Doreen woke up with Tapper in his tree pool, and Woody on the floor in front of her

bed. She got up and took care of her morning duties before getting dressed. She had

to get Woody off the tournament list before class. The longer she waited, the tougher

it would be to get things done.

The administration might not let him withdraw. They were like that sometimes. She

didn’t know what to do if that happened.

She grabbed Tapper and put him on her shoulder as she walked out of her room. She

left Woody lying on the floor, feet in the air. She made sure to close the door. She

doubted that would stop him if he wanted to leave, but she didn’t want to explain his

woodeness to the school faculty while trying to get him out of the tournament.

What did she do if she couldn’t get Woody taken off the list? What would she be

responsible for if he actually fought in the tournament? Would his magic trump

elemental powers?

She had seen Errant block a fire lance with his hand, deflected it. Could Woody do

the same thing if he wanted?

She had never seen a regular totem do something like that. Is that one of the things

that made familiars different?

Doreen walked to the Administration building and checked the door. She almost

smiled when she could go in. She walked the halls, glancing at the framed list of

tournament partners and the one big name at the bottom.

There was even a pawprint at the end.

Doreen grimaced as she walked into the office of the chief administrator’s secretary.

If she wanted Woody’s name off the list, this was the place to start in her mind.

“What can I do for you, Doreen?,” asked the secretary, an old woman named Rissa

Council of the Claws.

“I need to have a name removed from the tournament list,” said Doreen. “He doesn’t

have a partner.”

“Not your totem?,” said the secretary.

“No,” said Doreen. “He belongs to someone else who left him with me and he was not

supposed to enter the tournament, but he did. His partner says he cheats.”

“Does he?,” asked Rissa.

“I don’t know, but maybe,” replied the student. “I mean he seems smart enough to

cheat if he wanted.”

“I think the headmaster would like to see this miracle animal,” said Rissa. “Why don’t

you get it and bring it in.”

“I’ll do what I can,” said Doreen. “Woody is a big wooden dog. I’ll talk to him and

see if I can get him to appreciate the trouble he caused.”

“I will talk to the headmaster, Doreen,” said Rissa. She smiled. “I doubt he will take

this totem’s name off the fighting list.”

“He’s not really a totem,” said Doreen. “Errant calls him a familiar. He has a more

morose personality than his partner. I don’t know what to do about any of this.”

“Go get him,” said the secretary. “Then we’ll see if we can take him off the list.”

“What if he can’t be taken off?,” asked Doreen. “I don’t want to explain to Errant that

his familiar was hurt doing something he told me not to let his familiar do.”

“You can’t worry about that,” said Rissa. “I’m going to assume you didn’t ask this

familiar to sign up. Anything stemming from the familiar doing that is on it.”

“I hope Errant sees it that way,” said Doreen. “He trusted me and I let him down.”

“Just because he warned you doesn’t mean he thought you could stop his familiar,”

said Rissa. “Some people play down their creations’ strengths so they are

underestimated.”

“I’ll get Woody and bring him,” said Doreen. “Then I have to get ready for my

classes.”

“Good luck with the Headmaster,” said Rissa.

Doreen walked back to her room and found Woody sitting by the entrance door,

watching the students walk in and out of the dorm. He wagged his tail a little when

he saw her.

“We’re going to see the Headmaster,” said Doreen. “So it is time for you to be a little

more serious. I’m going to do what I can to take you out of the tournament.”

Woody howled.

“No,” said Doreen. “Errant said not to let you enter, and if you did enter, not to let

you cheat. You have already done one, and you will probably do the other given your

acts of chicanery so far.”

Woody snuffled at her.

“I don’t care,” said Doreen. “The last thing I need is trouble from an oversized puppy

who should be old enough to know better about abusing guest rights.”

Woody slumped as he walked behind her with tail down. He had abused the privilege.

She was right about that.

They walked over to the administration building. Doreen led the way to the

Headmaster’s office and entered. Woody stepped in, looking around.

“He’s waiting for you, Doreen,” said Rissa. She gestured at the other office door. “Go

in.”

“Miss Doreen,” said the Headmaster. He glared at her and the wooden dog sniffing

the room. “Is this your so-called familiar?”

“He’s not my familiar,” said Doreen. “Tapper is my totem.”

She held out her water squirrel for examination in both hands. The totem waved a

forepaw in greeting.

“This is Errant’s familiar,” said Doreen. “I took him on as a guest. I didn’t know he

was going to cause me trouble.”

Woody put his paws on the Headmaster’s desk. He barked and chuffled through his

story. At one point it sounded like he said he was being framed.

“I see,” said the Headmaster. He had the look of someone who didn’t see at all. “And

student Doreen, you don’t want this animal to participate in the tournament.”

“He was not supposed to sign up for it,” said Doreen. “Which he knew and did

anyway.”

“I see,” said the Headmaster. “And your partner is off somewhere else?”

Woody chuffed. He looked the faculty chief in the eye. He knew something was

going through his mind. Something devious.

“I don’t know where Errant is,” said Doreen. “Could I get Woody removed from the

tournament before I get into trouble?”

“I think we’re going to leave Woody in the ranks,” said the Headmaster. “I think

that’s the right thing to do.”

