And now, just a few days later, here was Miri’s “mother,” with a detective, no less. Schroeder sighed. Why hadn’t he left a half hour ago?
Mr. Wolfe flashed an ID card at Schroeder. The principal glanced at it.
“So, what can I do for you, Mr. Wolfe? We have already conducted a thorough search of the premises. The young lady seems to have vanished into thin air.”
“With your permission, sir, we’d like to conduct our own search of the school and its grounds, and also interview some of the students and staff.”
“As you wish,” said Schroeder, “but I’m about to leave here for the weekend. Could your search perhaps wait until Monday?”
Nora, who had been silent up until then, started sobbing. “No, no, no! I’ve waited so many years to see my Miri again, we must start our search now.”
Alistair got up from his chair and walked over to Ernest and put his hand on his arm. “It is okay, sir,” he said quietly. “You can go away on your weekend trip, to your sister’s place in Springfield.”
Ernest Schroeder was shocked. How could this man possibly know that? I’m sure I never mentioned it, did I?
Alistair came in even closer to Schroeder and looked deep into his frightened eyes. “Yes, you just get your things, Mr. Schroeder, and don’t you worry. Your school will be perfectly safe with us.”
***
Ernest sighed. Reluctantly, he got out of bed and went downstairs in search of some coffee. He supposed he had to go back to Saul Emmanuel, and wondered briefly what new troubles awaited him there.
Chapter 16
One Month Later
It was a Thursday night. Most of the P.A.W.S. residents were just finishing off their supper. Miri was sitting at her usual table with Josh, Sandy, and Sean. Joey had joined them tonight and was entertaining them with a magic trick. This was his current obsession – not the real magic he’d learned back in Australia in the Alice Springs P.A.W.S. Institute – but conjuring tricks based on sleight of hand. He’d sneaked out one day last weekend when a festival was going on in Forest Park. There had been all kinds of roving entertainers: musicians, jugglers, and mime artists. And there had been one magician, The Great Bobbert. Joey had followed him around all day long, watching and learning his tricks, and since then had been practicing them on everyone at P.A.W.S.
During the last month, Miri had gotten used to her new routine at the institute. In the mornings she had regular (mostly non-magical) classes with Professor Ainsworth. P.A.W.S., she learned, got its funding from a secret ministry in the government, the Department of Magical Affairs. Because of that, it was bound to provide regular education at its institutes for its school-age students alongside the more specialized magical training.
Professor Cedric Ainsworth MHK (Magician of High Knowledge) earned his doctorate at the very exclusive Salem Institute, which specialized in the training of magical educators. There were sixteen students currently in his morning class, in which he taught everything from math to ancient history, both regular and magical. His animagus was a large tawny owl, and sometimes when he assigned his class some individual work to complete, he would transform himself and fly up to the top of the classroom and sit on the light fixture. There, by turning his head almost a full 360 degrees, he kept a beady eye on every student in his class.
In the afternoons, Miri continued her magical training with Josh. She was proud that she had been improving every day and now could identify another shapeshifter from a distance of about half a mile away. Josh had also been teaching her how to defend herself: mentally, by disguising her aura from others so that they could not identify her, and physically, as he taught her how to best use her feline form for self-defense. There was a lot more to it, she had learned, than just throwing down acorns onto the heads of Jeanie and her cronies, though Josh did admit with a smile that it had been very entertaining watching her doing that.
“So you were spying on me!” Miri had said, laughing, when Josh confessed. “I smelled the wolf smell all the time; I just didn’t know where it was coming from.”
“Yes, sorry about that,” Josh had replied, smiling sheepishly. “I wanted to make sure you were comfortable in your form before I brought you to P.A.W.S.”
In any case, Miri believed her training with Josh must be working, as she had noticed that she was no longer quite as clumsy as she used to be; in her cat form, she was actually starting to act more like a real cat. Even as a human, she had begun to feel a little more surefooted and less likely to trip over her own feet.
