"Ouch," I say as Cherry sticks a lilac wildflower between my ear and my forehead.
"Sorry," Cherry apologizes as she walks around me, looking for something else to clean up.
Skhala licks my fur, cleaning it. She then also studies me. Cherry looks at Skhala. Both of them share smiles of satisfaction.
"She looks great," Skhala says. "Oh, Bandit, he's going to love you!" I roll my eyes slightly with a small smile. As I walk away from them, I can feel my sleeked fur shifting each time I take a step. The flower in my fur bounces imperceptibly. I can feel, to some extent, a flutter in my chest. Excitement tingles down my marrow as I see Phoenix sitting on the rocks that overlook most of Yellowstone.
I advance nimbly, my paws barely making a sound as I clear my throat to alert him that I'm there. Nervousness flashes throughout my body in shockwaves. I take a large gasp of air as he turns, and his dazzling eyes meet mine.
"H—hey," I say unconfidently. God, I have already blown it. I bite my lip slightly. Unnoticeably.
"Hello," Phoenix returns with a smile. "I like that flower," he adds, probably hoping to create small-talk, knowing that I'm shy and uptight. I refuse to mirror his facial expression as I feel my face become steaming hot. I look away. Why do you like Taigo more than me? I want to ask, but that doesn't sound right. We haven't even talked to each other. What do you like about Taigo? Why is Taigo the center of your world? I'm beginning to think this topic isn't appropriate. I let a sigh escape from my mouth. Phoenix looks at me questioningly. Oh my God, why am I such an idiot?
"Why do you like Taigo?" I blurt out. At least I picked a better option than some of the other thoughts that had crossed my mind.
"Hmm," Phoenix begins, his face calm, like it was the most natural question in the world for me to ask him about his lover. "Do you want me to be honest?" His voice begins to become more and more uneasy. I nod. Why would he even ask that?
"Okay, honestly," he pauses and then continues, his voice now a hushed whisper, "I don't. My dad practically set me up with her. I don't like anything about her. Well, she has some perks, like she's good-looking, but other than that… nothing, really. She's a snob. She's a brat. And she's as bossy as hell."
"Wow," I comment. I messed up again, that's not something to really "wow" about! I really am an imbecile. Phoenix looks at me, but not with annoyance, or anything of the sort. He seems amused if anything.
"So, do you actually like me?" Of course I do! I debate whether I should tell him or what. But I don't have to answer, for I see Taigo come out from the bushes.
"What are you doing with her?" Taigo snarls, her black form appearing beside the golden wolf. She moves forward, her hackles bristled. She snaps her pearly teeth at the air, trying to scare me off.
"Relax, okay?" Phoenix turns to Taigo. "We're just… hanging out. And talking, that's all. I swear."
"Don't tell me to relax! If you wanted me to relax, then you wouldn't be here, talking to another wolf! Especially not this mutt. Scram, Bandit."
"No," I say firmly, holding my ground. "We were just talking, as Phoenix said, and we would like to finish our conversation." Taigo curses under her breathe as she walks in tightly knit circles, her ears flattened. My heart beats quickly as the blood rises. I couldn't have described her better than Phoenix did.
"Fine. But if you two do—"
"Just get some rest," Phoenix breaks in calmly. Taigo grunts, turns, and walks back into the forest.
"I didn't know she was that bad," I admit. I had only seen her a couple of times, and she mostly stayed away from me and the 'gang'.
"I told you," he says with a minute small, "she's the devil." I nod in agreement as I inch a little closer towards him. "And I'm sorry she called you mutt," he adds quietly.
"It's okay," I tell him truthfully. Mutt doesn't bother me as much as it used to. It used to be such an awful word back when we were all younger. Only the bullies would use it.
We stare off into the sky for a while, watching the stars sparkle against the night's blackness. "It's so beautiful," I say. I catch a barely audible ''uh-huh'' from Phoenix. The time elapses as we stare blankly into the night. The seconds continue to drag along as we stay silent. I look at Phoenix who smiles as we make eye contact. God he's handsome. His golden fur seems to emit its own light.
