The boys were silent the whole way up to the second floor of the dining hall. Booth went straight to one of the mid-sized training rooms and put his hand on the timer. We would have a whole hour. Good. The boys were still quiet for several seconds after the door closed and the glass frosted.

"I guess I should start," Seth said, "and explain why Isaac acted that way. Arnold thinks I'm connected to people's power being stolen. Isaac apparently agrees with him." Seth sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. I climbed into his lap in a show of support. Seth absently stroked my fur.

Owen took the desk, as he usually did when he and Seth were working on his reading lessons. This time he pulled the chair out and sat facing backwards on it, resting his arms on the back of the chair. Booth sat cross-legged in the center of the floor, facing Seth.

Seth told them both the whole story. How he'd been on a caravan on the way into the city, it had been attacked, and Arnold was connected to the people who attacked it. Arnold was looking for an artifact that they believed was on the caravan that allowed someone to steal powers, but Seth never saw any such artifact.

I could steal powers. Animal powers, anyway. Maybe Arnold wasn't so wrong.

He also told them about Benjamin, that he had taken in Seth and his brother when their dad died, that Arnold thought he was the one behind the thefts, and what Arnold had told Duvessa.

Then he told them that the Circle Tower researcher in charge of finding a solution had all the wrong information, and none of their conclusions could be trusted. Arnold was on the research team and hadn't known they had bad information until Seth had told him earlier today.

I knew more about that than he did, what with the whole Jay business, but I'd wait for later to try and relay it. I had no desire for the other two boys to know I was more than a leopard cub. Owen already had an inkling, but Booth was in the dark and could stay there.

"So, they can't solve it?" Owen asked.

"You can't fix something if you have all the wrong parts," Booth said.

"No, you're right," Seth said. "I can't think of any reason why she would mess that up so badly. It's like she doesn't want it solved and is trying to make sure it doesn't."

Smart kid. Someone is definitely making sure it doesn't get solved. But not Marjorie.

"So, does that mean it could be solved?" Owen asked.

"If someone other than Professor Marjorie was working on it, maybe," Seth said a little bitterly.

Solving the thefts and returning the powers was our primary goal. I was pretty sure I'd learn a crap ton about my own thieving power in doing so, too.

As far as Marjorie went, I disagreed there. There were two possibilities as I saw it. One, someone put Marjorie in charge as a plausible scapegoat. Her disorganized personality was being used as a cover for the sabotage. She couldn't conjure up good solutions if all her sources were bad. That would delay the project and divert any suspicions. That scenario had the culprit as someone high up the chain of command at the Circle Tower, with possible outside connections.

The other scenario was that Marjorie was actually a capable researcher chosen for her ability, and Jay the Saboteur was working directly for someone on the outside.

That person on the outside? The power thief. No one else that I could think of would arrange to quash that information.

Previously, I had considered the possibility that Jay was working on his own and dismissed it. I thought it over again and agreed with my first take on it. While it was possible he was sabotaging Marjorie for his own personal gain, Jay had too strong of a peon energy. That guy had a boss.

That made Jay the best lead we had. I might take it upon myself to 'investigate' him.

Shit. I don't have the other listening stone, and I still can't fucking read. Sure, I'd only been learning to read for three weeks. That shit takes time, but it was still frustrating.

Seth lightly banged his head against the wall. "I just want to help my brother out. Get his power back. Get Blaise her power back. I knew it was going take time and it'd be hard to find answers. Saben told me he'd already done all of this and that I should let it go. But this is getting so messy now, and I don't know what to do. Do I go to Professor Cicily? Tell her about the bad research? Or do I trust Arnold to do it?"

"I don't reckon that trusting Arnold with anything is a good idea," Owen said.

But if Cicily were in on the sabotage, Seth talking to her would be a very bad idea.

Booth snorted. "How can Seth explain that he knows better than the professor in charge of the project what the source data is? We'd need proof first."

"Blaise's image should be enough to convince them, but I don't know if Arnold will get that proof," Seth said. "Arnold might decide that I was lying and never check."

"But he knows it's bad, yeah? Then leave that mess to him," Booth answered. "He's on that team, they'll listen to him more than you anyway."

