Caleb woke the next morning with the heavenly smell of bacon drifting into his nose. He sat up as Jester uncurled from the top of his head. She stretched before jumping to the floor. The Awakened swung his feet to the floor and headed out into the living room.

“I smell bacon,” he announced.

Toril was in the kitchen, a pan on the stove in front of her sizzling deliciously. Caleb pulled a chair from the table with a yawn and sat down. In the middle of the table sat a familiar yellow envelope. Jester jumped onto the table and began washing herself.

“Our next mission?” he asked, eyeing the envelope.

Astin waved the paper he was holding. “Yep, we’ll be leaving in a few hours.”

Toril carried over three plates, balancing one on her arm, and put them down on the table. Jester immediately sniffed at the bacon on Caleb’s plate, but he poked her away. “My bacon.” He shoveled the pieces of bacon into his mouth. “Well it’ll probably be another easy job.” Caleb held out his hand, and Astin put the letter into it. The teen looked it over quickly before standing up. “I’ll look up the details.”

“You didn’t finish your eggs.” Astin pointed out.

“It’s not like we need to eat anyway.” The teen turned and made his way back into his room, his eyes tracing over the paper. Suddenly he paused and stormed back into the living room. “Is this some sort of joke?”

“If it is, it was a little too subtle for me,” Astin replied.

“We have to go to school!”

“Well it’s actually an Academy.”

“It’s Chelo Academy!” Caleb cried. “What the fuck would they need Retrievers for?”

“I believe it’s in the assignment.”

“You know what I mean!” Caleb collapsed into the sofa with a heavy sigh. Jester jumped up onto the couch, and meowed. “We have to be students. Students! Do you know how boring school is?”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite remember it.”

“I don’t see why we can’t just go in and deal with this. Why do we have to enroll?”

“The cities in which Academies are don’t allow anyone not associated with the Academy in some way to live there. So you’re either a student, family of the student, or work for the Academy in some capacity.”

“I’d rather be a janitor than a student.”

“There’s probably a reason we were assigned this cover.” Astin said with annoying sensibility. “At least you don’t have to change your appearance. Toril and I look a little old to be Academy students.”

Caleb rolled off the couch and reached out to scratch Jester behind the ear.

“Be ready to go in two hours.” Astin said.

“Yes, sir.” Toril nodded, heading back to the kitchen.

Caleb sulked back to his room.

Jester jumped up on the windowsill, looking out over the road below. A pair of pigeons sat on the power line just outside the window. The cat looked at them hungrily. Caleb rolled his eyes as he pushed his few belongings into a bag. Because he had created Jester trying to recreate his old cat, she had ended up much more like her base animal than most familiars were.

She looked over at him. *You act like there’s something wrong with that.*

*Your ‘instincts’ are annoying,* he replied pointedly.

*So are yours.*

Caleb rolled his eyes. Had he created her properly, she would have been nothing more than an extension of himself, not that she was not. Jester jumped down from the windowsill and trotted over to him, rubbing herself on his leg. *School isn’t that bad.*

*Just make sure to control yourself when you’re actually supposed to be seen as a familiar.* He shut the door to his room, throwing his bag on the now clear table. The letter sat on the table next to the yellow envelope, staring at him ominously. Jester headed over to Astin’s room and peaked inside.

Astin rubbed his hand over his face and sighed before grabbing his bag. As he turned he saw Jester in the doorway. “Ready to go?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Caleb replied from the kitchen. There were a few sodas left and he slipped two into his bag while opening the third. He then pulled open the front door and moved out.