someone and having them use a mental command to switch back to flesh and blood, it's a lot harder to detect,” Calci said. “But how can we turn a person into an emerald statue? That isn't exactly an easy spell, especially if we want them conscious.”

“We could ask the school for the spell, but if we get it on our own it will probably be cheaper. And we'll get extra marks,” Ella said. “We could ask my brother Kai.”

“Can he do it?” I asked. “He didn't want to try to cure my RTS.”

“He's better at transforming things than making things stable. This is right up his alley.”

Gold nodded. “I think that's the best idea. We can borrow an enchanted bag from the school. As long as we return it in good condition, they won't charge us for it. And we'll get the best possible bag, it will hold a couple of statues safely. We should also be able to get a teleporting token to get the person out of there once they're done.”

“OK, I think we have the basic plan down,” Ella said. “If we want to get the insurance money as well, we'll need to spend at least a few days on the island afterwards. Just disappearing will look very suspicious. That will give us time to get the Elixir of Life.”

“And enjoy the beach,” Naomi and Clarice said together.

Ella grinned. “Of course, that is very important.”

“So who gets to be the statue?” Calci asked. “I don't think it should be me. I need to find out more about this Elixir of Life.”

“Since I'll be going under my name, with all of you as my guests, I can't do it,” Ella said.

For some reason several sets of eyes turned to me. “NOT ME! I've already got enough problems from transforming too often.”

“She's right. Petra is not getting turned into a statue.” Ella turned to look at Naomi and Clarice. “I think it will have to be one of you two. A statue of a girl carrying a bag, is more attractive than a boy with a bag.”

The three boys in our group all looked relieved.

“I'll do it,” Naomi said, but she was frowning as she said it. “I'm stronger than Clarice. And while I'm not a great fighter, if something goes wrong I'll have a better chance of getting out of it.”

“Thank you,” Clarice said.

“All right, I'll fill out the forms, listing what we need and a budget for it. Tomorrow morning I'll hand it in before class starts,” Ella said. “I want each of you to research useful tools and spells, that will help keep us out of jail, insurance fraud, Emerald City, their police force, and anything else that you think could be useful. We'll narrow things down tomorrow when we have access to the school's information.”

Nodding in agreement, we all got down to work.

Reginald sat in his dorm room, polishing his sword. It wasn't as good as his old one that had been destroyed by Sir Grieve, but it was still rather impressive. A sprite sang heavenly music for him, as he focused his attention on his task.

His ability to focus on what had to be done was something he needed to work on. He'd learned that after his pass or die test with that enchantress Petra. She'd taken his focus off of the goal and he'd been humiliated. He would not let that happen again.

His magic mirror chimed like a bell. Sending it a mental command, his mother appeared in the silvery surface.

“Reginald, how are you doing?”

Standing at attention, he said, “I'm doing quite well, mother. My grades are good, and I'm regaining my standing among the teachers.”

“Oh why don't you relax a little,” she said, frowning a little. “I don't know why you're always so serious.”

“I'm just trying to uphold the family honour.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, you're going to have a chance to relax soon. Your father and I are being honoured at the 100th Emerald Festival, in thanks for us helping defeat the Gopher King's army last year. You are coming with us.”

“But what about my classes?”

“I've already spoken to your headmistress. You'll have some homework and reading, but you're already at the top of most of your classes. So no arguments, you're going to come with us, and have a good time.”

“Yes, mother.”

“OK, I have to go now. We're just about to raid an evil cult. Love you.”

“I love you too, mother,” he said as the image faded away.

Scowling, he sat back down. How could he go on vacation now? He had to prepare himself to face and defeat the wily Petra the next time they met. Didn't his parents understand anything about honour?