Booth's roommate was a squirrelly bastard, and I didn't like it. The kid was super sus, all sweaty and shifty. Considering our recent adventures, I had an inkling what this message was about. So did the boys.

"What did you do, you asshole?" Booth demanded of his roommate.

"Nothing! I didn't do anything! He just said to give you a message!" the backstabbing punk insisted.

"Who?" Seth asked. "Who gave you that message?"

"Nobody! This is none of my business, and leave me out of it!" The kid hustled down the stairs.

"Hey, what the fuck, man?" Booth called after him.

"Do we get a professor first, or read the message and then take it to a professor?" Seth asked.

"Snitching is your first thought? Really?" Booth eyed him consideringly. "We gonna have to fix that mindset. No wonder you're on probation." Booth shook his head. "We read it first and we don't squeal at all. I'm not a rat." Booth ruffled through his pockets and pulled out a small knife he then concealed in his palm. "Let's go."

Seth followed, and I decided to hop down. I would have more flexibility of movement when walking on my own paws.

The door to Booth's room was open a crack. Not a good sign. I crept right between Booth's feet when he pushed the door open.

There was a guy sitting backwards on the chair at the desk, facing the door. It was that blond pirate-looking guy from the Skull Gang. He held a handful of papers he'd taken from the desk.

"Hey, Booth," the guy said, sounding genuinely friendly. "Your handwriting sucks. I can hardly read most of this."

"What the fuck are you doing in my room, Jimmy?" Booth demanded.

"Shut the door. We need to talk." Jimmy gestured at Seth. "Your buddy can wait outside. I told your little roommate that I only wanted you."

"No, Seth you stay," Booth said. "I'm not gonna be in a locked room alone with you, Jimmy."

I scooted under one of the beds in the room. I wasn't sure if Skull Dude Jimmy had seen me, and I'd rather he not notice me. If he made a stink, at least I'd be around to back up Booth.

Jimmy put his hand to his chest, "I'm hurt. Seriously, kid, I'm not here to break knees. Not today, anyway."

"I'll stay," Seth said. He stood behind Booth and leaned against the closed door.

Jimmy's gaze landed on Seth and stayed there. The guy suddenly got real tense, and a moment later he acted relaxed again. Something about Seth bothered this guy and made him nervous.

"All right. As a show of good faith that I genuinely mean no harm, your friend can stay." Jimmy dropped the papers on the desk. "I meant what I said about your handwriting. I've wondered how you managed to get into this school. Your talent isn't exactly amazing." Jimmy eyed Booth and waited.

"None of your business," Booth said flatly.

"Aww, don't be like that. I know a few kids with rinky dink powers that could benefit from a fancy school like this."

"That doesn't sound like a 'me' problem. What do you want Jimmy?" Booth demanded.

"Well, I've got a situation, and in my mind, it very much is a 'you' problem."

"Is this about the ring?" Booth asked.

Jimmy nodded. His smile faded and his tone turned serious. "You don't know what you took. We need that back, and we need it back now."

"Why don't you guys just make another one? That one shoulda run out ages ago," Booth said.

"As I said, you don't know what you took. You're going to need to give it back."

"I don't have it. One of the guards took it from Matthius. I haven't seen it since."

"Then you need to go get it."

"No, I don't. Come on man. That wasn't the first time I swiped one of those. What's the big deal with this?"

Jimmy spun a ring on his finger that looked just like my ring. He considered Booth and Seth for a long moment before he explained, "The skull rings are copies made from a master ring."

Fucking little green apples. No wonder my ring never stopped working. Booth stole the master ring! Oh oh oh, and I can make copies! I couldn't wait to try that out. This was a crazy powerful ring. I had no intention of turning it over. Not ever.

It didn't take the boys long to catch on to that either.

"It was another ring that did that?" Booth asked. "I know people called it an artifact, but I thought it was bullshit that you made up to look all mysterious." Booth waggled his fingers. "You know how rumors are. I thought you were lying about it and had somebody that could do temporary enchantments."

"Nope. You swiped the real deal."

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Artifacts were something people hadn't actually explained around me, but I'd gathered a few things about them. They were somewhat rare, usually unique in some way, and performed some specific task. As far as I knew, they could only be found in the Below. The kids, including Arnold, thought the power thefts were happening courtesy of an artifact.

As for what exactly the Below was and why there were artifacts there? I had no idea. I felt I could spend decades here and not uncover even half of the crazy shit around. The whole Below thing was a facinating topic I would be exploring in detail, but not right now. Today we were chasing different mice.

"So you used the master ring to make the temporary ones that you handed out." Booth looked at the skull ring Jimmy was wearing. "And you made the rings all the same to hide the master ring."

Jimmy nodded. "And the guy that gave us that artifact wants payment. An act of service, if you will, and we need that ring."

"As I said, we don't have it. It's gotta be in the Palace. There's no way for us to get that back."

"You need to figure that out."

"No, I don't. I'm sorry about the artifact. I thought I was swiping temporary junk. But I ain't got it, and I can't get it. It's not my problem."

Jimmy glanced at Seth, who was still standing quietly by the door.

"I'll be blunt, Booth. Once Matthius is out, the gang isn't going to be as kind to you as I am. You have until sundown on Sunday to get that ring back. If you don't, we'll have a new pledge do it. I think you might know him, a kid about eleven or so. Spunky. He's got quite the mouth."

