Seth guarded the door as Robin put a very angry badger back into its enclosure.

"Right! Two down, three to go!" Robin declared as she slipped out of the enclosure. She spotted one of her water snake summons darting towards her and reached for it. A moment later she said, "The fox was spotted downstairs. No sign of the cat or hound."

Seth looked at the others while Robin considered her options. Owen was ripping off the torn pieces at the bottom of his pants. Fortunately the badger hadn't bitten flesh and only tore his clothes. Duvessa was soaking wet, and Arnold was dirty. Duvessa kept flicking her wet fingers at Arnold and scowled at him.

"Knock it off," Arnold muttered and glared at her.

The monkey in the nearby cell was screaming and shaking the bars.

"All right," Robin said. "If I knew where the hound was, we'd go after him first. I'm not actually worried about the cat, he'll turn up on his own no matter what the Director says. I need two of you to go down those stairs and the other two to head back to the atrium and start there. We'll be trying to corner the fox. Oh, but first let's replace these." Robin pulled out a water bottle and used it to summon more snakes. 

Duvessa stalked off to the stairs. Owen hurried after her leaving Seth with Arnold. 

Seth wondered what Arnold had done to make Duvessa so angry at him. Actually, it was probably just existing nearby. Arnold was abrasive even when he was trying to be nice. Seth nodded at Robin and headed for the atrium with his water snake following. Mau was in the hall here somewhere too, but he wasn't worried about what she was up to. She would probably turn up with the other missing animals in tow. And she could signal him if she wanted his attention.

Seth considered not waiting for Arnold at the gate. They were supposed to work together on this, but Seth really didn't want to. But Seth also wanted things to improve, so that meant not creating more animosity. Be polite, he told himself. No matter how awful he is, just be polite.

Seth scanned the area around the gate, just to be sure that no escaped animal would be slipping by when he opened it. When he looked back Arnold was staring at him with a combination of curiosity and hostility.

"Should we search the atrium before we go in the first floor gate?" Seth asked. He gave a cursory look around the nearly empty mezzanine and headed for the stairs.

"Naturally. Why would you think we shouldn't?"

"Time, mostly. We're supposed to be helping to corner it. That won't happen if we're out here."

"Just take your side and don't be stupid about it."

"I'm not stupid." Seth wondered if it was possible to stay polite with this type of asshole.

"Stupid or malicious. Take your pick."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Seth had started to use his catch pole to poke around in the potted plants but whirled back on Arnold. 

"We both know it's you. Duvessa wouldn't hear of it though." Arnold was scanning the shelf of statues.

"What's me? What did I do?"

"You're in the center of all of it. Did you really think no one would notice? You'd have to be both stupid and malicious." 

"Fine. I'm stupid. Explain it to me."

"Your brother. Blaise. And now Duvessa's power. You're the common piece." Arnold wandered absently to a row of potted plants, but his attention was on Seth.

"Duvessa's power?" Seth rocked back on his heels. "She didn't lose her power. Some of her summons aren't behaving properly. And that's probably because–" Seth cut off. He didn't want to tell Arnold anything about the mana well or magic berries.

"What are you doing to them, Seth? Is it an artifact? Did he give it to you or are you supposed to bring people to him?"

"What artifact? Bring people to who? You're crazy and I have no idea what you're talking about."

Neither of them were pretending to search for the fox anymore. 

"I know who you are," Arnold growled. "Who you work for. You get close to the people with the strongest powers and then you steal those powers." Arnold was furious. And wrong.

"I haven't stolen anything." Seth did think that Blaise's power had been stolen. He also thought the Circle Tower had decided it was a natural phenomenon. Had they lied? Could the Tower have more information? If they thought he was behind the thefts, that led to so many problems. 

They would never share any information with him if they did think he was involved somehow. Nor would they share it with Saben. And if they decided they could prove it, he could be facing worse than expulsion.

"If you think I'm a thief, why are you telling me this?" Seth asked.

"I tried to warn Duvessa. I told her to stay away from you. She wouldn't listen to me and I know she'll tell you what I said. So I'll tell you. And if there's any chance you aren't a garbage person, you'll leave school."

Seth took a moment to appreciate Duvessa as a friend. She might be a little dramatic, but she was also solid.

Seth shook his head. "If your only evidence is that I know the people who have lost their powers, then that is really flimsy. I honestly thought you were smarter than that. And what about you? I hadn't even met you when you lost yours and you got yours back. How do I know you didn't offer to trade other people's powers to get yours back? You know more about people's powers than I do. You're on the research team." Seth watched Arnold's face. He had no idea how to tell if someone was lying. "I think you're trying to set me up."

"I have more evidence. Maybe some of it is circumstantial and maybe it isn't. But I am doing my best to protect the other students. You are a liability. It is too risky to let you stay. You should leave school. Leave Rosia. If you don't, I'm going to make you and it won't be pretty." 

"Duvessa didn't believe you because you are completely wrong. I'm not stealing powers. I'm trying to help people get them back. Including Blaise and Saben."

