"So, he was nine..."

Bismarck, North Dakota. Five years ago, 2025.

“Okay class. Remember what I said. Stick close with your buddy and use the activity sheets on your clipboards to guide you around the museum. Finally, what’s the most important rule while we’re here?” the female teacher asked, addressing her class of twenty one, grade four children.

“Look with our eyes and not with our hands!” the class chorused back.

“Excellent! Off you go then!” The children all starburst, relishing the confined freedom with the museum.

Miss Baxter watched as two from her class came over to her.

“Miss, our partners have left us,” the little girl said.

“Oh, already? Who are they?”

“Tobias and Yusef.”

Miss Baxter could feel a wave of dread wash over her. The two children who weren’t meant to be together have run off from their partners to be together. She rolled her eyes. “Okay, thanks for letting me know. You two pair up instead ok? And I’ll go looking for them.”

***

“This place sucks,” Yusef said as him and Tobias made a clean get away from their partners.

“And it’s boring,” added Tobias.

“Let’s go find somewhere to hide for a bit.” The boys did their best to look innocent as they snuck off, finding a door with a red rope across it and a sign that said “NO ENTRY” in large, inviting capital letters. They looked at each other with big mischievous grins and lifted the rope over their heads to go through the doors.

The corridor they entered looked different to the museum. Whilst the museum was dark with spotlights illuminating the exhibits, the corridor was clinically bright and non-descript. At the end of the corridor to their right were a set of double doors that led to outside. The doors opened and the boys darted for a different door they hoped was just a cupboard.

Result! It was.

Tobias held up his index finger to his lips to remind his friend to be quiet. They could hear footsteps come up the corridor towards them and a wheeling trolley.

“Let’s get these into the lab and then we’ll get lunch,” a muffled male voice said from the other side of the door.

“Sounds good, I’m starvin’” a female responded as they continued along. Some doors creaked open and Tobias slipped the door to the cupboard they were in, just open enough to see where they went into. A few moments later, a man and a woman wearing white boiler suits came back through, taking off their face masks.

They disappeared off out of view and Tobias and Yusef waited until it sounded like they had gone.

“Shall we go and see what they bought in?” Yusef whispered?

“What do you think it could be?”

“Did you see what they were wearing? Could it be toxic?”

“Or poisonous maybe?” Tobias asked.

“It could be dinosaurs? Or human skeleton remains!” Yusef enthused.

“Do you think we’ll get in trouble?”

“Only if we get caught. C’mon Tobe. Let’s just have a look. It could be something rare that they bought in to show here?”

“Okay.”

“Look, no one will find out.”

“I just don’t want my Social Worker finding out. She’ll go ape on me.”

“Well you can stay here Tobias, I’m going to look.” Yusef climbed over his friend and pushed the door open, crawling out before standing up. Tobias’ heart quickened and his desire to not miss out over ruled the feeling of dread he had in him. He mimicked his friend’s movement and joined him by the wall by the door.

Yusuf nodded and pushed against the door enough for their slim figures to get through.

Tobias followed and was impressed by the room they had come into. It was a laboratory of sorts with expensive machines hanging from the roof, desks lined with taps and microscopes and things that looked to him like microwaves.

“Holy smokes, this is awesome!” Tobias whispered. “Just don’t touch any of that stuff, alright Yus?”

“Yeah, yeah! Do you think this is what they bought in?” he asked pointing towards the middle of the room.

The boys approached a trolley which had a large wooden crate sat on it. The lid to it was slightly at an angle, so the boys silently worked together to lift it completely off.

“Oh man, that’s boring!” Yusuf scoffed, shaking his head with a youthfully bored ignorance.

Inside, laid on some tightly packed straw padding were a dozen small stone carvings of animals. There was an eagle, a bear, a funny looking long thing that looked a little like a dinosaur, a beaver, a frog, a lion, a badger and a few other not so obvious looking things.

“They’re pretty cool I think,” Tobias said. “How old do you think they are?”

“I could make you one if you want, how hard could it be?” Yusuf said disappointed.

“Yeah right!” Tobias responded dismissively. “I like that one the most. What about you?”

“Which one?” Yusuf asked, mustering some interest. Tobias pointed to the beaver. “The beaver? Beavers are lame. I like the bear. It’s the strongest one.”

“Yeah, but this is the cutest,” Tobias said under his breath in admiration. He reached in.

“No! Tobias!” Tobias stopped, his hand hovering over the collection of carvings. “Remember what Miss Baxter said!”

“She also said to stay with your partners and we didn’t.”

