With her first steps inside of the animal shelter, Val approached the shelter worker immediately. “I’ve come back to adopt Foofy,” she announced plainly.

The shelter worker looked up at her with a pitied, squinted gaze. “You may be an adult, Val, but you are not able to provide for a pet independently from your family. I am sorry about your mother’s decision, but there is no way that your application to own a pet can go through without her.”

Val slammed her hand onto the desk and raised her voice. “Foofy is going to die tonight, and you are telling me that an application matters?”

The shelter worker lurched up and then shrunk back from her outburst. He continued to stammer out his accurate but lame explanation. “Well, the whole point of this shelter is for animals to come here when they have no safe place to go where they are welcome. Sending him to you won’t do anything. Your mom said so herself: your apartment building does not allow large dogs. Foofy would just end up back here even if I let you just waltz out with him.”

“I have no intention to take him home,” Val said darkly. She had a good reason for packing every type of supply that she could think of into her backpack. She had no intention of ever going home again.

Resting her backpack atop the desk, Val pulled out the boxcutter which she had tucked into one of the frontmost pouches. Back when she had gotten it, she had cleaned it so Val assumed that the blade must be sanitary enough for a demigoddess to handle. Therefore, she drew a shallow line across the palm of her hand. Even if the blade had been disgusting, rusted with tetanus, her divine blood would not allow her to succumb to any infection quite so easily. Golden blood oozed from the cut on her hand, gathering in small beads of shimmering liquid atop her skin.

Val swung back to face the shelter worker. She showed him her hand, fingers folded round into a fist. Her nails drove into the cut to make further streaks of blood glisten down her palm. Then, her fingers splayed wide to display the cut. “I have divine blood. It has always been my intention to make my way to the Summit of Ascension. I wish to take Foofy with me.”

The shelter worker stared at her with goggled eyes. “I-I have never met anyone with divine blood before.” After shaking his head fiercely, he amended, “Or perhaps I should say that I have never met anyone that I have known to have divine blood before.”

Val did not let her face twitch an inch. Her lips stayed drawn into a stony, serious expression. “Let me take Foofy as my own dog.” She did not phrase this sentence as a question, because it was not. This statement, she made a demand. Should the shelter worker still refuse to surrender Foofy to her, then Val would have no other option but to take him by force.

“You are one of those demigods that are trapped in the mortal realm, aren’t you?” the shelter worker asked. That all-too perceptive nature of his stung at her. “Will you even be able to take Foofy with you to the Summit of Ascension, though? I mean, you would have to find it first.”

Val narrowed her eyes at him. “Do not pretend to know my situation. I don’t have time to explain, nor would I to a mortal. To answer your concern, yes, I do know where the Summit is. I will have no trouble bringing Foofy with me.” All of these lies, Val had the liberty to tell to a random mortal. “I will have a lot of ground to cover by nightfall, so can we speed this up?”

“Sure, sure,” the shelter worker stammered. His weight shifted about in place. “Technically, I should not allow this, but I mean, the rules do not properly account for miracles happening. If a demigoddess decides to save one of our poor animals, well, all I can say is that I have never felt so blessed before.”

Val did not even hold any authority with her divine blood yet, but a mortal such as the shelter worker already folded under her presence. With a smile, she figured she might as well reassure him. “If it makes you feel better, you are not making any wrong decision.” A nervous laugh tittered from her lips as she admitted, “Honestly, I would take Foofy by force if you would refuse me. You are just saving both of us the hassle.”

“I suppose so.” A grimace crossed the shelter worker’s face.

Her egotistical hostility made Val wince in kind. In a way, her behavior reminded herself of Gina in this moment. To try to make amends, she offered some kinder words to the shelter worker. “I am glad that we do not have to fight over this. You have always been kind to me and all of the animals here, so thank you.”

“Of course.” The shelter worker’s mood seemed to chipper up a significant degree. He led her back to the run of dog kennels with the set of keys jangling in his hand.

In front of the bars to his kennel, Foofy pranced around inside. Something about his animal instincts must have cued him in on the excitement charged in the air. This would be a big day for both him and Val.

“Foofy!” Val cheered as the shelter worker unlocked the door.

In response to his name, Foofy charged Val in the very same way that he had done on the day of their first meeting. He leaped up on her, but instead of falling down, this time she caught his paws at her shoulders.

“Aw, hi there, Foofy!” Val rubbed his head between his pointy Dobie ears. After giving some happy pats and receiving some even happier kisses from Foofy, Val returned her attention to the shelter worker. “I brought money to pay for the adoption fee.” She pulled out her wallet and started counting out the hundred-some dollars that would cover it. “Also, I did not exactly have the opportunity to buy a leash for Foofy. Could I take one? I will pay you extra for it.”

The shelter worker considered this, then nodded along. In a hushed voice, he said, “I suppose if you are heading to the Summit of Ascension it may be difficult for you to pick one up along the way.”

The leash cost her an extra fifteen dollars. Out of her savings, she still had another good, couple hundred dollars. Hopefully, this journey would not turn out to be too long, or else Val would have to find a way to get a hold of some more cash.

With Foofy hooked onto the leash, and the leash in Val’s hand, she could feel herself beaming with all of the pride of new dog ownership. She could now spend tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that with her best buddy Foofy.

While Val had cut her left hand to show the shelter worker earlier, the intact skin of her right hand let her stick it out for a handshake. “It has been a pleasure volunteering here, every day after school.” Only one week had passed with her routine like this, but it had been an important week of her life.

“The dogs will certainly miss you, and I suppose that I will too.”

“I don’t believe that I had ever asked you this…” Val began, though she knew that the shelter worker had told her upon their introduction. If his name had not mattered to her up until this point, this one mortal’s name would hardly matter now. Inquiring minds wanted to know though, so she asked, “What is your name?”

“Gary,” the shelter worker said with a tight smile.

Val nodded and repeated, “Gary.” The kindly shelter worker’s name at the Brillion City Humane Society was Gary. She would do good to remember that, since she ought to come back here when she got around to visiting her mother again. “Well, thanks for being so understanding. Thanks for everything.” Val turned to go.

“No, no,” Gary cried, “thank you! I still cannot believe that a demigoddess has saved one of our dogs here. Do remember us, will you Val?”

“I will.” With a smile and a wave of her bloody hand, Val saw herself out of the animal shelter with Foofy pulling on the leash at her side.