I followed Seth's gaze as he looked up at the Circle Tower, the ivory carvings gleaming in the midday sun. These towers were so different from most other buildings here, and so beautiful. Seth had gone with Duvessa, Owen, and Booth to bring Blaise back to the tower and tell the professors there what they'd discovered.

Blaise's pendant was cracked. She had no idea how or when it had happened. She also had no mana whatsoever.

It turns out mana wasn't a resource you spent like coins in your pocket. It was not really something you can measure easily. Instead of points, it was more like water in a cloth that you could wring out. So even when you'd cast everything you could, there was usually a little bit left. That cloth would be damp even if you couldn't squeeze more out. And as time passed it would absorb more.

Blaise had no mana and it had been hours. She should have recovered at least a tiny amount by now. But she couldn't feel any, and couldn't manage even the simplest 'move water' unstructured spells. Blaise had described water as having pressure, or weight, and right now, there was no weight to feel.

That gave me the idea that maybe some of my issues getting mana to move was because I didn't have any?

Seth explained that Saben had a similar experience. Saben had said when his power first started acting weird that he couldn't hear the wind anymore. And within a couple days he couldn't cast anymore.

But they didn't know if it was the same. Blaise lost her powers more quickly than Saben had.

"You put together a list of causes," Duvessa said to Seth. She was glaring at the tower like it had personally offended her. "What was the list?"

Reginald was perched on her shoulder, a very unusual spot for him. I thought Duvessa must be wildly upset despite how calm she looked.

"I don't have the full list with me, but the ones I remember are burnout, injury, contamination of some sort, disease, parasite, something to do with aether, and natural loss."

"I'd say natural loss ain't it," Booth said. "Too pat, the timing of it."

"You talked about having a finished amount of mana," Owen said.

"Right, finite," Seth said. "I think burnout is similar to that and more likely."

"You think using her pendant burned her out?" Booth asked.

"It's the most likely. Unless the guys who took her did something," Seth said. "Did they confirm it was the Stonehold family?"

Duvessa scoffed. "It was them. Who else has hyenas?"

Only whatever people who want to frame the hyena trainers. I know the simplest solution is the most likely, but some answers are too obvious. But I appear to be in the minority since the kids were all nodding.

And Owen in particular was convinced she'd used up all her mana when she put it all in the pendant. That she overloaded it and that's why it cracked.

Seth wasn't as convinced. "We both saw Blaise drown the Fire Tower, Owen," Seth said. "She used a ton of mana there, and still had more. Blaise had a really deep mana pool and really fast regeneration. Whatever is going on now, it isn't because she used it all up."

I nodded. Not that anyone was looking at me.

"I've asked every professor I could about power loss. Burnout is what they will probably decide the cause is," Seth said. "That makes two, no three, people in less than a year. One, Arnold, got his power back. Saben has not. And now Blaise."

"You don't think that's what it was, do you?" Booth asked Seth.

"I don't know. It could be, I mean she did start dumping a ton of mana into the pendant, but I don't think so. I don't know if the guys who took her did something to block her power, or if there is something about the pendant that is holding the power."

"We don't actually know," Booth said. "Maybe she's just slow to get it back this time. Tomorrow she could be fine."

"Do you really think so?" Owen asked. He was giving a grass clump little kicks.

"We can hope so," Duvessa said firmly. Abruptly Duvessa summoned a shadow sparrow and set it to perch above the door to the tower. "I have something I want to look into. I'll see you at dinner or when Blaise comes out."

The boys watched her go. "Today's our day off," Booth finally said. "I don't want to just wait here. What do you want to do?"

"You don't think we should wait?" Owen asked.

"I don't see the point," Booth said. "They're not going to tell us anything. They'll be at whatever they're doing for ages. And if Blaise wants us to know, she'll tell us herself."

"I feel like we should be waiting," Owen said. "So we're here when she gets out."

"Well, we don't have to be doing nothing, but we can still wait here," Seth said. "Do you guys have things you'd like to work on? Sigils or anything?"

