I watched Duvessa and Booth as they bagged the wackadoodle weasels. They were still screaming, "Kill the killers!" and "I'll cut you up!" They were pretty ticked at the assholes that killed the other weasels and wouldn't listen to anything I had to say, so in the bags they went.

Blaise was sitting on the ground in one of the few dry spots around. "I don't see why this has to be done right now," she complained.

Selendrith was kneeling next to her and tying a bandage around her arm as Seth used his healing amulet.

"You passing out from blood loss in the middle of confronting those people is not useful to anyone," Seth said.

"I don't think we should confront them at all," Selendrith said. "There is too much risk and not enough reward."

"That bitch has my power. Getting it back is going to be all the reward I need, and worth all the risk," Blaise said.

"There are other ways to do that than following them into a dark cave. If the seal to the Below is broken, we could have a lot more trouble," Selendrith said.

Oh, Selendrith honey, this crew isn't known for logical, considered actions. Jumping off bridges into the dark is more their speed. Or walking into the middle of a field with magic weasels tossing cut-your-limbs-off spells at everything that moves, and trusting a spell you'd just learned the week before to keep you safe. I should bite Seth again. Maybe some of the others too.

Who was I kidding? I jumped into that field too. We're all crazy in crazy land. Seth's plan had even sounded reasonable to me for a hot minute. Until I saw the fucking weasels.

And when I'd jumped in, I wanted to steal their powers. I don't know if it worked, but I sure tried. I'll need to figure that out later.

"That should hold," Seth said, lowering his hands and stepping back. "But be careful with it. It'll open easily." He turned to look at the cave as Selendrith checked her work on Blaise's bandage. "Mau, are you getting a sense of the mana here? Is it high, or does it feel normal?"

Oh? Should it be high? I lifted my head like I was sniffing the air and focused on my whiskers. Oh yeah, it was higher than elsewhere on the mountain. It was at about school level or outside the mana well. I nodded back at Seth.

"The mana here is higher than normal," Seth said. "Do we have a plan?"

Oh, this should be fun. I watched them 'plan'.

Blaise reached down and picked up a rock twice the size of her fist.

"Somebody else will need to carry the weasels," Duvessa said. "I need two hands for my bow."

"I'll stay out here with the weasels," Selendrith said. "I'm not going in another cave."

"Summon something that can sneak up behind them and bite them in the ass," Booth said.

Ass biting was always nice. Good call, Booth.

Seth shook his head. "Duvessa, put one or two small summons at this exit and the other one up there. Chances are they chase us out or we chase them out. We will want to know where they go and what they're up to after."

Look at Seth, thinking ahead.

Blaise snorted. "They won't be leaving if I can help it."

"Is that safe?" Owen asked. He was moving his sword to his belt where it'd be more readily accessible. He'd tied it to his backpack earlier when it kept snagging on bushes during the hike up. "I don't want her to lose more summons."

"Because losing summons is the most dangerous thing here," Selendrith muttered.

"It's fine," Duvessa said. "I know just the thing! And it's not creepy spiders. Did you know spiders can't hear the way we do? They just feel vibrations, so they can't hear words or understand language. It's so weird when they come back and say 'zzffpp zzzpttt zzffettt'." Duvessa dusted off her hands and cast several times. She then picked up a handful of tiny shadows. "See? Aren't they cute!"

"What are those?" Owen asked, peering at the tiny blobs in her palm.

"Chameleons! They're super tiny but see everything. I'll have to drop them off where they can hitch a ride with the bad guys. These little things are too small and slow to catch up to people."

"That will work," Seth said. "Duvessa, you and Booth find the other entrance shaft, and come in that way. Drop off a couple of your chameleons on the way. I'll take the others, and put them on the ceiling this way. We'll have both ways out covered then."

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"Why me up top?" Booth challenged. "And why are you deciding all this?"

Seth glared at Booth, I didn't need to look at the familiar link to know how irritated he was. "I thought it best for you to go with Duvessa, because Owen's sword might catch on stuff if the entrance is narrow. You use knives and are better at tight spaces than he would be. You are also a better fighter than me. Climbing would be bad for Blaise's arm, and Selendrith is staying out here. If you want to be the one thinking about how to keep everyone alive and not getting trapped in a cave with dangerous people, then go for it. I'm all ears. We came here for you, anyway."

Is that a hint of my man Seth growing a spine? And such a polite way of telling an older teen to step up or fuck off.