Suddenly everything—the peace and my thoughts—are broken by a large rumble. I spread my paws wide apart, trying to maintain my balance. Phoenix jumps to his feet and replicates my movements. My fearful eyes meet his composed ones. How could he be so confident that this wasn't going to be something that could kill us? And just as the thought flickers across my mind, the rocks on the ledge give way. Boulders and sediment alike break free from the edge of the cliff. I tumble down the slope. Pain flares in various areas. My head throbs as I get up, the dust overwhelming, enveloping even the twilight above me. I search around frantically for Phoenix, but I can't find him.
"Phoenix!" I shout desperately. I can hear a groan and the shifting of rocks. His once yellow-red body is now grey and brown, marked with dirty blood and grime. His eyes widen as the dust clears and reveals the surroundings. But it's not the devastation that the rockslide has created that he is bug-eyed at. It's me.
"Bandit, we need to get you to the healer. Look at you! You've got gashes everywhere," Phoenix says in a slightly worried voice. I look down at my legs and am not surprised to be greeted by gaping wounds from the sharp rocks.
"I'll be fine for now," I say, "just as long as we get back up there soon enough. But it's not like we're that far away." I cough as the particles become trapped in my lungs. "I'm fine," I say before Phoenix asks his question which is on the tip of his tongue. He nods and we both begin to climb back up the hill. Large amounts of dirt were carried with the slide. We pass by two trees that have been carried along. What could cause this? Earthquakes aren't common here. I give Phoenix a look like he would know the answer to my inaudible question.
I come up to the peak of the hill and am immediately welcomed with an embrace from my mom who starts firing away questions. Most of the pack is awake and looking over at the devastation. Shadow and Cloud look at me, worried.
"I'm fine," I say to them. More of the pack comes over to Phoenix and I. "I'm fine," I repeat for the umpteenth time.
"You may say you are," I hear my mom say over the loud noise of the pack's chattering, "but we need to get you to Staysha." Phoenix heads the convoy which includes of him, me, my mom and my brothers as he clears the way, cutting a solid line through the pack towards the healer's den.
3 hour Timeskip
"You'll be just fine," Staysha says as she puts some sort of mixture on my wounds. "Take it easy the next day, at least. More like this week." I sigh as I lay down, my eyes sagging from the lack of sleep.
"We'll make sure that she does," I hear mom say. How can she do that, though, if she's always busy working with bones or whatever? Eh, it doesn't matter. I'm too tired to do anything that they need to worry about anyways. I follow my mother out of the healer's den and then get bombarded with questions from Cloud and Shadow.
"Was it cool?" Shadow asks curiously.
"Like, was it like, awesome to like, ride on rocks?" Cloud begs me to answer.
"No," I answer, my head still pounding, "It wasn't cool. And it wasn't even close to awesome. It was terrifying and painful." I made sure to end the conversation there, and they knew it. Cloud shivers at my words as Shadow takes him to play near their meeting area. Well, this was sure going to be a great day. If Skhala and the group comes, it's bound to be interesting. How did it go? Oh, well, I almost died. I chuckled out loud at my inner conversation.
I lay down in the entrance of the den as the sun's light filters through the large pines. My eyes blink lethargically as I look around. I need to get sleep, but I'm also awaiting Skhala's visit. I can see the wolves appear from the forest.
"How are you doing?" Skhala asks.
"I'm tired. Umm… I'm not hurt, if that's what you are asking," I say to her, a smile flickering on my lips.
"That must have been scary," Cherry speaks.
"It was. Everything happened so fast," I try to put the event into words. "It happened in the blink of an eye. First the ground began vibrating, and then everything just fell a good twenty winxes. Once everything started falling, I'm not sure what I felt. It all happened to fast for me to tell. I think I was more worried about Phoenix. And I was focusing on how to stay above the rocks." I try very hard to think of what I was thinking then, but nothing is coming to me. It was all too fast for one to think of fear or worry while it was happening. When the ground began to shake, I knew how I felt. But not when I was plunging many winxes down with the rocks. Liko nods her head in understanding. But they don't understand. This is a catastrophe that caused a den to collapse, thankfully with no one inside, and a scary experience for me and probably Phoenix, too.