“But these could be ancient and fragile.”

“And probably in the ground for a long time,” Tobias said. “I just want to feel it now that we're here.” He continued his reach for the beaver carving. His index and forefinger tips stroked the smooth carving and instantly a purple spark crackled, causing them both to jump back.

Tobias cradled his hand, more out of shock than pain.

“Are you ok?” Yusuf asked.

They both turned away from the box, and looked down at his hand, not seeing the purple whisp of smoke snaking up from the beaver carving. It swirled and arched up towards Tobias, both boys unaware.

“Yeah, it was like an electric shock.”

“But it was purple,” Yusuf said.

They both turned around to look at it again but they froze when they saw the purple smoke trail wafting in front of them like a charmed snake. It slithered towards Tobias who couldn’t move from fear and wrapped itself around him, starting around the head and cocooning him up in a purple wrap.

Yusuf wanted to scream but also didn’t know how he could explain the mess they had both got themselves into if they got caught. Tobias was trying to shout but he was muffled underneath the smoke. There was nothing they could do.

After a few seconds the smoke started to disappear but to Yusuf’s horror, it was disappearing inside his friend, entering through his ears, nose and mouth, trailing up until it had all vanished.

When it did, Tobias fell backwards gasping for air in what looked like a panic attack. His eyes were wide, his hand clutched at his chest and Yusuf was panicking.

“Are… are you alright?”

Tobias shook his head. “I… I…” he stammered. “I don’t feel good. Help me up.” Yusuf obliged and grabbed his hands and pulled his friend to his feet.

“Do you want me to get Miss Baxter?”

“No! No fricking way man!” Tobias started walking towards the doors they came through.

“Where are you going?”

“Away from here, I need some air.” Tobias said, scratching at his arms, and his chest and tummy.

“I’ll come with you.” Yusuf took his friends hand reassuringly and they ran out into the corridor. The coast was clear and they ran for the double doors at the end.

Outside, they looked around and Yusuf jerked Tobias away from the museum, across the parking lot and into the forests.

Through the trees they ran, Tobias being pulled by one hand by his friend, and scratching frantically at his body.

“How are you doing?” Yusuf called out.

“I’m hot and itchy. I feel like I’m burning!”

“Here, jump in there!” Yusuf said, swinging his friend forward toward a stream they had come across.

“Help me get this off,” he asked of his friend, indicating to his jacket as he undid his jeans. Once he was stripped down to his underwear, he jumped into the water. He barely noticed the freezing temperatures as it bought such a relief to him. He rolled about, submerging himself in as much water as he could. Yusuf walked into the stream and started splashing water over Tobias to help.

“I feel really weird Yus!” Tobias rolled over and looked at his friend who gasped in shock. “Wha- what? What is it?”

“Your… your teeth. Look in the water.”

Tobias turned over onto all fours and looked into the water at his reflection. “Oh my God. My teeth! They’re massive!” Tobias touched them gently with one hand and burst into tears.

“It’s… it’s ok. It’s going to be ok. You could go to an orthodontist!”

“I have beaver teeth!” he wailed, before lowering himself back into the stream, scratching himself again. “Please scratch at me Yusuf! It hurts so bad!” His friend wasn’t sure what to do but knelt down beside his friend and scratched up and down his upper arms.

“How long do I do this for man? I think I sh-”

Tobias shrieked how in agony, arching his back, thrusting up, his body all rigid. Yusuf jumped back and fell in the stream and watched on as his friend rolled over onto his front, grabbing at his backside.

“What is it Tobes?”

“Oh my Gooorrrraaaaaaaaaaad!” he screamed through his tears. “It hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrts! My butt hurts!”

Yusuf panicked even more! “I can’t help you with your butt! I’m going to go get help! I’m scared!”

“Noooo! Don’t go!” But it was too late. Yusuf’s fear was too much. He was only nine. He couldn’t deal with this.

Neither could Tobias. He didn’t want to deal with people knowing he had teeth like a beaver, nor know about whatever was happening to his rear.

The sensation in his butt grew and grew, like something was building up. He panted to try and cope with it, having seen ladies give birth on the telly. It was kinda helping but suddenly something tore through his skin just above his coccyx and the waistband of his underwear. He screamed in agony but the pain suddenly subsided as quick as it appeared.

It was over.

What the hell had happened to him? He took a while to catch his breath and splashed cool stream water on his face and through his hair. He didn’t dare look back to find out so instead tentatively reached round with his hands.

What… The… HELL IS THAT?! He looked back and saw a little beaver tail sticking out of him. It was actually a part of him.

