I couldn't believe I slept all the way until Monday. That was weird and unlike me. In thinking about it, I'd done that the day after I got here too.

Was there a connection? I thought there might be. I just wasn't sure yet if it had to do with the dodge chickens or the berries.

Twice now, I'd gotten out of the way of something, and I wasn't entirely sure how I'd done it.

I got out of the way of the falling ceiling, and I straight up dodged Duvessa's delinquent elephant. Was it the same power as the chickens? I didn't know. I tried to trigger it on my own, and haven't been able to.

I only had one berry. It was possible that was enough. But I didn't feel anything from it, just a little bit of itching where my horns would grow in.

I thought about the funky feeling I got when I'd pinned that other chicken. That's what I felt when jumping clear of the wyvern and distracting the elephant. It felt more related to the chickens than the berries. Eh, I'll give it a couple days and maybe try more berries. And I'll be sure and kick the ass of any chicken I see.

I stretched, trying not to claw the desk I was lounging on. Professor Laur would get testy, and I didn't want Seth to deal with that. We'd moved on to barriers today. This was what Selendrith had used to defend herself and Duvessa from the wyvern while the boys were downstairs. Good thing she was an overachiever and wanted to impress Professor Slick by already knowing the spell.

My mind wandered back to the berries. Seth was doing better, thankfully. I didn't like what I was getting from the familiar link. The poor kid was suffering from existential crushing. That's how it felt to me, like the soul link was badly over weighted. If I was good at meditating or some shit I might have been able to do something through the link. Maybe ease the pressure, or something. I don't know. But meditation sucks. And it sucks entirely because I suck at it.

The kids mostly just accepted it was probably an isolated reaction, and the berries were dangerous for Seth. I kinda think they're dangerous for everyone, but it's just more apparent with Seth for some reason.

Duvessa's summons behaved oddly and Booth created rubies that disappeared before morning. That was a bummer. Some of those things were beautifully huge.

That got me to thinking about mana. Were there different types? Was berry mana different from atmospheric mana? I'd heard of mana stones too. And mana water. Ugh. I really hope one of the professors here eventually get to all this. I'm getting tired of memorizing spells I can't cast.

Selendrith has been teaching Blaise how to manipulate a mana vault. I saw her give a lesson, and that's going to be something that takes a shit ton of practice. I'll need to sit in on a few more lessons, but I'm pretty sure I can get there too.

Oh, hey. It's the practical portion of the lesson. I feel like being a nuisance. Let's go see what everyone is up to.

----------------------------------------

I was disappointed in combat class that Mighty Mick never busted out the magic measuring tree. I wanted to see if there were changes in the kids. No research professor Marjorie at all either, just Edmond recording numbers before getting to practicing with the wussticks some more. Aiming and dodging again today.

And that asshole Gregory with the thunder talent still thought of Owen and Seth as his rivals. He was constantly targeting them, and poor Seth was getting his ass beat. The kid was a trooper and took it with grace, but it had to be frustrating getting stomped by a kid three or four years older and half again your weight. Owen was better than Gregory though and defended Seth when possible.

I enjoyed the Celestial Tower class on Tuesday. Professor Kaban had me practicing leaps. I loved it. Professor Kaban was teaching Seth proper forms. He hated it. Every time Seth let his sword tip drop or had a foot out of place, the professor would rap the offending limb with a bendy stick. It was intended to just sting, but would bruise if it hit the same spot often enough. Seth was getting 'corrected' often. Much more than Owen.

He'd hit Seth often enough that the kid was using his amulet for some healing while we headed to the front gate to meet our carriage. We were off to the Menagerie this afternoon, and I have to say, I was a bit excited.

Owen was tagging along too. I still wondered about that, seeing as he didn't have a familiar.

The punishment wagon, as I thought of it, actually looked a bit like a horse drawn trolley car. It was long enough to seat eight to a side comfortably with bench seats that faced each other. The driver dropped a ramp down the back. I wondered at that until a student approached pushing what looked like a portable washing machine.

It was square, enamel white, on wheels and had a lid. He pushed it right up the ramp like that was what was expected. I supposed it was. Then I realized I recognized that guy. He was the upperclassman in the Celestial Tower the day of the Gauntlet. He was the guy that had his desk in his bathroom.

This checks out.

Hmm. I wonder if the horses are special? I hopped down off of Seth's shoulder as he offered to help the washing machine guy and I circled to in front of the horses. There I sat on my butt and looked them over. My whiskers told me there was magic nearby. I couldn't tell for sure if it was the horses or if the carriage was magic, or both. I'd need to get closer to find out, and that felt rude. I'm not a dog to be shoving my nose up someone's ass.

"So. Can you guys talk?" I meowed.

One of the horses turned its head so it could see me past the blinders it was wearing. It snorted without answering.

"Maybe not then. If I were a horse that could think, I wouldn't want to wear all the crap you two have on."

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They were both looking at me now, and one shook its head.

"You don't mind it? I suppose. Anyway, thanks for bringing us." I gave them a moment to reply, but there was none. There was a dog sitting next to the driver's seat. He didn't say anything either.

Maybe animals were generally not very talkative? Or maybe these were all normal animals. I headed inside and hopped up on Seth's shoulder again.

"Sit here, Mau," Seth said, and plunked me down between him and Owen. Across from us was Arnold. And his sneaky snake.

"Yo! Greenie," I said. "What's your name?"

"It's not Greenie," the snake hissed.

"Of course not. That's why I asked what it was. I can make it Greenie though."