Miri enjoyed working with Josh immensely. He was kind to her and very, very patient, and this was not something she had ever really experienced from a teacher before.
The only frustrating thing she felt was that so far, she’d had no inkling as to what her special skill might be and was beginning to think that maybe she did not really have one. Josh kept assuring her that that was just not possible, that every shapeshifter had a special skill; it was just that sometimes it took a while to find it.
During this afternoon’s class, though, Josh had seemed distracted. It had been almost a month since he had found the scraps of cloth in the Turtle Playground, and he was still no nearer to solving their mystery. He had visited the wolves several times in the last few weeks, but they had never had any fresh news. It was frustrating. It was like all of them at P.A.W.S. were playing a giant game of chess with Alistair. It was his move, and he had no intention of playing it until he was good and ready.
Now, at supper, Miri noticed that Josh seemed to only be half-listening to Joey as he proudly produced a quarter out of Sandy’s ear. And as soon as he had finished eating, Josh excused himself from the table, saying he was tired and was going to try and get an early night.
After dessert, the rest of the P.A.W.S. students went over to the rec room. The rec room was the institute’s hang- out spot where the students congregated in the evenings. There was a large flat-screen TV and an Xbox console, plus a ping pong table, foosball, and a number of board games. The room was filled with old but comfy chairs and sofas, and students hung out in little groups, chatting and playing. Occasionally the chatter would be interspersed with the odd squawk or squeak as animagi casually changed forms.
As soon as they got there, Joey started circulating around the different groups of students, showing off his magic tricks. Miri smiled. The boy seemed to have more get- up-and-go than the Energizer bunny. She watched him wander from group to group. Everyone seemed to enjoy his tricks.
As Miri’s eyes traveled around the room, they involuntarily settled in a corner alcove containing a single loveseat. There, sitting on the seat very close to one another, were Lilith and Danny. Danny had his guitar with him and appeared to be giving Lilith a lesson, his arms around her, showing her how to properly finger the chords. Miri felt a jolt in her stomach and quickly looked away.
“Hey, mates, want to play Monopoly?” It was Joey, returning to their table after having shown his whole repertoire of tricks to almost everyone in the room.
“Sure, Joey,” Miri said, grateful for the distraction.
Joey set out the board and distributed the money. Then he took out a small silver wand from his pocket and waved it over four of the markers. Now each of the players had pieces that represented their animal forms. Miri’s was a silver cat with green eyes, very like her amulet; Sean’s was a horseshoe; and Sandy’s, a silver horse. And Joey, of course, had a little silver kangaroo.
They played for three hours until Joey had accumulated practically everything on the board and they all were yawning and ready for bed. Then, with another flick of his silver wand, the board was put away, and they ambled off to their dorm rooms.
***
The next morning, Josh was not at breakfast, but Miri didn’t think too much about it, as sometimes he slept late after he had been out with the pack. In Professor Ainsworth’s class, Miri plodded through an essay she was writing on how animagi had helped the North during the Civil War.
At lunch, Josh still hadn
’t appeared. Miri sat with Sandy, Sean, and Joey at their usual table. Sean was taking Joey out for another riding lesson after lunch. Joey apparently was becoming a much better rider and hadn’t fallen off for over a week. No one knew where Josh was, and Miri wondered whether he would turn up for their class in the afternoon.
At two o’clock, Miri went to the classroom where they normally met each day and stopped short in the doorway. Josh wasn’t there, but sitting in the middle of the desk was the most beautiful Maine Coon tomcat she had ever seen. He was huge, almost the size of a lynx, with thick, soft, tabby fur that she longed to run her fingers through. His face was framed by a mane flecked with golden highlights.
On his chest was a burst of pure white. His powerful paws were also white, and his tail was bushy and tall. He took her breath away.
