While the cast was just as annoying three weeks after it was applied, Boz could feel it healing. Three more weeks, he told himself, and it was removed; three more weeks and he could go back to the physical guard training. Sure, he now had the time to study up for the theoretical parts, but he missed the active training.

But evenings weren't for study. During the evening, Boz read the Great Book in the kings' bedroom. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they quarreled, but most of the time they forgot Boz sat on their couch and read the Great Book. So far, Boz had gotten to the 'C', and he still was nowhere near finishing it. the kings did not mind; Boomer was playing something while Brady jammed on the guitar. It was a quiet night, and Boz enjoyed the rare quiet.

The lights turned off. Boz frowned at the lamp as if offended that it turned off. As neither Brady nor Boomer was near the light switch, Boz suspected Lanny was coming in with another plan. He sighed – Boz was not in the mood for Lanny's plans.

"You think Mason forgot to pay the electric bill?" Boomer asked his brother.

"Or Mikayla finally decided to make her move," Brady suggested. "Very romantic."

Boz rolled his eyes. Even during times of possible danger, Brady still thought about Mikayla. How deep did his obsession run?

Boz turned to face the brothers and noticed a thick fog rolling out from the bathroom. Boz was pretty sure Lanny did not have access to a fog machine, so Boz discarded his earlier theory. What was going on?

"And fog?" Brady said in an enthusiastic tone." Come out, come out, wherever you are…"

Boz lightly shook his head. He wanted to tell him it wasn't Mikayla, she went on patrol an hour ago. Before he could speak, a white bunny appeared on the pool table.

"Have you seen the medallion?" the bunny asked in a low voice, like Mason's. "Well, have you?"

None of the brothers could make sense of this apparition. Boz quickly checked his arm, but there was no mark of the ocean or anything else. He was clear – and Brady and Boomer saw it, too, as Brady pointed at the bunny. So it wasn't just Boz. Then what was it?

"Boomer, did you order a talking bunny?"

"No," Boomer said. He turned to Brady and his eyes widened. "Did you order a Tarantula person?"

Boz's head turned. A Tarantula person stood behind Brady. Boz tried to stand, to help, but put weight on his broken foot. He fell on the couch again, only able to watch as the Tarantula person ignored Brady and chased Boomer.

Boz grabbed his crutches to stand while Brady grabbed the vase. When the two looked at Boomer again, the Tarantula person had gone. Boomer was dressed in its Tarantula clothing, hanging from a trapeze. Boz walked over, next to Brady, and they both watched Boomer in confusion.

"Surprise?" Boomer said, maybe to break the tense atmosphere, but it didn't work.

"Why is this happening?" Brady screamed in a panic, and Boz nodded; why was this happening?

"Maybe that guy knows," Boomer said.

Brady and Boz turned their heads at the same time. There he was again; Kaita, in its mummy form, with the medallion around his neck. The pieces fell into place – Kaita had the medallion and he stood in the room with the only people who could give him life.

"Brady, behind me." Boz pushed Brady behind himself. If the mummy wanted the kings, he needed to get their saliva. He had to get past Boz.

The mummy pushed Boz aside, over the pool table, and he grabbed Brady at his shoulders. They wrestled a little, with the purpose of collecting the boy king's saliva.

"Where'd you get that medallion?" Brady asked after his eye fell on the piece of jewelry around the mummy's neck.

"Kinkow is mine!" Kaita responded in his raspy voice.

"That wasn't the question."

The mummy threw Brady on his bed.

Then, Boz lay back in his own bed, awake with a sweat. Boz caught his breath.

It was a dream. A bad dream.

Which the kings might have also had.

Boz hurried out of his bed, up the stairs, to the kings' bedroom. He needed to make sure they were okay, especially when a threat such as Kaita had presented himself in a dream. Even if Brady and Boomer were asleep and hadn't had the dream, Boz still wanted to see for himself they were fine.

When Boz walked into the room, the mummy was already there.

"You're out of toilet paper," the mummy said. The brothers screamed in a panic.

Boz awoke in a sweat again. He wondered how many times this was going to happen. He stood up, grabbed his crutches, and hurried to the kings' bedroom again. Hopefully, this wasn't another dream. He couldn't handle another one.

"… and it's weird we're having it night after night," Brady said as Boz walked into the room. They had no idea Boz had the same dream. Boz intended to keep it that way.

"We just need to stay awake for the rest of our lives," Boomer suggested.

When he saw Boz, he screamed. Clearly, he hadn't expected Boz to have come into their bedroom.

"What are you doing in here?"