"I'm not wrong. If it's not you directly, then it's your benefactor. That merchant, Benjamin. He was moving an artifact and you know what happened to it. What was the artifact, Seth? Where is it now?"

"What artifact?" 

"The one on the caravan. You were there. You told Isaac you were there. What did you do with the artifact? How does it work?"

"I didn't–" Actually, he had talked about that a little bit with Isaac. Had they been interrogating him without him noticing? They'd jumped to wild conclusions. Seth took a deep breath. Maybe he could get Arnold to see reason. "There was no artifact. Nothing I saw. There were only plates and stuff. If there was something there, it broke and I couldn't tell what it was." A partial lie. It was an egg, but it did break.

Arnold glared. "You're lying. We know it was there. The only things we don't know is what it was and where it went."

"Then go down there and look for yourself if you know so much about it." Suddenly Seth realized why Arnold would know so much about it. 

Arnold saw the realization on Seth's face. "I was already at the Circle Tower that day."

"You're lying."

"So are you. If you want to stay at school, just tell me what you know. Tell me who's next. Why are you taking them? Are you just trying to weaken Rosia? Are you doing something with the powers? Who is the merchant working for?"

"It's not me. It's not Benjamin. He would never do that to Saben. You're wrong about all of this. There is something happening to people's powers, but you're looking in the wrong place. This is going to keep happening even if you do get rid of me."

"If there's even a chance that it stops by getting rid of you, then that's the right thing to do."

Seth stalked over to the front door and slammed it shut behind him, right in Arnold's face. Petty and childish? Sure. But satisfying. From the front door the wings of the main building extended off in both directions at slight angles. The building was on a slight hill, and he could see the other buildings of the compound, including the paddock where the manticore was tethered. He stared out without really seeing what he was staring at.

Could Arnold be right? Could Benjamin have something to do with powers being stolen?

Seth didn't want to believe it. Benjamin was a friend of his dad's. Benjamin was the one who rescued Seth the day his dad died. Benjamin took in both boys, helped Seth with his admission to the Magic Academy, and arranged for Saben's apprenticeship with an explorer team.

Benjamin also traveled a lot. Seth didn't think he was in town the day Blaise's power was taken. Benjamin had mentioned going back to Vernar. He wasn't anywhere near Mariglade, where Blaise had said they were going to take her.

Seth tried to think of any evidence that Benjamin was involved. Benjamin had never met Blaise or Duvessa. Blaise was kidnapped by a rival house. Seth couldn't think of anything that could be a direct line between Benjamin and the power thefts. The only connecting factor was Seth himself. 

Seth rubbed the beads on the affinity bracelet Benjamin had given him. Benjamin had said it would help stabilize his power, and improve his ability with spells he cast often. Seth was still nowhere near Saben's skill level with his wind talent. It still resisted him and while casting with his eyes shut helped, it couldn't be a permanent solution.

Seth wondered about his wind power. He had so much trouble with it. But Dad had a wind power, so it was expected that Seth would get one too, just like Saben. If Benjamin had taken Saben's power like Arnold thought, then why wouldn't he have taken Seth's power too? Seth's power developed really early too. If Benjamin was taking powers, he could've easily taken Seth's.

It couldn't be Benjamin then or Seth's power would have been taken too.

What should he do? 

He needed help and advice.

Saben hadn't replied to him yet. There were a few things Seth wanted to talk to Saben about, but he was hesitant to put them in a letter that could be intercepted. He could use Dad's code, but Seth didn't think Saben had ever learned that.

Seth thought through his professors. There weren't any that he felt really connected to. If the Circle Tower already suspected him, there might be no one at the school who would help him.

Seth decided he should tell Benjamin. If there were accusations, then Benjamin would need to know so he can defend himself. He would also know what Seth should do to protect himself.

Seth looked around again to get his bearings. He should be looking for the missing fox, but he just couldn't bring himself to go back inside.

If he hadn't just thought of the fox again, Seth might not have noticed it. It was standing a little ways away, crouched in the grass, and staring intently at something near the barn. Seth made sure the catch pole was set, and walked quietly up to the fox.

He wasn't quiet enough and the fox heard him. One of its large ears rotated towards him almost as soon as he started walking. 

But it didn't run. Instead it looked at him and he could see the intelligence in its eyes. It gestured with its nose down at the barn. It let Seth walk right up next to it and Seth looked for what it had gestured at. 

A man in a deer mask was talking to another man behind the barn. The man in the mask gestured forcefully, like they were having an argument. The other man threw his hands up and handed something to deer mask. Then deer mask jumped up onto a two wheeled cart, flicked a whip, and the horse took off. He was out the front gate within seconds. 

Seth glanced down at the fox. "That was the Director, wasn't it? Talking to the guy in the mask?" 

It nodded. 

Seth sighed. This really wasn't something he wanted to get involved in. "I'll let Robin know." Seth reached down and touched the water snake following him. 

He just hoped Mau would steer clear too.