Miri stood in the doorway. She could hear her heartbeat. The tomcat looked at her with his green eyes sparkling, and suddenly she felt a jolt like a burst of electricity run through her entire body as the cat took a long leap towards her and, before her eyes, began to change. It seemed like time slowed down as the feline expanded slowly and formed long limbs, dark shoulder-length hair, and a dazzling smile. The only parts of the cat’s body that remained were his green, green eyes.
Miri was speechless. “You need to learn to protect yourself better from the unexpected, Miri,” said Danny.
“Where’s Josh?” she mumbled, confused, a blush beginning to rise from the back of her neck up to her cheeks.
“Josh is going to be away for a few days. And in any case, sooner or later you would have to take some classes with me. There are parts of being a feline that only another cat can explain, and I don’t think Lilith is up to the task of training a kitten yet.”
Miri just stood there like a lemon, gaping, her mouth opening and shutting without making a sound. Later, in her room that night, she thought of many witty retorts. But there, with Danny in front of her, it was as if she was struck dumb.
Danny looked at her and smiled. “It’s all right,” he said. “I don’t bite. Well, not usually, anyhow!”
Chapter 17
Mandy was crying. “Please, please, let me go. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I’ll tell them at the school I ran away, got attacked by a wild animal. No one ever needs to know the truth. You want money? My family is rich. They can send you money, as much as you want.”
“No, sweetheart, I don’t want your money. I already have all the money I need. And I’m not worried that you’re going to tell on me. You can’t tell on me. I’ve already made sure of that.”
For the second time in the last month, Mandy was lying on the ground in the bushes just outside the Turtle Playground. The werewolves had ripped off most of her clothing, and her exposed body was covered with bite and scratch marks oozing blood. After the first attack, they had taken her back to their lair, where she had been kept prisoner for several weeks. Now, tonight, they had brought her here again. She was convinced that tonight they planned to kill her.
The werewolves were all in their halfway forms. They were not quite human but not fully wolf. There were three young werewolves, all male, plus their leader, who called himself Alistair. Then there was the woman, Nora, Alistair’s girlfriend. She was the one who had claimed that she was Miri Katz’s mother. How could that be so? How could that monster be anyone’s mother?
Mandy had never really cared much either way about Miri. Obviously, her family did not have the same class as hers, and in her lessons Miri was hopelessly dumb. But still she secretly thought that Jeanie’s taunts had been unfair. But, well, Jeanie was popular, even if she was a bully, and if you don’t go along with the popular kids, you run the risk of being bullied yourself.
So why had she offered to help that woman search the grounds of the academy for signs of Miri? There had been something compelling about the way she and Alistair had asked her, even though on the surface it had seemed like an innocent request.
Her search had taken her all the way back in the woods to that tree Jeanie had chased Miri to that time before. Odd that they never did find her that night, yet the next morning she was back at school like nothing had happened, although, of course, she got a detention. But that was nothing new.
Mandy entered through the tree’s branches and instantly found herself surrounded by a group of wolves. How they got there, she had no idea. They lunged at her all at once. She’d screamed and passed out. Then, when she came to again, she was lying in the bushes behind the Turtle Playground in Forest Park. She had no memory of how she got there. The werewolves must have had some kind of vehicle, she presumed.
Mandy lay on the ground and the wolves surrounded her, nipping at her flesh, hungrily, obviously eager to finish her off, so they could get to their meal. Watching them were Alistair and Nora, Alistair with a huge satisfied grin on his face. Nora looked nervous but defiant, as if she was trying to prove to Alistair that she could handle anything. Alistair allowed the wolves to continue their attack for a few more painful seconds and then, in a low voice, commanded them to stop. They obeyed immediately, and then Alistair stepped forward. He looked back at Nora and said “Watch this, my dear. This is how it’s done.”
Then he stepped forward and roughly tore the school blazer from Mandy’s back, ripped open the front of her blouse, and sunk his teeth into her skin. At the moment of his bite, Alistair seemed to be morphing back and forth between his man and wolf forms. Then he did something odd. He took a blue scarf out of his pocket and ripped a piece of it and used it to mop the blood from her chest.
