Prologue
The little girl of ten snuck out of the house, into the blazing sun. Her dirty blond hair was tucked into a high pony-tail and hidden under a wide-brimmed straw hat; it swayed in the barest of Utah desert winds. She looked back at her house to make sure she wasn't being watched, and then ran.
She loped over the rocks and sparse plants, her light tan skin gaining a sheen of sweat. The knapsack on her back thudded after each step, her rhythm undisturbed. She past tumbleweeds and the giant saguaros, over the sandstone forms, her breaths even and slow.
As she sat on a rock for a moment, she heard the infamous rattle underneath her. She pulled her legs up as fast as she could and ran as fast as she could in the other direction. Adrenaline burned her veins and filled her lungs as she sprinted into the empty desert. She fought through a forest of brittle bush and cholla trees, finally breaking through to see a jagged mountain that seemed to touch the sky.
Nearly weeping, she began to climb, doing her best to ignore the protest in her limbs and the burning in her lungs. She reached a large cave, about a quarter up the mountain. She lay down on a flat slab, using her knapsack as a pillow, silently weeping.
When she woke up, she was feeling warmer than she should, with it being night and in a cave. She opened her eyes to see a mass of black lying down next to her. She looked up and met kind, dark eyes and a wet black nose, which nuzzled the top of her head in a caring gesture. For some reason, she felt safe with this large black panther, perhaps even more so than in her own home. She closed her eyes and laid her head back on the panther's chest, listening to its quiet purr.
As she lay there, she remembered her parents, her horses, and the cattle on her ranch. She looked up at the panther and asked, "Panther," and it looked at her, "can you take me home?"
It seemed to regard her for a moment then stood and stretched. It looked back at her, and lowered itself closer to the ground so she could climb onto its back, which she did after a moment.
As she weighed next to nothing, the panther had no trouble leaping down the mountain and loping back towards her house.
It was dark when they arrived, and the girl swung down, looking into the panther's eyes.
"Thank you," she said, "and my name is Max."
The panther rumbled deep in its chest, and slightly barred its fangs. "Oh!" Max exclaimed, "Is your name Fang?"
The panther rumbled deep in its chest one more time, then nuzzled her head, and ran off into the night, neither one of them willing to forget the other.