The sounds of someone shouting his name in the distance freaked him out, so he picked up his clothes and ran with them further into the forest. He ran and ran until he couldn’t hear shouting any more. He changed directions a few times, hurdling over tree logs and tripping on roots.

The longer Tobias ran for, the more tired he became, and he slowed down to a walk, still clutching his clothes in a tight ball to his chest. He came to the lake and walked round it for a bit, finding himself a secluded beach where he sat down.

He sat and tucked his head to his knees and cried. He cried and cried. Cried about what had happened to him, about the trouble he was going to be in with Miss Baxter, and his social worker. What his mom would think…

The sound of squeaks startled him and he finally looked up to see what was there. Sat around in front of him were four beavers curiously looking up at him.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he said to them. “I… I think I’m like you?”

“We won’t hurt you,” a beaver chittered back.

“We heard you crying.”

“Are you ok?”

Tobias looked at them, stunned. “You… you can t-talk to me? I can und-understand you?”

The beavers looked amongst themselves, noses twitching, then back at Tobias. “Do you need somewhere to stay?”

***

“And he was found two weeks later, just in his underwear, having lived with the beavers that whole time, learning about what it is to be one, learning to swim, finding out a little about what he was capable of, learning how to use his teeth… And during that time his tail grew to the size it is now, his toes webbed and he grew a very fine hair all over his body.”

"Two weeks?! That's a long time. I bet his mum was so pleased to have him back?"

"Not exactly. He was a handful before all that happened to him," George explained. "His mom had addiction issues, dad was in and out of prison. They find him and she takes one look at him and says 'I can't deal with that.'." Kimona started to well up. "Anton, The Red Cardinal, got wind of this while he was the leader of the Warriors and took him in. Was like a dad to him. Gave him a chance, a family. He's done so well."

"Do you think he's handling the Anton-slash-Guy situation ok?"

George looked out across the lake at the floating sleeping teen. "Perhaps. It's not always easy to tell with him. His life changed so much on that day on the field trip, how does anyone be ok with that in general?" George chuckled at the craziness of the situation.

“Wow,” Kimona muttered. “All that caused by the carving.”

“Yeah. They were Native American fetishes. Carvings of animals that were believed to hold the physical energy of the animal that they represented.”

“And hence he touched the fetish of the beaver.”

“Yup. Just as well he didn’t touch the eagle one, because there’s a chance he could’ve grown wings and we'd have had no chance of keeping him around here.”

“Wow. Poor kid... At least he's got you guys.”

"And Ulrika," George said.

“Of course. So she just... teaches him?”

“She’s technically his legal guardian now and is employed to educate him, manage the team, lead things here. She’s a multi-tasking saint!”

“She sounds it!” Kimona smiled as she lay back down, leaning on her elbows.

There was a comfortable pause before George spoke again. Changing the conversation somewhat, he asked, “While we're sharing, and don’t get me wrong, but how long do you envisage being with us? Of course, you can stay here as long as you want. You’re part of our family now and we owe you for helping us in and after the attack here."

Kimona leaned back onto her back and looked up the clouds, sighing loudly. “Oh I don’t know. When I feel like I can face the root of my problems.”

“And what is the root of them? If you don’t mind me asking? Tobias was complaining that you wouldn't tell him.”

Kimona sat up sighed. “Did he now? Alright, so it's The Secretary.”

“Ah,” George responded sympathetically. "I gotcha."

“It won’t be forever. The time will come, but in the meantime I just needed a change of scenery. I didn’t feel like I belonged in England, and I didn’t want to work under The Secretary’s direct lead. She lied to me. And... and when you doubt yourself and your place somewhere, it just bloody annoyed me to know that one of the people who I trusted to help me feel like I belong... did that. I just got up in my feelings about it.”

“That’s understandable. Well, like I said, you’re welcome here for as long as you want though. It’s nice to have another human around. You handle the weirdness of the forests well enough too.”

“Well, I’ve had some experiences up north. In the arctic,” she said, making a face as if to say there was more to it.

“Oooh, vague. I see how it is!” George chuckled.

Tobias came over, wading through the water, looking weary and sleepy. “I’m going to head back in to my room. I’m a bit sleepy and will just probably watch some telly in the dark.”

“Alright Tobias. See you in the morning,” Kimona said.

“If we don’t have anything on tomorrow, can we come out here to play again?” he asked her.

She smiled back, proud to be asked. “Yeah, definitely. I’d love to!”

"Great, you can tell me what The Secretary lied to you about."