The return trip to school was subdued. Seth never let go of me. It was kinda uncomfortable how tightly he was squeezing, but the kid needed it. I can be generous and tolerant. I am a cat after all.

At the school gatehouse there were professors waiting for us. I recognized Laur, Kaban, Cicily, and Rebecca. There were several more I didn't know.

Owen had gotten his arm rebandaged, and was packed off to the Circle Tower with Professor Cicily moments after we arrived.

Booth and Duvessa were taken by two professors I didn't know. Professor Laur was the one to collect Seth. One of the first things he did was lift Seth's chin and take a look at his throat.

"Does this pain you?" the professor asked. "Perhaps a healer first?"

"No, it's fine," Seth said. He gripped me a little more firmly too. If he kept this up I might have to bite him. "Have you heard anything about Blaise? Have they found her yet?"

"Nothing yet. Let's go have a conversation. This way, if you please."

He led Seth to an office in the Rainbow Tower. My impression of Professor Slick here was of a man that was stiff, unyielding, and straight-laced in every aspect of his life. The soft and plush luxury in this office made me rethink that impression a bit.

What followed was a kind, gentle, but thorough, interrogation. He did ask again if Seth wanted a healer when Seth started looking pained, and provided beverages and even lunch. Seth only picked at it though.

I was perfectly happy to eat Seth's fish too.

This lasted hours. He went over every single detail that Seth could remember. He asked if Seth had written down anything about the day, or made any lists, or a calendar or anything. He asked about who was where, what the people were wearing, everything. He did ask the same questions in slightly different ways too, a common interrogation practice. He reassured Seth that this would not be negatively affecting him, despite being on probation. And before he sent us on our way, he told us that the carriage had been found in the tunnel, but was empty. He also told us Professor Armand was heading the search for Blaise from the school.

I gathered from the conversation that there were lots of easy ways for finding spells and scrying to be interrupted. Depending on the spell and the skill of the caster, simply being indoors was proof against some spells and there were wards that could be used against the more fancy stuff.

That information arms race had been run centuries ago and arrived at a stalemate. Current advancements were either secret, or non-existent. A pity for Blaise right now, but I wasn’t too bothered by the lack of magical voyeurism.

Seth was instructed to get some healing and then to head to bed. I led the way to the Circle Tower and stopped outside the main door.

Seth stopped a short distance away and just stood there. So I meowed.

"Sorry, Mau," Seth said. "I can't deal with Arnold right now. I wanted to see how Owen was, or Booth and Duvessa, but I think I'm done. I'm going to bed."

Seth skipped dinner that night and went straight back to his room. I honestly didn’t mind that I had to skip too, because the poor kid was exhausted. He didn't stay laying down long though. After about fifteen minutes he got up and pulled out a pen and paper and started making a list.

I couldn't read it. So I sat on it.

"Come on, Mau." Seth picked me up and put me on the bed.

I gave him a few moments. He went right back to his list. I meowed at him and jumped back on the desk.

"Please don't, Mau. I'm trying to work here."

I meowed and got in the way again, looking at what he was doing, and then at him.

"You're not going to let me work, are you?"

I meowed.

"Do you want me to go to sleep?"

I meowed.

"Does that mean yes or no?" Seth looked at me for a moment. "We never really worked out a way for you to talk to me at all, have we?"

Fucking eureeka. I’ve been waiting for this idea to cross that little mind. I shook my head.

"All right. You can say yes and no by shaking your head."

I always have been. You just ignore me a little too often. Probably my fault for playing up the whole 'I'm just a cat' nonsense. Anyway, I nodded.

"You want more?"

Damn fucking straight I do. I nodded.

Seth looked at his list and back at me. "Do you want to know what I'm doing?"

I nodded.

Stolen story; please report.

"Should we have a sound for that? Or an action?"

Actions, yes! Finally, you thought of it. Sign language for the win. I flicked my right ear. I figure this will be my 'tell me more' action.

"What did you want to do?"

I flicked my ear again. How many times did you have to repeat an action before a puppy learned it? Ten? Twenty? I might be here a while.

I managed to train Seth in yes, no, tell me more, this, important, stop, and later. I was debating on teaching him 'feed me' when he yawned. All right. I double tapped his list, my 'this' motion, and flicked my ear in 'tell me more'.

"I'm making a list of what I know about what happened to Blaise, and what I can do to find her."

'Later,' I signed. Nothing he did right now was going to help. The adults were on the problem, and they had more resources than Seth did. We could check their work later. I hopped over to the bed and tapped 'this' on his very inviting blankets.

"I can't sleep knowing she's out there, Mau. I have to try something."

'Later,' I signed again. I walked over to him and tapped 'this' on his amulet.

"I used it up earlier. It'll be a while yet before I can use it again."

'This' on the amulet again, this time with the high pitched mew of 'important'.

