The Circle of the Paw

Chapter 6

Misha smiled as she remembered the nights, while the humans slept, that she would teach Akhi the ancient techniques of Rakaaz, the heightened awareness that all Circle of the Paw members were taught upon initiation into the order.

Mastery of Rakaaz allowed the Gibborim to focus on the task before them and to better help their humans during an emergency. It was a special training that gave the practitioner the ability to process information at a greater than usual speed. Despite a prohibition on teaching Rakaaz to outsiders, Misha had done so in secret, hoping that it would give her friend the ability to calm his spirit with his new family. Even Akhi was kept in the dark about exactly what he was learning. And just maybe, she had thought, the training would give Akhi a head start in joining her among the ranks of the Circle's Gibborim, one day. If only he knew.

After a season of training, Akhi had stopped scratching the furniture and would even patiently sit on Jacob's lap in the evenings, allowing himself to be pet and loved by his humans, even with the loud blare of the television filling the room. More than once, Akhi had slept on the foot of Jacob and Abigail's bed. At the time, Misha had thought that whatever emotional damage that plagued the troubled cat had been fixed by the self control gained from Rakaaz training.

Painful memories don't so easily fade, Misha realized as Noah successfully stood up while bracing himself on her, bringing the yellow Labrador back from her memories of the past.

"Where could Cagney have gone?" Abigail asked Jacob in a puzzled tone.

"I checked Noah's room while he slept," Jacob said. "I checked our room, as well."

Misha racked her brain trying to think of a way to communicate with them that they would understand.

"We looked in the couch. We refilled his bowl. That always gets him to run to the kitchen," Abigail continued.

Jacob looked down and stared into Misha's mismatched eyes. "Any idea where your friend went?" He asked rhetorically.

Misha cocked her head to one side before lowering herself to the floor. After Noah rolled off, she shot back up and trotted over to the rear door, pointing to the pet-flap with her snout and softly whimpering.

Abigail's brow furrowed as she looked at Misha.

"Do you think Cagney ran outside? Did something spook him?" Abigail asked. Misha began to wag her tail vigorously.

"Oh no." Jacob threw back his head with his eyes closed, clamping his teeth together.

"What?"

"I yelled at him "No" pretty loudly after he scratched Noah," Jacob said, shaking his head.

"Do you think he ran away, though?" Abigail was surprised. "That's so unlike him."

"I was pretty harsh with him, I think," Jacob admitted. "I was just too wound up from the day." He stood there, staring off at the wall. "Noah is going to be heartbroken."

"I'm heartbroken!" Abigail shot back.

"So am I," Jacob admitted in a soft tone. Misha could hear the regret in his voice.

"I hope he wasn't attacked by that fox that we keep seeing coming and going in the garden." Abigail strained her eyes peering into the darkness of the rear window.

"Aca. Aca. Aca?" Noah questioned from the floor. Jacob picked the toddler up off the ground.

Jacob and Abigail looked at each other with sadness on their faces, Misha noticed.

"We need posters up and down the street," Abigail said, taking charge of the search.  "I'll start making one. I can also post something on that neighborhood app." Her face became lost in the harsh blue glow of her phone.