The Wolf Vial
*Yawn. The blazing sun is rising. Birds tweeting little melodies with the wind blowing the music through the forest. I rush to my little closet and pull out my beloved red cloak. As soon as I got changed, I ran down the stairs.
"Happy Birthday Red," my mother said in a cheerful way.
"Thanks Mom," I replied back while grabbing some food.
"Here Red," Mom said giving me a basket, "hope you'll enjoy it."
"But Mom, I already have a basket," I said pointing to my basket near the door.
"Oh, don't worry this is no ordinary basket," she said mysteriously, "this basket is magical. It can summon whatever you desire with the magic words. Ahem! 'A Tisket A Tasket Grant Me This Wish Little Basket."
"Ok..." I said uncertainly.
"Here," she said handing me the basket, "try it out."
"A tisket a tasket grant me this wish little basket." I felt something plop into the basket, and when I opened it, a cookie was in it, just how I imagined. "It worked!" I shouted excitedly, "Thank You."
"You're welcome," she said, "Now, go somewhere fun today and celebrate."
"See you tonight then," I said planting a kiss on her cheek, "Bye."
"Bye dear," Mom said waving me off.
I walked towards the Whispering Woods. The last time I've been here was when I was six. Good time memories, I thought.
The cold breeze came across wiping my face. Sticks and branches cracked while I walked, and a nearby running waterfall was splashing water all over the place.
A cold dark shadow came across me, Winter the wolf. I turned around facing the trouble making wolf. Ever since my last visit to the Whispering Woods, I was somehow granted the power of speaking to animals and understanding them. Winter, however, was a shape shifting wolf. He could shape shift into a human being or a wolf at his command. Winter was one of my first friends when I moved near the Whispering Woods. He always mocked me by calling me red synonyms ever since we met; which was annoying.
Without any sound, that trouble maker ran towards me and snatched my magic basket.
"Stop! Winter, give me back my basket!" I screech at the wolf.
"No can do Cerise!" he teased and sped off into the forest.
Ugh! That little annoying wolf. I followed its path searching for the nuisance.
For about an hour, I gave up. "Winter, where are you" I cried out. I got up and walked some more. For another hour, I came across some old house. It had broken stairs, shattered windows, and pointed fences. The gates were rusted and wide open. There were grave stones all around the death yard. The whole place looked like Hades has lived there.
Curiously I walked to the door and creaked it open. Maybe Winter's here, I thought. I scavenged around the shadowy house. My hand got tired and I rest it on a lamp.
Rumble! Rumble! The ground started to shake like a little earthquake. The fireplace near where I was standing moved and a little secret door appeared.
I clicked it open and crept inside. There were books surrounding me. A secret library! I explored around the place. A little shimmer caught my attention. My eyes were directed to some vial with a strange silver liquid in it. The label said "Wolf" on it.
Since I was careless and running out of options to catch Winter, I popped open the bottle and chugged down the potion. At first I felt woozy, and I also felt something weird. Wolf ears began to pop up on my head and it felt as if I could hear from miles away. *Sniff. *Sniff. My nose found Winter's scent. Must be part of the potion.
The vial gave me some type of wolf powers. Wow! First animal language and now wolf powers. Cool! My life keeps getting better and weirder.
Now, I can sniff out Winter. After five minutes of getting the hang of this, I finally tracked Winter's scent. I followed my nose and it led me right to him.
To my surprise, Winter was carrying my basket in his mouth and sitting on a picnic blanket with all my favorite foods.
"Happy Birthday Ruby," Winter said smiling slyly.
"Thank You!" I said laughing at my surprise with tears of joy in my eyes, "you of all the animals I've met actually remembered?"
"How could I forget a true friend who helps me out when I need an assistance?" he answered back shape shifting to his human form, "Whoa! I know you're a big fan of me," he said teasingly looking at my new wolf look, "what's with the new ears?"
"It's a long story," I complained.
"I got all the time I need," he teased back.
