Doreen and Jessica finished their dinner. Their totems shadowboxed in the cafeteria,
Tapper waving his hands as he used Jaw as a platform. Woody waited under the table,
head down, eyes closed. His ears swivelled as he absorbed the sounds around him.
He wanted to go back to his pond. Maybe there were fish he could look at under the
starlight.
“We have curfew in an hour,” said Doreen. “I’m going for a walk, and then I have to
do some reading before I go to bed.”
“Jaw and I have to practice the course some more,” said Jessica. “We’re still not
setting the time we need to show we’re mobile.”
“Do you want Woody to coach?,” said Doreen. “He has been helping Tapper to
improve.”
“I don’t think he will want to help us,” said Jessica. “We’ll be fighting Tapper at one
point. Why teach us the tricks he is teaching your squirrel?”
“Would you, Woody?,” said Doreen. “Jessica has been a big friend here. I would like
to give her a better chance because of that.”
The familiar turned his eyes on the rock cat. He barked a little song. Jaw frowned at
him, trying to roar but not quite getting the sound right.
“Woody can teach him how to roar,” said Doreen. She smiled at her friend.
Jessica smiled. She rubbed the head of her totem as it rubbed against her leg.
“Would you like to help us with the obstacle course?,” said Jessica. “I can walk you
around the Academy when we’re done.”
“Don’t try to steal him,” said Doreen. “Errant is a little erratic. He might blow
something up by mistake.”
Woody chuffed as he turned wide eyes on Doreen.
“Maybe he would do it on purpose,” said Doreen. “I think he crafts that persona so
people won’t know what he will do next.”
“The next time he comes around, can you introduce us,” said Jessica. “I would love
to see this man.”
“You are really not taking this as serious as you should be,” said Doreen. “He
deflected a fire lance with his hand. I don’t think he follows our rules.”
“With his bare hand?,” said Jessica.
“Yes,” said Doreen. “He is very dangerous, and so is Woody. I don’t think the
instructors should know because Woody is trying to take it easy, but don’t let him
fool you. He can talk with other totems and show them how to do things. I think he
can do real magic too.”
“I really would like to meet this mystery man,” said Jessica.
“When he comes to pick Woody up, I’ll ask him to wait so you can,” said Doreen. “I
have to get back to work. Tapper and I aren’t as good as you and Jaw. I need to work
on the applications for water totems, and how to improve Tapper’s range.”
“All right,” said Jessica. “I will have to go to the course and practice with Jaw until
we can ring the bell in an acceptable time.”
Woody stood up. He made a chuffing noise and headed for the door.
“Where are you going, Woody?,” asked Doreen.
The dog howled something and then pushed on the door. He vanished into the
gathering night.
“I think he wants to be alone,” said Jessica.
“I think he is going to enter the tournament even though his partner told him not to
do that,” said Doreen. “I have to make sure.”
“Do you think you can stop him?,” asked Jessica.
“I hope I can make him see reason,” said Doreen. She stood up. “I have no way
to really stop him if he wants to take part. I just don’t want him hurt and having
to explain how I let him sign up for a battle scenario when he’s not supposed to be
fighting anyone.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” said Jessica. She stood up too, grabbing a piece of meat from
her plate so she could follow her friend.
“How hard is it to sign your own name?,” asked Doreen. “I already know he can
write.”
The girls rushed from the dining hall. Their partners followed. Tapper turned and
veered toward the administration hall at full speed.
Doreen ran after her squirrel, frowning at the surroundings. Woody must have loped
off as soon as he was out of sight. She hoped he had not ran into some of the
bullies that attended the school with her.
She didn’t know what he could do, and she was afraid to find out.
She paused when she reached the administration building. She looked around. She
didn’t see Tapper. Had he gone inside already?
He shouldn’t have done that. If he got caught, they would both be in big trouble.
Jessica caught up, chewing on the remains of her dinner. She looked at the
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.administration building, noting the absence of lights.
“It’s closed for the night,” she said, rubbing the smooth skull of her cat as it sat beside
her.
“I think Tapper followed him inside,” said Doreen. “I just know he is signing up for
the tournament. Errant is not going to like that.”
“There’s not much you can do about it from out here,” said Jessica. She tried the door.
It refused to budge. “Locked. I doubt Woody could get through that. He’s made of
solid wood.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Doreen. “Tapper went in through the crack under the door.
I need him to come back before we’re caught loitering out here.”
“See if you can call him,” said Jessica. “If he is caught inside, everyone will say
you’re cheating.”
“I should have refused to have Woody,” said Doreen. “I should have stood up for
myself.”
“You are a pushover,” said Jessica. She smiled. “Call for Tapper. Then we can look
around for your dog.”
“I know,” said Doreen. She leaned in to the door. “Tapper! Tapper! Come here!”
The squirrel appeared moments later. He danced around, waving his arms. He pointed
at the door.
“Woody is still in there?,” asked Doreen.
Tapper jumped up in the affirmative.
“How did he do that?,” asked Jessica. “The doors are locked for the night.”
“I told you he was strange,” said Doreen. “I have to get him out of there before there’s
problems.”
“All right,” said Jessica. “I’ll have Jaw roar if I see someone coming to the door to
go inside.”