"You fucker," Booth breathed. "You leave Hayfield alone."

Well, shit. The gang sniffing around Booth's wayward brother was this one. I might just be losing my magic ring after all. I wasn't going to let a kid bite it over a piece of bling.

"The shadow dogs were yours," Seth suddenly piped up. "Last night. You were the one controlling those dogs that tried to grab Booth."

Jimmy's eyebrows shot up. He looked startled, but he looked surprised startled, not confused startled. It only lasted an instant before he had his expression schooled again, but I caught it. He knew what Seth was talking about, and that meant yes. The Skull Gang at the very least knew about the shadow dogs. And if they knew about them, then chances were they controlled them.

"Shadow summoning is a Ravenshroud talent. You should talk to your friend, not me," Jimmy said.

Booth glanced sharply at Seth, and made the same connections quick enough. "Nah, I'm pretty sure it was you guys," Booth said. "And I think you stole Duvessa's power."

"Did you take other powers?" Seth demanded. "Do you have Blaise's water power? What did you do with it?"

"You boys are asking some dangerous questions," Jimmy said, staring at Seth. "I don't know shit, and I'm not telling you shit."

"I bet that's another artifact," Booth said, "to be able to take power like that."

"Two artifacts?" Seth asked. "Who's the dealer you're working for? Is he the one stealing other powers?"

Jimmy stood up and turned to Booth. "You need to shut your mouths. If you poke that nest, you won't walk away. I'm serious. You're kids, but if you get mixed up in that shit, they'll kill you and everyone standing near you."

"You're actually nervous," Booth said, surprised.

"You have until Sunday, Booth. Get the ring back, or we send your brother to do it."

"If the ring is so important, why are you trusting us to get it? Why aren't you doing it yourself?" Seth asked.

"It would be real inconvenient for Matthius if we were to get caught up in that mess right now. You caused the mess, so you get to fix it," Jimmy said. "And personally, I'd rather you risking a prison cell than me."

"There is no possible way for anyone to break into the Palace and steal a single ring in two days," Seth said. "We have no idea where the ring is, and no way of getting into the Palace."

"Those don't sound like 'me' problems," Jimmy said. "I will give you this, though. There's a big party happening there on Sunday afternoon. Beyond that, you figure it out."

Jimmy opened the door. "See you Sunday at sunset." He walked out.

The boys were quiet for almost a full minute. Me too. That was a lot.

We got as good as confirmed that the Skull Gang had the missing pieces of Duvessa's power. And I bet they had direct connections then to the power thief. And they were scared of the thief. That bit worried me. There was a lot of crazy that could happen here.

And then there was the ring. I would totally give it up before I'd let something happen to Booth's siblings. But the problem with blackmail was that it never stopped. We turn over the ring, and then they'd just demand the next thing. Hmm. I had the inkling of a plan that I would totally try out first. It had some serious flaws, though, but it might work out well enough.

"We need to tell a professor," Seth said.

"Oh, fuck no. I will beat the shit out of you myself if you go squawking," Booth growled. He lifted his fist like he'd punch Seth.

Uh, that's a hard nope, kid. Maybe Seth isn't the one you're really mad at, but I'm not gonna tolerate that. I growled loudly and scooted forward with my back arched.

"No, Mau, it's fine." Seth reached for me but I scuttled sideways away from him. I continued to growl at Booth. Dude doesn't get to threaten my pet wizard.

Booth and I glared at each other. Finally Booth looked away. "Fuck. What is a professor going to do? They go in and talk to the Skulls, or even burn the place down and capture everyone they can. It only takes one or two guys to get away and know it was me that got them busted. Nobody is going to keep an eye on my sibs. The minute the professors are done and go home, my family is dead."

"We know what happened to Duvessa's power. We can't keep that a secret," Seth said.

"It's an artifact. Maybe we can steal it like I stole the ring," Booth said.

"We'd need the ring first."

"Yeah. But we can use it to make copies before we give it back, right?"

"You seriously think we can get the ring back from the Palace?" Seth said, incredulous.

"If I don't try, they'll make Hayfield do it. If I do try and fail, they might not. I don't see a choice in trying here," Booth said.

Seth nodded. "I'm the only person you know who's familiar with the Palace."

"You'll help?"

Putrid pocky sticks. I had planned to spend my weekend hunting down familiars in the school and trying to steal their powers. You know, since the Menagerie was out of reach. Once again my nefarious plans are getting kaboshed.

But the Palace is a good second choice. I can work with that.

"We need a plan. A good plan, not a Duvessa plan. If the plan is good, then I'm in," Seth said. "I owe it to you. Should we talk to the others?"

"Owen and Duvessa, probably. They were both willing to break into Selendrith's shop."

Seth agreed. "Blaise and Selendrith, I'm kinda thinking no. Blaise got real mad when she saw you stealing. And Isaac, definitely not."

"All right. I'll get Duvessa," Booth said and headed for the door.

"No wait, let's leave them be tonight. They've got enough to worry about already. We'll get them in the morning. I want to think about this and get some plans ready first."

I jumped up on Seth's shoulder and rubbed my face on his cheek. I had some planning to do too.