P.A.W.S.

by Debbie Manber Kupfer

  Chapter 10

  Principal Schroeder blew on his coffee. The rising steam clouded his spectacles, and he removed them and wiped them with his sleeve. He spread out his daily newspaper and scanned the headlines: more wars, new taxes, unemployment, crime. He sighed and thumbed through the paper until he found the comics. He remembered in his youth he used to think they were funny. Not anymore. He folded the paper, took out a pencil, and smiled at the crossword. This was the only reason he even bothered with the paper anymore. One across, “Marathon problem,” seven letters. Hmmm... exhaustion? No, that didn’t fit. Fatigue! Yes, that was it.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the door. What now? He sighed.

  “Come in!”

  “Sorry to bother you, Ernest, but Mr. Katz is here to speak to you.”

  “Okay, send him in.”

  He tried to compose himself. He straightened his tie and adjusted his glasses. The fur merchant David Katz had put a lot of money into the school since he had started sending his niece there three years ago. He and his wife, Cynthia, had had little contact with their niece since that time, content that, in exchange for an obscene amount of cash, their ward would stay at Saul Emmanuel not only throughout the school year but also during the summer for the state-of-the-art summer camp run by the school.

  Not that this did Miri Katz any good. As far as the principal and his staff could ascertain, Miri did very little other than read fantasy novels and write in her notebooks. In her classes she was a mediocre student at best, plus she was clumsy and socially awkward. But all this never seemed to bother David and Cynthia. When called in for conferences, they would dutifully accept the poor report cards and then leave without even looking in on their niece. But as long as the checks kept coming, that was okay with Ernest Schroeder.

  “Ah, good day, Mr. Katz, and what can I do for you today?” asked the principal.

  “I need to see the brat, at once!” demanded David Katz.

  “Excuse me?” said Ernest.

  “My niece, please call for her!”

  “Of course, Mr. Katz. One moment, please.”

  He picked up the phone and punched in a number.

  “Mrs. Epstein, can you go and find Miriam Katz and bring her to my office? Her uncle is here to see her.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  “So, Mr. Katz, how is the fur trade?”

  David Katz ignored Ernest’s question and instead stared across the table, looking at the principal’s unfinished crossword.

  “Mmm, waste of time, that. Crosswords – no money in it!”

  “That may be true, sir, but I personally think that they’re very good training for the mind.”

  “Nonsense!” replied David. “Crossword puzzles are only training for doing other crossword puzzles.”

  “Whatever you say, sir. Can I get you some coffee while you wait? I’m sure it won’t take long to locate your niece.”

  “You don’t, by any chance, have anything stronger, do you, Ernest?”

  “Um... yes, maybe.” He got up from his desk and wandered over to his filing cabinet and withdrew a small bottle of Johnnie Walker. “Been saving this for a rainy day.”

  He took two glasses and poured a little of the amber liquid in each glass.

  “No need to be stingy, Ernest,” said David. “Pass that bottle over here. Whoops! Oh, I’m sorry.”

  As he took the bottle, he knocked over the principal’s coffee, and pools of brown liquid splashed all over the crossword on his desk.

  “Can’t be helped,” sighed Ernest. He took a large white handkerchief out of his pocket and tried inefficiently to mop up the soggy brown mess.

  The door opened and Mrs. Epstein rushed in. She was red in the face and panting hard as if she had just finished a marathon. She took in the mess on the table and the whiskey bottle.

  “Whatever is the matter, Eudora?”

  “She’s gone, sir! I’ve searched the whole building and Miriam Katz is nowhere to be found and she’s taken some of her stuff!”

  “Have you searched the grounds? I know she often mopes around out there.”

  “I have some of the students searching now, sir. But her bed wasn’t slept in last night, and no one’s seen her since yesterday morning.”

  “This is not good, Schroeder!” yelled David Katz. “I entrusted you with my niece. I demand you find her.” He stopped and considered for the moment, then continued:

  “May I be permitted to visit her dorm room, please?”

  “Certainly, sir,” replied the principal. “Eudora, kindly escort our guest up to Miss Katz’s dorm room.”

