"I have no idea what to do here," Blaise said.

There had to be thousands of the little jars here. Dozens were arranged on each tray, a half dozen trays in a box, and hundreds of boxes on the shelves.

"They have to have some type of organization system," Seth said.

"I looked at the first few boxes. They're not alphabetical," Booth said.

Seth walked along the first shelf, looking at the labels on each of the boxes and on the shelves. "The shelves are labeled. What do you think 'F16' means?"

"Why not just sort it by year? Or student name?" Blaise asked. "That would be so much easier."

"Let's just start looking," Booth said. "If you find someone you recognize, we'll see if we can figure out the sorting system."

"Whatever. Where should I start?" Blaise asked.

Seth looked at the shelves. "These ones over here are less dusty than those that way. Let's each take one of these and see if we can figure this out."

Booth rifled through the boxes with careless speed. The only reason he hadn't broken any jars yet was his hand speed and dexterity.

Blaise was more thorough, each jar tinking as she quickly and carefully examined each one.

Seth took a middle approach. He rifled quickly through the jars, but was more careful in his handling of them than Booth.

After several minutes of searching he spotted an orangy-red jar with 'Brand/Ash/Firesands' on the label. "I think I found Brand's. Is your father's name Ash?" Seth asked. A more reddish jar next to it was labeled 'Cole/Ash/Firesands'. "And there is a Cole here, too."

"It is!" Blaise said. "Cole and Brand are twins. Okay, so they've been out for a couple of years now and they were first years six years ago."

"If every shelving unit is a year, then it's one of those over there," Booth said, shoving the tray he'd been looking through back onto the shelf. He beelined for the the shelf most expected to be theirs.

"I'll take this one in case we're off a bit," Blaise said, and Seth took the one next to her.

The minutes ticked by.

"Yes! I know this guy," Booth said. "It's this shelf."

"I'll help you," Blaise said. "They seem more organized by talent than by name. Did you notice that?"

Seth looked over at them, his hand on the jar he'd just found. Saben's.

It was the same minty green color as Seth's tree image had been. He thought it should be at least slightly different. Brand and Cole's jars were distinctly different colors, and they both had fire talents.

Seth thought about how the Princess was so certain that he couldn't have a talent at his age. And how unruly his talent was, like it didn't want to work with him. Then there was that little divide in his tree image.

Arnold had been so sure talents were being stolen. His certainty was why they were now looking for proof of Blaise's stolen talent. Honestly, most of Seth's doubts were more due to Arnold being an asshole than thinking he was wrong.

If Blaise's power was stolen, then so was Saben's.

If Hellena had Blaise's power, then someone had Saben's.

Seth put Saben's jar in his pocket and headed over to the shelf where Blaise and Booth were looking. He wanted to find his jar and see if he remembered the color correctly. Green was a color with a lot of variation. Saben's might just be similar. He would compare it to his own jar, and know for sure.

The idea took root, and he couldn't shake it.

His talent was weaker than Saben's, it couldn't be the same. But Lady Hellena's talent was weaker than Blaise's.

The timing wasn't quite right. Seth's talent showed up a few weeks after Saben had lost his. Maybe he just hadn't noticed it? It wasn't like he knew he could suddenly do magic. The first time he'd used it was completely accidental.

How could it have happened? He hadn't taken it from Saben. He would never do that.

There were several questionable incidents that happened at that time, but Saben had never gone missing the way Blaise did. Unless he had after going back to school, and never told anyone.

Talents aren't unique, he told himself. Colors can't be unique either. This isn't what I'm thinking. It's just coincidence.

"Yes!" Blaise crowed. "Found it!"

She practically tore off the lid and fumbled for the gulliant. She dropped it tip first in the jar.

"It was blue, and now it's black. What does that mean?" Blaise asked.

"Black is a match," Seth said. "Your power and Hellena's have the same signature."

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Booth rocked back on his heels. "She really did steal your power."

"Did you think she didn't?" Blaise asked.

"Honestly, I thought the stealing powers idea was a reach. Like, you can't steal someone's eyeball and have it still work. I figured talents were the same," Booth said.

Blaise stared at the black spike. "I'll kill her," she said calmly, as if it were the most logical solution. Seth thought she meant it.

"I don't recommend it," Booth said. He was rapidly putting things back in order. "She's got title, you don't. She is also connected to that Thurstan guy."

"Yeah, that's who Mau got the ring from," Seth said.

"Hurry up and put all that back," Booth said. "I got places to be."

Blaise put the gulliant back in its case and resealed her jar. "If I can't kill her, what do I do to get my power back? Not the Circle Tower, right?"

"That's a tomorrow problem. This detour is making me late already," Booth said. He took Blaise's jar out of her hand, had it back on the tray, in its box, and hustled her to the door before she could protest. "Done, let's go."

Seth glanced around. There was no obvious sign they'd been there. Booth was pretty thorough, considering how quick he was. Seth's fingers sought the jar in his pocket as he shut the door.

They collected Owen, who was still reading the familiar packet. Seth called out "Thank you," to the professor sorting files, who waved without looking at them.

Outside, Booth turned to Blaise. "You weren't part of this. I'm not going to ask to you come with me. I need to return this ring to a gang in the East Side. They're a bunch of thugs and thieves and other things. It's probably better for you to stay here." He glanced at Seth and Owen. "Same goes for you too."

"I'll finish what I started," Owen said.

"I'll help," Seth said.

