Magic classes were the worst, because everyone expected me to show off, and thought I was shamming when I still had nearly as much trouble getting my spells to work as I ever had. On the very first day, when we were reviewing the solidifying spell, mine turned half of the wooden table black and gooey, so that it collapsed. The mud we were supposed to be working on spattered all over everything, and I spent the rest of class cleaning up the mess. At least my spells had quit exploding, so I didn’t have to worry about someone getting hurt.

I went back to spending most of my free time down at the college menagerie with Professor Jeffries. He was the college wildlife specialist, and I knew him pretty well because he used to let William and me come down and practice our Aphrikan magic on the animals, coaxing them to move around or choose one bit of food over another. That was when I’d first grown to love the menagerie, and by extension the Far West that was the true home for many of the menagerie’s animals.

Although I didn’t have any official position with the menagerie, Professor Jeffries let me feed the animals, even the young mammoth that was the prize specimen in the collection, and sometimes I assisted in the office. There was a new professor in the department, Miss Aldis Torgeson, and she was at least twice as good at coming up with paperwork as Professor Jeffries ever was, so they needed a lot more assisting.

This was why I was at the menagerie on the October day when Washington Morris came by. Actually, Wash got there before I did. I came straight from school, and found him sitting on the corner of Professor Jeffries’s desk, waving his hands to emphasize a point, so that the long leather fringe on his jacket flapped every which way as he talked.