"I had a bad feeling. Came to check on you," he said truthfully. The mummy nightmare was a bad omen in itself, and he became anxious at how neither king knew how to properly deal with it.

"What I wanted to say before he came into the room," Brady said, "is that we could also sleep next to the guards."

Boomer nodded, considering the idea.

"Or I could sleep in your room?" Boz suggested. "On the couch?" That way, Boz was as close to the kings as he could be, and he could protect them at night; when his leg was healed, though, not right away. He could be sure they weren't doing anything stupid during the night.

Brady seemed to consider the idea, but was less enthusiastic about Boz's idea. Probably because 'sleep next to the guards' could easily be translated into 'sleeping near Mikayla'.

"Wait! What if this is a dream, too?" Boomer wondered. Boz raised an eyebrow as the brothers looked at one another and Boomer slapped Brady. Boomer grabbed the painful hand at the same time Brady covered his hurt cheek with his hand. Boz shook his head. Idiots.

"Ouch, that really hurt!" Boomer said. "That must mean we're really awake."

"Yeah," Boz said. "Now I'm really going to bed." He left them alone for the evening. He could talk about sleeping in their room at another time. For now, Boz returned to his own room and get some sleep away from the kings.

The next morning, Boz met with Mikayla on the stairs and when they got to the throne room, they noticed the kings were asleep there. They both lay in positions that should look painful. Boz shook his head – it was much safer in their bedroom anyway.

"Waka Waka!" Mikayla screamed. The kings woke up screaming. Boomer might have even shouted 'pancakes', but Boz couldn't be sure. It was kind of fun to see them so scared for nothing.

"Good morning," Mikayla said. The kings scrambled to their feet. "You two have a little pajama party."

The brothers looked at each other, as if to mentally get their stories straight.

"Sleepwalking," Boomer said. "It's a twin thing, you wouldn't understand." They started to walk away from this rather awkward situation, to put on some clothes so none of the other guards would see them in their pj's.

"Like when you scratch and Brady shakes his leg?" Mikayla asked.

The brothers turned and briefly looked at her.

"We don't do that," Brady insisted. As they made their way to the stairs, Boomer scratched his head and Brady shook his leg. Boz and Mikayla shared a knowing look and decided to let it slide.

Mason crossed the boys as they walked to the stairs. His brow was furrowed, his gaze worried. Something bad was going on. or he smelled the kings and wasn't happy their stench was now hanging around in the throne room.

"This is not good," Mason said.

"I know." Mikayla sighed. "Now that morning king stink is down here."

"No," Mason said. He glanced around the throne room. "It's the bat medallion. I can't find it and I've looked everywhere."

"What?" Mikayla said.

"The bat medallion?" Boz muttered. He had seen it around Kaita's neck in the dream. He didn't think it would have that much significance, as he was certain the bat medallion had been safely stored away in one of the vaults. The news that it was missing was not good at all. And Boz's mind immediately wandered to Brady and Boomer, and whether they were involved.

"If the medallion falls in the wrong hands, it could lead to a century of darkness," Mikayla said, shocked by the news. "You didn't lose it, did you?"

Mason shook his head. "No, I didn't. I got a bad feeling about this." He looked at his daughter and the guard in training. "You don't think the kings would take it, do you?"

"They're dumb enough to try," Boz said. The Makoolas shared a glance. They too knew all too well the kings were indeed dumb enough to take the bat medallion after being told not to touch it.

With the greatest effort, Boz climbed back up the stairs with his crutches. At least the Makoolas occasionally waited for him to catch up, so they could confront the kings with three. Maybe strength in numbers could persuade them to tell them where the bat medallion was. The Makoolas drove the kings to the pool and Mikayla threatened them with a cue, so they couldn't get away.

"Tell me what you did with the bat medallion, or you can forget about your good boy cake!" Mikayla said. Boz could see the light panic in Brady and Boomer's eyes – they really wanted that cake.

"When you say 'bat'," Boomer started slowly, as if to buy some time, "do you mean the kind with wing or the kind you play baseball with?"

Mason took a step closer to the Kings, clearly not in the mood for chitchat or stalling.

"She means the kind with wings," he said. "Now, have you seen the medallion?"

A shiver ran down Boz's spine – those were the exact words of the talking rabbit in their dream. It was so weird to hear Mason say those words, and Brady and Boomer were probably spooked, as well.

"When you say 'medallion'," Brady tried, "do you mean the necklace or the ch-"

"Necklace," Boz said quickly. Let's just get this over with as soon as possible, to make sure nothing bad would happen.

"Well, we haven't seen it since Mikayla told us not to touch it," Boomer helped his brother, eyes on Mason. "I hope you didn't lose it!"