  “Of course, Principal. Follow me, Mr. Katz.”

  As Mr. Katz and Mrs. Epstein left the room, Ernest Schroeder looked down at the brown soggy mess on his desk.

  “Ugh,” he said. “Why do I never get to finish my crossword?”

  ***

  “Did you find it?” demanded Alistair. They were sitting by the marble counter in the kitchen of the Katz house in the fashionable St. Louis suburb of Town and Country; a kitchen in which, in the fifteen years they had lived there, neither David nor Cynthia Katz had ever cooked a single meal. David Katz had offered Alistair a drink, which he had declined. David was on his third whiskey, but no amount of alcohol could drown out the dread that oozed through his veins at the sound of Alistair’s voice.

  “No, Mr. Wolfe, I went through all her possessions,” replied David, trying to hide the quiver in his voice. “I have this, though,” he said, offering a soft blue shawl.

  “That may be useful for tracking the girl,” said Alistair, snatching the shawl with his long, bony fingers. He put it up to his nose, closed his eyes, and inhaled, taking in its aroma.

  “You say she has disappeared?”

  “Yes. I really don’t understand how.”

  “Well, obviously, she had help. Seems if I want to have something done right, I’m going to have to do it myself. I will leave you now, but don’t think this is the last you will see of me. Oh, and do send my love to that delightful Cynthia of yours. Tell her I look forward to getting to know her better in the future.”

  David shuddered and got up rather unsteadily. He walked Alistair to the door and watched him walk out into the night, clutching the blue shawl under his arm.

  Chapter 11

  Miri was lying on her bunk, looking up at the ceiling and wondering for the millionth time this week about the amazing shapeshifters that had built this institute – mostly shapeshifting moles and hares, she had been told. Miri’s first week at P.A.W.S. had been taken up with orientation, including introductions to the staff and the other students. Now, for the first time since she arrived, Miri had a little time to herself. She had taken out one of the notebooks she had brought with her from Saul Emmanuel. Miri thought it might be a good idea to record her experiences here at P.A.W.S. alongside her stories and her childhood memories of New York and Omama.

  Miri had spent some time this week in the library at P.A.W.S., run by a lovely old animagus owl called Cedric, who had been running the library for the last thirty years. She had learned that the organization had originally grown up in Europe during the Second World War. The shapeshifters of Europe had used their skills to help the resistance all through the war zone. Miri wondered if Celia Katz, her omama, had been one of those shapeshifters.

  Today P.A.W.S. had institutes all over the world, and the Midwest Institute had several visiting scholars and exchange students from overseas branches. One of the most energetic was Joey Marks, an animagus kangaroo (yes, seriously, a kangaroo!) from Australia. At just 10 years old, Joey had won a contest of all antipodean animagi, for which the prize had been a two-year scholarship to the Midwest P.A.W.S. Institute. Joey never seemed to stop moving and had been asking Miri nonstop questions about her previous life ever since she arrived here. But he was also obviously very smart. Becoming an animagus was not an easy task even for a fully grown magician and normally required years of study. That Joey achi
eved this at such an early age spoke volumes for his skills.

  “Oh, hi...” The door was flung open and Miri’s roommate, Lilith, entered the room. Lilith threw down her purse, kicked off her shoes, and morphed into her feline form. Lilith was one of the two other cats at the institute that Josh had mentioned. She leaped up onto her top bunk, curled into a ball, and instantly fell asleep.

  Since Miri arrived, Lilith had expressed her dislike for her. Before Miri came, this room was Lilith’s alone, and she did not like sharing her territory. Both in cat and human form, Lilith was beautiful. As a cat, she was a Persian, pure white with bright blue eyes and silky smooth fur. As a human, she was a goddess with golden blonde hair, a perfect figure, dazzling white teeth, and skin so clear Miri doubted if it had ever seen a pimple. Every boy at the institute was infatuated with Lilith, that much was obvious, and she loved the attention. She also apparently loved to entertain them in their room, something she’d been able to do up until a week ago when Miri turned up and severely cramped her style.

  Miri had yet to meet the other cat animagus, Danny. Shortly after Miri arrived at P.A.W.S., Josh was called into an emergency meeting with Jessamyn. That night he and Danny had been sent out on an important errand and had yet to return.