"If'n we can find more proof," Owen said, "we should probably try to get it. I dunno that we can count on the people at the Circle Tower to get it right when they've already done it wrong once."

The boys were quiet. Then Booth said, "And I thought I was in the middle of a hot mess with the Skull bastards."

Owen nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's another mess." He looked over at Seth. "And you knew the guy feeding the wyvern. And there was the guy that attacked you the day Blaise was taken."

"I don't think they're related to this, but I don't know," Seth said.

"So, what's going on with Duvessa's power then?" Booth asked. "That wasn't her running those dogs, right?"

"I'm sure it wasn't," Seth said. "Duvessa's shadows aren't normally aggressive, especially not to her friends. Even the elephant wasn't out to get us. It acted more confused and agitated."

"What happened to the thing she made after the elephant? The cap burrow?" Owen asked.

"Capybara," Seth corrected. "Yeah, that one just wandered off. Duvessa said it never came back."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Think someone else caught it?" Owen asked.

"How would they turn it into dogs?" Booth asked. "It's gotta be someone else with a similar power. Shit like that isn't unique."

"We'll need to talk to Duvessa about it. I don't know if something is really happening to her power or if this is all a side effect of the berries she ate. She had no control over her summons that night," Seth said. "She wasn't worried about it a couple of days ago."

"Duvessa isn't the type to worry about much," Booth said.

I saw the girl's wall of crazy. She may not worry about much, but she can get obsessive about shit too. I wondered what that wall looked like now.

"I knew the berries were a bad idea," Owen said. "No one should eat any more."

"She had some summons out in the city watching the Skull Gang for me," Booth said. "Last I talked to her about it, a couple didn't come back."

"A Skull Gang guy wants to talk to you," Seth said to Booth, "and gets me to deliver the message. Some of Duvessa's shadows don't come back from watching the Skull Gang, and then shadow dogs try to drag you away."

"You think Arnold's right, and there is a thief taking powers," Booth said. "Including Duvessa's. But it's not you. You think the Skulls are behind it all?"

That was a lot all pointing to one group. I could see how they might be related to Blaise, but that connection was weak. I saw no connection to either Saben's or Arnold's powers though.

"I kind of do. But like you said, powers aren't unique," Seth said.

"Would talking to them help?" Owen asked. "The Skull Gang I mean. We could clear the air and sort that mess out?"

Booth and Seth both shook their heads. "We might end up knifed that way," Seth said.

"I dunno why they want that ring back," Booth said. "It should've run out ages ago."

"It's in the Palace somewhere for sure," Seth said. "Nothing we could do about it anyway."

Doo ta doo, Just an innocent little cub over here. No magic rings on me! No sir.

"If you don't have to go to the Menagerie, Seth, you don't need to be in the city at all. Neither do you, Booth. We just stay put for a while, that's all," Owen said. "The school is safe. Do you think the Menagerie will be open again next week?"

"No, I don't," Seth said.

Don't say that! I want to go back! Actually, could I get there on my own? It was on the west side of the city, clear on the other side of the lake. It'd take me half the night to walk there because I'm a feline toddler. Nightly trips over there were not really feasible, dammit.

"I think Robin, the woman in charge of the animals, got fired," Seth said. "The new Director has been firing a ton of people, and I saw him talking to a suspicious guy wearing a deer skull mask. I told Robin about it. She probably did something about it and got fired."

"Well that's creepy," Booth said.

First I'd heard of it and yeah, that was creepy. I wondered if the skull motif was a coincidence or if the deer skull guy was part of our Skull Gang. I was thinking the deer skull was different enough not to be connected, but who actually knows. I thought it more likely that the deer skull guy was related to Tom the Housecat's 'expanding horizons' that the manticore and firehound were partaking in. The Skull Gang could be related to that I supposed, but I really didn't think so.

"What should we do?" Owen asked.

"Lie low, mostly," Booth said. "Things are getting a little hot. I can ask Arnold what he knows about Benjamin and the power thefts. He wouldn't tell you, Seth, but he might tell me."

"That's a good idea," Seth said, relieved. "The other lead we've got is that Lord Thurstan guy that Selendrith noticed from her records. It was him, Benjamin, and another merchant named Samuel."

