We had a nice conversation while watching the boys attempting to both untangle the badger and not release it. Honestly, I rather liked Tom, even though I thought he was probably sketchy. He was the first non-stupid, non-bonkers animal I'd spoken to. 

I asked him about the Menagerie, and what he thought of it. To him, it was home. He was fond of the keepers. The Director was new, and Tom didn't want to talk about him. 

I could look deeper into what Tom was up to, but I didn't see the need. I wasn't law enforcement, and I didn't have a hero complex. And I thought it was funny that a bunch of animals were out maneuvering their keepers. I'd be here twice a week for the next month or so too. If something major happened or I got curious enough, I could look then.

"Oh, hey," I said to Tom, "I was wondering about the manticore."

"Scorpius? What about him?"

I guessed right. Scorpius was his name. That meant the conversation I overheard was here, so the other end of that stone was in this compound somewhere. "Is he always an asshole? He tried to sting me."

Tom chuckled. "Yes. Manticore and asshole are the same word. But don't worry about it. He'll be gone in a week or two."

"He'll be expanding his horizons again?" I said, surprised. 

"Again?" Tom was instantly suspicious.

"Yeah. I assumed that was why he was tied up in a field. I heard somewhere that he was gone for a bit too."

"Yeah, he was." Tom looked down the hall. I followed his gaze and saw a water snake coming this way. "I should go. Take care, little leopard." Tom leapt up onto the boxes near the hidden entrance in the ceiling. As soon as he stepped into the shadows he seemed to dissolve into darkness. My eyes couldn't see him, but my whiskers still knew he was there.

That was a neat trick.

Speaking of tricks, I had to do some work on mine. But not quite yet. First I wanted to find that listening stone. The voices in it were discussing if they wanted to go wherever Scorpius was. That tells me they were animals, and it seems to be their choice if they go or not. 

So it was probably in this building. Based on the acoustics here, the atrium was probably the best bet. All the sound from the different hallways could be heard there. 

I padded to the atrium and saw Seth snap the door shut as he went outside. Arnold glared at the door before stomping off through the first floor gate and slamming that. 

Nice, I had the atrium to myself.

If I was going to hide a listening stone where would I put it? 

It would need to be somewhere that could pick up sounds, not easy to see, yet still retrievable. I hopped up on the shelf with all the animal statues. The thing about putting it high is it might get too many echoes distorting the sound. If it was in one of the potted plants, you might only hear something when someone was standing right next to you. Too close to the fountain and all you'd hear is the water. Where could it be?

Or it could be in a different building altogether. I had a hunch it was here though and kept looking. 

When I got to the end of the statue shelf, I got pretty distracted by the death poses. One in particular got my attention. It was a troll looking thing, about the size of a dog. Make a person out of potatoes and that was pretty much the critter. Bulbous nose, stubby legs, sausagey limbs. The thing that got my attention, besides the fact that it wasn't a natural animal, was the apparent means of death. This guy had a giant lump on his neck with a small wound in the center. Like a sting. 

Somebody wanted to carve what it would look like if Scorpius killed something. I decided I didn't like this artist, or their taste. 

I was still contemplating that travesty of art when the front door burst open and Ace strode in with wingmen in tow. Seth was trailing behind them holding the missing fox. 

"Hey Robin!" Ace hollered. He put a crate of chickens on the floor. "I got something for you!" 

I was delighted to see the chickens. Maybe First Hen was here! I was doubly delighted to see the wingman I'd stolen the stone from! 

I crouched down on the shelf and watched him. Any place he looked at that wasn't a person was a possibility for the location of the other stone.

Robin trotted out. "I'm sorry guys, we've got a situation– Hey! You found her!" 

"She was just sitting outside, enjoying the view," Seth said as he handed over the fox.

"And more chickens!" Robin exclaimed. "We haven't got the space ready for the other ones yet."

"Ah, sorry," Ace said. "We just flew down from the mountain. There's a chance we'll have more chickens every day or so until the whole flock is captured. There's a bunch of them up there. Crafty buggers too."

"Crafty. Quick too. I don't think we can put them in a regular enclosure, they'd just blip out of it I think." Robin sighed as she regarded the chickens. 

I was regarding the chickens too. But I was looking for a fat orange one. No such luck. 

I did have luck with Ace's little sidekick. He kept looking at the top of the column left of the fountain. That wasn't in my top three possible places. 

I strolled over, casual like, and took a peek. My vantage point from the statue shelf gave me a good view. These columns had decorative, damn I should know the word for this, finials? No, that wasn't right. Whatever. The fancy shit at the top. The fancy shit on these stuck out a bit and yup, the stone was there. I couldn't move it with everyone here, and doubted my ability to paw the thing without being seen. 

No worries though. I could wait. These guys should be clearing out soon.

"Right! Let me put her away," Robin said, referring to the fox. "Can you take the chickens down to the barn? There's only bonded familiars in there so they should be safe enough. I need to get an enclosure ready for them. We still have two other animals that have gotten loose too." Poor Robin was looking overwhelmed. 

