As Maddy crossed the moor with her parents, she looked back at the last place she had seen Rhydian. It was too far away and too dark to make out the shapes of her best friends, even with her wolf senses. The last thing she had heard from Rhydian had been his heartbroken sobs, and now her own heart felt like it was being ripped in two. She stumbled slightly over a loose rock as her concentration was on the pack she had left behind. Her mother looked back at her as if to say "come on, there's no time for this!" Maddy turned reluctantly and followed her parents into the night.

The first few weeks had been the worst. Neither Maddy nor either of her parents had any experience of living in the wild, so to say it was difficult would be putting it mildly. They had to learn how to hunt, how to create shelters from the weather, and most importantly, how to stay hidden, all in a matter of weeks. On a number of occasions they went hungry due to a failed hunting attempt, and once, they had had to leave a sheltering site so quickly they had left Maddy's photos of her friends behind because Emma thought they had been seen.

After three or four weeks, Maddy tried to use Eolas, out of sight of her parents, of course, just for a glimpse of Rhydian. She wished she hasn't tried as soon as she saw him. He was sitting on his bed, silent tears rolling down his cheeks as he gazed at a picture of her that he had drawn a few weeks before she left. She ended the connection quickly, her heart heavier than before.

For several months, Maddy and her family survived in the wild, never staying in one place for more than a few days. Maddy didn't try to use Eolas again, in case she saw Rhydian in the same, distraught state, or worse, what if she couldn't see him at all?

As the time dragged on, Maddy found herself adjusting to life as a wild wolfblood. The times when they went hungry were fewer and further between, and they had remained in the same camp for over a week.

Suddenly, Maddy's ears pricked up. She frowned mentally. She didn't remember transforming. That seemed to happen more and more often as she lived in the wild. She shook her head to clear it and listened.

A twig snapped. She turned to face the sound, growling. Taking a nervous step back, she sniffed the air, trying to catch a scent, but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.

Another twig snapped and a low branch of a nearby tree rustled. Suddenly, she saw movement. Maddy pounced.

"Dan, do you smell that?" Emma looked at her husband. His yellow eyes were staring around, trying to find the deer they had been stalking.
"Over there!" She pointed suddenly, and both of them transformed, bursting into a run. The two of them worked seamlessly as a team, hardly needing to communicate with each other as they worked to bring down the doe.

A small scream rang out from under Maddy's paws. She took a step back, suddenly frightened. A child scrambled backwards away from her, terrified. She sniffed it, cautiously. It was unmistakably a wolfblood cub. She transformed back into her human form instantly. "Oh my god... Are you okay? I am so sorry..." But the cub just stared at her. Then, without warning, it turned and fled.

Emma and Dan returned to camp just as Maddy watched the cub out of sight.
"See what we caught! We won't be going hungry to-"
"We have to leave."
"What?"
"We have to leave! Now!" Emma didn't understand.
"Why? What's happened, pet?"
"There's, there must be a wolf pack around here, and we're on their territory."
"How do you know that?"
"I... I didn't mean to! It was an accident... But... There was this cub, and I didn't mean to hurt it, but I didn't know what it was, and..."
"That's it, we're leaving. Now, Dan!" Daniel dropped the deer carcass he was carrying with a wistful sigh, and all three of the Smiths transformed into wolves. Just as they were about to leave, however, an eerie howl broke over the forest surrounding them and a net fell from the trees above, trapping all three of them together.

"What were you doing trespassing on my territory, stealing my prey and attacking my children?" The wolfblood in front of them paced, angrily, gesticulating wildly as he bellowed at them. Maddy and her parents were tied at the wrists around the base of a tree trunk.

After being captured, they had been borne to the heart of the wild pack's territory, where the pack spent most of their time. The air smelled strongly of unwashed wolfbloods, and hostile intentions.

Maddy gripped her mother's hand tightly. Dan, however, turned his head to face the wolfblood who was addressing him.
"We didn't know it was your territory, or that we weren't allowed to hunt here! And as for attacking your children, it was an accident! I'm sure you understand..." He trailed off. The enemy wolfblood was fixing him with such a glare Dan felt as though it could see right through his skull to the trunk of the tree behind him.

"Pah," the wild wolfblood spat. "You're all tames. How else could you fail know the rules of the wild?" He shook his head disdainfully. "Take them away." He ordered. Four beta wolves scuttled forward, looking terrified. "Take them to punishment rock. We'll deal with them in the morning." The beta wolves nodded and bent to untie the ropes fastening Maddy and her parents and leading them away.

That night, Maddy and her parents stood on the top of a large, flat, elevated rock, surrounded by snarling, unfriendly wolfbloods. None of them could sleep, although they tried.

The next morning, they were brought down from the rock and brought in front of a council. It seemed to contain all the elders of the pack, including the alpha they had gone across last night.

"So, we are here to decide on your punishment for trespassing, stealing and attacking our cubs." He began.

"No, please, it was an accident, let us go, we didn't know!" All three of the Smiths begged. The alpha wolf just laughed.

"Let you go? What so you can run along home to your tame little lives and put our secret in danger? No. I think... An execution is in order." The rest of the pack nodded in agreement, a wild, cruel gleam in their eyes. "First, bring me that one. The small one." He pointed at Maddy. She froze.

"No! No, please, take me, kill me instead..." Emma pleaded at her daughter's side. Maddy shook her head and whispered to her mother, so quiet not even the listening wolfbloods could overhear.

"Dont worry, mam, I have a plan..." One of the beta wolves who had taken then up to 'punishment rock' the night before, stepped between Maddy and her mother and roughly pushed Maddy forward. She stumbled and fell to her knees.

"Get up!" Barked the alpha wolf in front of her. Her hit her in the face. She struggled to her feet, blood dripping from a cut on her eyebrow.

"What do you want to do this for?" Maddy looked him straight in the eye. "What do you think killing me will achieve?" The alpha roared.

"REVENGE!" and leapt at Maddy. Except she was no longer there. In wolf form, the ropes had slipped off her wrists. She ran over to her parents, looking up at them as if to say "Do it! Change!" But before they had had a chance, beta wolves had closed in around her parents and were dragging then away, preventing transformation. A wolfblood in wolf form leapt at Maddy, too.

"Leave her!" Hurriedly the other wolf stepped back. Maddy turned to face the alpha, growling. Then without warning, she turned tail and ran out of the camp. The alpha shouted, "Keep the other two safe, dont let them escape!" and took off after Maddy.

Maddy transformed back into a human. She could run faster as a wolf, but she didn't have the stamina to keep going for long in that shape. She just hoped the wolfblood pursuing her didn't either. She had to buy her parents enough time to fight their way out of there. She knew they would, they'd do anything to save their cub, its in a wolfblood's nature. She ran on.

Maddy ran until she found a change of scent. She had reached the border of the wild pack's territory. She veered right, trying to remain on the border. This sudden change of direction had lost her precious metres between herself and the wolfblood on her heels.

She summoned all her strength and called on the only person she could think of left, who could maybe, maybe, answer her cry./pre