Theo Soderberg

Theo Soderberg is Clearwater High’s custodian and a coyote Woodwalker whose work repeatedly places him at the boundary between the school’s everyday routines and its students’ less ordinary dangers. He collects Carag on his first day, retrieves a student from a kennel, and later offers Carag private help mastering transformation. His role is practical rather than ceremonial: he drives, repairs, and makes himself available when someone needs help.

Identity and Introduction

Theo first appears at the Ralstons’ home in a battered blue pickup bearing Clearwater High’s crest. Its flank is scored with marks too large to look like scratches from branches. Theo himself is older and muscular, with bristly brown hair, tattooed arms, black leather trousers, and a fitted denim jacket. His appearance strikes Carag as more like that of a television biker than the driver of an elite school bus.

Introducing himself to the Ralstons as Mr Soderberg, the school’s custodian, Theo briefly shakes their hands and says he has come for their son. He looks Carag over and smiles before telling him it is time to leave. The Ralstons seem unsure what to make of him, but Theo proceeds without ceremony. His unconventional appearance also leaves Carag wondering whether he might be human or a Woodwalker, and whether tattoos would remain visible in animal form.

Driver and Practical Help

After Carag boards the pickup, Theo accelerates onto the highway that passes through Jackson Hole. When Carag thanks him, Theo gives his name: Theo. He estimates that the trip to school will take no more than twenty minutes, but explains that they must first stop at the kennel to collect a student who behaved badly over the weekend. Finding where the student had gone took time.

At the kennel, Theo opens the carrier he has brought. The small animal springs onto the enclosure, balances along its structure, and then leaps neatly into the carrier. The kennel supervisor marvels at how well trained she is and asks her name. Theo’s intervention turns the stop into a brisk retrieval rather than a prolonged dispute: he gives the student a way out and gets her moving toward school.

His practical assistance also extends to the dormitory. When Carag wakes him to ask for help, Theo first answers with an unintelligible growl, then leads Carag into his workshop and asks what he needs. Carag points to a newly built bed, and Theo carries it on his shoulders. The brief exchange presents him as someone whose workshop and physical labor are available to solve an immediate problem, even when he has been roused from sleep.

Private Mentor to Carag

Theo’s most personal intervention comes when Carag is struggling to master his transformations. In his coyote form, Theo recognizes that Carag’s difficulty with Isidore Ellwood makes the training situation harder. He offers to help, and Carag responds with immediate relief. Theo sets a boundary around the offer: their practice must remain secret so that Isidore will not be offended.

The arrangement is specific and demanding. Theo tells Carag to go to sleep because he needs it, and sets their next meeting for half an hour before breakfast the following day. His offer is thus not merely encouragement; it creates a regular opportunity for extra practice while preserving the existing teacher’s standing. Theo notices both Carag’s need for instruction and the delicate relationship in which that instruction must fit.

Role at Clearwater High

Across these encounters, Theo’s authority is expressed through useful action. He takes responsibility for getting a new student to school, makes a detour to retrieve another, and uses his workshop and strength to help with a bed. In his private coaching of Carag, he also attends to the social consequences of helping, not just the technical problem of transformation.

Theo’s work links ordinary school logistics with the hidden life of its Woodwalker students. The pickup and kennel stop introduce him through the daily business of the school; his coyote form and secret lessons reveal a more personal kind of support. Together, these roles make him a dependable presence whose care is shown less through declarations than through transport, labor, and time set aside before breakfast.