Mason looked disappointed – but not with the Kings. Did he really believe he lost the medallion? Even Boz could see that the Kings had something to do with it, even if it was because he knew Boomer and realized he was trying to cover up something bad. Since when could they bribe a king with something like a good boy cake?

"It's still okay," Mikayla tried to comfort her father. "If the medallion falls in the wrong hands, the Kings would be having the vision dream." She turned her head to Brady and Boomer. "You haven't been having vision dreams, have you?"

"Well, you're a vision," Brady told Mikayla, approaching her, "and I dream of you."

If Brady wasn't a king, Mason might have already taught him a lesson regarding etiquette and how to behave around his daughter.

"Do you really wanna push that button?" Mason said, his hand on his machete's hilt. It silenced Brady and scared him enough to return to the comfort of his brother's side.

"You would know if you've been having the vision dream," Mikayla said, choosing to ignore Brady. "It's full of signs that the medallion has been taken."

"And according to legend, it will tell you how to get it back," Mason added.

So, they would get the medallion back when Brady wrestled with a mummy, while Boomer was hanging around in Tarantula clothing, glued to a trapeze, while Boz had a headache. That did not make any sense yet.

Boomer and Brady vehemently denied having the vision dream, bringing up a shared dream journal that would push buttons if the Makoolas read it. Somehow, their denial was convincing enough to Mason. He almost hung his head in shame.

"The loss of the medallion is on me," he said solemnly. "We will have to proceed in the Ceremony of Shame." This shocked Mikayla, but she was able to hide her shock. Like the brothers, Boz had no idea what this ceremony entailed. There hadn't been once since Boz had come to Kinkow.

"What's the Ceremony of Shame?" Brady wondered. "Is it like your first shower in gym class?"

It's an ancient tradition where they would try to humiliate me," Mason said, "but I guarantee I will not be broken."

He tried not to break down in front of the kings. He quickly left, so the kings wouldn't see him like that. It seemed this Ceremony of Shame was not something that Boz would ever get behind, ancient tradition or not.

"It's a painful process," Mikayla added, "but it's necessary for all of us to move on."

Boomer had the audacity to compare it to puberty, which it wasn't. Mikayla rolled her eyes and turned to Boz.

"Boz, you've been spending a lot of time with the kings. Are they telling the truth?"

Boz did not want to lie to Mikayla – he finally had her trust, and did not want to lose it. what made this worse was that the kings were standing right behind him, a little afraid, Brady even silently pleading with Boz not to say anything.

Boz sighed.

"I don't know," he said. "I can't be sure about this one."

Mikayla nodded, happy to have his answer from the guard-in-training. She turned her head to the two kings behind him.

"I'll see you guys downstairs within two hours."

And she left, to pursue her father and to prepare for the Ceremony of Shame. Boz watched her leave, unhappy with his decision. He should've picked a side – it should've been Mikayla's. now, he stared at the door, while Brady came closer.

"Dude, thanks for helping out," Brady said, "I don't like to say this, but I think we owe you."

Boz shook his head. "Don't thank me."

"Why, and humble too," Boomer commented. That was not what Boz meant. He took a deep breath. He should tell them what he knew.

"No, I mean… I know about the dream. About the talking bunny, Tarantula Boomer on a trapeze, and a mummy with the medallion around his neck."

Brady gasped. "You know?"

"I do," Boz said. "I dreamed it, too. I've been having these dreams along with you guys."

He really hoped the boys weren't going to look too deeply into the reasons why Boz had the same dream as them. Given their current track record of paying attention when Mikayla explained island and king traditions, Boz should be okay, but you never know.

"You better not tell Mikayla," Boomer said in a semi-threatening tone. Boz wasn't having it.

"Why would I – I just told her I didn't know," Boz said. "Are you that afraid of not getting a good boy cake?"

Neither of them answered. Maybe because deep down, they knew it was wrong to lie about something as severe as the bat medallion. And somehow, Boz had gone along with their narrative, and the mummy was running around out there, with the medallion around his neck. Mason was innocent, yet he paid the price for the boys' irresponsibility, and that was something Boz could not stand.

"You know what?" Boz then said. "You're not gonna have me on your side until you fix things. I'm not telling Mikayla for your sake, but you need to do something about this. believe me, that medallion… you'd better get it back before this side is plunged in darkness, as well."

Boz turned around and walked out of the room. He did not stay or turn his head to see the kings' reaction to this. Hopefully, they realized the severity of the situation, before it was too late. Hopefully, their good boy cake did not have more value than the safety of their kingdom.