"You can't change my name," the little snake said, affronted.

"Then tell me your name."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're mean."

"And you're green. I will tell everyone your name is Greenie now."

The snake crawled up Arnold's sleeve. Arnold glared at me. I yawned at him and made a show of my fabulous teeth. Dude rolled his eyes.

Another guy showed up. If I remembered right, this was the dude that had an itty bitty deer for a familiar. There were two more people, and then Duvessa.

"Why are you attending familiar training?" Seth asked her.

"Why wouldn't I? I have a familiar!"

"I know, but Reginald doesn't really need it, does he?" Seth asked.

Au contraire, mon ami. That fucking bird needs a shit ton of training.

"I'm actually having some trouble with my summons. They've started not coming back on time. I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing," Duvessa explained.

"How will familiar training help?" Seth asked. Good question kid. I don't consider myself anything like her shadows.

"I'm looking for perspective," Duvessa explained. "Having other views on the proper care and training of familiars will likely help my thought processes as I create my summons."

"You're having trouble with your power now too?" Arnold asked Duvessa. "Is this recent?"

"I had a few shadows not come back to me last night," Duvessa said. "That's really unusual, and it doesn't feel like they've been slain. I'm wondering if I had stray thoughts and they wandered off."

Yeah, like the capybara did. I guess the glowing fruit was having longer lasting effects than we thought. Arnold thought it was something else, clearly. He was giving Seth the stink eye.

"That's time!" the driver called, and pushed up the ramp. The carriage set out moments later.

The Menagerie was across town. The school was in the north east and the zoo was on the west side. We took the shortest route, which brought us over the bridge we'd fought the hyena at. We passed in front of the Palace, but I didn't see anything other than the walls as we rolled past.

We finally rocked up to a walled estate. This place looked like a luxury villa. It was surrounded by high walls and a portcullis. Inside there were several buildings and lots of fenced paddocks. It was probably about half the total size of the school.

One of the first animals I noticed was a lion looking thing with bat wings. It was chained to a post in the middle of a field. I couldn't see its face, but based on its body language it seemed pretty pissed about the situation.

There was a young woman waiting for us as we disembarked. She had a perky ponytail and was dressed in coveralls and barn boots. She was accompanied by a lion fish rolling around in a water bubble. Because of course that's the kind of familiar you can expect in the mountains.

"Welcome, everyone!" the woman said. "I'll be your coordinator and instructor today. My name is Robin, and my familiar here is Louis. Louis can't hear very well because of the water, so don't be surprised if he ignores you. Right, Elias, will you need help with Wadsworth today?"

Elias turned out to be the Celestial Tower upperclassman and he was rolling his washing machine down the ramp. It was making rather violent thunking noises. I noticed one of the latches was jumping with each thump.

"The quicker we can get him settled the better," Elias said. "If you don't mind, I'll take him right in while you talk to everyone else."

"Of course! Okay, we'll be bringing our little ones into a place they can be safe while I talk to their humans. There'll be snacks, so be excited! Come on and follow me."

She led us to a single story building that had multiple doors out into small pens. The first thing I noticed once we got inside was all the cages. The second thing I noticed was a crate of chickens on the far side of the room. There were five chickens, and much to my dismay, none of them were First or Second Hen. If I had to guess, I'd say most of these were the regular chickens. I did recognize Twelfth though.

Seth noticed them too. "Why do you have chickens here?" he asked Robin.

"'Cause they got magic! Yup, even ordinary chickens can get magic and become magic beasts. These ones have an ability that makes them really hard to catch so no letting them out! They've got some sort of phase or short range teleport. They just arrived today and we're excited to learn about them."

"Oh! Dodge Chickens!" Duvessa exclaimed. "How did you catch them?"

"With a baited trap. We're expecting to get more over the next few days as more of the flock are caught." Robin led everyone to the cages. "Okay, reptiles over here in these tanks. They're heated, and should be super comfortable for those guys. Anyone have predator birds? No? Okay this over here is an aviary and they should all be able to go in together. Birds like being with other birds. Okay, what else do we have?" Robin scanned the gaggle of students. "Oh what an adorable little deer! What kind is he?"

"Uh, his name is Mouse. I think he's a horned mouse?"

"Adorable. He can go in here. This has an outside paddock, and the roof is fenced, so it should be perfectly safe for him. And last we have a gorgeous little kitty! A silver leopard? She has fantastic coloring. Right next to Mouse for her. She can go outside too if she wants."

I don't want. I'm not going into a cage. It was pretty easy to put my feet on the door jambs. Seth tried to wiggle me around and put me in butt first, but I wasn't having it.

"I see. We have a troublemaker here! Give me just a moment," Robin said. She went to a large bin and pulled out a metal bowl and filled it with raw meat. "See! Snacks!" She waved the bloody meat under my nose.

Raw meat was gross. I did not want it. I was not so easily manipulated. It smelled delicious.

Robin walked into the pen and put the bowl down. Seth tried to follow her in, but I got the door shut first.

"Oh ho! Did she just try to lock me in the pen?" Robin laughed and opened the pen door. "I bet you thought you got me? Magic keys, little one. Now come on. You'll only get to relax in here for a little while. We are doing training for your human, and you don't need to sit around for that. So you can relax here where none of the other animals can bother you."

Robin took me from Seth, and she was much harder to squirm away from. She set me down right next to the bowl of meat. I hate to say it distracted me for the instant it took her to slip out. Dammit.

Good thing my skeleton key ring was still working.