Buster by Caleb Huett (ebook reader library txt) 📕

“You don’t know that.”

“I guess not. But it seems pretty likely, right?” When he didn’t answer, I sighed and lowered down onto the ground in front of him. He stared at the ground while his tail swatted the dirt, frustrated, but I looked at his eyes anyway. “I owe you an apology.”

His tail smacked the ground, tossing up a little brown cloud. “For what?”

“Back when you stole the necklace, I said you weren’t a Good Dog. And then when we were talking about Sloan, I acted like you were bad for trying to help Mia the best you could. Like you didn’t know what you were talking about, just because you were a puppy. And that was wrong.” He tilted his head away and looked at me through the corners of his eyes, which I took as a good sign. He was listening. “I acted like I knew better even though I’d already gotten in trouble before for exactly what you were trying to do. But the truth is, I agree with you. Mostly. I do think we should help our humans as much as we can.”

“So what?” He grunted suspiciously.

“So, you shouldn’t give up just because this plan didn’t work. We need to keep trying to help her, and Tonio, and all the humans. Even if we don’t always get it right.”

“You’re saying I should steal more diamonds?”

“No!” I yelped, then saw the quirk of his tail and realized he was messing with me. “But she likes Beamblade. And she likes Tonio, I think, even if she’s upset with him right now.”

Mozart’s ear twitched. “And she likes dollars …”

“And three hundred is so many dollars.”

He nodded slowly. “What am I supposed to do about it?”

“I’m not totally sure. But do you think you could help her get to the tournament?”

“I’ll think about it.” All three colors of fluff lifted off the ground. He tilted his nose up into the air. “You’re nicer than I thought. I’m sorry I turned you in to the cops!”

My tail stopped wagging, and my ears folded over. “You what?”

“I sent them that video of you on the computer yesterday. Actually, I thought you’d be arrested by now. But I’m glad you’re not!” He trotted past me, toward the front door, and waved one paw out to the side in goodbye. “Smell you later, gramps!!!”

I listened to him scratch at the door, which opened quickly to let him back inside. So that’s why Officer Sergeant was watching me, I thought.

I closed my eyes and listened. I heard the bugs, the wind through the grass—and a suspicious absence of noise, a perfectly quiet spot not too far from me. Trying not to be obvious, I turned my head and peeked toward it.

Sure enough, there was Officer Grizzle, peeking out just barely from a pile of wood. I was being monitored.

Tonio started to say something to me when I came back to the table, but picked up on my body language right away and fell silent. We walked back home together, and now that I knew Grizzle was there, I could feel him tailing us the whole way. It wasn’t until we were back up the stairs and behind closed doors in Tonio’s room that I felt like I could finally relax.

“What happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

Nothing. I’m fine. Lying was easier when I was typing on the tablet. Just got nervous, is all.

“Here’s a pen to fill out the sign-up sheet. Since you’ve never competed in a tournament before, I need your full name, address, and your Blademaster title here.”

Tonio’s eyebrows shot up. “My what?”

“Your Blademaster title!” Skyler smiled, reassuring and kind. “It’s your name in the Beamblade world.”

Tonio stared at the paper limply while activity bustled around us. Almost two dozen adults were crammed into Roll the Ice, adding an interesting musk over the smell of ice cream and cardboard.

The play room had burst from the back of the store and spread into the shopping area; displays were shoved to the walls to make enough room for the games. A few adults in blue aprons matching Skyler’s were walking around, cleaning up ice-cream spills and helping people find places to sit.

“You can change your name online later if you want,” Skyler told Tonio. “This is just so I can set up your account, and so I have something to call you tonight.” She saw the look on his face and pointed to an open table. “Plenty of time to think of something. Just bring it to me before we get started. Is your friend coming?”

Tonio glanced down at me, but I didn’t have anything to add. He knew everything I knew—we just had to hope that Mozart would really be able to bring Mia here somehow.

“I hope so,” Tonio said.

“Me too. There are four rounds, single elimination, which means you can’t win if you lose once. But when people lose, they always stick around to play, so even if you have trouble early on, you’ll have people to play with. Does that make sense?”

Tonio nodded. “Are you feeling better today?”

She didn’t have time to answer—a woman in line behind him caught Skyler’s eye, and Tonio shifted out of the way so Skyler could focus on her job. He sat down at the table, and I watched the reality of the situation dawn on him: just him, in a room full of adults, about to have to compete in a game he’d only played a few times.

That wasn’t quite the reality, though—he wasn’t alone. I nudged him to remind him I was there. Some calm came back to his eyes, and he spoke just barely under his breath, like we’d practiced. “Maybe we can both have a name. Since we’re a team.”

I don’t need—

“You were a fire dog, right? That already sounds kind of Beamblade-y. What about Flame Wolf? Or Blaze Hound! Or …” He tapped the pen against his nose thoughtfully. “Okay. I think