  With Lilith in the room (even sleeping), Miri no longer felt like writing, so decided to go for a walk. The institute was truly an amazing place. Built in three levels of tunnels underneath the Jewel Box, each floor had a number of rooms. There were dorm rooms, classrooms, a kitchen, a laundry, a library, and a communal dining room. After only a week here, though, Miri already had a favorite spot. From the third floor via a small flight of steps and a trapdoor, she entered the Jewel Box itself.

  Miri changed into her cat form and wandered through the array of beautiful plants, taking in the intoxicating scents and amazing colors of the foliage surrounding her. She felt privileged to live below such a beautiful site. She was careful to avoid the windows that could be seen from the outside, though she had been told that they had been charmed so that frustrated tourists looking inside would not see her.

  A couple of other shapeshifters were in the Jewel Box tonight. High in a tree Miri saw Tessa, who was one of those extremely rare animagi who could change into a number of different forms. All of Tessa’s forms were birds, and today she was a brightly colored toucan.

  Twined around a lower branch was Zamir. Zamir was another of the institute’s exchange students and was a shapeshifter like Miri, only his locket bore the insignia of a snake. Zamir came from Egypt from the P.A.W.S. Institute of the Middle East in Aswan. When in human form, he had olive skin, a quiet voice, and a lovely smile. As a snake, he was a horned viper with sandy-colored scales and brown spots and a sagacious look on his face, as if this reptilian form gave him a certain understanding of the world that was normally lost to humans. He had been at the Midwest Institute for five months and was training to be a healer.

  Through the windows of the Jewel Box, the sun was setting. Miri watched the sunset. It had a beautiful reddish-golden glow. There were few people left in the park now. On a distant path she saw a lone man walking his dog.

  Zamir slithered off the tree and changed back into human form.

  “Time for dinner, I think,” he said. “Tessa,” he called to the toucan in the trees, “you coming?”

  “Sure,” she squawked, and they all made their way to the trapdoor.

  Just outside the dining room, Miri ran right into a familiar face.

  “Josh,” she exclaimed. “You’re back!”

  He smiled weakly at her, and she noticed the lines of fatigue on his face and dark circles under his eyes. She wondered if he had slept at all in the last week.

  “Yeah, I’m back,” he replied, “and really hungry. Come, let’s go get something to eat.”

  They walked into the dining room together. There was a long table in the center set up buffet-style, and they each took a tray and filled their plates. Miri followed Josh back to an empty table at the back of the dining room, and within a couple of moments, Sandy and Sean joined them.

  “Just been out for a trot,” said Sean. “The horse path around Forest Park is cool. I’m giving riding lessons to young Joey.”

  “Where is Joey?” Miri asked, looking around. The 10-year-old didn’t appear to be at dinner.

  “Taking a shower,” said Sean, laughing. “He’s not the best rider yet, and…well, he had a little incident involving a rather muddy puddle!”

  Miri glanced over to the dining room door and noticed her roommate, Lilith, walking in with a boy she had not seen before. He was tall, about 16 or 17 years old, she guessed, with wavy, jet black hair that reached his shoulders. He obviously had just told a joke, and Lilith was laughing and flirting with him. Lilith reached out and touched his arm and said something to him, and for a moment he glanced over at Miri’s table. For a microsecond their eyes met, and Miri felt a jolt in her stomach and looked away. This is ridiculous, she told herself. I’ve never even seen this boy before. How can I possibly be jealous?

  “Who’s that?” Miri whispered to Josh.

  “Oh, that’s Danny. He’s the other feline animagus I mentioned. I’ll introduce you, if you’d like.”

  “Um... maybe later,” said Miri, her face reddening.

  “G’day, mates! Shift over. Thanks for the lesson, Sean. It was fun.” 10-year-old Joey plunked his tray down on the table and sat down next to Sean. He grabbed a bread roll, and between bites began describing in detail his first-ever riding lesson which he had earlier that afternoon with Sean.

  After about ten minutes of talking, he suddenly realized that Josh was sitting at the table.

