"Was it this way? Or maybe it was the other way?" were the second-guessing thoughts that plagued a young girl's mind as she walked through the semi-known wooded area.
"Ugh, why didn't I pay attention when they first brought me here? Or even after prawn? Then again everything looks the same at night and there was a lot going on" the white haired girl reasoned as she stepped over a large tree root.
The forest itself was absolutely stunning; the sunlight pouring through the porous canopy creating an ethereal feel to it. But right now it felt like a dauntless maze. She continued to walk, her white shoes getting caked with dark soil.
"It couldn't have been this far away…" she thought before walking onto a lush meadow with little clusters of trees surrounding it. "Yep, definitely wasn't this way. Great…just great. I'm lost. This isn't good. What am I supposed to do now? Howl?" As absurd as that thought was, it seemed to be her best option at this point. She scratched at her throat before taking a deep breath and tilting her head up.
"AAAAARRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she howled to the sky, the even-pitched sound traversing the area. She kept it up for a few seconds before she ran out of breath.
"How do wolves do it?" she thought as she reached into her backpack and took out her water bottle. "Good thing I had enough sense to pack some things before I left" she praised herself as she took some hearty gulps.
A few minutes go by as she waits for something, anything, to happen. But there was nothing. Not even a chirp from a passing bird, just the wind rustling the branches and blades of grass. "Well that helped" she sarcastically thought before throwing her arms up in the air in frustration.
"**sigh** Guess I'd better head home" she sighs in defeat. She touches the moonstone she's wearing, the dull rock still reflecting the brilliant rays of sunshine. "Too bad this can't act like a phone" she laments before taking off her backpack to search for her real phone in the myriad of pockets. "Where did I put it?" but her search is interrupted when she hears some rustling in the woods.
And it was close.
She looks around but doesn't see anything. Slowly she lays her backpack down and clenches her fists. "Howling in an open field to attract who knows what out there. Great job Addison" she chastises herself as the rustling gets closer. She couldn't help the small gulp that goes down her throat but still remains vigilant. Now it sounds like its coming from every direction. She stands up and scans the area, her heart rate speeding up with every sound.
"Grrrrr…" she growls before she catches herself. "Why am I growling?! What's that supposed to do?!" But that momentary pause was all that the stalking creature needed.
"GRRAAAH!" Addison whipped her head around too late and she was tackled to the ground.
"UUFFF!" she grunted as the wind was knocked out of her. Thankfully the attacker made her land on her back and her arms were still free. Despite the stinging sensation her whole body felt she furiously swung her arms before an "OW!" was heard.
"H-Huh?!" she opened her eyes and lifted her head up. She couldn't believe it when she saw a familiar figure with her hand to her right cheek.
"**hiss** Glad to know you're not totally defenseless out here white hair" Willa tried to grin but it was more of a pained grimace as she massaged her cheek.
"W-Willa?! What're you doing here!?"
"Number one, I live here. And number two, you howled for someone didn't you? Though you said, "Purple cats hug pine cones" she smirked.
"You heard me?"
"Yep. You're lucky I was in the area. I was looking for new trees to tie some handkerchiefs to so the pups to practice their tracking skills. It's almost like what you humans call an Easter egg hunt" she explained.
"That's cool, but why did you tackle me?" she asked.
Willa shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I needed practice" though Addison could tell she just wanted to mess with her. "Are you okay though?" she sincerely asked as she held out her hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." She grabbed the offered hand and Willa helped her stand up. "Way to almost give me a heart attack though."
"I couldn't resist. Wolves like to tease too" she grinned. "But let me take you to the den, it's not safe being in the open like this. As you already guessed you become an easy target" she explained.
"That's actually where I was headed before I got lost" she replied as she picked up her bag and slung it onto her back.
"Why?" Willa asked as she started leading her away from the field.
"To check up on you guys after that big earthquake. It did a lot of damage to our already messed up town."
"That's an understatement" Willa scoffed. Addison could only hum at that. One dance couldn't even begin to erase centuries worth of pain. "But why are you coming now? That earthquake happened a few days ago."
"I've been on lock-down so to speak. I guess the thought of me being buried alive under rubble freaked my parents out. A lot actually" she explained, surprising even herself. She didn't really grasp how much they were worried about her at the time.
"You guess? Normally that'd freak out any parent" Willa pointed out.
"My relationship with my parents isn't exactly…normal. …Talk about a household being a living contradiction of what it tries to present" she mumbled. Willa heard her but decided not to press into it. "Anyway they finally let me go out and the first thing I did was come here" she finished.
Willa was quiet for a while as they walked. "…It wasn't necessary" she muttered but followed up with a heartfelt "…Thank you."
"Of course! You guys are my friends" she smiled and Willa hummed at that.
It didn't take them long to reach the outskirts of the den. "Wow, I was waaay off" she commented.
"You sure were, but don't worry. We'll make sure you can get back here, even with your eyes closed" she assured.
"Really?" she didn't mean the doubt to slip through her voice, but she had to be sure.
"Of course, you're an honorary member of the pack" she stated as she pointed to the great alpha's necklace tied securely around Addison's neck.
"Heh, that's a thing?" she chuckled.
"Of course it is, we just haven't given it out to anyone in a very long time. Consider yourself fortunate" the alpha stated.