“Sir, I’m responsible for him,” said Doreen. “I can’t afford to let him get hurt.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said the Headmaster. “I will talk to the dog’s creator when he

comes back to pick the dog up.”

“Are you sure about this?,” asked Doreen. “The dog cheats.”

“He is not affiliated with the academy,” said the Headmaster. “So what if he cheats

against other totems?”

Doreen frowned. She saw the problem in front of her. Woody wouldn’t just cheat

against the other schools coming to the tournament. He would also cheat against

anyone from the academy.

He was an equal opportunity cheater.

Woody gave the Headmaster a friendly wag of his tail. He bounded to the door. He

waited for Doreen to open the door for him.

Doreen remained silent. She felt Tapper waving his arms but she didn’t add to his

indignation. The Headmaster thought Woody would bring the Academy glory. He

didn’t know what kind of power he was trying to control.

She expected that he still thought of Woody as someone’s totem. He was going to get

a surprise when the first round of the tournament started. She knew that from the way

Woody pranced.

“Are you happy?,” asked Doreen.

Woody barked at her. His tail wagged.

“If you get hurt, Errant will be mad at me,” said Doreen. “I promised to keep you out

of trouble. And here we are. I promised not to let you sign up for the tournament, yet

here we are. You are nothing but trouble. You can’t even get through the tournament

without cheating. I have to get to class, and then Tapper and I have to work on things.

Go enjoy your day.”

She walked toward her classroom building. She didn’t look at his drooping tail and

ears back. She still had to be ready for her exams. Tapper had to be ready to face

others so he wouldn’t be destroyed as useless.

She walked into the teaching building and closed the door in Woody’s face. She

walked down the hall, waving at Jessica as she went.

The other girl fell in next to her as they walked to their first class. They didn’t have

a lot of classes together because of their totems, but they did share the same classes

in general studies.

“How did it go?,” asked Jessica.

“The Headmaster said Woody could enter and be as big a cheat as he wanted,” said

Doreen. “And if Woody gets caught, his partner doesn’t go to school here so there is

no loss of honor attached to us.”

“And you don’t agree,” said Jessica.

“I think that Woody will show the faculty and the visitors from the other schools

something they have never seen before,” said Doreen. “I wish we weren’t here to see

it.”

“You think it will be that bad?,” said Jessica.

“I think it will be worse than I can imagine, and I am imagining all sorts of things,”

said Doreen.

“Maybe he will get knocked out in the first round,” said Jessica.

“Maybe Tapper will teach me how to fly,” said Doreen. She stopped and looked at the

floor. “I’m sorry, Jessica. I’m the one that is responsible for this. Woody has put me

in a bad situation. I don’t like it. I don’t like the Headmaster thinks he can use Woody

to cheat the other fighters from the other schools. I don’t know what to do about it.”

“There’s nothing you can do,” said Jessica. “Just try to avoid getting him in a rank.

If he has unknown abilities, we don’t want either of our totems facing him first.”

“We’ll know better once the brackets are printed out,” said Doreen. “They might

decide that we won’t have to face each other until the end, or something else, so the

other schools are forced out.”

“So we’ll have to work hard to get into those top brackets if they do that,” said

Jessica. “We can do it.”

“Be careful, Jessica,” said Doreen. “If our Headmaster is willing to cheat to win, there

is no telling what the other Headmasters have sent to fight.”

“Jaw can handle anything in his weight class,” assured Jessica. The stone panther

meowed in agreement.

“There will probably be a lot of cheating going on,” said Doreen. “I had thought

Errant had been just faking things, but he was probably right. Woody is the biggest

cheater there is.”

“It will be all right,” said Jessica. “If we are faced against the other schools, we won’t

have to deal with him until the end. And since he doesn’t have a partner in a student

here, we can ask for him to be disqualified at any time we catch him breaking the

rules.”

“So I can keep Tapper from being discorporated if I can get Woody disqualified if he

is number one?,” said Doreen.

“Yes,” said Jessica.

“All right,” said Doreen. “Does anyone else know you’re the smartest one in the

school?”

“All of my teachers,” said Jessica. “And I think some of the guys and girls who are

trying to bed me.”

“Really?,” said Doreen.

“I don’t think they want me use my brain in that case,” said Jessica.

“I have no idea,” said Doreen. “And I don’t think I want to know.”

“Some people like the way I look, and what I can do with my hands,” said Jessica.

She waved her fingers suggestively.

“I guess I can understand that,” said Doreen.

“Have you never been with someone else?,” asked Jessica.

“No,” said Doreen. She could feel the blood rush to her face.

“Would you like to?,” asked Jessica.

Doreen stammered. She had never thought of herself as desirable. She could feel her

face about to blow up from the blood running to it.

“When you want to, let me know,” said Jessica. “It will be great for you.”

Jessica walked off with a wave of her hand.

“I am so embarrassed,” Doreen told Tapper. He waved his arms to show that he didn’t

know if this was a good idea, or not. Maybe Doreen could use something like that as

a life experience to get better. Maybe it would break her heart when she needed it to

be whole and functioning.

“I don’t know either,” said Doreen.