Dirty Paws

Erin, a tan coyote with dark red and brown speckles, stood in the line of animals outside of the new shopping center with his best friend Alex, a dark gray rat with a large pink scar over his left eye and a white muzzle and stomach. The grand opening was just about to begin and everyone was buzzing with excitement. Townsfolk had paid fireflies to light up the event in jars tied to strings which were hung between the critter’s tree homes. The spokesperson and prince, Everest, a cream white cat with triangular green and navy blue markings on his paws and tail dashed over to the spider silk ribbon which was tied between two thin trees that led to the entrance of the shopping center. The prince propped himself up onto a birch stump and cleared his throat.

“We all gather here today to honor the completion of our first shopping center,” He paused, letting all the animals applaud. “We have worked very hard on this shopping center together as a community, and I am happy to say that we are very proud of the outcome. The center includes a cafe, a bookshop, a clothing and accessories store, a games store and a psychic readings center. Now, I hope you all have your party popper acorns we gave out earlier ready!” Everest pulled out a small acorn that had a string attached to the top of it, everyone, including Erin and Alex, pulled out one and held it in front of them, string pulled towards their torso with the bottom of the acorn facing outwards. Everest turned to the crowd happily.

“Ready everyone?” He shouted, even the fireflies began to glow brighter with excitement. “One, two, three, pop!”

Everyone released their acorns in unison, causing a spray of golden confetti flakes to rain over the eager crowd. While everyone popped their acorns, Everest took his sharp claws and slashed the spider silk ribbon in half, making the crowd go mad. A stampede of animals burst through the oak wood entrance, everyone was bubbling with excitement.

Erin waited until the stampede had calmed down, following everyone from the back of the crowd. When he stepped in, he could feel the joy radiating from everywhere. Alex sprung off of Erin’s back, landing in the one small clearing among the crowded area.

“So where are we heading?” Alex asked.

Erin smiled down at him, “That psychic reading place sounded cool.”

Alex looked up at Erin, shocked. “You’re kidding, right? That place is probably a hoax.”

The young tan coyote, Erin, shrugged and picked up Alex, putting him on his back. Together, they arrived at Chase’s Psychic Readings. The door was painted like the night sky, the stars forming together to spell out- actually, Erin couldn’t tell what they were spelling out. Every time he blinked the word seemed to change. At first, it resembled the word “Welcome”, next, it showed “Hello”. He brushed it off as nothing and made his way inside.

“Hello hello!” A tiny dog was sitting at the wooden counter, his fur was light tan with dark brown and blue spots that had small galaxy patterns inside of them. He was counting some seeds. “Welcome to Chase’s Psychic Readings! My name is Chase. May I interest you in some readings?”

“Actually-” Erin started, but Alex quickly interrupted him.

“-We would like to learn more about you and you’re… readings,” Alex spat out the word “readings” as if he were talking about a deadly plague.

Chase seemed unaffected by Alex’s subtle rudeness, as he didn’t even flinch. He still kept his cheerful smile plastered on. “Of course! I understand if you’re skeptical, I would be too!” He pulled out a large crystal sphere, it was radiating with a blue light.

“This is my magic crystal ball! Since I work under Atlas, our moon god, he provides me with future readings and sends them to this crystal ball.” Chase tossed the ball in the air proudly, catching it with his other paw. “Wanna try it out? It’s only one Sunseed!”

Alex jumped at the sound of the price, but Erin was perfectly fine with it. He pulled out two Moonseeds and handed them to the teeny psychic.

“Ah, two Moonseeds. So I take it you don’t have any Sunseeds?” Chase look slightly disappointed. Erin wasn’t sure why, as two Moonseeds was equivalent to one Sunseed.

“Well, no matter! Please follow me into my readings room.”

Finn and Alex followed Chase into what he called his “Readings Room”. The place looked extravagant. The walls were black with stars and galaxies nearly perfectly painted on. There were stars and a moon decoratively hanging down from the ceiling, glowworms lined the crevice where the ceiling and wall met, allowing the slightest bit of light to fill the room, just enough to tell what everything looked like and to navigate the confined area.

“Please take a seat there,” Chase motioned to a cushioned stump.

“This place looks amazing,” Erin mumbled in a daze.

“Thank you! Everest did the walls. Don’t they look magnificent? They’re almost perfectly accurate!”

Erin took a seat across from Chase, who was sitting in a large, nearly throne-like stump. He pulled out the glowing crystal ball and closed his eyes, mumbling something in a language neither Erin or Alex understood. With each word, the ball grew brighter and brighter, lighting up the entire room.

Finally, when Chase was done, he placed his paws on the crystal ball, and opened all three of his eyes- wait, three?

Chase had mysteriously grown a third eye that was now placed in the middle of his forehead. Erin stared directly at it, it stared right back. He shuddered, for sure that wasn’t natural.

“Ah, yes, I see,” Chase narrowed his eyes and looked directly into the crystal. Images were flashing of Erin climbing up a large tree that had clocks and numbers engraved on it. Other pictures were showing up too, but they were too fuzzy to make out.