I explained to him the whole story with the creepy mansion, secret library, vial, and magical sprouting wolf ears.
"So," he stated, "you drank some random potion that magically gave you wolf abilities just to see me?"
"Really Winter, " I complained, "how do you get rid of these ears! Ugh! They're annoying as much as you are." I snapped.
"Come on," he said handing me back my precious basket, "let's go to Master Hoo. Only he knows how to get rid of these ears."
Winter reached for my hand and I took it. I put on my hood carefully covering my furry ears. He guided me towards Master Hoo's tree. I've met Master Hoo the first time I came to the Whispering Woods, and, of course, Winter was there with me.
As soon as we reached to the ancient tree, Winter dragged me inside the tree.
"Master HOOooo!" Winter echoed through the tree.
"WHHOOooo is there?" a voice asked.
"It's Winter and Scarlet," he responded.
"I'm coming" the wise owl said flapping his big old wings.
Master Hoo came upon us and greeted us with warm smiles.
"And, what brings yoouuu here toodayy?" Master Hoo asked.
Winter and I filled him in on the details of my wolf ears; I asked him how we were supposed to find the antidote.
"To find the antidote, yoouuu must find the blade of trust from the Misty Swamp, the locket of memories near the Crystal Waterfall, and a cup of kindness. Then, come back to me." Master Hoo listed.
"Locket of Memories-Crystal Waterfall, Blade of Trust-Misty Swamp, Cup of Kindness-... Wait where do we find the cup of kindness?" Winter asked, but the owl was gone. "Guess we're on our own on this one," he said to me.
"Let's start with the Locket of Memories," I suggested, "It will be quicker to start with the ones with hints from Master Hoo."
"Good idea Rose," he beamed.
"Name's Red," I grumbled.
We hiked towards the Crystal Waterfall. The Crystal Waterfall was made up of crystal clear ice-cold water from Mt. Icicle. When the temperature started to drop, Winter shape shifted back to a wolf for warmth. The ground was fully made of ice when we reached the waterfall. I looked in the water and saw a silver round locket.
"Winter!" I exclaimed, "I think I found it!" I scooped up the locket and opened it. Winter and I were in awe to find a little image of all our friends in a picture we took the first time we all met in the Whispering Woods.
"Now we know why it's called the Locket of Memories," Winter said with amazement sparkling in his silver eyes. "
"All right Romeo," I joked, "let's look for the Blade of Trust now."
"Misty Swamp, here we go!" Winter dramatically proclaimed.
We approached the foggy disgusting swamp. The bubbles of the muddy swamp popped as we walked around the squishy land. Swarms of fly buzz around our heads.
"How the heck are we supposed to find the Blade of Trust in this trashy place?" Winter whined.
"I think we're supposed to show something in this swamp trust or trust our instincts that something will appear," I answered back.
"Let's go with Plan B," Winter suggested laughing. I rolled my eyes.
An old alligator came by us. "Who dares come near my swamp territory" it roared.
"We mean no harm," Winter said with his hands (paws) up.
"We were sent by Master Hoo to look for the Blade of Trust." I piped up.
"The Blade of Trust? How can I trust you strangers with this magical artifact." the alligator boomed. "Give me proof that Master Hoo sent you travelers to my muddy kingdom."
I thought fast, and remembered the necklace with a maple leaf, the seal of the Whispering Woods, and seed on it. That necklace was given to me by Master Hoo. He said it shows the owner is trustworthy
I showed the alligator my necklace, and to my surprise, he bowed before me.
"So, you are sent my Master Hoo. My apologies for not noticing. You can always never trust anyone who lie about their identity. Here you go," the gator walked to a nearby water lily and lifted the flower. Under the flower, laid the Blade of Trust.
"Thank You," I praised.
"Take good care of it. It may be used for bad in the wrong hands," he warned, "travel safely."
"Let's look for the last one Winter," I said.
"On it, Crimson," he playfully said and shape shifted back into human form.