"Right, we can practice spells," Owen said.

Booth shook his head. "No spells out here. If you get it wrong and it affects someone else, you'll be in trouble."

"Oh, right," Owen said, shooting an apologetic look at Seth.

"How about we scrap for a bit?" Booth suggested.

"Sparring?" Seth asked. "I don't know how to fight at all. You'd both just beat me into the ground."

"I can toss a mean punch," Owen said. "I'll show you."

And there I got to spend an amusing afternoon watching children who didn't know how to fight try to teach each other how to do what none of them could really do. Owen had lousy form, but he put his whole body behind each punch. Booth was fast and could dodge really well.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

And Seth just sucked.

The poor kid couldn't get out of his own way, never mind dodge a punch. And I'd be surprised if he didn't break all his fingers the first time he tried to actually hit someone with that sloppy fist. At least Owen taught him not to put his thumb inside his fist.

Good thing this was magic school, Seth would flunk out of martial arts school. Actually that was unfair. Maybe the kid could learn. Just not from the two bozos trying to teach him now.

Blaise came out for dinner, but had no more answers for us. Her pendant had been left with the Circle Tower. She stayed dry through dinner, and in class the next morning.

The first class the next day was Structured Magic with Professor Laur. In what was becoming his signature move, he manifested in the classroom in swirling smoke. I figured that had two possibilities. Either the guy could teleport, something I'd seen no other evidence of, or that whole smoke thing was an illusion.

I'm betting on illusion. I wondered if there was some way to prove it. And if it was an illusion, the guy had to have some form of invisibility too. I was very interested in that.

We were still working on the copy spell in class. About half the class had it down somewhat well and were working on more complicated source material to copy, while those not able to cast it yet were getting more focused attention.

Blaise wasn't in Combat class that afternoon. Or in any classes the next day.

Overall, it turned into a pretty subdued week. Seth did more reading lessons with Owen. He'd decided to get the basics down for Owen before doing a lot of experimenting with Owen's power. Owen had said he needed help reading the blackboards in class, so Seth focused on using the blackboards in the training rooms. While Owen was practicing his writing, Seth was practicing the cantrips in Owen's book.

Duvessa wasn't around much. I wasn't really sure what she was up to, but she was very dedicated to whatever plan she was concocting. I figured she'd share when ready.

It was Friday night, probably about two in the morning, and I was having trouble sleeping.

Seth was sleeping like the dead as usual, and Isaac was soundly sleeping too. That guy was a light sleeper I'd discovered. I couldn't play with my stolen stone with him in the room. So tonight I walked over to the desk and made the leap to the window sill.

The wall the window was set into was thick like a castle wall. I could have a barbeque on this window sill. And out the window was a beautiful view of the city, and the Palace on the far side. The towers of the Palace were lit up with blue lights that for some reason made me think of sirens.

I spent a fair bit of time thinking things over as I stared out over the city. I was getting close to the one month anniversary of my arrival here. I still didn’t understand or even know what had happened to me or why. My choices were to freak out about it, or accept things as they were and map a new way to go. And if I get home again, then I can pick up where I left off then. But for now…

If this is my life now, what do I want it to look like?

I want to be human again. If that isn’t possible, I want to be recognized as a person. I want to be able to talk to the people in my life. If that isn’t possible, well fuck. No, I’m going to find a way.

I want to do magic. And I want to know how the fuck I got here. And why I can remember what Roman Baths are, but I have no idea who the Romans were. My memories are so weirdly selective.

And how am I doing with these goals? Seth still thinks I'm just a really smart cat. We are starting to get the communication thing down. I've realized he likes the idea that we can communicate secretly and doesn't really want to share that with the others.

I guess I'm fine with that for now.

I'm learning a lot about magic. Just not how to do it myself. Yet. I'm getting the feeling though that if we solve the problem with Blaise and her mana, I'll get somewhere on that front.

Yeah, Seth's goal of helping his brother just became a more immediate thing for me.

