“The adults need to work, and the children need activities that will help them survive,” Tess said. “Since they are old enough, and independent enough, to cause trouble, they are old enough to do some work, to learn some skills.”

Ruthie looked alarmed. “What kind of skills? I mean, humans have laws about child labor.”

“Human law doesn’t apply in the Courtyard,” Simon growled.

“The point is,” Vlad interrupted, “the human children can receive supervised learning from a human teacher, which is you, or they can be banned from the Courtyard unless they are with a human adult.”

“Or we can let someone like Nathan or Blair teach them about the value of obeying adults.” Henry nodded when Ruthie paled. “You begin to understand. We tolerate much from all the young because they are young. But our young learn as well as play throughout the year. And our young now include any human young who spend time here.”

“But I don’t have any of the books or supplies or—”

“Order a dozen sets of books for all the grades of human schooling,” Simon said. “Order the supplies—the chalkboards and other things a schoolroom needs.”

“Where are they going to school?” Ruthie asked.

Vlad indicated the room. “Here?”

All right, even with the bed removed, it might be a cramped space since there would have to be desks for the children and the teacher.

“Maybe we could make one of the efficiency apartments into the human school,” Henry said. “Lorne does not often stay overnight, and the police pack will soon have their own dens across the street. These rooms could be like . . . a dormitory? There is a sink and toilet up here. We could put a wave-cooker and small fridge in the social room and move things around.”

“But I’m supposed to help the terra indigene learn human things, and help Meg with The Blood Prophets Guide,” Ruthie protested.

“And you’ll still do those things,” Vlad said. “Perhaps you can teach the children in the morning and work on other tasks later.”

“Lieutenant Montgomery asked me if there was work here for his mother,” Simon said. “Maybe doing things with the children is something she can do since she is going to help look after the Lizzy.”

Ruthie tugged on her hair. Henry wondered why humans did that. He’d tried it once after observing a human do it and didn’t see the point.

“All right.” Ruthie blew out a breath. “I can see the need to structure the children’s time. I certainly see the value of their continuing to learn, especially since their school time was interrupted. But Lizzy and Sarah are seven and Robert is nine. Why do I need to order books for the earlier or later grades of school?”

“You need to order them now because they may not be available later,” Vlad said. “Or they may not be easy to obtain.”

Ruthie stared at them. “You’re making this sound like the one-room classrooms in frontier towns that I read about in history books.”

“Yes,” Henry said. “You should think of it that way.”

Watching her, he wondered if they should have brought a chair in the room so that she could sit down. They hadn’t thought they were asking for such a strange thing.

Finally Ruthie nodded. “I would prefer an efficiency apartment to one of these rooms. I’ll need to think about what kind of desk will work best if it has to accommodate younger children and teenagers later. And I’ll see what we can come up with right now with the furniture we have.”

“We’ll clear out one of the apartments that overlook the area behind Howling Good Reads and A Little Bite. Less distraction than the apartments with windows overlooking Crowfield Avenue,” Vlad said.

<Simon?> Henry asked. <Do you agree with this?> The Wolf seemed . . . twitchy.

<It’s fine. We have to go to HGR. Some of the Elementals want to talk to the Business Association.>

Simon, Henry, and Tess stepped aside, giving Ruthie access to the door, which Vlad opened for her.

“You didn’t tell her that Lieutenant Montgomery’s kin may be bringing offspring,” Vlad said as the four of them left the social center and returned to Howling Good Reads.

“I didn’t think it would matter,” Simon replied. He unlocked the front door of HGR and went inside.

Not good, Henry thought as Earth, Air, Fire, and Water turned to face all of them but focused on Simon.

“Ocean has a question and would like you to help find the answer.”

• • •

“Girl talk,” Meg told Nathan before she closed the Private door. Since he didn’t do anything but yawn at her, she wondered if he already knew what the girls needed to discuss.

After Ruth told them about her meeting with the Business Association, Meg looked at the expressions on her friends’ faces.

“Studying in the summertime is strange?” she asked. Unless a girl was truly ill, the cassandra sangue had had lessons every day.

“There’s usually a break in the summer, but I understand the Others wanting the children corralled for part of each day,” Eve said. “And while I want my kids to be safe, and would prefer more snarl and less teeth, I appreciate that the whole pack raises, and disciplines, the pups, and they see our children as two-legged puppies.”

“They would see them that way because their pups run around on two legs part of the time,” Meg said.