  “So, you guys got back?” Joey asked. “How was the mission?”

  “Not that exciting,” said Josh, but Miri could see from his eyes that he wasn’t being entirely truthful. She studied his face now and noticed that it was not just fatigue she was seeing, but that there was also a deep scratch on the left side of his face.

  “You’re hurt, Josh,” Miri said, pointing to the scratch.

  “Maybe you should go and see Mrs. Bumsqueak.”

  Mrs. Beatrice Bumsqueak was the institute’s healer. Her animagus was a toad. Reptiles and amphibians make the best healers, as they often learn how to use the venoms in their bodies to make potions.

  “No, it’s not that bad,” said Josh, shrugging.

  “Hmm, I wonder what’s up?” said Sandy, looking towards the door.

  Jessamyn had walked in and was now striding purposefully through the room towards their table. This, even Miri realized, was highly unusual. During the week since Miri had arrived at the institute, she had seen very little of Jessamyn, and definitely not in the dining room. Miri had assumed she must take her meals in her room.

  Jessamyn stopped by their table and Miri expected her to talk to Josh, but instead, she turned to Miri. “When you are finished with your meal, Miriam, I need to see you in my chamber.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Miri replied, stunned, and wondered if she could have done something wrong. She had been used to being called to the principal’s office in Saul Emmanuel but somehow thought that P.A.W.S. would be different. Jessamyn left as quickly as she had arrived, and while she finished her supper, Miri fretted about what Jessamyn could possibly want from her.

  ***

  “Enter!”

  Cautiously, Miri opened the door and walked into Jessamyn’s chamber. The room was not large but was furnished from floor to ceiling with shelves filled with books and artifacts. On the floor was a plush green carpet, which at first glance resembled a grassy meadow with tiny blooms poking out hither and thither. Instinctively, Miri reached down to touch a small purple flower that looked like a violet, but she was surprised when her hand went straight through it and touched instead the smooth marble floor beneath. It was an illusion. Miri already knew from Josh that some of the animagi could create illusions as part of their magic, but never did she expect an illusion to be this intricate.
She even thought she could smell a faint aroma from the illusionary violet.

  Miri searched the chamber for Jessamyn. In the middle of the room was a large, sturdy desk fashioned from oak. On the desk was a silver bowl filled with water that appeared to be glowing. Cautiously, she walked towards the bowl and looked down into the contents and then stepped back in surprise. Staring at her from the depth of the water was a face she knew, for it was the face of her uncle, David Katz.

  “What?” Miri didn’t understand. How could that be? She looked across the desk and got an even greater shock. There on the seat was a huge falcon, with beady red eyes and a wickedly sharp-looking beak. Then, as she stood transfixed, it began to morph into the form of Jessamyn.

  “Excuse me if I startled you, Miri, but using a hawk’s eyes greatly helps when I scry.

  “As you can see, I have been watching your uncle, Mr. Katz. He is aware of your absence, as he took it upon himself to travel to your alma mater in order to visit you.

  Does that strike you as odd?”

  “Er... yes. He never usually came, even on open days.”

  “Let me show you something, Miri.”

  At this, Jessamyn took her diamond-tipped scepter and made an x over the silver bowl. The waters in the bowl whirled and changed until a new scene appeared in the bowl.

  It showed Miri’s Uncle David in her old room at the academy. He was going through the possessions she had left in her room. There was not much, just a few clothes and schoolbooks. He was muttering to himself as he went through each drawer, tossing out chewing gum wrappers and crumpled pieces of paper.

  As they watched, he finally gave up his search and started to walk out of the door. Then he changed his mind and went back into the room and grabbed a blue shawl that Miri had left hanging in the closet.

  “The shawl was obviously an afterthought,” said Jessamyn thoughtfully. “My question is what was he really looking for?”

  “I don’t know,” Miri replied. “He never really showed much interest in me before, and my Aunt Cynthia was openly hostile from the day I met her. I think she felt that having a kid around would seriously cramp her style. That’s why they sent me away to Saul Emmanuel. I would have thought that they would be pleased if I disappeared from the school, that I wouldn’t be a burden on them anymore.”