Mandy’s body filled with pain, yet somehow this time she remained conscious while the wolves dragged her to a gray car that was parked on a nearby street.
For weeks the werewolves kept her in their den, which was a boarded-up house in a neighborhood of boarded-up houses, victims of the recession. Each day she made a different attempt to escape. Her physical attempts to leave were particularly futile; all the doors and windows of the house were barricaded, and Mandy was tremendously weak after the attack. So she resorted instead to persuasion. She had always been good at getting what she wanted. Surely there must be something these creatures craved.
Her father had taught her that there was no problem that money couldn’t solve. She was sure that if this was merely a kidnap, then her parents would pay the ransom, whatever it was. But all of her entreaties fell on deaf ears. And today, nearly a month from when she was first attacked, they had brought her back to the playground. Today she was sure she was going to die.
Alistair stepped towards Mandy. He bent down over her, looked her straight in the eyes, and smiled a horrible smile, showing all his huge canines at once. Grandpa, what big teeth you have! His face got closer and closer to hers, and then suddenly his mouth was on hers, a twisted, evil representation of a kiss. Suddenly a pain filled her head, and it felt like her whole body was going to explode. Now, in her mind, she heard his voice:
“You are to stay here tonight. You will not move, and you will not cry out. Do you understand?”
He broke the kiss and looked at Mandy.
Imperceptibly, she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered, “I understand.”
Alistair took out a piece of the same blue scarf, dipped it in Mandy’s blood, and left it next to her on the ground.
Then he turned and left. Nora and the other werewolves followed him.
Chapter 18
Over the next few days, Danny worked with Miri, helping her fine-tune her transformations. He taught her how she could subtly change her appearance so that she could blend in better with her surroundings. He taught her to communicate with other cats through her whiskers.
He explained that there truly was no such thing as a “regular” cat; that all cats had certain powers. He asked a lot about her previous life in New York with her omama and was particularly interested when she told him about their cats, Kitty and Suzy.
“Do you think they could have been shapeshifters too?” Miri asked.
�
��Probably not,” he said, “but I’m guessing that they were your grandmother’s connection with the P.A.W.S. Institute in New York. Also, from what you’ve told me, I would guess that it was Suzy who talked to another P.A.W.S. member in the district and had him call the ambulance on the day your omama died.”
“I never thought about that before. Yes, that would make sense, I suppose,” replied Miri.
“So where’s P.A.W.S. based in New York?” she asked.
“In Central Park. It’s the largest of the institutes in America.”
“Have you ever been there, Danny?”
“Yes, once, a long time ago. My mother took me there when I was about Joey’s age.”
“Your mother?” Miri asked.
“You don’t know, do you, Miri?” asked Danny, with a smile.
“Know what?” she replied, confused.
“Jessamyn,” said Danny. “Jessamyn’s my mother.”
“Jessamyn’s your mom! No, I had no idea. So did you grow up here at the institute?”
“Mostly,” replied Danny, “though occasionally, Jessamyn would be called away to meetings in the other institutes. Sometimes, if I was lucky, I’d get to go with her. All the other times, I was left with Mrs. Bumsqueak. She wasn’t a bad nanny, as toads go, but a little strict! I would sneak out into the park. And once, when I was six years old, I made it all the way to the zoo by myself, but then Ian saw me and sent a message back to P.A.W.S, and they came and got me. Mrs. Bumsqueak was furious and threatened to send a message to my mom, but I don’t think she really did.”
“Who is your father?” Miri asked
“I don’t know,” said Danny. “Mom’s never told me. Whenever I ask, she says it’s unimportant.” Miri could hear resentment in his voice.
“Well, then, we have something in common,” she said quietly. “I don’t know who my dad is either.”
Chapter 19
P.A.W.S. Page 8