"I do. And thank you" Addison smiled and Willa smiled back when she sensed her gratitude. When they entered the tunnel to the den she shouted, "Wolves! Guess what I caught!"
"Caught?" Addison thought before they walked into the sunlit den, its rays casting little prism rainbows off of the moonstone. Needless to say the wolves that were present were surprised to see her, though one was extremely thrilled.
"Addison!" Wyatt shouted as he ran over to her and gave her a big ol' hug, almost tackling her to the ground just like his sister did.
"Nice to see you too Wyatt" she laughed before they separated. Though she wasn't upright for long before Wynter glomped onto her from the side and sent her crashing to the floor. Thankfully it wasn't as rough as what Willa did, but still.
"Uggggh…" she groaned while the rest of the werewolves chuckled amongst themselves.
"Welcome back Addison! And I mean that this time" Wynter beamed and Addison couldn't help but giggle as well. "Hello to you to Wynter. This whole…pouncing thing is a werewolf thing isn't it?" she asked.
"Maybe" Willa smirked.
"And I'm never one to turn down a puppy pile" Wynter added before getting off of her and helping her up. "What're you doing here anyway? Not that it's a bad thing! Just…y'know. Curious."
"We don't get a whole lot of visitors. Well...any visitors for that matter" Wyatt explained.
"I came by to make sure all of you were okay after that big earthquake. But…where's everyone else?" she asked when she noticed that there were only like ten werewolves.
"The pups are asleep and most of the pack left to retrieve our elders from the hospice area. Now that we have our moonstone back, they can finally be healed" Willa explained.
"Really?! That's awesome!" Addison beamed.
"It sure is" Wyatt smiled at her.
"And we're all good here – just a few dislodged stones but nothing that we couldn't fix" one of the werewolves spoke.
"Thanks for checking on up on us though, that's really sweet of you" another one added and they all nodded in agreement.
"Of course, I care about you guys" and she got a few grateful whines out of them. "Though I did get lost on the way up here" she sheepishly scratched the back of her neck. "Thankfully Willa heard me howl and found me in her own…unique way" she finished.
"What do you mean by that?" Wyatt asked and she told them what happened.
The rest of the pack held in their snickers out of respect for their alpha, but Wyatt was laughing like he was a were-hyena. "Way to go Addison!" he laughed, ignoring Willa's growls.
"Yeah, yeah whatever" she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Point is we're all good."
"That's good. I'd hate for any of this to be damaged" she commented as she walked around den, looking at all the runes and paintings. "Our school didn't fare so well, it's going to be closed for a few weeks. Maybe you can give them a few pointers on how to make it more structurally sound" she commented, making some of them grin and proudly grab at their vests.
The werewolves watched her as she studied the walls. Her breath was taken away the first time she saw the artwork, but now that she actually had a chance to really look at them they felt…alive. "Hey guys? What do these paintings mean anyway?" she asked.
"Uhh…" Wynter uttered and the rest of wolves looked at each other.
"What's wrong?"
"Addison…please don't take this the wrong way, but we can't tell you" Wyatt regretfully answered.
"Huh? Why not? …Are they werewolf secrets?" she deduced.
"They are" Willa answered. "And we can never reveal those secrets unless you are a werewolf, became a werewolf" Addison clutched the stone on her neck as a pang of disappointment coursed through her body. "Or became a part of our pack" she finished.
"Huh? I thought I already was" she countered.
"You're an honorary member, that's the difference. You're allowed to hang out with us and be in our territory, but that's about it" Willa explained.
"Well, how would I become a part of the pack?" she asked.
"Addison" Wyatt tried to cut in but Willa held her hand up to stop him. "Hold on Wyatt. This is one thing that we can tell her" she grins, obviously intrigued by her boldness and inquisitive nature. She walks around the den and explains, "In order to be a part of this pack, you must pass the alpha trials – three challenges set by our ancestors. The Respect Trial. The Hunting Trial. And the Combat Trial. If you pass those, then you become a member of our pack for life." Then she stares at Addison straight in the eyes - her own eyes glowing yellow. "So…what do you say white hair?" she challenges.
"Willa c'mon-" before Wyatt could even get a word in Addison matches her stare and says, "I accept the challenge."
The rest of the pack stare at her wide eyed. It's so quiet you could hear an earthworm tunnel underground. They've never seen any wolf try to do the alpha trials, let alone a human. And she didn't miss a beat.
"Are you sure? We wolves are all or nothing. There's still time to back out" she offers with a smirk.
"I'm sure" she confirms and there was no waver in her voice.
"Very well" she acknowledges and walks to the center of the den. "Wolves! We have one that wishes to take on the Alpha Trials!" she announces before replacing the static air with a powerful howl. The rest of the pack follows suit, their necklaces glowing with a lustrous blue light.
Addison grabs her own and takes a deep breath to steady her racing mind. Sure this may have been impulsive on her part, but she wasn't about to turn down a chance to belong to loving community like this one. Not to mention, she felt something stirring in her soul as the howls echoed across the walls. She glanced over at the moonstone. It was glowing as well, but with a purple light. Call her crazy but it felt like it was calling her…bringing something out. Whatever power that it could give she would gladly receive it in order to succeed.
The challenge is accepted. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and there will be many more to come. I don't own the characters created by Disney, only my own and my imaginative capabilities.
