Hey everyone! It's been a while on this one, hasn't it? Never fear, I'm back! So now Hale, Kayla, and the crew will visit the Zabini house and uncover a new clue. What new twist will this mystery take? Will Hale and Kayla ever resolve their issues? Read on to find out! Btw, I've made some minor revisions in past chapters, mostly grammar mistakes and small changes to help the plot flow better. Check that out if you'd like. Disclaimer: I do not own Heist Society or Harry Potter. I might try to buy Heist Society's rights if we don't get a new book soon though. Seriously, Ally Carter, nobody cares about Embassy Row.

The Zabini house had been grand once, Kayla thought, looking at the ruins that laid before her. Hale had been right when he said there was really nothing left, just dirt and charred rotted wood. The iron-wrought fence remained, however, still supported by stone pillars. It was the fence that made her think this place must have been beautiful once. She had never been to a house with an iron fence that wasn't remarkable.

"Grindewald probably had it burned down once the Zabinis left," Silas suggested, already analyzing old archive pictures he had dug up by hacking into the Italian embassy. (Unlike Great Britain, the rest of the magical world had adapted to more efficient digital records rather than parchment.) Once in a while it hit Kayla how ridiculously smart Silas was. He could do anything, literally anything in the world, and yet here he was. She wondered why he never left, if he ever wanted to do anything else, if there was maybe some kind of inherent loyalty he possessed that she didn't.

"Makes sense," Sam agreed casually "I wouldn't want my enemies to have a place to come back to and overthrow me. Smart move, really." The crew stared at her. "What?"

"You are absolutely terrifying," Hale told her seriously, Hade and Andruis eyeing her behind him. Sam just smirked, taking it as a compliment. After all, a bitch was just a woman who got what she wanted and didn't apologize for it. That's what her mother had always told her, and she lived by it.

"So where should we start?" Ellie asked, examining the property. "There could be latent wards all around this place. If we trigger one-"

"It would be bad, possibly even deadly," Harry agreed. He opened his pouch and pulled out small medallions on thick string, tossing one to each crew member. "I got these the last time I was in Athens. They should temporary nullify the effects of any ward. Well, at least long enough for us to search for clues. Be careful."

The crew split up. Simon inspected the stones for hollow spots or hidden compartments, the brothers waiting anxiously for the chance to make something explode. Sam and Ellie searched the grounds for any sign of Romani. When Kayla and Hale had told the crew about their conversation with the printer, both her cousins had clearly been shaken by such a sacred name being used. This meant business, the three girls knew, and it also meant Kayla's father was in serious trouble. They needed to find these artifacts, but they also needed to figure out how this man was and what his goal really was.

Hale and Kayla shifted through the dirt and bits of wood. It was tedious work, the kind she always hated in a heist. It was comforting in a way, though, reminding her of her new normal, boring life: the life that had been once again derailed by the family business.

She hadn't spoken to Hale since last night, and so she was surprised when he asked her, "So do you like it?"

"Like what?" Kayla asked, feigning ignorance. She knew what he was asking. She just wasn't sure if she had a good answer.

"Your new, normal life," Harry replied, waving his hands as he talked. When they had been friends, she would grab them when he started doing that, the habit driving her crazy. It hurt that she didn't have that right now. "Do you like it?"

Kayla stopped sifting through the ruins, thinking about the question. "I like the stability. I like the fact that I have a routine that can be counted on. But-" There is no one like you guys in my life anymore, she wanted to say. I'm so bored of filing papers in a Ministry office that sometimes I think of blowing the filing cabinets up, she wanted to say. I miss having you in my life, she wanted to say.

Kayla didn't say any of those things, however, because Hale had found something. It was a small scrap of parchment clearly not having been there long. The ink still had its sharp smell. Hale dusted the dirt of it as best as he could and read it to the now assembled crew. "To my friends, the pendant of Lady Morgana. Sincerely, Visily Romani."

"Well, he clearly has a way with words," Hade quipped, grinning at his brother.

"A very forthcoming bloke, that Romani," Andruis agreed, his eyes gleaming with mirth.

"Enough, Thing 1 and Thing 2," Sam sniped. "The pendant of Morgana, huh? What kind of fools does Romani think we are? An artifact like that is probably in a private collection or a museum by now if it's not lost."

Lost. That word triggered a reaction in Kayla's brain. She stared at the note again, remembering hot chocolate cooled with snow and her mother's pretty voice debating magical artifacts and art with the professor. Lost artifacts. Kayla's eyes suddenly widened.

"We need to go see Professor Stein," she stated hurriedly.