"Mau, I used it up. I can't use it."

Fair. I tapped mine.

"You should know how to use yours. It should be instinctive."

Yeah, I don't have those instincts.

I wanted to use my amulet on him, or use the power in mine to fuel his. But I couldn't get that idea across. Seth kept thinking I wanted him to use his. He kept trying to explain to me that it was out of power.

Eventually, Seth decided he was sleepy enough for bed and pretty much passed out as soon as he laid down. There was a knock at the door a little while later and I heard Booth call out, but Seth didn’t wake up nor did I try to wake him. He needed his beauty sleep.

I was very happy Isaac stayed away from the room last night. He'd apparently gone home for the whole weekend.

Seth used his amulet the following morning to heal up most of his bruises. I focused on what I could feel through my whiskers as he did so, and I could feel a resonance in my own amulet. That really interested me. Seth was starting to ignore my 'tell me more' signs.

So I paid close attention to what my whiskers told me. I tried to see, and sense, everything that happened as Seth used his healing amulet.

And when I wasn't getting enough info, I shoved my face right up to it and tried to interrupt what he was doing. Yup. I was willing to mess up his healing spell.

If he was ever in a situation that he couldn't use it himself, I would need to. I needed to know how to do this. I had first hand experience now how violent things could get here.

"Stop, Mau. What are you doing?"

'Tell me more.' I also wiggled my whiskers.

"Use your own."

I think my eyes might have rolled out of my head. I had tried using mine. I could never get the thing to activate. I don't have those instincts. So show me already. 'This. Tell me more.'

Seth sighed. "I don't know what you want to know. Come here, I guess. I'll use it as slow as I can and explain what I'm doing. Do you want to put your paw on it? I'll hold yours too. Is that what you want? To learn to use yours?"

'Yes!'

Seth was patient. He also explained a bit about how magic healing worked. There was a time element involved in healing potions, where they would identify a previous state, and then attempt to heal the injury back to that state. What that meant was if you used multiple potions over several days, you could be healing yourself back into an injury. Having someone direct the healing consciously with an item would be safer. Seth's amulet, and mine, could be used either way. You could deliver a large dose of magic like a potion, provided the amulet had the power in it at the time, or you could slowly direct the healing specifically. The slow healing was generally considered better and safer, but took a long time.

And then there were injuries that would require healer assistance. Those tended to be serious and potentially life threatening.

Seth was slowly healing his bruises. I could feel the mana moving, but I couldn't do anything to manipulate it. I couldn't activate Seth's amulet, or my own. As I focused I started to feel a resonance.

Seth's amulet pulled in mana, and output mana. It also stored it, but that wasn't happening right now. My whiskers could feel the mana moving, and there was a resonance in my amulet. So I focused on my amulet.

That resonance intrigued me. I knew all of these amulets were carved from the same horn, and fitted together on purpose. Could the enchantments have been linked on purpose?

I ran through all the lessons this week in my head. The only one that really got into mana usage was the combat class with the wussticks. I’d messed with them a bit, but my inability to grip them and use them properly irked me enough I lost interest far sooner than I should have.

And the other classes? The whole way magic was taught felt entirely ass backwards to me. Each spell was taught in its whole form, and at no time were any of the component pieces explained or discussed. What the hell was up with that anyway? Even the sigils class never translated or indicated what they meant, just how to draw them and what they were called.

Back to the wusstick's mana sensing, oh yee wandering thoughts. Could I use some of that here? Instead of making a mana ball, I wanted a connection, some kind of thread of power from me, to my pendant, and then to Seth’s.

Nope. I felt like I was trying to poke a needle through metal armor.

Maybe I needed to be more specific? I just wanted to activate the healing rune. Not the other ones. And then I noticed it. Just the tiniest dip in the way the mana was moving. Like it was recognizing its name and pausing for a fraction of a second. And its name was the rune I was trying to turn on.

And there it was. Healing energy flowing into me.

No! Not me! Seth!

I pushed the power at Seth, from the rune on my amulet to the rune on his, and then to him. It was an instinctive action. I guess I’m beast-like after all.

"Oh!" Seth exclaimed. The kid caught on quick, and made good use of the extra oomph I was sending him.

When he was finished, he looked at me speculatively. "I didn't think you could use yours on other people."

I shook my head 'no'.

"Then how…?"

Like I really knew. I had figured there was a connection between the pendants. How could I explain that when I couldn't actually speak?

I jumped down and walked to the door, and looked back at Seth. It was time to feed this kid, and me, before he decided another nap was in order after being healed. I made the opposite sign for 'later'. I hope he got the hint that I wanted to leave now. Maybe I should have taught him 'feed me'.

There was a banging at the door. "Seth!" Owen shouted.

Seth scrambled to the door and jerked it open. "What's wrong?"

"They found Blaise. They're talking to her right now."