"You the new mason?" Asked one of the many workers for the Phantasm family in Oak. Ambrose nodded in return.

"Good, we could use the extra help. There was an accident here just a few days ago. One of the Phantasm family's Alchemists was brewing a new type of elixir, and it went sideways real fast. Now we have to repair an entire wall. It's not easy. So, the more help we get, the better." Ambrose listened quietly as the man spoke, nodding as he spoke, pretending to be concerned.

"Follow me, we're working over here." The foreman said, and motioned for Ambrose to follow him.

His mission this time around, to be a snitch. That is, he was required to spy on the many masons that worked for the Phantasm family; Sirius Phantasm, the oldest of the Phantasm children, believed that they had a mole amongst their workers, one of the masons specifically, and that they were foolish enough to leak some of the family's secrets. In response to this information, he took it upon himself to discover whether the information had any merit or not. And so here you were, posing as a new mason for the family, and ready to do some spy work.

Sirius requested that in the event that you discovered the rumor was true, that you report back to him with the name of the mole.

Should be easy enough, he thought as he followed the foreman all the way around the massive castle, until they finally reached the area the man had spoken of. "Damn." Ambrose said, his brows lifting a bit as he took in the destruction. He was honestly surprised that no one had died in the blast. The hole had to be at least twenty feet tall, and almost as wide.

"Yeah." The foreman said in response. He didn't waste any time in showing Ambrose around, or introducing him to the dozen or so other workers, rather just explained where he could find all the tools he would need, and told him to get to work.

This wasn't the first time he had done any actual work like this, neither the masoning or spying, so he easily blended in. The group was a hearty bunch, laughing and chattering as they worked, the hours flying by, and a good deal of progress being made on the wall in that time.

He was beginning to think that the rumor was just that, a rumor, never once hearing any suspicious chatter amongst the workers. However, when it was around three in the evening, he finally picked up on something that could definitely be deemed suspicious. Ambrose didn't confront the man right then and there, knowing that doing so would likely scare the guy off. And that wouldn't help the situation at all.

Instead, he simply kept himself nearby, listening in on the chatter, just making sure that he had as much information as he could get. The more the guy spilled his guts, the better it would be for Ambrose when he did confront him. The fool seemed like the typical snitch type, happy for attention, and thriving on gossip. Ambrose hated that type. The only times he ever snitched out others, was when the job payed enough. And this one definitely did.

When he knew he had heard enough to thoroughly bury the guy, he made his move, waiting till the man walked off to gather more supplies, and then cornering him. The guy was far from impressive, barely needing the hint of violence before falling to pieces and telling him everything.

Pathetic, Ambrose thought, absolutely pathetic.

He could have left right then, and ratted the idiot out, but he decided to make things more interesting for himself, "Tell ya what." Ambrose said with a grin, making the man sweat, "I can keep your little indiscretion a secret. But you have to make it worth my while." And then he held out his hand.

At first, the fool looked confused, surely he's not that stupid, he thought, before the man sighed and took out his wallet, and handing over a good deal of jewels. Ambrose raised a brow, motioning for more, "But," The man said, trying to argue, but with a lift of another brow, the coward caved in, handing over the last of the jewels he had on him.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Ambrose said with a smile, pocketed the jewels, and then left to go back to finish off the days work. When he was done working with the masons, he went to speak with Sirius Phantasm. He figured, why only receive the reward listed, when he could screw over the coward of a rat as well.

When Sirius arrived at the door to the castle, after being summoned by one of the butlers, he nodded to Ambrose before motioning for him to follow. He followed the man to his study. When the man was sure there were no outside ears listening, he asked Ambrose how his investigation went.

"You were right to investigate. You have a mole. I cornered the man, and he spilled his guts." At first Sirius was angry, something to be expected when dealing with a mole, but then he looked pleased, "Well done." He said, to which Ambrose nodded his head, then said, "But you shouldn't worry about him trying to skip town, I told him that I wouldn't rat him out, and he believed me. So he won't be expecting you."

At that, the man lifted his brows before a grin touched his lips, "Excellent work. I'll have to remember you for the future. I have plenty of tasks that often keep me busy, so if you're ever in need of some jewels, I could use a man of your skill again."

Ambrose nodded as he uttered his thanks. With their business concluded, Sirius handed him the reward and he was gone.

[EXIT]

Word Count: 1,003/1,000