"Yeah, I'll go too," Blaise said. "The only other thing I'd be doing right now is planning how to kill that bitch, and that's not a healthy mindset."

"Right. Thanks," Booth said. "We'll go out the basement that your cat showed us. That'll be the fastest."

The sun had passed behind the mountains, casting the city in deepening darkness. It wasn't long before the streets were dark, lit only by the occasional corner light. It was a sharp contrast from the western side of the lake, where lampposts lit every few dozen paces.

Seth tried not to think of his talent or the jar in his pocket. Instead he thought about what he could expect from meeting with the Skull Gang. It wasn't something he had any experience with.

He'd been pretty sheltered, honestly. Dad tended to leave him behind when doing things like this, and would take Saben instead. Saben then tried to shield him too, and whatever mess he'd gotten into, he never told Seth about it.

Could that be how Saben's power was lost? Was this all something Saben had been involved in and Seth thinking he somehow had it was completely off base? Seth hoped that was it.

Booth zigzagged through the footways and alleys, clearly avoiding certain areas. Seth guessed they were no more than a couple blocks away when Booth halted abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Blaise asked, as Owen scanned the dark shadows.

Booth shook his head and stared down an alley.

A young man stepped out. He was dressed in dark gray, and had a black bandana with a skull missing the mandible design. He'd been leaning against a doorframe in the alley, nearly hidden in the darkness. "Good eye, kid. I've been waiting for ya."

Owen stepped up next to Booth, Seth turned around to watch behind them. The shadow dogs had come out of the darkness last time, Seth figured they might do that again.

"I'm here to collect. You can hand over that ring now," the young man said and held out his hand.

"Nah. I'm supposed to turn this over to Jimmy," Booth said. "I don't think we've met."

"Ned. And I know who you are Booth. You're late. You can hand it to me now, or you can explain why you're late yourself."

Booth considered Ned for a long moment.

Ned gestured to them. "Are you really going to waste their time? You need to hand over the ring. Hand it to me and you're done. It's what I'm out here for."

"Done is nice," Blaise said.

"Fine," Booth said and handed Ned the ring.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Ned said, his smile smug. As he walked away he tossed the ring up and caught it.

Mau growled, and was shaking her head.

"Yeah, I'm getting a bad feeling from that, too," Booth said. "Hey, we'll tag along," he called after Ned. "I should talk to Jimmy anyway."

Ned didn't wait for them and just shrugged.

They followed Ned to the Skull Gang's house, a shabby and run down mansion from when this section of the city had seen better days.

The doorman glowered as they walked by. He was one of the oldest gang members Seth had seen so far, at least in his forties and built like a ditch digger.

Inside, the mansion receiving rooms were being used for cards and a club bar. There were several members hanging out, most in their late teens or early twenties. There were a few younger boys too. A few paid attention to the kids as they trailed after Ned. Seth felt very unsafe, and thought coming here was a bad idea and they should leave as soon as possible.

Ned led the way to a second floor office. "Hey, look at the rats that followed me home," he announced.

Jimmy had been looking out the window and turned to see the kids file in. "Did you get it?"

"Ned has it," Booth said. "We got it off a guy named Lord Thurstan."

"I don't have it. Why would you say that?" Ned said.

"Because you asked for it," Booth said, incredulous. "You're a member of the gang. Of course I would hand it over."

"He's full of shit, Jimmy. He never gave it to me. I think he never bothered to get it," Ned said.

"We did get it," Seth said. "We took it from a Lord Thurstan. I don't know where he got it from. We even checked it worked."

Mau's tail was lashing violently. Seth grabbed his familiar and held her tight. She was going to shred Ned. Bloodshed here would go badly for everyone. Seth doubted anyone downstairs would let them leave.

"Search him, Jimmy. He has it already," Booth said.

"I'm not searching my own people, kid. If Ned says you didn't give it to him, then you didn't give it to him. That means you still owe me that ring, and you are late." The normally friendly Jimmy looked so disappointed. "There's a reckoning due."

"You fucking liar!" Booth snarled at Ned. "You set me up! And now you got these idiots defending you!"

"You never gave me nothing," Ned said. "You gonna let these shitstains talk to me like that?" Ned glared at Jimmy.

"It's easy enough to verify," Blaise said. "He has the ring. Look for yourself."

"Nah, I know enough about Booth's power to know that's useless," Jimmy said. "I'll tell you what. I'm gonna give you the opportunity to make this right."

"We got nothing to make right!" Booth said. "I returned the ring."

"Hear me out," Jimmy said. "That ring is needed for a job tonight, due at dawn. You lot are gonna do that job. You get it done, I'll give you another week to pony up that ring." His eyes flicked to Ned. "From whoever has it."

"How can we pony up a ring you've already got?" Booth asked. "Fucking slimeballs. I trusted you to play fair, Jimmy."

"I am fair. You were told to deliver that ring to me. You didn't. You do this job, you get more time."

Seth eyed Ned, who maintained his air of wounded innocence. That double cross was infuriating. And Ned was betraying Jimmy too. Could that be why Jimmy wanted them to do the job? To get it out of the gang's hands? Could there be internal strife here?

"If I do this," Booth said, "I want a full month. You leave me and mine alone for a whole month."

Seth wondered if that was enough time for Booth to move his family. He seemed pretty resistant to it before. Unless he planned to get the ring back from Ned? How could they get it from him?

"Done," Jimmy said.