Edited for reasons only bunnies, cakes and grass can understand.

Chapter VI – Haunts of Dreams and Creatures

It was only a dream, but at the same time, he knew it was real.

He watched as wolf and bear battled, fangs clashing. The bear was huge, with large curved spikes of bone sticking out of its back and elbows, roaring with menacing fury. The wolf snarled, just as ferocious, fangs and eyes gleaming, protecting its pack. He saw sharp claws, and glittering crystal. The wolf's penetrating stare never left its enemy.

Its pack. He saw four people standing behind it, huddled together for safety. Two boys, two girls. One of them turned and looked at him, his face fearful. He realized with a shock that he was looking at himself.

Another clash, and the two animals circled each other, preparing for the next one. Both were wounded in places, the wolf more so. It was panting hard from the fighting, but it nevertheless went on.

To his right, he saw a group of men, surveying the spectacle in fright. Further off, he spotted a figure slumped down under a low tree. He couldn't see who it was, he was too far away. Wolf growled, followed by a snarl from the bear, halting his distraction. As the two animals circled, he realized that this battle was one to the death. Only one would survive.

The bear leaped, shaking the ground with its weight as it left it. The wolf tensed, ready to pounce. "No!!!" he tried to shout, but his voice had left him. The scene faded away, leaving him uncertain of the outcome.

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Ben woke with a jolt as the alarm clock rang. Sleepily, he fumbled for it, t turn it off. It was still four in the morning. Had he set it too early? He checked the alarm setting. It read 6:30 a.m., as usual. That was strange, he thought.

Then he remembered the dream. He had seen Jen and the other animal, the bear, leaping to attack. Just thinking of it made him shiver. Had it been real?

He looked towards where Jen had been sleeping, and stopped short. Where she had been, emptiness now stood in her place. She was gone.

Leaping out from his bed, he reached for his phone. He had to call the others.

"Are you sure she's not in your house?!" Gwen muttered, changing as fast as she could. "It's 4 in the morning!"

"I'm pretty sure she's not here; I've looked everywhere! Minus my parents' room, that is."

"Well, in that case, I'll meet you outside your house. I'll get Kevin." With that, she put down the phone. "Honestly, I can't believe this would happen at such an inconvenient hour."

15 minutes later, after a long, troublesome struggle convincing Kevin to come, they were finally in the car. "You think you can track her?" Ben asked Gwen. "Hold on," she replied. "There isn't much of her manna here, since she hasn't really been here for long, so it may take a while." Gwen's eyes glowed pink; she was trying to track Jen through her manna, and as she had been in the car, this was the best place to do so. A while longer, and the glowing stopped. "I've found her," said Gwen. "10 miles west, beyond the forest."

For most of the journey, Kevin was silent, his hands gripping the steering wheel. He seemed deep in thought. Gwen made a mental note to ask him about that later.

"…I knew we couldn't trust her," he said angrily. "We help her, and now she's gone off again." "Don't be so skeptical," Ben argued. "She's only been in my house for 4 hours. She could've been scared, or…something." "Or maybe she just didn't like your house," Kevin replied with equal annoyance. "Hey, don't make me –," he was stopped short from leaping into the driver's seat by a large pink shield. "Ow," Ben said, rubbing his cheek which had collided into Gwen's manna shield.

"Seriously, guys, are you ever gonna learn how to stop fighting? Anyway, we need to focus on more important things." She lowered her hand, and the shield disappeared. "I'm sitting in front next time."

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Jen prowled at the edge of the forest, watching the pack of taillesses. A group of them were listening but not paying attention as another tailless barked and growled at them in tailless talk. Taillesses were so complicated. For some reason, taillesses got angry at the smallest things, especially when they handed those long, thin leaves that smelt a little like trees. Jen didn't understand what was so important about them. Whenever taillesses took food, or other things, they always gave these leaves to the other tailless.

Now, the pack leader was ordering them to do something, and they reluctantly obeyed. Behind him was another tailless, calmly surveying the scene. He surprisingly smelt and looked like BrightPaw, but also something else, like BrightPaw when he could fly. Jen sensed his malicious hunger, and deep rage.

The taillesses walked slowly into the forest, and looked around, as if searching for something. One of them held a lump of Not-Stone in his forepaw, and a faint whining came from it. Jen cocked her head, curious as she watched the taillesses. Suddenly, one of them turned towards her direction. She tensed and lowered her head as he walked cautiously towards her. When he was almost upon her, she darted away. The tailless gave a shout, and the rest of them headed in her direction. They were hunting her.

But why? Taillesses weren't the enemies of wolves. They attacked, but only in defence of their cubs and mates. The enemies of wolves were lynx and bear, who killed their cubs, but not tailless.

It didn't matter. Compared to a wolf, taillesses ran as slow as cubs; they would never catch her. She flicked her ear in scorn, and raced off.

Out of nowhere, a big animal crashed into Jen, knocking her sideways. Quickly, she regained her footing, but was just in time to dodge another attack from the creature. She was surprised to see a huge creature, which was on four paws, like a wolf, but smelt like the other BrightPaw. It didn't have eyes, but Jen sensed it's powerful nose, and saw the sharp twig-like things on its back.

The not-wolf creature roared, and lunged at her. With a growl, she twisted and barked, aiming the ball of sound at the creature. It hit, and the creature fell, but was soon up again. It snarled, ready to fight, and Jen responded likewise.

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Oh boy...running out of plot bunnies. Is it legal to say dollar notes are leaves since they're made from trees?