“So, this is weird. Right?”

  “Yes Master, I think that it is.”

  Lily nonchantly watched a train of animals slowly ambling down the side of the road. Three raccoons, an opossum and a hedgehog of all things were walking one by one in a straight line. Somewhat keeping pace with one another, even if the raccoons needed to occasionally slow down. Lily walked alongside them, and they hardly seemed to pay her any mind. Star broke the silence.

  “I do not smell any magic on them. They are simple creatures.”

  “Hmm, yeah. Think they’re headed to the thread?”

  “Is there another option?”

  She’d been walking alongside the troupe of creatures for half a mile at this point, which had to be a lot of walking for that hedgehog’s tiny feet.

  “I just worry we’re also simple creatures.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why are we checking out the thread?”

  “Because you wish to meaninglessly thrust yourself into danger to prove something that does not need–”

  “Okay okay! Not what I meant. I mean, maybe that’s the reason I think I’m here, but we’re just being pulled in like these guys. Humans and I suspect all thinking beings have a tendency to believe ‘well, I’m above such trickery! I’m rational!’. But we’re not.”

  “I see. So, we will not go to the thread?”

  Lily gave Star a frustrated look and puffed out her cheeks.

  “Of course we’re going to the thread!”

  “What? But you just said…”

  “Yeah! It could be luring us just like it’s luring them. But that’s all the more reason. It’s something clearly big and magical. I gotta check it out! Maybe I can figure out how to turn it off when we get there.”

  “Master, there is such a thing as being too fearless. It is called carelessness.”

  “Who’s being careless? If we just leave it be, it might be dangerous. Remember the paper that exploded and nearly killed me?”

  “...Vaguely.”

  “Really? Well, I guess you were tiny then. You totally saved my life though.”

  “I remember that.”

  Lily grinned at him, and continued.

  “Well, we’ve watched it growing for how long now? What if it overloads or something? Or just keeps growing until it becomes heavy and smashes us. Or has enough gravity to be a big issue? We can’t just let it go without checking it out. Honestly, it’s scary that there could be unstable natural spells all over the pnet for all I know. What if one melts down with the force of a nuke or something?”

  “What is a nuke?”

  “Uh, it’s… complicated. Big big big explosion and death.”

  “You have a way with words, Master.”

  Lily huffed and put her hands on her hips. A gesture that was somewhat difficult to pull off while following the gaggle of animals.

  “Don’t sass me, Mister!”

  “Of course.”

  They continued on in silence for another few minutes before Lily gave up. It was becoming clear that nothing of interest was going to happen. Well, nothing more of interest. This was weird, but it was a long walk to the thread.

  “Let’s head back and get the car. Unless you’ve noticed anything else?”

  “No, they are simply walking.”

  “Still no magic on them?”

  “Not on them.”

  “Somewhere else?”

  “It is in the air. I can not tell from where.”

  “Hmm. Yeah, I think it’s car time.”

  The real trouble about parking and walking for a while was the fact that the walk back was just as long. Star was getting so big though she might be able to ride on his back soon. He was already the size of a small bck bear. As she looked at him, she realized he was starting to lose his puppy shape a little bit as he grew. That almost stung her heart a little bit. He was growing up so fast!

  “Why are you giving me that look, Master?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I will not carry you. You need your own exercise.”

  Lily stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Meanie.”

  It was also clear that he was continuing to get smarter over time. She didn’t mind. It’s not like she had some kind of need to be the more intelligent one in their retionship. But, it was startling sometimes when he said or did something that seemed out of character from how he had been a week or two ago. She wondered how far that would go. What if he continued to get smarter and smarter until he found her boring? That would hurt.

  “Master, you have that sour look on your face again.”

  She snapped out of her thoughts. He always called her on stuff like that. She wondered if she was obvious or if he just paid very close attention to her and had picked up on her tells. It’d be fair, she’d learned a lot of his too. When you spend every waking moment around someone, it was easy to learn subtle things about breathing patterns or body nguage that could convey a shocking amount. Or was that just because he was a dog and they naturally used body nguage to communicate?

  “I’m fine. I was just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “You, honestly. You keep getting smarter. Are you going to get bored of hanging out with me?”

  “Never.”

  That was that. More didn’t need to be said. Not really. She could question him, and he could pcate her every worry, but ultimately there was only his word. She trusted his word. So, she felt the tension ease from her chest a bit.

  “Ugh, I wonder if I can make a spell that will summon our car or something for times like this.”

  “Master, exercise is good for you.”

  “...wonder if I can make a spell that will exercise for me too.”

  After what felt like an eternal hike back to the car, and another half an hour of driving, they had arrived at the closest point the road got to the thread. Although, at this distance it looked less like a thread and more like a very very tall somewhat thin tower. Even from here she could tell it was at least thirty feet around. Probably more.

  What was more…

  “Master, I can smell a lot of magic in the air.”

  “Yeah, I can feel it too.”

  It felt like her bones were itching. Tingles. Shivers. She could feel it. It wasn’t as powerful as when she’d activated the basement spell. But, the air felt heavy with it, even from so far away.

