When I opened the package I got from my father, I found... a plane ticket inside and a letter from my father. I looked at the plane ticket and it was a ticket to Vermont! Did my father want me to visit him? Did he actually want to see me? I looked at the letter and I was about to open it to see if my theory was correct, but I heard Jim calling for me and I quickly shoved the letter and the box under my bed and turned around just as Jim opened the door.

"Monica, I'm going with Toby to Claire's house to come up with a way to get the ring off of Strickler than head to Troll market. Do you want to come along?" I thought about the letter under my bed. I wanted to know what it read, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to read it. Jim really needed me right now. I couldn't afford any distractions. Plus, after what's happened over the past couple days, thinking about visiting my father is the last thing I need right now.

"Sure." I answered. As we headed out the door, I couldn't help but think if I made the right decision...

Soon enough, Jim, Toby, and I were at Claire's house. When we got there, Claire said that she could help figure out a plan to get the ring off Strickler, but she wouldn't be able to come to Troll market. Turns out her parents were gone for the weekend, which means that we had the whole house to ourselves. We went up to Claire's room and immediately began planning on what to do to get Angor Rot's ring back.

"Okay. We wait until he's asleep." Jim said.

"I use my shadow staff to get us in." Claire suggested.

"And I ever so gently remove the ring from his finger." Jim said.

"Hold up there, Mr. Storyteller. Do changelings even sleep?" Toby questioned. Good point. We repeated the plan and made a couple changes. I was going to spike his coffee with extra strength cold medicine when I come and ask a couple questions about class, Claire uses the shadow staff, Toby would bring his war hammer in case it didn't knock him out, but then I said,

"Wait. What if he's not alone? His office was guarded last time." Then, we had to recreate the whole thing. Spike the coffee, shadow staff, Toby uses his war hammer to take out his goons, then Jim ever so gently removes the ring.

"But, what if it doesn't come off?" Toby wondered.

"Why would it not come off?" Jim questioned.

"I don't know. Maybe if it's glued on or he added a few pounds." Toby suggested.

"Why would it be glued on, you dingus?" Claire asked.

"You said that we had to be ready for every precaution!" Toby exclaimed.

"He's waking up!" Claire yelled.

"Oh. How is he waking up? This isn't even really happening." Jim stated. Then, we started blurting suggestions like chopping off his hand, Jim was hesitant, but before he did, I reminded him that chopping off his hand would also chop off our mother's hand as well. Jim forgot about that. Then, Toby also reminded Jim that if they failed, Strickler would feel threatened and send Angor Rot to kill me. It's a good thing that we weren't actually doing this. We were not ready for this at all.

"We're not ready for this." Jim stated.

"But, Angor Rot said if you don't get the ring, he's coming back for you." Claire reminded him.

"Hey. We'll figure this out, Jimbo! It's not like we don't have a secret Troll market right under our feet filled with crazy magic." Toby encouraged him. We went downstairs to leave, but before we left, Jim asked again,

"You sure you don't wanna come?"

"Sorry. Parents are on a weekend trip, so Mary and Darcy are coming over for girls' night. Just keeping up appearances. You know what I mean." Claire explained.

"Ooh, girls? I love a good pillow fight." Toby said. Jim shoved Toby and stated, "Just ignore that. We'll let you know if we find anything, okay?" Claire said see ya and closed the door.