“Thanks,” said Doreen. “Don’t get into trouble. It will be bad enough if I get into
trouble. I don’t want you to miss your chance on top of everything else.”
“I’ll be careful,” said Jessica. “Get Woody and get out of there.”
“Tapper,” said Doreen. “I need you to open the door so I can do what I need to do.”
The squirrel danced up and down before sliding under the door again. A moment later
and the lock clicked back and the door opened on its own. He waved a wet arm for
her to hurry up and come inside before someone caught them.
Doreen jumped across the threshold and pushed the door shut. She squinted in
the dark, looking for Woody. Where would he go? She decided that he would try
to sign up on the board. She had to stop him from putting his name on paper.
Once he did that, he was as good as in the tournament since there was no way she
could replace the sign up paper with the names intact. She could only take the sign
up page down and put up a new one. Everyone would have to sign up again.
That would get her into as much trouble as being caught in the administrative
building with no reason to be in the administrative building. She would be punished
for this.
Tapper led the way along the stone floor, heading right for the sign up sheet. He
stopped when it came into view on the wall in its case. He pointed at the block letters
at the bottom of the sheet in a language she couldn’t read.
Doreen groaned out loud. He had signed up for the tournament despite what she had
said, and what Errant had wanted. She was going to be in for a lot of trouble.
Then she asked herself how he had put his name on the bottom of the list through a
sheet of glass with no hands.
Errant had said that Woody was magical. Had he done this somehow? Had one of the
other students helped him before the building was locked up for the night? How did
she get out of the trouble she could see coming on without getting kicked out and
losing Tapper in one shot.
She had to let it ride. There was nothing else she could do. She would talk to Woody
later and explain the pressure he had put her under, but then she would have to ask
him not to come by the academy and stay off the grounds until after the tournament
was over.
Tapper said some things in his chattering. Then he held up his hands to be picked up.
She did so, placing him on her shoulder. She had to get out of the administrative
building before she was caught.
She would deal with Woody in the morning.
She made her way back to the door and peeked out. She didn’t see anyone standing
around. Then she stepped out of the building and closed the door after her.
“Tapper, please lock the door back,” said Doreen. “Then we have to find Woody so
we can ask him why he did this.”
Tapper slid under the door and worked the bar back into place. He slid out and made
a ta da gesture with his arms wide.
Doreen stepped away from the doors and looked around for Jessica. She saw the girl
standing nearby. They waved at each other as Tapper led the way across the space
between the two girls.
“We didn’t see him,” said Doreen. “But he signed up for the tournament. His name
is at the bottom of the sheet in another language.”
“Then you can deny he is actually a participant,” said Jessica.
“Only if he goes along with that,” said Doreen. “He might start talking and tell the
judges they can’t get rid of him now that his name is on the paper.”
“Do you really think he can talk?,” asked Jessica.
“I would be surprised if he doesn’t learn how,” said Doreen. “His name was added
through the glass shield over the paper.”
“You’re joking,” said Jessica.
“I didn’t see him, but his name is there with the paper in the glass,” said Doreen. She
started walking. There was one place she thought Woody would be.
“How did he do that?,” asked Jessica. She followed along.
“Magic,” said Doreen. “I knew this was trouble. I should have said no. I can’t allow
someone’s magic dog to stay on the grounds. I should have told Errant to take his
cheating familiar with him.”
“So what if he signed up for the tournament,” said Jessica. “He won’t be the
only outsider here during that time.”
“He’ll be the only one fighting without a partner,” said Doreen. “I can’t do it because
I was signed up with Tapper at the beginning of the year. You can’t for the same
reason. Who would fight with Woody other than Errant who isn’t around?”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” said Jessica. “I don’t think I have ever seen you this
angry.”
“This is nothing but trouble,” said Doreen. “And it puts Tapper in danger. I want
my totem to win but not if his enemy just hands him the victory.”
“I can see the judges being angry at some sort of collusion,” said Jessica. “Where are
we going?”
“Where I first met those two,” said Doreen. “The lake.”
The girls and their familiars scrambled over the wall around the Academy and headed
into the surrounding forest. Tapper led the way, his liquid body allowing him to
get through places where no one else could go. He paused every now and then to
wave his arms at them.
“There’s the lake,” said Jessica. She nodded at the glittering expanse under the setting
sun.
“There’s Woody,” said Doreen. She marched toward the lying dog. She saw his ear
shift and knew he was listening to her come up without glancing at her angry face.
“Woody,” said Doreen. She hunkered down in front of him. He tried to look away
because he knew she was angry about his misdeed. “Look at me. You signed up
for the tournament. You know you weren’t supposed to do that. I could get into
trouble. I have to worry about both you and Tapper now. That was not something
you should have done. The judges will come down on all three of us.”
Tapper joined in with his own harangue with arms and tail waving in the air. He
punched Woody in the nose with his tiny watery paw.
“They are both saying you were a jerk,” said Jessica. She put on a serious face
because it could be too easy to start laughing at the three of them when the two were
so mad. “I think you should apologize.”
Woody howled sorrowfully as the night finally came on. He kept it up until Doreen
grabbed his neck in a hug and asked him to be quiet.
“We’ll talk to someone in the morning about this,” said Doreen. “Let’s go. It’s almost
curfew.”