"I wonder why that happened." Cherry ponders out loud. That had also crossed my mind. There was no explainable reason to why the cliff collapsed on itself. And what were the chances that I would be on it when it shattered.
"Maybe there's something that we don't know about. That we can't explain," Liko tries to reason.
"Or maybe the humans were, I don't know, detonating things to make a road or something a couple miles off, and maybe that sent a trigger that caused the cliff to give in," Skhala says, rolling her eyes at Liko. "We can explain anything. Nothing is unexplainable! Wolves have been around longer… longer than I can count! We know everything about nature," Skhala says shortly. I can see where she is in the right. Wolves have been around for a long time. But how can we possibly know everything? She's wrong in the fact that there are always new things happening. Global warming, for one. We couldn't have expected that or explained why the Earth was warming when it started several decades ago. News travels, so now we know, but before, we didn't. Maybe it's the same now. We don't know what is happening presently, but we will soon enough.
Silence plagues the air around us as we stare blankly at the ground. Several times one of us opens our mouth, but nothing comes out. Liko's, unwavering, fearless eyes look at each of us. God, she's about to continue the argument.
"We can't possibly know everything," she says, her eyes trained on Skhala.
"Well, duh, obviously not everything! But we know most things!"
"That's my point," Liko continues. "We don't know everything. And, therefore, there could be an unexplainable force behind this."
"But that's my point," Skhala says furiously, her eyes turning a stormy grey as her anger froths to full capacity. "Somebody, at least somebody, knows. It can't be not known by everyone in the entire world!" She gasps for breath. I swear she's about to start hyperventilating. Her nose flares with each long, deep breathe. Cherry and I take a step back. I look at her as if to say, "Should we leave?" Cherry picks up the hint and nods minutely. I slowly back up and then I turn around abruptly and trot away from the feud. Cherry is by my side.
"They really get… crazy," I say to Cherry.
"Well, you have to admit, Liko sort of has that edge in her voice that makes you want to whack her."
I nod, agreeing fully with Cherry's statement. Liko could be silent and almost appeared to be eavesdropping, even though she was technically part of the group, and then sometimes she would just come out with a smart comment that drove you grihl.
"Should we just go ahead and wait for Skhala to come over here? Or should we go somewhere else…?" I ask Cherry uncertainly.
"We'll just wait here," she answers with a drawn out sigh. The faint noise of bickering trails through the air to my ears. "Yeah, no, I'm sorry, Bandit, but I can't do this. I'm heading to my den."
"Bye," I say surly. She gives me a quick look before snapping her tail in farewell. I expel a long breath before I get up and trudge off, my feet heavy like lead as I walk towards the den. Such a great day. I sprawl across the grass in front of the den as I think about Phoenix. Maybe I should go see him. Mom is doing whatever she does, and my brothers are off playing some kid's game. I may as well head over towards where Phoenix lives. After all, I only have to cross through a bit of woods, the clearing, and then I'm there.
I let out a groan as I get up and stretch. I walk towards where Phoenix will hopefully be. Optimistically speaking, I will be able to avoid the flames that the others are sharing amongst each other. I weave through the trees and then airily trot through the glade. Phoenix is sitting on a boulder, overlooking the younger wolves that are playing in the margin between the forests. He leaps down as he sees me, his tail wagging.
"Are you okay? I mean, nothing's… I don't know, you're not… traumatized, right?" Phoenix asks as his gleaming eyes search mine. I laugh as he spits out the words.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've told you. And everyone else, for that matter," I say, smiling at him. Phoenix takes a step forward. I look up from his paw, meeting his face. I give him a very light nuzzle. We're just friends, either that or I'd be beaten to a pulp by that savage. By Taigo. He seems to be about to give me a small kiss, but I move back and begin talking immediately.
