They had been traveling for about a day and a half since Toboe had said he could manage the pace even with the scabby gash on his underbelly. He still couldn't stretch to his full stride because it felt like his skin was tearing apart so they went at a collected walk. The wound refused to heal nicely, so the scabs were terribly painful and made his stomach so tender that he had to lay on his side to rest comfortably. Both he and Ana knew that after the scabs fell away, he'd need several more weeks for the scarring to autocorrect to a smoother appearance. Ana looked over her shoulder to make sure Toboe was still up to her pace when she saw a strange shadow over him. It took her a moment to make out that it looked like a human. She bristled and turned in the air to growl at the strange phenomenon. Toboe looked a bit surprised and stopped immediately and asked what was wrong. "What's that?"

"Huh?" Toboe looked behind him to try and see what she meant.

"That! Over your head!"

Toboe looked up. He didn't see anything. His brow furrowed. Then his eyes opened at a hunch. "Do you mean my other form?" He sat.

"Your what?" Ana said, starting to calm down now that she saw he wasn't panicking.

"Well, we've been walking for a while now and I started to wonder why we haven't run into any people yet. So just in case, I made myself look human to fool other humans. That way, if there's a hunter, he'll see a kid hiking rather than a pathetic wolf and his deep red vixen friend." He let out a goofy laugh at his poor excuse for a flattering joke.

"You can do that?" Ana asked.

"Sure. All wolves can. It just takes a bit of concentration."

"So only humans will see you that way?"

"No," Toboe said, shaking his head. "Other animals can too if they look hard enough. You can try."

Ana stared at the cloud about him and tried to see past it. First the wolf faded and then in its place, a young, fourteen year old boy appeared. She could still see the fog around him, but it wasn't as obvious anymore. "I think I see it."

"With practice, you can see my other form more quickly and the mist won't be so thick, though it will never totally go away."

Ana sat, staring at his alternate body. She could see the similarity, at least, in his hair and eye color. He looked really nice…

"Uh, Ana? Is something wrong?" the boy asked.

"Ah!" Ana snapped out of her focus. "He spoke!"

"Well, yeah," Toboe shrugged. "It doesn't do us too well if we can't communicate with other people for help."

"Wow," Ana whispered. "Do you think I could learn to do that?"

"Well, I…" He thought for a moment. "I don't remember them saying other animals couldn't. You could try."

"Okay." Ana stood up and planted her feet into the earth for a good base. Toboe could tell nothing would be able to physically move her from that spot.

"You need to want to be safe…But don't feel scared or panicked. It should feel like you're walking around and, no matter what you do, no one will see you…and that you can do whatever you want."

Ana heard Toboe's voice fading as her concentration intensified. She felt her body boil and then release the heat around her. It felt like when she sat at the bottom of a waterfall and breathed in the steam. She tried not to get excited and continued to concentrate. She tried to envision herself running through a field of tall grass. She was so short, no one would ever see her.

"Ana."

"Shh."

"Ana."

"Shh!"

"Ana!"

"What!" She opened her eyes with her ears pinned to her head.

"You did it!" Toboe was beaming and jumping up while his tail wagged a mile a minute, too happy to feel the sting of his stomach.

"I did?"

He stopped jumping and nodded vigorously several times. "Look up."

After a pause to assure herself that he hadn't completely scattered his brains, she did what he said and looked up. Above her stood a young, seventeen year old lady. Her bushy, blood-red hair reached down to just below her shoulder blades. Four or five smaller braids were visible within the untamed mane. Her green eyes had a sharpness to them and her face was a tad narrower than the boy's. She had nearly no tan. Barefoot, she wore clothing consisting of a plane white blouse with a deer hide vest and skirt dyed a lovely shade of brown. And she sported a fur-covered, inch-wide choker and two wrist bands that had four mini fox tails attached to each. "Wow."

"I know," Toboe said, approaching. He wasn't smiling anymore, but seemed awed all the same.

Ana laughed to herself and turned around on the spot to watch as her new form twirled for the boy, showing off her look. She was happy. "This is so wonderful!" She laughed again. But, this time, she laughed loudly and fully to anyone who could hear. She rarely exposed her feelings but it felt good to share her joy. And Toboe didn't let the moment spoil by taking advantage of the situation to attack her. He simply wagged his tail. And she stopped twirling to wag her tail too as a few overly enthusiastic tears ran down her cheeks while she lunged towards Toboe and gave him a hug. "Thank you!"

They had been trekking for several hours when they found a very large gap in the tree line. Ana ran forward, ahead of Toboe, to get a look of the terrain. "Wow."

"What?" Toboe asked as he attempted to trot to her location. "Whoa." The forest had been, more or less, leveled. Must have been the storm.

