“So…” Out of all the raccoons I’ve discussed my heritage with, Slytunkhamen is the one taking it the heaviest. And I can’t say I blame him. I don’t remember Slytunkhamen ever mentioning in the book any of his prior ancestors. Bob must have long passed since, and I guess besides him, none of his prior family, to his knowledge, were ever thieves. The more I say about Galleth, Rioichi and all the others, the more unsure I am I should be blabbing all this, because it’s hard to tell what’s behind that surprised face. But I have to figure out a way to get home, and this trio is the only help I can probably get.

“So…” Slytunkhamen repeats. “So I am supposed to start a book passed down through my family line?”

“Right. The Thievius Raccoonus.”

“So our son’s going to be a thief too,” murmurs Asenath. To a surprise look on Slytunkhamen’s face, she smirks. “I figured anyway.”

“It has over a thousand big pages,” I go on. “And throughout our...your...either one, throughout the Cooper lineage, various Coopers will add to it, over thousands of years.”

“That would have to be a really sturdy book,” says Pili. “From all the different Cooper lines, for them to pass down and keep adding new material would require something with magical preservation.”

“What’s the book look like?” asks Asenath.

“Very big. Dark red hardcover. Golden ends. Golden lock.”

Asenath gives a heavy sigh for some reason. Then she says it. “Catra would have something like that.”

Slytunkhamen looks down at the ground, contemplating. I scratch the back of my neck. 

“You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this, right?” 

Slytunkhamen shrugs and lightly nods.

“Well, in my last big caper that kind of ended just days ago, there were pages that were being erased. And Bentley must have the book with him in my time right now. He knows Le Paradox had a time machine and I disappeared with it, so he’s probably looking over the book right now.”

“And if we add a message to it,” Slytunkhamen says, reading my mind, “he can read it and come get you.”

I nod. After silence for a few seconds, I remember I have to backtrack. “But you haven’t gotten the book yet.” I turn over to Asenath. “You said Catra would have that book? And, Pili, I’m sorry, you mentioned magical preservation?” I then return to Slytunkhamen. “Were you planning on stealing a book from her anytime soon?”

“Please, let him think,” says Asenath. Pili nods at that. 

I deflate a bit. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just...scared.”

No one speaks for an awkward minute, then he talks.

“Pili and I were brainstorming a separate heist, and that book sort of sounds like something we’d take during this particular caper,” says Slytunkhamen. “But we put the whole idea on hold to prioritize getting the water back to help with the drought and to lower Catra’s support.”

“Okay…”

“We don’t have a complete sketch of the plan yet. We have inside workers willing to give us some info, but we don’t even know if what we’re aiming for is even real. What we’re going off of is a rumor which has been spreading here and there that Catra has access to a potion that has some sort of, uh, living agent, meaning it stays alive and keeps working, like pumping blood or, or, or sizzling grease. We heard it’s what Catra and her guards use to keep their skin and headdresses shiny and unfaded. We were thinking of stealing it to experiment and see if it would be able to make raccoons unaffected by the searing sun. Goal was to make us all less needy of food and water if there’s another drought or a tyrannical ruling. This sounds like something that would work in preserving a book, though I don’t remember any desire to steal one. Guess it hasn’t happened yet.”

I look to the three of them. “Would you guys please...help me steal it?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea right now,” says Pili. “Guards are on very high alert right now, not to mention agitated. Maybe we should wait a bit and let things cool down.”