"I should probably get going," I suggest.
"Don't go," Phoenix says. "The pack's not going hunting until this afternoon. We're only what, one year olds? The pack doesn't expect us to do anything except watch over the younger guys," he motions towards the pups in the clearing. "So what could you possibly have to do?" I sigh.
"I don't want anything to happen between us," I reveal.
"There's nothing happening—wait, you're the one who said you liked me," he says, his lips twitching into a smile.
"But… I… There's… definitely something happening—" I begin to voice, but he keeps his voice above mine.
"Quite," he says, his head lowering as he continues. "Is this because of Taigo? I told you, I don't like her. And there's nothing going on between her and me. Her and I? Her and me," he decides. My eyes widen as he speaks. But, no, I don't want anything to happen between us. Even if I like him. We're too young, and… yeah. I just don't want anything to happen. Not yet.
"Seriously, I need to go."
"Why?"
"I need to go," I repeat curtly. A sorry look appears on my face. "Sorry, it's just… I have to find my brothers. You know, watch them," I lie. Good thing I'm good at lying.
"Oh, is that so?" Phoenix says. "I could come."
"No, no, that's okay. Just stay here. These guys need you, you know? Um… I'll just… be going now," I say awkwardly. I back up slowly and then turn even more sluggishly, but definitely no less gawkily. I can feel his eyes following me as I head onwards. I can feel his disappointment, faintly, apparent in the air as I disappear from sight. I let out my breath that I had been holding. Funny, because I hadn't even noticed it. Hmm.
I sit down outside of the rock wall that Cloud and Shadow had made. The sound of rustling leaves comes from within. What am I supposed to do, knock? I look around the wall. No opening. I circle around, hoping that it was just a wall, but no, there just has to be this sheet of wood covering the only entrance. I scratch at the birch's bark.
"Who is it?" a muffled voice asks.
"Bandit," I say, annoyance dripping with every word I let go of. "Let me in, okay? Or I'm going to tell mom."
"Oh, no, that won't be necessary," Shadow's voice becomes clear as he moves the wood aside. "What do you want?"
"Is there enough room in there for me, too?" I ask.
"No. Well, like, no," I hear Cloud's voice from the back. "Like, yeah, but—" Shadow puts a paw on his mouth.
"Okay, let me in."
"No," Shadow says. "Who do you think you are?"
"Who do you think you are? I'm your older sister," I say.
"Well I'm… I'm your brother."
"Younger brother," I imply. Shadow gives up and lets me come in. My tail is out the doorway, but I'm not worried about that. My mouth is gaping open at the way that the mud holds up the rocks. "How did you do this?"
"Secret," Shadow whispers. Sure, I think inwardly. It's not a tight fit inside. It's actually quite roomy, Cloud sits in the front right corner and Shadow sits in the other. Both have a small window.
"What is this for?" I ask. There's a pause. "Oh, wait, don't tell me, it's a secret, right?" They nod their heads. Why do I ever try to get involved with their stuff? It's always boring. They always leave me out. But that shouldn't bother me! I'm older, and I'm responsible. I groan as I get up and make a tight turn, emerging out into the open world. Hallelujah. Just in time, too, for the rich howl of the alpha, Corver, calls for everyone from a year old to six to come join the hunting party. You don't have to, if you don't want dinner. They only bring back one elk, and that's for the elders and pups. Not you.
I lope forwards towards the ringing call to which approximately twenty wolves approach. I don't know how much help I'll be, since I'm exhausted, but at least I'll get a few bites. And Phoenix may even spare some elk for me if the others decide that I didn't pull my own weight. It's good to have friends. Especially when you have a friend like Phoenix and a group like Skhala, Cherry, and Liko who have decided to join me.
"Are you ready?" Corver barks loudly. The pack howls in answer, and the journey to the hunting grounds is on.
A/N: I will not be posting the next chapter until I have 1 review, which will be 'Hunting', and then more chapters will follow! :)
Volcano's eruption isn't far off! Only 1-3 more chapters!