I'd always intended to help him out, but it wasn't really a thing that interested me or felt like a priority. I thought of it more like his brother had suffered a permanent injury and Seth had to learn to accept it, and it was just going to take the kid a while to get there.

Now it's looking like something else.

There were quite a few puzzle pieces right now, and I had no idea if they all went to the same puzzle, or if there were several all at once.

I considered the people we knew and what I knew about them. The most important one, of course, is me.

I'm a fucking cat. Not a normal cat, mind. I knew that from the beginning, of course. I’m a truck-sized, magic, horned, snow leopard thing. A baby one. That can’t fucking talk. And several people have recognized what I am and seemed surprised by it. So, either the cat part is what’s special, or me being in here is what’s special.

I’m leaning towards thinking it’s the cat part. As near as I can tell, no one realizes that I’m an actual person here, and not just some smart cat. Though why a smart cat isn’t a person is super insulting. Sapience is enough. Seriously.

I spent a moment or two wondering if using sapience as a delimiter for personhood is fair. I swear some humans don’t qualify.

Then there is Seth. Gandalf. My guide to crazy.

Honestly, he is probably not the partner I would have chosen. He’s got a moral compass that is very different from my own, and I know we are going to clash eventually. But I like the kid. He’s sweet and optimistic and idealistic and stupid. He’s doing his best to help out the people he cares about. And trusting as all shit.

That whole demon circle ritual bonding shit aside, he’s been nothing but good to me. And even that shit hasn't done anything bad to me that I can tell. I'm not a servant. Since I can actually sense how he’s feeling a lot of the time, I know he’s honest and genuine. I’m happy to keep him and don’t really want to leave.

He also has some unusually influential connections. Could this be related to Dad?

That brings me to Saben. The guy knows stuff. He seemed to know what it means to be the kind of cat I am. He also is really scared of something. Something he is hiding from Seth and by extension, me.

He’s having middle of the night excursions. He’s meeting people in alleys. And he wants me to keep Seth safe. He might be mixed up in something that has nothing to do with us. I doubt that though. I get the sense that it has something to do with their dead dad. And might be the reason dad is dead.

I have no idea what actually happened to dad though. Just a hint that he'd been murdered and that whoever did that might not be done with the family.

Then, of course, is bestest bud Benjamin. He could be what he appears to be. An altruistic guy helping out a couple of kids in need, and a middle grade merchant making a decent living.

He’s got bodyguards. He doesn’t seem to like Saben very much, but is fond of Seth. His caravan was attacked. A caravan that had weird hidden cargo.

Saben and Benjamin are unknowns. I get the vibes that Saben cares about Seth and wants his safety and happiness. Benjamin, I get none of that. I also shouldn't forget that for an instant I thought the guy was going to try to snap my neck. Maybe he is paying back a favor to the kids’ dad, or maybe he’s doing something else.

I thought about the two of them for a bit and decided it didn’t matter right now. Saben had left the city and Benjamin was doing Benjamin things not at school.

Arnold and Isaac. Arnold is an asshole, and Isaac is friends with that asshole. That means Isaac is not a reliable friend to the other kids, especially not Seth. I glared down at his sleeping self. If there was something on this window sill I could knock onto his sleeping noggin right now I would.

Arnold was also involved in the research being done on power loss in the Circle Tower. Not having seen what they are doing, I have no idea how scientific they're being with this research. And I haven't seen it because Arnold is an asshole.

Owen. He seems like a stand up guy. Farm boy. Ignorant. Loyal. Dedicated. A bit simple. The kind of guy that becomes the chosen one in some story. Heh.

Duvessa. I love her. Reginald needs to drown.

And the topic of the day, Blaise.

As they say, two is a coincidence. Three is a pattern.

None of the kids have come to that conclusion yet, and maybe none of the teachers either, but I think Blaise's missing power is not an accident. Which also means that Saben's isn't either.

The rival family setup with the pet hyena? They're a false trail. I'd bet on it. I just don't know where to look or how to find the right lead.

And I still haven't figured out how to open doors.