"My name is Red!" I said.
When we were on our way leaving I heard the old alligator say from a distance, "Those two were made for each other." Weird. No way am I falling for Winter; he's annoyed me to pieces. No way, I thought. I looked up at Winter. My face turned red as fire.
"Something wrong Apple?" Winter asked concerning.
"Nn...nn..no," I answered, "Why?"
"Your face is all red. You sure you're okay?" he said with worry in his eyes.
"It's nothing," I told him uncertainly.
"Ok... if you need me, I'm always here," he confessed with a kind smile.
"Thanks," I said and returned the smile. I pulled my hood on tighter.
"Ok!" he said startling the life out of me to get rid of the awkwardness, "Now that's settled," he winked at me playfully, "how do we find the cup of kindness. Master Hoo never told us where to find it."
"Since the woods are too big to search in, let's head back to Master Hoo to give him the things for the antidote first. Maybe, we'll think of something on the way."
"Ok" Winter replied.
We walked for a while to get to Master Hoo's tree. It was pretty silent and it was so quiet, you could hear the wind blowing thick cold breezes in our faces. For 20 whole minutes, there was a long awkward silence between us. This has never happened before, why now. Of all the times, why now!
"I got it! The Blade of Trust and Locket of Memories were objects, so maybe the cup of kindness isn't an object you can see or touch, but feel." Winter revealed.
"How couldn't I thought of that! Kindness isn't an object. It's a feeling." I exclaimed happily.
"When I asked you what was wrong, I was basically showing kindness and thinking of others," he looked at me with his cheeks burning red, "is kind." he said.
"We solved the riddle and got all three things," I looked at him, "together," I added.
"Yeah, together" he agreed with a smile on his face.
I thought fast and said, "Race you to Master Hoo's!"
"Oh, you're on" he challenged.
We sped across the woods and Winter shape shifted back into a wolf. As soon as we reached the old living tree, he transformed back to human.
"Cheater!" I yelled laughing at him happily.
"Nah," he said with a playful grin on his face. We walked into Master Hoo's home.
"WHooo is here?" Master Hoo hooted in his tree.
"We're back!" Winter responded, "And we brought the objects."
Master Hoo flapped down his branch and came to us. Winter gave him the Blade of Trust and I gave the owl the Locket of Memories.
"Berry," Master Hoo said to his most trusted messenger, "Please give this back to the Guardian Alligator and give the locket to Red and Winter."
"Yes, sire," Berry said. He hopped and handed us the locket.
We stared at the old owl as if he lost his mind. The bird looked as if he did nothing out of the ordinary.
"Why are you sending the objects back?" Winter shrieked, "What was the point of getting those objects? We wasted our time for nothing!"
"Now now," the old owl calmly said, "I didn't task you kids to fetch those objects for nothing. Look what happened when you two got the objects you did it together and it brought you guys closer. Now, when I said bring the cup of kindness I meant for you two to do something so kind, others wouldn't have the power to do it, but you two had that power to able to find that cup of kindness."
Winter and I looked at each other and turned red as tomatoes. So, I thought, this whole time, he knew and was trying to get us together as close as possible. Winter and I have known each other better than any of my other animal friends though.
"What about the ears?" Winter questioned.
"That will be your choice," the wise old owl told me, "goodbye and choose wisely," the owl flew off into the night.
"You know what?" I told Winter, " I'm kinda getting the hang of these ears. I've decided I'll live my life with wolf ears. They kinda suit me too don't you think?"
"That choice, I'll always agree with," he said sweeping me off my feet and hugging me.
"Thanks for helping me," I said thanking him.
"It wasn't just me Coral," he said with a sly grin, "it was us together."
We walked out of Master Hoo's home and walked into the foggy and chilly woods.
Boom! Crash! Rain dripped down softly on us. We strolled around the woods in the rain. I opened the locket and looked at our group photo remembering the fun time we had back then. Today may have been a wacky day, but it was the best birthday a girl could ask for.