Chapter 31: Walk In

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Walk In

Morning light spilled across the living room carpet, warm and lazy, and Zoey was eating cereal like it had personally wronged her.

She sat curled on the couch, bowl balanced on one knee, thumbing through something on her phone. Milk dripped from her spoon. A cartoon played quietly on the TV. She was still in her pajamas, hair sticking up in the back, and she looked entirely at peace.

Jared stood in front of her, hands clasped behind his back, rehearsing a speech he’d spent half the night polishing.

"Zoey. I’ve been thinking."

"Mm-hm."

"About what I want to do. I made a decision."

"Mm-hm."

"I’m going to finally join a guild."

"Mm-hm. That’s nice."

She didn’t look up. He cleared his throat.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yep."

"I said I’m joining a guild."

"I heard. Good for you."

He frowned. He’d expected a squeal, a fist pump, maybe a pillow to the face. At the very least a raised eyebrow.

"Why don’t you seem more," he started, searching for the word, "empathetic?"

"Empathetic?"

"Excited. Interested. Anything."

She sighed and lowered her phone. "Jared. It doesn’t matter."

"What do you mean it doesn’t matter?"

"Because you’re joining Mom and Dad’s guild. Aren’t you?" She said it flatly, the way you’d tell someone the sky was blue. "You’ve been saying it for months. You’ll join the family guild, and I’ll go my own way, and that’s that."

She went back to her cereal.

’He’s doing it again,’ she thought, stabbing a soggy flake. ’Living in their shadow. Even though I’ve told you multiple times not to. I’ve said it a hundred times, and it just bounces off.’

Jared watched her chew.

And then, to his own surprise, he smiled.

It started small, at the corner of his mouth, and crept wider. He couldn’t help it. She looked so certain. So tired of the old argument.

Zoey narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You’re smiling."

"I’m not."

"You’re smirking at me." She set the bowl down on the coffee table, hard. "So now you’re making fun of me."

"No, it’s not that."

"It’s exactly that."

"I’m not making fun of you," Jared said. He took a breath. "And I’m not joining our parents. Not anymore, at least."

Zoey stared at him, mouth slightly open.

"What?"

"I changed my mind."

She blinked. "You want to try out for the Golden Bear."

"I say we, not just me, try out for the Golden Bear."

Zoey sat very still. Her face went through three expressions in a row. Disbelief. Suspicion. Then something bright and wild and trembling that spread from her eyes down to her toes. She stood up so fast the cushion bounced.

"Go," she said.

"What?"

"Go! Take your bath! Hurry up!"

"We have plenty of time..."

"No we don’t! It’s the Golden Bear! They might close the door!"

"Move! Shower! Shoes! Go!"

She was gone before he could answer. Her feet pounded up the staircase.

Jared stood in the living room, alone with the cartoon, an overturned bowl of cereal, and a smile he couldn’t wipe off.

[She’s thrilled.]

’She is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that way. ’

[Look at you. You’re glowing. You look like a proud parent at a graduation.]

[You’re so proud you could burst.]

He ignored that comment and went to get ready.

* * *

By the time they were both dressed, it was almost 7.

They stood in the hall by the front door, boots on, bags slung over their shoulders. His stomach gave a long, loud rumble.

"I need to eat," he said.

"No.We don’t have time."

"It takes 5 minutes to make toast."

[What’s with you and bread]

"Jared." She turned and looked at him, hands on her hips. "This isn’t like a regular awakening. It’s a tryout. We’re going to be tested."

"We might not be tested."

"We will be. It’s the Golden Bear. They test everyone. You don’t walk into the top guild in the country on a full stomach and a bad attitude."

"A full stomach isn’t a bad attitude."He sighed. "I really need to eat, Zoey."

"Oh, come on." She waved a hand. "The food isn’t going anywhere. And if it comes down to it, you can just buy something at a supermarket on the way."

"A supermarket."

"Or a gas station. Or a vending machine."

"A vending machine."

[Oh no. It’s the V word]

She wasn’t going to back down. He could see it in the line of her shoulders. This was the biggest day of her life, and she wasn’t going to let breakfast get in the way.

Jared opened his mouth. Then he closed it.

’This isn’t worth it.’

He stopped stressing and let it go. His stomach grumbled again, defeated.

"Let’s do this, then," he said.

Zoey’s whole face lit up.

"Let’s do this," she said, nodding sharply, like a soldier at a gate.

They drove off.

* * *

Even at 8 in the morning, a steady stream of beast masters flowed through the front doors.

Zoey grabbed his sleeve as they pulled into the lot. She didn’t say a word. She just clung to him, staring up at the building with wide, awed eyes.