And there was the third name. And it was no one I'd heard of or heard anyone else mention. At this point, that guy might as well be a non-player. Benjamin was absolutely the type to muddy waters. Until Samuel came up again, he didn't warrant much attention.

"You could ask Duvessa about the Lord. She might know who that is," Owen said.

"Hey, you know the Palace guards and stuff. How come you don't know this Lord?" Booth asked Seth.

"My dad was a teacher at the Palace, not a lord or anything. And it was two years ago that his assignment was up and we left. I never attended court or anything. I just know people who my dad talked to or worked with," Seth explained.

"You knew the guards," Booth said.

Seth nodded. "My brother Saben liked training with them. He became like their mascot."

The boys fell into silence again for a few moments. Finally, Owen asked, "Will you be fine sharing a room with Isaac, Seth? He seemed really aggressive towards you earlier."

I meowed and then growled.

"I think Mau will prevent any problems," Seth said. He scratched my head and smiled at me.

"That was a funky power he had. What is that, object summoning?" Booth asked.

"Whenever I asked him what his power was, he got evasive," Seth said. "He didn't want me to know what it was."

"Well, yeah. He's friends with Arnold, so he thinks you're connected to the thefts, too. I bet he's scared you'll take his power next," Booth said.

----------------------------------------

The following afternoon, Seth took his freshly cleaned gym clothes out of the enchanted bin he'd put them in before his shower. After folding them, he put them away in his cubby. He finger-combed his still-wet hair and waited for the last person to leave the changing room before stumbling after them. The student with the thunder power, Gregor, had been enthusiastic today, like he was almost every day. He had pelted Seth over and over, to the point Seth could hardly function, much less retaliate.

It was still a mystery to Seth why Gregor thought Seth was in his league, but the big guy had decided they were rivals and stomped Seth thoroughly in every gym class with cheerful dedication. The guy's thunder power gave every ball he hit Seth with just that much more oomph.

It didn't bruise. Technically. It still sucked.

Seth hated it. He hated gym. He hated fighting. He hated getting hit. He hated ending up on the ground all the time. He hated the disappointed looks from Professor Mick. He hated feeling like he could never measure up.

He realized the direction of his thoughts and tried to rein them in. Saben loved all this stuff. And Seth was here in Saben's place. He had to do these things. He was supposed to love them too, and he needed to get over it. But knowing that and feeling it weren't the same thing.

Saben had loved the idea of exploring the Below. Seth had always been more interested in the Above than the Below, but mostly he wanted to explore. If he ever wanted to explore on a team with his brother, Seth needed to be able to do the job that his brother had been going to do. He needed to be able to fight.

He thought about the guy two nights ago who had held a knife to his throat and had cut him. If that knife had been turned the other way when he gut-punched Seth, Seth would have died. And then there were the shadow dogs last night.

Things were going to happen. And they were going to continue to happen. He could go back to other incidents, like the wyvern, the spiders, the fire.

I hate being a sandbag, he reminded himself. I want to get better for me, too. I wanted this. I hate being helpless more than I hate training.

He just wished he didn't suck so bad at it. Maybe then he'd hate it less. He was really trying so hard.

Done, he told himself. Done for today, don't think about it anymore.

After his last class ended a little over an hour later, Seth headed to where he'd meet the others. They had some serious things to discuss. But after that he was looking forward to seeing Selendrith's demonstration on how to use mana vaults without talents. Seth had been managing to use structured magic without calling on his talent lately, and he wondered if the technique was like that.

He was interested in anything that would let him cast spells faster and more easily than trying to tame his unruly talent.

Would he need a vault to try it? Selendrith had several vaults. Actually, Seth was pretty sure her pearl earrings were vaults. And recently she had started wearing rings made of the same blue horn as Seth's amulet.

His amulet could be a vault. Seth would have to ask Selendrith if it worked that way. And if it was a vault, maybe there was a formation he could use to charge it faster. With all the healing he constantly needed to use it for, he didn't think it would ever fully recharge on its own.

Seth quickened his step, interested and excited at the prospect of learning new ways to cast.