Excerpt
That night Benny took one more look through his footlocker. Suddenly he noticed a slip of paper tucked into his winter boots. He pulled it out and opened it.
"The box is the key. Use it to unlock the door to the cat." At the end was a symbol Benny recognized as the Greek letter Omega. Jason and Joseph were both in the room when Benny found the note. Joseph watched every move Benny made when he found the note, though he tried clumsily not to show it. Jason read the note over Benny's shoulder. Like lightning, Jason leaped across the room and slammed Joseph down on the floor. He grabbed his throat and Joseph squawked. He was a much bigger boy than Jason, but he was not at all strong and could not get the furious boy off of him.
"You're the one who stole it!" Jason snarled. "I knew it all the time. We want it back right now!"
"Make him get off of me, or you'll be sorry!" Joseph squealed to Benny.
"Let him up, Jason," Benny ordered. "Joseph, I guess you don't want to be expelled, do you? I just want my cougar skin back. I don't want any trouble."
"You can't prove I had anything to do with that note or your -- cougar skin," Joseph said with an oath. "That's not my writing. One of the searchers could have put that in there. But the truth is, I don't have the blasted thing. I don't even know for sure where it is. You're just going to have to do what they say, or you'll start getting the pretty kitty back a piece a day. That I can tell you. You can tell me now what's in the box. Then they'll let you know what they want next."