“What’s that, Adam?” Moon pointed at the cylinder that hung from the warlock’s belt. She’d not seen it before.

He looked down as they walked. “It’s the device Vizeran made.”

“What’s it do?”

“It’s supposed to show us a hidden passage that’ll lead to Lolth’s lair without us being detected.”

Her whiskers twitched. “Really?” Quickly, she pulled at it and it broke free of Adam’s belt. Turning it over in her hands, she marveled at the smooth surface. There had to be a way to open it!

“Hey, Moon,” Adam kept his voice down. “I don’t think you should be doing that.”

She held it to her ear and shook it. “Did you know it makes a noise?”

He stopped and looked at her. “What sort of noise?”

“It’s like…tick…tick…tick. Like a clock.” Moon watched Adam as Jinnaari, Pan, and Thia continued to walk. Caelynn paused, looking back at them. He waived at her, and she turned around. “Did you open it? Can I open it? I want to know why it’s ticking!”

“So do I. But let’s do it carefully, okay? We don’t want to break anything.”

She turned it over, studying it. “Aha!” she giggled. Using a single claw, she pushed on a pinpoint sized indentation. A thin line appeared down the long edge of the device and the two halves separated.

Inside was a mess of strange things. A lump of tissue sat in the center, with four different arms leading away from it. They were made of thin pieces of metal and tubes filled with purple liquid. “That looks strange,” she said.

Adam passed his hand over the device and his face grew cold. “Moon, I’ve got to change a few things on this. Do you think you can hold it or should we put it on the ground?”

“Oooh! Is that an emerald? A sapphire?” She pointed to a couple of pulsating gems at the end of two of the pathways.

“They might be. I’ll let you have them, when we’re done. But you have to hold it steady.”

Moon grinned, “Okay!”

Adam started to weave some magic in and around the different pathways. After a few moments, three of them stopped having the purple goop flowing to them. “You can take the gems out now, Moon. Then close it back up and give it back to me. Okay?”

Quickly, she plucked the gems from their spots and sealed the machine before handing it back to Adam. Skipping past Jinnaari, she caressed her treasures in her hand.

“Adam?” Jinnaari asked as she moved past him.

“He’s back there. He played with the thingy and made it stop ticking.”