"Professor Stein, why?" Ellie questioned, looking at her question with curious eyes. Hale just watched, not saying a word.

"Because Sam is right," Kayla explained. "The pedant was lost. It was probably lost for years after it left the Zabini family. That's why the clue is here. All the artifacts we're looking for, they were probably considered lost from Grindewald's war as well. Professor Stein's passion project is lost artifacts from the Great War." It was her mom's passion project too, but it still hurt to think of her mom, let alone talk about her.

Hale nodded. "Okay," he said, not arguing with her, not questioning her. He accepted her theory as fact, and Kayla sort of wanted to kiss him for his easy agreement. He still trusted her judgment even after everything. "Kayla and I will go visit the professor and find out more about these artifacts. Simon, do a little research of your own and see where some of them ended up. Maybe that will turn up some leads."

"I'll help," Ellie volunteered. "I have access to some databases that might be useful." It was really nice having an international job because they had to give you access to that sort of stuff. Ellie never abused her work privileges for heists, but this was a special case. This was family.

"I'll talk to a few of my connections, see if anything pops up," Sam said while examining her nails. Due to her mother and her constant marriages, Sam could move in more elite circles than the rest of them when she wanted to, and she knew exactly how to play those people. If she hadn't been born into a thief family, Sam probably could have been a spy.

Andruis fake-sighed. "I suppose we will just go back to Shay's and devise ways to blow stuff up for when the real fun starts," he stated as if it was a great disappointment.

"What a tragedy," Hade agreed, but their matching smirks broke the illusions. Any time the two brothers got to spend on improving their explosives was highly coveted.

"Just please don't blow up Shay's kitchen again," Hale requested, running his hand throw his hair. "He's mad enough at me as it is."

"It was one time," Hade grumbled. "We just had the ratios off."

Kayla couldn't help but laugh. She had missed this: her crew bantering, working on a job, just being together. Her new life, while normal and stable, was also incredibly lonely. She didn't have many friends. She just didn't know how to relate to most people. Plus, it didn't help that the only non-family friend she had ever made was Hale.

"Ready?" Hale asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. Everyone else had left, off to their assigned tasks.

Kayla nodded, grabbing the small watch that served as their Portkey. She wasn't sure how Harry had gotten a multi-use international Portkey, and she wasn't about to ask. She braced herself for the swirling sensation that followed. Okay, this part of her life she didn't miss. Not even a little bit. International Portkey travel always sucked. Always.

Professor Stein's small Swiss cottage hadn't changed much since the last time Kayla had visited. She had been 10 at the time, the last time she would visit there with her mother before she died. It was still well-loved and well-maintained, a fresh coat of paint on the outside and the hedges trimmed.

Hale shifted from one foot to another as Kayla knocked on the door. It didn't take long for an older, wizened main with a groomed mustache and a pinstripe suit to answer.

Professor Stein smiled widely when he saw familiar faces haunting his front door. Kayla Bishop looked so like her mother, had the hair and the eyes and the smile of the young women who would spend hours with him in his study discussing lost art and the ramifications that came with it. She was so curious, Marina was, and it was a curiosity that had been passed on to her daughter. He could see it in her eyes.

"Hello, Professor," Kayla said. The professor always lit up when he saw her, like something he had lost had returned to him for a short time. "May we come in?"

"Of course, of course. Please, make yourself at home," the professor said, letting them in and shutting the sturdy door. He studied Kayla and Hale carefully, his keen eyes missing nothing. He was a professor of art, after all, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of ending this story would have. He remembered another thief and a stray brought home.

"Tea?" he offered, taking the kettle off the oven. The professor had always said that heating charms never gave the same kind of flavor as boiled water. The two nodded their assent as they sat down. Kayla looked around the small kitchen. It hadn't changed since the last time she was here. It seemed like none of the places she had once been had changed at all.

Once everyone had arranged their tea to their liking (two sugars and a dash of milk for Kayla, a spoonful of cream for the professor, and to Kayla's disbelief just plain tea for Hale), Professor Stein looked at them and asked, "So what warrants a visit from my two favorite young people?"

Kayla swirled her spoon in her teacup as she racked her mind for a way to explain. "Professor Stein, what did you and my mother used to talk about when she visited?"

"We talked about a lot of things," the professor answered. "Your mother was very interest in art, even as a little girl. She wanted to know the stories behind the pieces, the histories of the artists, the places they had been-"

"The places they were going?" Hale suggested, taking a sip of his (totally gross) tea.

The professor shook his head. "She didn't tell me about her work outside this cottage, and I didn't ask. It is none of my business. You know that, Mr. Potter."

"But she was interested in lost artifacts," Kayla stated. "Like the pedant of Morgana?"

