The New Generation: Alex Trey Stella

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jet and Stella finally reached the front of the line for the slide. They were both in a cave, next to a stream where the water flowed out onto the water-slide. With the sun still out, the light was able to come into the cave from where they had entered, so they could still see. The two watched as Alex and Angie slid down together, splashing in the water at the bottom. When the two came back above the surface, they were laughing. Jet turned to Stella. "Ladies first."

"Let's go together," Stella said.

Jet almost stepped backwards with surprise. That was the one thing he hadn't expected her to say. "Really?"

"Sure," Stella said. "Come on."

Stella stepped into the stream, feeling the water go halfway up her legs. It was colder than she had thought. But she wasn't going to back out because of the water temperature. Jet shrugged and stepped in after her, standing by her side. Jet looked back at the wolves waiting patiently behind them before looking back ahead of him. He and Stella walked forward, and let their paws slide out from beneath them when they reached the start of the slide. They had expected the slide to hurt their stomachs because it was made of rock, but it was actually smoother than they had thought. It must have been worn smooth from the water and all the wolves that had been down it.

Stella and Jet held their heads up so as to not get water up their noses. They tried avoiding one another, but were unable to do so. There was a lot more to this slide than they had seen from outside. Most of it was in the darkness of the tunnels inside the mountain. Whenever they were outside, the slide was attached to the outside wall of the mountain, occasionally being forced to make a few turns. They would have fallen off the slide while they were outside if it wasn't for the wall that had been formed. They guessed that the slide had been here for probably centuries and the water was slowly dissolving the rock where it flowed.

After many twists and turns, going in and out of the mountain's tunnels, Jet eventually saw a waterfall coming toward them. Or, they were going towards it. Jet looked to Stella and saw that she had her eyes closed. Good idea. Jet closed his eyes so the pressure from the water coming down on him wouldn't hurt his eyes. Then he felt the water hit his back for a second. He expected to be dropped right into the little pool after that, but there was one last section to the slide.

One big turn made almost a complete circle. On that turn, Jet somehow managed to get himself turned around, so he was going to be dropped in the water backwards. He looked to Stella, who was still sliding forward. She laughed at him for being backwards, then looked back ahead of her. She took in a deep breath. Jet did the same. Then the two fell in the water with a big splash, holding as much air in their lungs as they could manage. Jet looked around underwater for Stella, and saw that she was already floating back towards the surface.

Jet kicked himself back up, and broke surface in a matter of seconds. Coming back to the air above him, he let out a gasp for air, and started following Stella towards shore. As he paddled his way towards shore, he looked back up where the wolves in line had been standing, waiting for their turn. They were waiting for Stella and Jet to splash in the water, to make sure they didn't get hit by the wolf behind them. He noticed the next wolf in line stepping into the stream and starting his way down the slide.

Turning his head back to Stella, he saw that she was shivering. He couldn't blame her. That water was freezing, and the wind that was blowing made it even worse. She laughed and said, "I hadn't expected it to be so cold! I wouldn't have waited in line for it if I had known how cold the water was!"

"I know, right?" He laughed, and realized that he was shivering as well.

He shielded his eyes as Stella shook her golden brown fur dry. When she was done, Stella shielded her own eyes as Jet did the same with his brown fur. Sitting down, they both quickly squeezed the water from their tails. Seeing that Stella was still shivering, Jet walked over towards her and pressed his body against hers and putting his paw on her back, bringing her in a hug to share what warmth he had with her. Her eyes grew wide with surprise. She hadn't expected that Jet would do something like that.

But Stella accepted the hug, putting her right paw on Jet's back and putting her head underneath Jet's chin. Whoa, Jet thought to himself. Didn't expect her to do that.

Then Stella did something Jet expected even less. She pulled her head back and licked Jet on the cheek. It took a moment for Jet to process what just happened. His heart skipped a beat and he was frozen for a second before he looked down to Stella. Their eyes met, and locked on to each other for a moment before their smiles grew larger. After the moment of eye contact, Stella rubbed the top of her head under Jet's chin. He couldn't stop smiling now, but he didn't care. He and Stella both knew how the other felt now.

Then the howling from behind him met his ears. He hadn't even noticed the howling a moment ago. Maybe he just could hear it over the sound of the waterfall? It didn't matter why he hadn't noticed. He heard them now. And it just gave him an idea. Pulling his head back from Stella, he looked her in the eye and asked, "How would you feel about howling with me?"

She was silent for a moment, either thinking about her answer, or surprised from the sudden question. She smiled and answered him. "I'd love to." With that, he and Stella turned and began walking towards the couples. Stella looked towards the sun. It was already setting, and it was going to be dark soon. But she didn't care. What she was thinking about at the moment was her and Jet, ready to join the other wolves with their own melody.

Angie closed her eyes, turning her head away to avoid getting water in her eyes as Alex shook his head, trying to get out the last bit of water that was in his fur. He and Angie were sitting on a not-so-high cliff, overlooking the two howling areas. Angie had led him up here.

"So," Alex said, using his right paw to scratch behind his right ear. "Do you come up here every time?"

"Sometimes," Angie said. "I just like to come here to think sometimes, and listen to their howling."

"Mm," Alex closed his eyes, concentrating on the beautiful sound of the howls. "It's a nice place to come to."

"Yea... I'm the only one that's ever come up here, that I'm aware of. It's a great spot to be at when it happens."

"When what happens?" Alex asked, curious.

"We call it Sidera Noctis. It stands for The Stars of Night. It only happens once a week, and you came on the right day of the week." A small yellowish-white light appeared in front of Alex's face, making him wonder what it was. He focused on it, trying to figure out what it was. He looked to Angie. She was smiling. "It's starting."