I watched Booth and Seth. Booth didn't like authority. It had to be even worse taking orders from a younger kid. In his mind, he was the oldest sibling, and he was the one who was supposed to tell the others what to do. A younger sibling, or in this case a younger kid, taking charge must feel like disrespect.

I got that. But it actually wasn't. The people in charge needed to be thinking ahead, planning moves, and anticipating outcomes. Not everyone thought that way.

None of these kids were there yet.

I take that back. Selendrith might be there, but she wasn't as invested as the other kids and didn't want the responsibility. Seth was working on it, but I didn't think any of the others were.

Booth glanced around at the others. This was a pivotal moment. If Booth accepted Seth's commands, the group dynamic would shift.

"Is it time to vote for a leader?" Duvessa asked, clapping her hands excitedly. "I vote for me! I still want to be the Mistress of Shadows!" And then, of course, there was Duvessa keeping the dynamics weird.

"A vote is pointless if everyone votes for themselves," Selendrith said.

"No, it's fine," Booth said. "I'll go up top with Duvessa. Mind if I take that light, Selendrith? We gotta get this done before they leave."

"They're still arguing in there," Owen said. He was squatting near the entrance, listening. "It sounds like she's crying now."

"Good!" Blaise declared, hefting her rock. "Let's go."

"Wait a second, we don't have a plan for what we do when we see them," Seth said.

"We fight them," Blaise said.

Booth agreed. "We fight them and take their money."

"Oh! That's called mugging. We shouldn't do that," Duvessa said. "We should just fight them instead."

These fucking kids.

Seth and Selendrith exchanged a look, but the others were already heading out.

The cave entrance was a short, waist high crevasse that tilted down into the rocks. It expanded after just a few feet into a roomy chamber littered with weasel nests and droppings. Seth cast Moonlight and illuminated a door set into the back wall.

"Is that the seal?" Blaise asked. "Did they go into the Below?"

"Shhh, not so loud. No, the seal is in more," Owen whispered. "This is probably to keep critters out, and people from messing with it."

"It's locked," Seth said softly after trying the knob. "Maybe I shouldn't have sent Booth the other way."

"There will be another door the other way then, right? Or why put a door on one and not the other?" Blaise asked, as quietly as the boys.

"Yeah, probably," Seth said. "The people in here either have a key, or can pick locks like Booth."

"Maybe the key is here?" Owen suggested. He ran his fingers over the door frame. "Look under the rocks nearby."

I watched the kids search, not terribly inclined to help. After a few minutes Seth suggested trying a spell to open the door. The only one he knew was Soften Stone. He could use that to pull the hinges out of the rock.

"I don't like the idea of leaving the door open," Owen said. "There are farms near here and critters could damage the seal."

"Are you sure it's locked?" Blaise asked, frustrated. She walked over to the door to try it herself. I conveniently positioned myself between her feet and touched the door when she tried to open it.

"It's not locked," Blaise said, exasperated.

"I tried it!" Seth exclaimed softly. "It was locked."

"Maybe the handle was stuck," Owen said softly. "Shush now, you can hear them. They ain't far."

I scooted out ahead as Seth put Duvessa's shadow chameleons on the upper door frame. Just after the door, the cave floor changed from smooth dirt to craggy and treacherous stone. There was a clearly marked path through, worn by boots and claws. I didn't need to think about my whiskers to feel the rise in mana.

The sound of arguing became more distinct as we picked our way down the tunnel. A woman was crying and pleading to be let out. A man was shouting at her. They were in a pretty big chamber by the sounds of the echoes.

At the next bend, I looked into a cavern the size of the ballroom at the Palace. The floor was soaked, and puddles of various depths were everywhere. The body of a goat lay in the middle, next to the corpse of a very large crocodile-looking thing. A man and a woman were looking at a hole in the cavern floor.

The woman was Helena, and she was standing with her arms crossed and glaring down in the hole. The man held a spear and was using the butt end to push at something in the hole. A lit lantern sat at the hole's edge.

A woman I couldn't see cried out, "Please! It's empty! There ain't nothing else!" Some poor schmuck was in the hole.

"Keep looking, you stupid woman. If you would just look already you'd be done and out," the man snarled.

Blaise chose that moment to hurl her stone. Whether she was aiming for Helena or the man, I'll never know. She hit the ceiling.

The stone cracked into a stalactite and dropped to the floor before skittering across and into a puddle.

"What the fuck?" the man yelled, whipping his spear around.

"Shit! What is she doing here?" Helena said. "They're supposed to be north, chasing wolves!"

Seth started casting. Blaise picked up another rock. Owen pulled out his sword.

I skedaddled. I didn't need to be in the middle of this mess.