"It’s bigger than it looked on TV," she whispered.

"Everything is."

They parked, walked up the steps, and pushed through the doors.

Beast masters in matching jackets crossed the room in purposeful strides, their beasts pouches in different positions, some as belts, others as pockets extension, etc.

A waiting area took up the east side of the hall. A few dozen young people sat scattered across the benches, clutching papers, fidgeting, glancing nervously around. A few had beasts at their feet. A small crowd had gathered near the center, where a single man in a gray jacket was moving from person to person, clipboard in hand.

Those with summoned beasts probably didn’t want to risk anyone getting a hold of their gems. Jared took note and smiled.

Jared and Zoey took two seats near the back.

"That’s the manager," Zoey murmured, leaning close. "I’ve seen this part in the documentaries. They always do it this way."

Jared watched the man. "Do what?"

"He’s from one of the main teams. They send someone down to the waiting room every few days. He goes around asking people the rank of their highest beast." She nodded toward a girl at the front, who was handing something over. "And their license, to prove it."

"That’s it?"

"That’s it. They don’t waste time on testing people who are already capable." She said it like she was reciting a textbook. "It’s a policy. It lets them expand their forces really fast."

Jared nodded slowly.

The man studied each license carefully, scribbled something on his clipboard, and moved on. His eyes didn’t linger. He worked like a man who’d done this a thousand times and had learned not to expect surprises.

Zoey’s voice dropped into a whisper, the awed tone of someone sharing a secret.

"Any beast master with an above A rank beast can join freely. They get assigned to one of the mid tier groups. And if you’re S rank or higher, you skip that completely." She swallowed. "Rookies with S rank and above join B Team or C Team straight away."

’B Team or C Team.’

Jared’s stomach tightened.

That was the path that would have been his. Karl Marx had said it on television. There’s a spot open if he’ll have it. A seat on C Team, handed to him with a bow and a handshake. All he’d had to do was walk in with his Ground Dragon.

Now it wasn’t so easy.

His license still read Ground Dragon, SSS Rank. It was right there on the card in his pocket. A dragon he no longer owned.

And the rest of the world didn’t know about anything else.

’What do I say?’

He needed a plan, and fast. He had the SwampGorilla, which was truly SSS. He could tell the truth. But the truth came with questions, and he didn’t have answers. Where had he found it? Why had he kept it hidden? How had a beginner picked up two SSS gems?

[Short term gain, long term headache,] the system murmured.

’I know.’

[Tell the truth and you get a seat on a team and a thousand eyes on your back.]

’I know that.’

He turned the other option over in his mind. A lie. He could say the gorilla was something lower. An A rank. A B rank, even. It would be easy. No questions, no scrutiny. A quiet, ordinary entrance.

But that was only a short term fix.

Everyone knew beasts couldn’t evolve. That was the first rule of the world. A beast’s rank was fixed. It could fall, but it could never rise. If someone ever discovered he’d been carrying an SSS rank gorilla all along, he would have a lot of explaining to do. And a lie that blew up in the Golden Bear’s lobby would follow him for the rest of his career.

’Neither option is clean.’

Beside him, Zoey drew a sharp breath.

He turned to look at her.

She was gripping her bag tightly.She leaned in close, voice barely audible.

"My lizard’s B rank."

"I know."

"That’s below A."

"I know."

"So I wouldn’t get in freely. I’d have to be tested. I knew that, I knew it, but now that I’m here..." She swallowed. "What if I’m not good enough?"

’She’s another problem.’

He hadn’t thought it through. The documentaries had been so clear about the policy. Above A joins freely. Everything else gets tested. Zoey might be good beast master, with a good beast, but she was stepping into the Golden Bear Guild with a B rank lizard and a skill gap she could feel in her bones.

He thought about the SwampGorilla and what she’d say if he claimed it was SSS.

’She doesn’t know the rank. I told her I don’t know the rank. If I walk up and announce an SSS...’

His story would unravel the moment he opened his mouth.

"What are you going to say?" Zoey whispered. "About the gorilla?"

"I don’t know," he said. "I told you. I haven’t had it checked."

"But you’ve got to say something."

"I know."

"You should have had it presented. Days ago."

"I know, Zoey."

She bit her lip. He looked down at his hands, turning the options over and over.

Jared sank deeper into his thoughts.

Then a shadow fell across his shoes.

He looked up.

The manager stood in front of them, clipboard in hand, pen poised over the page. His gaze moved between them, calm and unhurried.

"Good morning," he said. "Licenses, please. Both of you."

He tapped his pen against the clipboard.

"And the rank of your highest ranking beast."