While helping sort through Jack's various 'treasures', Aiken is shown Jack's 'pet' – the first item he ever recovered, a relic of the necromancers: an obsidian vermite. Aiken is curious at first, until the mention of necromancers. After that he wants nothing to do with the little statue, which amuses Jack to no end.

Emmett and Integra "Granny" Oggton arrive, the elderly (she must be close to 90) otter banging on the door to the cabin with her walking stick. Jack asks her for the broken piece of the Key to Paradise that she has, and Granny snickers and gives it to him, then lets him know it's a fake. She had a copy made of the real Key, knowing that her sister Viveka was planning to steal it.

She shows Aiken and Jack a glimpse of the real thing – which Aiken thinks must be a First Ones artifact from the way it glows, and offers to let Jack spend a night with it. Despite his offers, she insists that it would drive him mad if he actually tried to take or use it, and that the Key has a mind of its own.

Jack agrees to spend the night on Granny's barge, with Emmett and his sister Maggie. He also agrees to let Aiken stay and 'guard' his treasure, and plans to set up some traps in case Gunther shows up. "He's just a dumb kid," Emmett assures him, and wouldn't be able to figure out anything 'complicated'…