It was like someone had cast a Lumos inside Professor Stein. He lit up, sitting up straighter. "I knew you would come to my door asking about the Lost Ones someday. Your mother always said that-"

"Wait, the Lost Ones?" Hale repeated, clearly confused. Kayla desperately wanted to hear what the professor was going to say, but Hale was right. Their priority was finding the artifacts and returning them to Taccone so he didn't come after her father, not talking about what her mother said. Even if Kayla would trade any of her former heist treasures to hear anything her mother had left behind.

"Legend has it that there were once five precious artifacts from the time of Merlin that had survived the fall of Camelot: the pendant of Morgana, the journal of Merlin, the compass of Lancelot, the portrait of Guinevere, and the sword of Arthur. Eventually, these artifacts ended up in the hands of the first magical families in Italy. Some of them ended up in Gringotts vaults while others stayed in private collections."

"If they were owned by these families, how did they end up lost?" Hale asked. Kayla already knew the answer.

"The Great War," she said softly. "When families were forced to flee from Grindewald, they had to leave all their treasures behind: their vaults, their magical artifacts, their art… They had to leave behind everything." She remembered her mother's solemn stories about the Great War, how her great-grandparents had been forced to flee their little antique shop, how they had turned to stealing as their trade.

"And so those artifacts fell into the hands of Grindewald and his supporters when they raided the deserter's homes. After the war, however, no one could seem to account for them or admit to having them, and they were labelled as 'the Lost Ones'. I always assumed they were sold on the black market somehow," Professor Stein added.

"Probably a correct assumption," Hale answered, "considering that they ended up in the hands of a guy like Taccone. Do you have any idea of exactly who any of those original families were?"

The professor nodded, walking into his small library. They followed him into the room bursting to the seams with books and papers. There was definitely an organizational system implemented here, but Kayla couldn't figure it out. Hale didn't look like he was having much luck with it either. Finally, Professor Stein stopped at a shelf, finding what he was looking for. He pulled out a thick, old file marked L.O. with little notes scribbled all over it.

"This is everything I have been able to learn about the origins of the Lost Ones and the families who've owned them." He handed it to Hale. "I hope that it helps."

"I think it will," Hale replied. Sometimes Kayla thought he could read her mind. At the very least he could sense what she wanted without her saying it so he said his goodbyes to the professor and left Kayla speak to the man who had mentored her mother alone.

"Does your sudden interest in the Lost Ones mean that you have stumbled across one?" Professor Stein asked eagerly. He was a scholar first and foremost, after all.

"No," Kayla answered reluctantly. "But we know where they might be. We know someone who has them."

The professor's eyes widened, clearly in shock. He smiled, clearly remembering another young girl who talked about art history and leads with him. "Your mother and I always used to talk about finding the Lost Ones. She was particularly fond of the legends themselves. Your mother was a true lover of art. Not many exist like her anymore."

"I remember that," Kayla said. "She used to take me to the Henley almost every weekend, and she would tell me these fantastic stories that were hidden in the paintings. I thought she was using magic to revel them until I went to Hogwarts."

The professor laughed. "You will find, my dear, that art holds a magic entirely its own. Magic is not needed to enhance it."

Kayla nodded, remembering how much her mother had hated the magical portraits of Hogwarts. 'Enchanting a portrait makes up for the lack of personality the artist was able to infuse in it,' she had complained. 'Just look at the Mona Lisa! Completely still, and she says more than any portrait in that castle ever could.'

"Professor," Kayla questioned tentatively, "why were the Lost Ones so important to my mom?"

The professor smiled at her knowingly. "I would look into the portrait of Guinevere if I were you. You might find some answers there."

Kayla sighed. Like her Uncle Shay, Professor Stein was never one for a straight answer. "Alright, thank you."

"It is I, dear, that should be thanking you," the professor insisted. "It is my greatest wish to see the Lost Ones restored to their rightful families, and if you and your friends are able find them, I will die a happy old man."

"We will do our best," Kayla answered honestly, knowing that she couldn't just return the artifacts to their original families. They had to go back to Taccone, or her father would still be on the hook for their theft.

"I know you will," the professor responded. "You are your mother's daughter, after all."

Kayla said her goodbyes and left the small cottage, her thoughts more erratic than ever. If this heist could even be pulled off, if they succeeded in locating the items to a location and then breaking into that place, what she should do? What would her mom do? Returning the artifacts was what was right, but it wasn't worth her father's life.

Resolving to think like Uncle Shay, Kayla took a deep breath. She needed a plan, but first she needed an insurance policy. And she knew exactly how to get it.