The door latch clicked shut and Jess gave a long sigh of relief. The sales had continued for hours. Eventually, the stock had dwindled until there were serious concerns that saleable items would run out. Coins had been piled into baskets at first, but when things seemed more desperate, the coins were emptied onto the covers of Jess’s bed. It lay like a junior dragon hoard. The glittering gold, silver and copper coins remained uncounted. In the chaos of the sales, neither of them had been able to keep count of the shop profits.

Jess leaned her back against the wood-panelled wall and sank until she was sitting on the floor.

“I don’t know how ye knew,” Mike said as he ran a hand through his hair, scratching at the base of his ear.

“I didn’t know this would happen,” Jess said as she motioned a hand at the room and chuckled. The whole thing seemed monumentally stupid, and yet…

“Ye knew something would happen,” Mike insisted. She frowned a little as the words seemed to finish off her trail of thoughts, confirming her suspicions. Perhaps a part of her had known. It seemed like the stupid kind of thing that gaming-obsessed kids would obsess over. A secret that suddenly everyone knows about but needs to see for themselves. No financial gain, no honour, and no other physical rewards. Just the sheer brute force of the fear of missing out.

With a snort, Mike raised his chin as though he had lined up the chess board to checkmate her Queen.

Jess mocked a sigh and rolled her eyes. “Alright. Alright. I knew something might happen,” she admitted. “Might… but I didn’t think it would have been crazy as this.”

Mike stepped forward and offered a hand which was gratefully accepted by Jess. “Job isn’t finished yet,” he said as he pulled her easily to her feet.

The minotaur was correct. The glistening mounds of coins would need to be sorted and counted. Not just because of the shop’s finances, but also because there was no way that Jess was going to be able to sleep in the bed until they were moved. She gave a weary nod and followed him towards the small room.

“What will ye do with it?” asked Mike.

“With what?”

“The gold?” he stated, raising a quizzical brow. Jess got the distinct feeling that she was missing something, as though she couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

When no answer was forthcoming from Jess, Mike sighed. “Ye can’t think I’d keep it all to myself, Lass? Ye earned half.”

Jess’s eyes grew wide as she turned back to the hoard. Half? He can’t be serious…

“Yer having half,” Mike stated flatly, as though reading her thoughts. Though, truth be told, Jess knew that she was currently an open book. So much cash! Too much cash!

Her mouth dropped open as she struggled for words, but Mike gave her a flat stare. He was startlingly intimidating when he put his mind to it. “Half,” he insisted in a commanding voice. Then, in a softer voice, “Providing ye don’t open up any shops of yer own.”

Jess grinned. “I think I’ve had enough of that excitement,” she replied. “For a while, at least.”

The tall minotaur smirked before motioning towards the coins. “Ye can start separating them by worth. I’ll get the coin bags.”

Without an audience, the urge to simply dip her hands into the coins was rising. Images from her childhood of Scrooge McDuck swimming through waves of gold and gems came to mind and her grin grew broader at the ridiculous notion. There certainly wasn’t enough for her to bathe in but having a substantial amount of coin to her name would give her options now. Who cared if the schools of Steelvale wouldn’t hire her? She could forge her own path.

“Ye look like the cat that got the cream,” came Mike’s voice from the doorway, breaking her thoughts.

“I was just thinking. There’s only a handful of schools in the City, right?” Jess asked him, glancing away from the lines of gold, silver and copper coins that were growing on the bed like metallic snakes.

Mike nodded as he knelt beside her. The bags were laid out on the floor, ready to use when needed. He began to count out coins into the lone, open bag that remained in his hands.

“That must mean that there’s a lot of kids who don’t get to go to school,” Jess questioned. Her smile had faded, replaced with crows’ feet around her eyes as her face took on a more serious expression. Cogs were turning.

“Plenty,” Mike replied, remaining focused on the task at hand. He tied up the drawstring bag and it was laid against the wall – soon to be one of many.

