Chapter 1

Sixteen-year-old Margaret Wolfson whistled across the large field, calling her dog. Randi, the border collie she rescued on the side of the road when she was five, was her sheep dog. She had a herd of black sheep, that she took out into the fields every day by herself. Her parents owned an inn where the food was one of the best in the entire village. Her parents farmed all the food themselves. Margaret had two brothers and two sisters, all younger than her. William was twelve, Shannon was nine, Amy was six, and James was three, all with tails. Margaret was the only one interested in sheparding. William raised pigs, Shannon raised horses, and Amy had chickens. James was either with Virginia in the gardens or Wolf in the inn.

Randi came running up to Margaret, who was seated on a hill.

"Hey Randi!" Margaret said happily, petting her dog. "I want you to go get the herd for me, mhm?" Randi nodded her head and ran off to fetch the sheep.

Because Margaret was part wolf she had a certain affinity with dogs. She could understand anything Randi barked at her, and Randi could understand anything Margaret said to her.

Margaret stood up in preparation of the arrival of her sheep. She dusted off her black skirt that ended at her knees and smoothed out the wrinkles in her crimson vest. She then picked the large pieces of grass out of her thick black tail. She took great pride in her tail, although the village people scorned her for it. The entire village didn't approve of the half wolf family. Yet, somehow, there wasn't a single soul in the village that could say a thing bad about the Wolfson Inn food.

Margaret put her hand up to shade her eyes as she looked across the field, waiting for her herd to arrive. Finally she saw the large black mass come around the corner of the trees, followed by Randi. The herd came up and surrounded her, bleating happily. Randi pushed her way through the sheep and pressed herself against Margaret's leg. She bent down and gave Randi a biscuit.

"Well guys, that's another day gone! Back into the corral and I'll give you some food." Margaret said happily to her sheep. She turned and walked up the hill, her sheep following her. She felt a weight press against her and she looked down and saw her oldest sheep, Gary. She had had Gary since she was five years old. She patted him on the head entwined her fingers in the dark fleece of his back.

At the top of the hill was Margaret's corral. Together she and Randi lead all the sheep through the gate. Randi latched the gate while Margaret fed her sheep.

"See you in the morning guys." Margaret said happily as she turned away from her sheep. Now for the long walk home. If she didn't have Randi with her she doubted her parents would let her do this every day. She had to walk 5 miles every morning before dawn to get to her sheep and 5 miles back at dusk after returning them to the corral. Most of the other sheperdesses could sheperd right near the village, but Margaret was far from accepted there. Also, nobody liked the fact that she shepherded black sheep. It wasn't right for a shepherdess to shepherd black sheep. That was left to the shepherds. But Little Lamb Village had no shepherds. None of the boys were interested.

Margaret talked to Randi as they walked home. Randi was Margaret's best friend, really. They were rounding the bend into the village when they heard some menacing voices from the shadows.

"You know it's not considered healthy to talk to yourself." A girl said with the distinguished Peep accent. Several girls stepped out of the shadows to support their friend.

"Oh, huff puff, go away you wenches." Margaret replied, turning away from the other shepherdesses.

"No, my dear, we won't go away. And we can't just let that insult rest. You need to be punished for that I think." One girl said, stepping in front of her.

"I think you think wrong, 'my dear'" Margaret said scathingly.

"Now, now, girls. We just came to tell you, Wolf, that you're not wanted here." the Peep girl said. A slight growl escaped from Margaret's throat.

"Oh, I see. It's taken you eleven years to decide this has it? Well then I'll take my time in telling you that I don't give a shit if you want me here or not. I'm not leaving." Margaret said before turning her back on the girls. She began to walk away but she heard a cry of "You bitch!" and felt someone grab her beautifully groomed tail and give it a hard yank. Margaret screamed as she was pulled to the ground and kicked, punched, rolled in the mud, pinched, and bitten. It didn't take long for the girls to grow tired of torturing Margaret, but it was long enough for her to be hurt.

"Let's leave this filth here for everyone to find." the Peep girl sneered before leading her friends away from the scene.

Margaret lay on the ground for a full ten minutes trying to gather enough energy and courage to stand up. It took all of Randi's efforts and threats of family dishonour for Margaret to get up. Slowly the two of them made their way home.

Back at home, Virginia and Wolf were getting worried. It was well past the time Margaret usually got home. She was never late.

"Maybe we should go look for her?" Virginia asked as she rested against her husband's chest looking out the window.

"I'm sure she's fine. She probably just wanted to stay in the field a little longer." Wolf suggested as he put his arms around his wife. At that moment they saw their daughter slowly limp her way up the street towards their house, her dog in tow. Wolf ran out to meet his daughter.

"Sweet, what happened to you?" Wolf exclaimed when he reached Margaret.

"Oh Daddy, those girls are horrible!" Margaret exclaimed.

"What did they do to you?" Wolf asked.

"They came out of the shadows and provoked me. Oh don't worry, I didn't do a thing to them. But I tried to walk away and they pulled my tail! And then they pushed me onto the ground and attacked me! Those horrible little wenches, I'm going to get them!" Margaret replied.

"Now, Margaret, you need to remember, if you go after them, you're stooping to their level. Why don't we go inside and clean you up and then we can have dinner." Wolf suggested as he held the door open for his daughter.

"Oh, Margaret, what happened!" Virginia exclaimed when she walked in the door.

"Daddy can tell you." Margaret said as she walked into the bathroom to have a nice long bath. After her bath she dressed in a plain dark blue dress, braided her hair in two, and walked out into the kitchen.

"Here, Margaret, come have some dinner." Virginia said, when she saw her eldest. Margaret gave a small smile and sat at the table with the rest of her family.

"What happened to you?" William asked tactlessly.

"Shut it, you poonface." Margaret snarled.

"Woah, somebody's grumpy" Amy said as she ate her potatoes.

"And you're not helping." Margaret stated.

"Cubs, stop fighting, and eat your dinner!" Wolf mediated.

"Yes Daddy." They said in unison.

"That's better. Now let's just eat dinner." Virginia said. The rest of dinner went by in relative silence.

"Well, I'm going to bed, I'll see you all tomorrow." Margaret said, excusing herself from the dinner table.

"G'night Margaret." Wolf said.

In her bedroom Margaret inspected her entire body in her full length mirror. Her ribs felt bruised and she had visible bruises all over her body, mostly on her abdomen and face. She had one heck of a black eye, and little scratches all over her arms, legs, and face. She looked a right mess. She went to bed feeling like a horrible ugly monster. However she woke up with a defiant feeling of hatred towards the other sheperdesses. She got dressed in her usual shepherding clothes and went into the kitchen looking for breakfast. She found her father frying bacon.

"Morning, Dad." Margaret said happily as she grabbed several pieces of bacon from the plate and made several bacon sandwiches. She wrapped them up for lunch and made another sandwich for breakfast.

"Good morning, Margaret!" Wolf said happily. He hated seeing his cubs unhappy, and Margaret seemed exceptionally happy this morning.

"Well I'll be off now, I'll see you tonight, Dad." Margaret said. She gave him a kiss on his unshaven cheek.

"Be safe, sweet." Wolf said to his daughter as she called Randi to the door.

"I will, Daddy. You shouldn't worry so much." She said with an innocent smile that was slightly ruined by all the bruises and cuts on her face. Wolf was more than slightly confused by his daughter's conduct. But either way, he was happy that she was happy.

-LittleCrazy1