"No worries! You got help, right boys?" Ace was confident in the support of his fellows and didn't glance at them. He was right though, they both nodded. "What's still loose, and we'll catch them for you."

Ace cast a spell once Robin had described the fire hound. Seth looked a little pained when he saw it. Was it a spell he knew but forgot about? He shouldn't feel bad. He had trouble with a lot of the wind stuff still.

A moment later Ace said, "I'm not sensing the hound anywhere in here. If he's in a closed room with a shut door, I wouldn't sense him." 

"If he's in a closed room then he's not loose and we can find him. Can you give a try outside while I put her away?" Robin asked. She was stroking the fox who was leaning into her administrations.

"Sure thing," Ace said cheerfully. He and one of the other wingmen picked up the chicken crates and headed outside. 

Robin headed through the gate. Seth followed the wingmen outside. And the sketchy wingman darted over to the stairs. 

Damnit, He was going to grab the stone already. I had a split second to figure out what to do. 

Eyes are naturally attracted to movement. He was going to see me move unless something else was moving too. The only thing I could make move was a nearby statue.

And I did. It was a plain looking owl, not one of the death statues unfortunately. The thing was solid too. It only chipped a bit as it clattered and spun across the floor.

It scared the bejeebies out of the wingman. He screamed and nearly fell down the stairs, clutching the railing.

In that moment I was leaping to the column and off it again. 

And I dropped the fucking stone. My paw dexterity was not where it needed to be yet. And I still didn't have fucking thumbs.

The only good part of that was the stone landed in the fountain. Hopefully wing guy won't look there.

I scooted behind a dog-sized dog statue and out of sight. Now, I wait.

The guy collected himself quickly, accompanied by muttered curses. I got a little nervous when he stopped right above me to lean out and look at where the stone used to be. His next batch of curses were more colorful and vehement. 

He moved closer to the fountain and peered around, scanning for where the stone could have gone. He cast a detection spell. 

I thought I should bail as soon as he wasn't looking. I didn't actually need to take the stone now, I'd be back in two days. I could move or retrieve it then. 

Flyboy headed down the stairs. He was going to be able to see me from his new vantage point. I needed to be somewhere else, and I needed to move while he wasn't looking.

I only had a split second while he glanced forward at the stairs. I leapt straight up to the railing and away from his line of sight. As quietly as I could, I opened the gate. 

My skull key ring was still working. I had been under the impression that it'd only last a day or two. Now I'm wondering if it had a set number of opens or something. Because seriously, this thing should have been done ages ago. I'm not complaining, but I do worry it'll give out at the most inconvenient time.

The gate was not quiet and flyboy heard me. I decided not to run away, but to play like I'd just walked in. 

He came back up the stairs and saw me. "Just a stupid cat," he muttered. "Hey kitty, are you one of the missing animals?" he asked me.

Stupid cat? Dude, I shall school you, and it'll be easy.

I walked into the cell wing and flyboy followed me through the gate. I didn't hurry, but stayed just enough ahead of him that he couldn't catch me. And here we go. The turtle habitat with mostly water was perfect. I nosed the door and it opened. I tried to make it look like the door was already open.

"No, don't go in there. Here kitty, kitty."

I stayed right by the door, where he'd think he could grab me. And that's exactly what he tried to do. I didn't even use the chicken power to dodge him. I just jumped right up and over him, giving him a shove as I did so, and shut the door behind me. 

Flyboy was now soaking wet and locked in with the turtle. 

The turtle rolled its eyes. "Really?"

I chuckled to myself and headed outside. Time to catch up with my boy Seth.

Outside Ace was chatting with Seth. The other wingman was almost to the barn with the chickens. 

"It'll have to be after you're, ah, done here," Ace was saying. "I am sorry about that."

"No, it's fine," Seth said. "I'm way too busy this semester anyway."

"Just do me a favor and don't go joining the charheads," Ace said. "They'll take anybody. You can do better than that."

"I don't have time to join anyone, Ace," Seth insisted. 

Ace looked up as a golden eagle swooped by. It waggled in the air as it went by. "Auru says that's not our fire hound. Okay! The only other dog out here is on the other side of that building. If that's not him, take a look around and be back in like ten minutes. I know it's getting dark." Ace pointed and the eagle soared away.

"I'd love to get better with the detection spell," Seth said. 

"It takes practice. We can do drills after you try out next semester," Ace said with a smile.

"Actually, I'd like that," Seth said. I could feel he was relieved and hopeful. I thought it was nice he was making friends with these guys. Mostly.

I thought about the flyboy I'd stolen from. I wondered what his connection was to what Tom was up to. Was he trying to stop it? Discover it? Was he already involved? 

He'd snuck back to look for the rock, and didn't get help or mention it to his friends. If he was keeping this secret from his friends while they searched for missing animals, then I wasn't inclined to let him off the hook. I thought he was up to no good before, and I still thought so.

I stretched and let my claws rake the ground. Then I hopped up on Seth's shoulder and draped myself there. Once Robin was done looking for a dog she wasn't going to find, we still had a lesson to finish and chores to do.