Jess’s hands were no longer separating the coins before her. All her focus now rested on Mike and the answer she needed to hear from Mike. “What if I started my own school?” she asked.

The minotaur frowned. Three more bags of coins were filled and then tied and Jess still waited for her answer. She could feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands as they remained balled into fists on the surface of the bed.

The piles of sorted coins on the bed were drastically smaller, leaving Mike unable to fill the next bag in his hand. He paused for a moment, rubbing the fabric between his thumb and index finger, before making eye contact with Jess.

“Who would ye teach?” Mike asked in a soft, thoughtful tone.

“Anyone,” Jess answered. She tipped her head a little and smiled. “Everyone.”

“Everyone?” Mike questioned. “Everyone can’t afford a school.”

“Maybe…” Jess started to say but stopped for a moment. “I don’t have to charge the same as those big fancy schools though.”

“All gold runs out eventually.”

“Not in it for the income. In it from the outcome,” replied Jess as she picked up another handful of coins to sort. “Plus, if I’m looking for information, I’d rather not limit myself.”

“What information do ye think ye can prize out of kiddies?”

“You’d be surprised,” Jess answered. “Kids hear everything and have zero filters”

“Alright. If variety is the plan, there’s another option,” said Mike, watching her intently.

Jess continued to sort the coins, waiting for the minotaur to elaborate on his statement.

“The Woodfolk don’t get access to human schools,” he said, still watching her.

“Wood folk?” Jess queried.

“Ye did say everyone,” Mike reminded her as he reached to pick up a stack of silver coins to count into the small bag.

Jess stopped counting. “No, I mean… who the hell are the wood folk?”

Mike finished tying the cloth bag and placed it by the others before fixing Jess with a meaningful stare and gesturing at himself.

“Ah…” Jess uttered as her face went blank. Of course, you idiot! She went to pick up another few coins before hesitating. With a frown, she turned back to Mike. “Don’t you guys have your own schools? You seem pretty well educated.”

“Of course. It’s good for the kiddies to socialise while they’re young though,” he explained. “They can get bitey, otherwise.”

Jess flashed him a look that was a mixture of surprise and horror. Trying to imagine Mike as anything other than a behemoth was difficult enough. The idea of him being some waist-high bitey kid was downright ridiculous. Worse still, flashbacks of hormonal teenagers echoed through her memories. She didn’t even want to know how bad a teenager tantrum could get if a minotaur was in the throes of puberty.

Mike burst into laughter at the look on her face and shook his head ruefully. “Not us, Lass.”

It took a great deal of self-control for Jess to avoid sighing with relief. It did beg the question of which species Mike was talking about though. If minotaurs were alive in this world, then what other sentient beings from myth and legend could be found? How will I get pencils tiny enough for fairies? What if the kids can fly? I can’t fly. What if they won’t come down when I ask them to? I’ll need a teacher assistant… One that can fly. Just in case.

“Ye need somewhere for this school,” Mike continued once his laughter had subsided.

“You wouldn’t happen to know any vacant buildings nearby, would you?” Jess asked.

The snort of disbelief that Mike gave answered her question even before he shook his head and answered. “Save yer coin. The city is expensive. The wood folk prefer staying outside the walls anyway.”

“So how do I go about that? I didn’t see many villages out in the woods when I walked with Nevin,” Jess said.

Mike shook his head whilst smiling. “That tends to be the point.”

“The students from the city need to be able to find me, Mike,” Jess reminded him.

“Aye, Lass. Don’t worry about that. I’ll call in a favour and have Thurman set up something with ye. Fawns ain’t much more trustworthy than foxes, but they know what they’re doing.”

Foxes? Jess’s imagination ran wild. The image of a human-sized fox in a business suit flashed through her mind. Actual talking foxes? Were-foxes? Half-human, half-fox?

Biology lessons seemed set to be a lot more interesting in the future.