They stood side-by-side to stare down the wavering path of toppled trees.

"Perhaps we should go down this path now? If the storm that made this is the same one that carried you, then, logically, this will lead us to where your pack is."

Toboe nodded. "I can't argue with that." As a pair, they proceeded down the track.

As the last of the pink sky disappeared out of sight, the fox and wolf settled into curling positions for the night. Ana was excited that Toboe was almost home, but she was terribly frightened at the idea of meeting his friends. What if they try to hurt me? She peeked over her bushy tail to look at Toboe. He wouldn't let them hurt me…I don't think… She closed her eyes as sleep from her exhausting day overcame her senses.

Ana heard a sound and woke up. "Tobo-"

"Shh," he whispered, pressing down on her muzzle. "Someone's coming."

She could tell he was serious. She rose up slowly and quietly. "What is it?"

"Don't know." Toboe didn't move anything but his ears, which swiveled in all directions trying to pinpoint the possible threat.

Ana saw the same red mist from before rise up from the ground and encircle them both. She tried to follow suite.

"No!" he whispered.

"Why?"

"You haven't had enough practice yet. You could risk losing your disguise at a bad time."

"Well, can't I just throw it back up?"

"Humans aren't so stupid that they'd forget what they saw just a moment ago. If it fails, we're in big trouble." The fox looked at him with a grumpy frown. "Just do what I say and we'll be fine." Toboe's human form stood and began to walk down the path they had been following the day before.

Not too many strides later a man stepped out from among the trees. The two stopped. Ana got close to Toboe's foot and stared at the large human. "What chu doin' in dese woods all alone, boy? Ain't too safe hur. Got wolves, don't cha know."

Toboe straightened his back and replied, "I live here."

"Is dat so?"

Toboe spied the rifle the man had strapped on his back. "Yeah, my parents and I live in a cabin out here."

"Uh-huh." He approached slowly. It made both canines uneasy. "Yer parents always let chu out alone?"

"Mostly, yes."

The man got a bit closer and Ana couldn't help but growl at him. "What's dis den? Yer guard dog?" He chuckled.

"My pet. Parents wouldn't let me get a dog so I raised her when I found her abandoned in a den," Toboe said while gesturing to Ana.

"Ya know, ma friends and I have been combin' dis side of da riva lookin' fer skins." Toboe tried to keep a straight face as he heard four other guys surround him.

"I don't like this," Ana whispered, looking around them.

"It's okay," Toboe whispered back.

"We hears dat da wolves ere can look like people. Cast a spell or sumtin like dat."

"We ain't seen no cabin out here," stated the guy to Toboe's immediate left. "Don't know how we ever missed yer folks. Wouldn't mind helping us find some wolves while yer out, would ja?"

"Well, I don't think-" A rope passed over his head and he blinked on reflex as it dropped and tightened over his arms at elbow level. "Um-ah, what's going on?" Toboe was starting to get a bit panicked. He tried to step against the rope and turn to see the man holding its end.

"Don't play like you don't know. No one lives in these woods. We'll just take you on over to the boss to be sure you ain't a wolf in disguise."

"Disguise?" Toboe asked.

"Yeah," the rifleman spoke again. "Our boss' gots dis abilitay to see iffen your's a wolf er not."

"I really think I ought to be getting home now."

"No need to be worried if you ain't got nothin' to hide," said the trapper, holding him in place.

Toboe was becoming agitated. "I said I want to go home. Now please let me go!"

"Don't think so. You'll be comin' with us." The trapper tightened his grip on the rope.

"I said no!" Toboe pulled away from him. Ana yipped as she lunged at the men to try and scare them. It didn't make a difference.

"Come on." The rifleman came behind him and twisted his arms up, behind his back and then lashed his wrists together with another rope so he couldn't move. "Let's go."

Toboe, taken by surprise, didn't know how to react as he was lifted from behind by his wrists. It hurt really bad, his arms being pulled up like that. He winced. "Let go! Let go of me!" At that, Ana charged and bit down as hard as she could on the man's calf.

"Thenk yer tuff, do ya?" The man laughed. He lifted his leg and flung the fox hard into a tree. Ana immediately let go and fell to the ground. She'd been stunned.

"Ana!" Toboe screamed. "Get off me! Right now!" He thrashed, regardless that the man held him too far away to actual be hit by any of his kicks.

"All right, boys. Let's get agoin'." Half dragging and half carrying, the hunters took the boy into the forest back to their base.

"Toboe!" Ana had regained some form of sense and wobbled up to see the group vanishing behind the trees. She made to follow.

"No, don't! Ana, go find my friends! They'll come find me!"

She managed to take the mental note just before she blacked out.