  “On the plus side, if I have to cast any spells they ought to be pretty easy right?”

  Star let out a small sound she had started to recognize as his form of ughter.

  “You liar.”

  Lily gave him a nervous grin. He really was too astute sometimes.

  “Yeah. If I have to cast any spells, I’m going to have to include capacitors to make sure they don’t take in too much mana and explode.”

  That was the truth of it. Like the paper that had cut her hand. Well, if there really was a giant spider, maybe she could use a spell like that as a bomb? Probably a terrible idea. Lily let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and began the hike.

  It didn’t look that far away. Although she was aware that could easily be an illusion. It was so tall! What if it came crashing down if she messed with it?

  Lily shook her head. It’s not the first time she’d dealt with deadly forces and it’d definitely not be the st. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. Besides, the possibility of learning some new forms of magic probably outweighed the risks. Probably.

  The trees were thick and beautiful. It was a cool seventy or so degrees out. The sun shone in beams that reached through the leaves to illuminate parts of the forest floor. It was a perfect day, really. Lily felt a feeling growing in her chest.

  “Star.”

  “Yes, Lady Fmewalker?”

  “I hate hiking.”

  Star’s tail wagged.

  “How can you hate this? Can you not see the wonder around us? Can you not smell all of the interesting smells?”

  Lily sniffed, and immediately sneezed. She huffed for a second. She was already a bit out of breath, honestly. Walking a road was one thing, but through the forest without a path was entirely different. There was too much verticality. Too much watching where to step. Too much trying not to twist an ankle.

  “No! I can’t smell anything interesting at all. And my body is just not made for this.”

  “You mean you have not trained your body for this.”

  “Whatever! I’m a homebody. I belong indoors. With central air! And snacks! And TV! I’m good at studying and thinking about things. All this jock stuff is for someone else.”

  “Master, you yourself were saying you needed to get stronger in case you used the spell again. Besides, there is no one else to do anything that needs physically doing.”

  “I have you!”

  “I will not do everything for you. You must get exercise somewhere.”

  Lily scowled at him.

  “Svedriver.”

  “Yes, yes. I am a cruel dog that forces my Master to do many things for her own good.”

  Lily couldn’t help but ugh at that, and ughing made her feel better about the walk. Actually, she was feeling better about the whole outing. She was going to crush this and be home in no time!

  It was another fifteen minutes before they reached the base. It was in a rge clearing of trees. Grass that came up to Lily’s calves covered an area that was probably a hundred feet across. In the center of it was the base of the thread. A pilr of… something that reached so far into the sky it seemed endless. It was slightly translucent, but where the light caught it right it had a rainbow sheen to it.

  “Well, no giant spider at least right?”

  The moment Lily spoke, there was rustling in the grass in several pces. Lily yelped and took a few steps back. The nearest one was quite close to her, but she hadn’t seen it because of the grass! She watched in horror as the thing stood and revealed…

  “A puppy?”

  Lily couldn’t help but ugh at herself. But it was! Not just one either. She counted eight. Eight puppies stood up from the grass where they had been ying and started towards her.

  “Woah! What are you guys doing out here? C’mere. I won’t hurt you. Hey Star, maybe we can bring them back to your pack?”

  “Master, I am not sure.”

  “Oh yeah? Don’t think your friend would take them?”

  The puppies had gathered around Lily warily, keeping five or six feet of distance. Their hackles were up. They must be so scared living out here alone.

  “I can smell magic on them. Be careful.”

  Star’s hackles were up too. Lily looked at him in surprise. What? Be careful? Of puppies? They were tiny. She didn’t sense any kind of magic on them at all. They didn’t even have adult teeth!

  “Really Star? Come on. We can probably get them to the car when we leave and when we get them out of here they won’t stink like the pce anymore.”

  Star made a sound of disagreement, but didn’t say anything else.

  Lily bent down as one of the small animals approached her. It made a pathetic whining sound as it stopped in front of her. It was so cute! Lily watched as it bit her pant leg and started tugging on it.

  “Aww. That’s so–”

  Star’s mouth cmped around the puppy’s throat, and he thrashed, snapping its neck in an instant and pulling Lily’s leg out from under her. She screamed in absolute horror.

  “What the– Star! No! How could you! It was just–”

  “Attacking you. It was attacking you!”

  “It wasn’t! It was just being pyful!”

  “I smell blood. Your blood.”

  The other puppies were… not running. They were circling? Hackles raised? That didn’t seem right.

  Lily looked down at her leg. Blood was oozing from the spot where the puppy had chewed at her pant leg. But, it hadn’t actually bit her, right?

  Then, the pain hit. Lily tried not to scream again. She looked at the puppies. Really looked at them.

  Weren’t they… rge for puppies? Her eyes tracked down to the one Star had grabbed. Big. Hairy. Wasn’t it far rger than it had been just a moment ago? About half Star’s size, now that she was really looking at it.

  Not a puppy at all.

  A rge dead coyote y on the ground. Much rger than a normal member of the species. Mouth still wet with blood. Her blood.