Buster by Caleb Huett (ebook reader library txt) 📕

bitecoin on the new kids. There’s no way Leila can keep up this streak.”

Jpeg yipped a laugh. “If you wanna lose money, be my guest!” She swept her paw along the ground, and I looked down to see a tablet, half-buried in the dirt, keeping track of bets. Of course.

“All right, teams. Mouths up!” A border collie named Charmander liked to referee sporting events around the shelter, and she was the undisputed best. “Three … two … one! PULL!”

Leila was twice as big as the next-closest dog, and apparently that meant her team had one fewer member—but that didn’t seem to be a problem for them. The visiting pets strained against the shelter dogs, but their feet started sliding in the mud almost immediately. A few seconds later and the knot was hovering near the line on Leila’s side of the mud—and with a huge tug that toppled even her own teammates over backward, she finished the match and made it look easy.

“Game!” Charmander called. “Home team wins!”

Jpeg cheered. “YES! THAT’S MY GIRL!” Leila winked at her, and Jpeg waved her over before turning to the retriever from before. “Just press your paw print here to confirm the transfer, thanks so much.” He patted his paw down on the tablet forcefully and wandered away with the rest of the crowd, tail tucked between his legs.

Leila came over to nuzzle up against Jpeg and bop me on the nose. “Hey there, Miracle Dog. Enjoy the show?”

“I think so. It was over so fast.” I tilted my head in a question. “Are they always that short?”

“No way.” Leila flexed, but you couldn’t see any change under her big, curly fur. “I’m the best around here.”

“Then why does anyone come?”

“I guess they think I gotta lose sometime.”

Jpeg tilted her chin up proudly. “No chance. You’re never going down!”

Leila laughed and pushed her away with a paw—it was supposed to be playful, but she was so strong even a gentle push sent Jpeg stumbling sideways. “She just likes that she can make the odds against me more extreme every time.”

“And I like seeing you win.” Jpeg smirked at me. “Uh-oh. Looks like Buster’s got his serious face on. What’s up, nerd?”

The opening was there, and I didn’t bother pretending she was wrong. “I want to know what’s going on with Mia. For real this time.”

Leila tensed up, standing straight and towering over me. “I told you, we’re handling it.”

“Not very well!” I protested, then lowered my voice. “Dog Court officers came to talk to me about Mozart. Whatever y’all are doing, it could get me in trouble, too. And I helped out—I told you about the tournament.” I shifted onto my back paws in a begging position—embarrassing, but I wanted them to know I was serious. “I deserve to know. And if it could affect Tonio, I need to know.”

They exchanged glances. “Okay,” Leila finally said, “But let’s go somewhere more private. Jpeg, you take him to our usual spot. I’ll go find Mozart.”

We walked together out to the far edges of the shelter property, right up near the fence. Jpeg flipped over a totally normal-looking rock to reveal a keypad, which she dialed a code into. A hatch in the ground slid aside, revealing a laptop underneath. They really must be all over. She popped it open and tapped away while we waited for Leila and Mozart, who was hopping around, angry.

“We can’t tell him!” Mozart yipped in his little puppy voice. “How do we know he won’t tell on us?”

“Good question.” Leila looked me right in the eyes. “Did Dog Court put you up to this? Are you trying to get us in trouble?”

I bared my teeth. “Absolutely not. I just want to help.”

“What do you think, Jpeg?”

She shrugged. “He’s a nerd, but he’s not dumb. And besides—” She flipped her laptop around and showed all of us the screen. One tap and it started playing a video.

Me, squinting and lit only by a screen. My paws tapping at a keyboard. “Buster?” Tonio’s voice. My face shot to the side, and I froze. “Wuh—uh, wuh—” he babbled, and I jumped away from the computer screen. “RRR!” I growled, and you could see the edge of a keyboard flopping around in the dim light. “RRRRRR, I’m just a DUMB DOG who HATES COMPUTERS!”

“Hey, uh, down! Down, dog!” Tonio’s nervous hands wiggling across the screen. “Don’t break the computer, please!”

“What IS THIS THI—” and then the video cut out. Jpeg turned the laptop back around.

“It’s a good thing you clicked that last link I sent you. Gave me your webcam’s direct feed.” Jpeg shook her head and clicked her special keyboard quickly. “If he tells the officers, I can show them this. Caught red-pawed by a human on the computer, like some kind of amateur!”

My heart dropped down into my stomach. I’ll never click a link again in my life. “Please don’t show anyone that,” I whispered. “I can’t get in trouble again. Please.”

“What do you think about that, pup?” Leila knelt down onto the ground to look Mozart in the eyes. “Can we tell him?”

He bobbed his little nose in thought. “Okay,” he decided. “But if he ruins anything for Mia, we send it.” He looked at me and held out his cute paw, too big for his tiny body. “Shake?”

I took a long breath, decided I had no other choice, and shook. “Good boy,” he yipped seriously.

“Good boy,” I repeated, to seal the deal.

Mozart looked up at Jpeg, who looked at Leila, who looked back at Mozart. Mozart shrugged and took the lead. “She’s leaving. We’re leaving.”

“Leaving … where?”

“Leaving Bellville. We’re going to Cold Dorito.”

“Colorado,” Leila corrected.

“That’s what I said! Sloan lives in Collared Rat-o, and so we’re going to go there, too.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Like on vacation, or … ?”

“No.” Mozart rolled his eyes around like I was being dense. “Like forever. Mia doesn’t like it in Bellville anymore, because Sloan’s not here, but Sloan is in Code Lyoko.” He