Me and Dagger sat shoulder to shoulder, cross-legged, backs straight, eyes facing forward. We tried our best not to let our heads follow Spoon as she circled us slowly and deliberately, her palm going smack, smack with the sound of her heavy wooden spoon.

We both gulped because neither of us trusted Spoon not to hit us with her namesake, and well, Shamans don't believe that goblins shouldn't hurt other goblins.

Oh yeah, we all heard the stories of how goblin shamans are trained. You could hear the screams of goblins who thought they were being clever by slinking off to the shaman camp in the early morning, only for their bodies to be used as target practice and their charred remains becoming food for the shamans with real talent.

It was never wise to pretend to have magic or be bad at it, from what the rumors had to say. The shamans lived in their own world, in another camp, and all the fears associated with learning their ways came to the forefront like Dagger jumping on the back of a snarling beast. Speaking of which, he had been unusually silent since I told him that we needed to learn magic from Spoon. It might confirm a suspicion of mine or he might be holding in a particularly wet fart.

But regardless, thanks to Spoon, we would get to the bottom of this.

"I can't help you."

Wait, what? "Spoon, you said any Goblin can do magic? I did magic! You-" I looked at Dagger, who was nodding along, "You wanted to train me only a few hours ago! What changed?"

Spoon walked up to me, waving her spoon in my face with wide-eyed enthusiasm.

"I thought you were a Shaman! You're not a shaman, no mark of power on your skin, just a stupid raider!"

"Thief!"

"Same difference! I... I don't know where to begin with an unshaman. I mean, how do you teach an idiot how to breathe?"

"I know how to breathe!"

Spoon whirled on Dagger, whose hand was up in the air waiting for acknowledgement for his mighty declaration. I could see her thinking about hitting him on reflex, but instead, her eyes lit up with a more devious punishment.

"Show me, Dagger."

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"Yes, teach." My cousin lit up. "First, you close your mouth." Dagger made a hand motion, mimicking his mouth closing as he followed his own instructions.

At first, I thought Dagger would simply make some weird hand gesture mimicking an exhale, but then I saw something quite alarming or hilarious cross his face as the moments spilled into seconds and then minutes... Dagger forgot what to do next.

No way Dagger would sit there and hold his breath, I thought, but nope, he did exactly that. He sat and sat, growing increasingly confused, his face contorting in deep thought even as his lungs were burning and his skin grew flush. Then, without ceremony, he passed out, landing on my shoulder before sliding onto the plain brick of the roof.

Spoon and I stared at Dagger in astonishment, not sure how a Goblin forgets how to breathe. But that's just what happened.

"See, I told you. Can't teach y'all."

I got up, fuming. "You need to teach us, or we'll spend the rest of our lives on top of a roof!"

"I can't teach what you're already doing!" Spoon countered. "Magic is just something you do, okay? You practice and practice, and you learn how to make it more goblin, more mischievous. But it's not like human magic, all..." She waved her hands. "...reason-y and stuff."

I rubbed my hands deep inside my temples as the beginning of a headache occurred. We really were dumb as an entire species. We... Wait.

"Can we see what spells we have?"

"Like you showing me your Status Screen?"

I nodded.

"Of course." Spoon shot out her hand, and I saw the reflective blue of the Status Screen, now called Spell Book, pop up.

"Now show me yours."

I looked at her in confusion. I... wait, I did have a spell. Well, a spell... which meant I had a Spell Book! I promptly focused on the idea of Sneaky Goblin, and then my own blue screen popped up.

Sneaky Goblin: Hide a Goblin in every way except when actually looking at the Goblin. Lasts (60) seconds or until physically observed by a potential enemy.

And Spoon whistled. Dagger put his hand on my back, having woken up on his own, and grinned wide and proud.

"You're a shaman, cousin!"

"No, idiot," Spoon snorted, "Yeezus gave him the gift of magic, any goblin can have."

Dagger nodded, understanding, which prompted me to take the chance to ambush him.

"You have magic too."

Dagger stumbled backward as if shoved by the Chief himself.

"No," he stammered, "No, no, I don't."

"Dagger."

Spoon looked between us, confused. "Wait, when did that happen?"

"No, no, no magic, not me-"

I rushed Dagger and tackled him to the ground. For a second, there were only grunts and yelps from both of us as we rolled around the roof of the human shed. We rolled and rolled, and rolled some more as Spoon cackled in delight, taking turns cheering for Dagger or me as we pushed, shoved, and even bit each other.

I wasn't sure how, but Dagger had magic, and I could prove it.

Timing Dagger's push perfectly, I purposely let go of him and kicked off, sending myself backward and hopefully over the roof.

"Idiot!" Spoon screamed, but Dagger's cry of surprise came in loud and sharp.

"NO!"

And just before the weightlessness became a sudden speedy fall to my doom, I felt small but strong hands grab and yank me out of midair.