Chapter 8: Homesick

Silvermist paced back and forth, panting quickly. Her mind was spinning, yet trying to grasp what had happened before.

Kai crossed his arms and pondered what had happened as well. The young mountain lion scratched his head and asked, "Did you feel anything weird?"

"No," Silvermist nearly barked. She was angry and frustrated that this had happened.

They were so close to leaving this horrid place. They had a chance of escaping. Not just them, but everyone captured by the insane goat.

Silvermist continued to pace around in their new hideout. Kai then stopped her. "We'll just have to try again," said Kai.

Silvermist looked down. Her hope in escaping was fading. All she wanted right now was to return home to her parents.

She could just imagine helping her mother make dinner, play fighting with her father, and even cleaning up the messes she made by playing around sounded good to her.

Her eyes started to look glassy and tears started to form. Kai saw her silver eyes and said, "Now don't cry. It's okay, Misty."

Silvermist still felt depressed. She started shaking slightly. "I just want to go home," she said starting to cry.

Kai didn't know what to do. He thought of something that he had never done before. He didn't really feel comfortable doing it to anyone else, but he didn't mind as much doing it to his best friend.

Silvermist stopped crying for a short moment. Kai had given her a hug. Silvermist hugged him back and said starting to stutter, "T-thank you, K-k-kai. I r-really ap-appreciate it."

Silvermist started to calm down, but she still wanted to go home. Kai stopped hugging her and felt awkward.

Silvermist looked at Kai and said, "I'd like to try again soon."

Kai nodded and said with a smile, "Now that's a plan."

Silvermist smiled back the best she could. She still felt empty inside.

An hour later, Fengbao looked over at their usual table and saw Silvermist and Kai eating. Fengbao came over and sat down next to them. He looked at his son. "So, who has won today's eating competition?"

"No one," Kai said simply. He ate a dumpling and looked at his father.

Fengbao looked over at Silvermist who was staring down at her dumplings, poking her food. "Is there anything wrong, Silvermist?"

"She's been feeling homesick," said Kai.

Fengbao saw Silvermist's look. She was lost in thought. "Hey, Silvermist. Do you want to talk about it?"

Silvermist blinked. She snapped out of her deep thoughts and looked at Fengbao, not sure what he had asked. "What was that?"

Fengbao repeated his question, "Did you want to talk about it?"

"If it's alright with you, Kai's dad, I'd rather not," Silvermist said.

She wasn't really sure how to talk about what she was going through. Whenever she would start talking about it, she'd start crying uncontrollably. That was something she didn't want to repeat.

Silvermist then looked over at Kai who was going over to the buffet again. Silvermist walked over with him and looked at the food. Kai had told her that the only good things here were the dumplings.

She cringed as she looked at the food that smelled odd. She followed Kai, not taking any food from the buffet. She just watched him.

Kai then stopped, after seeing she was watching him like a hawk. He turned around and asked, "Why are you staring at me?"

"After this, I would like to try again, if it's alright with you," she said. They didn't want to blurt out what they were doing specifically, just in case a guard caught them.

Kai nodded. "Okay. We'll do that," he said.

After he took all of the dumplings, for the tenth time, he went back to the table and asked if she wanted to have an eating competition.

She shook her head no. "I'm not in the mood," she said.

Kai just looked at the pile of dumplings on his plate. He felt a little guilty eating all of these in front of her. He pushed them away, in front of his father, and grabbed Silvermist's paw.

"Let's go," he said. She nodded and followed him out into the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Fengbao called out.

Sue walked over, after getting another salad and saw the large pile of dumplings in front of her husband. "Fengbao!"

Fengbao looked down at the large plate of dumplings that were his son's and just looked at his wife, "It's not what you think!"

Sue rolled her eyes and sat down next to him. "You're going to over stuff yourself," she just said.

"I wasn't going to eat all of this," Fengbao insisted. "It was Kai's meal, but he gave it to me."

Sue then nodded. She knew Kai could devour all the dumplings this place had within seconds. And now that Silvermist was having constant eating competitions with Kai, the number of dumplings eaten was doubled.

As Fengbao and Sue finished up eating lunch, Silvermist and Kai had made it to the fire monster.

Silvermist grabbed the nunchucks as they flew her way. She swung them over her head and got ready for the fire monster's move.

It took a step forward and lowered its head. It let out a roar that blew her back.

Kai saw Silvermist was blown back and she dropped the nunchucks. "Misty!"

"Just go on ahead and attack the fire monster," said Silvermist, starting to get up.

Kai picked up the wood nunchucks and waited for a good opportunity to strike.

The young mountain lion eyed the monster who glared at him. The monster lowered it's head again and began to open its mouth.

Kai rushed forward and gave a hard hit to the fire monster's head.

The monster closed its eyes and growled in anger. The monster raised its hand and slammed it down by Kai.

Kai quickly did a back flip and dodged the monster's hand. Kai looked over by the door that was behind the monster.

He looked at Silvermist and then at the monster. It started to raise its hand again, it claws unsheathed this time, and looked straight at the cub.

Kai quickly grabbed Silvermist's paw and dashed under the monster. "Run!" he shouted.

Silvermist and Kai ran under the monster and it was too slow to catch them. The fire monster shot out a blast of fire, but Kai had just gotten up before the fire could hit him.

Kai and Silvermist panted as they closed the trap door. They quickly withdrew their hands from the wood once they felt the heat of the fire the monster had shot out at them.

Kai and Silvermist smiled at each other. "We did it," Kai panted.

Silvermist nodded. She shivered as a cold breeze blew on her back. She turned around and saw it was dark out.

Kai reached for the door, but Silvermist stopped him. "No, I don't want to go back to the dungeon," Silvermist said.

"But, we have a chance to go out there again," Kai said.

"You also have to remember what happened last time," Silvermist told him.

Kai removed his paw from the doorknob and looked at his friend. "I'll go out there first," Kai said.

Silvermist hid behind a garbage can filled with yard tools. She closed her silver eyes, afraid that she would return to the dungeon if the door opened.

She felt her heart race as Kai turned the doorknob. She heard the wooden door creak open. She shivered as the wind blew in the shack.

Her silver eyes opened slowly, looking around the garbage can filled with tools. Kai was standing outside, his arms crossed, and he looked at her as if he was waiting for her to come.

Silvermist gazed at the world outside of the little shack. Snow fell lightly from the sky and there was already a blanket of snow on the ground.

Kai gestured for her to come and she slowly and cautiously came over to the door. She felt her heart race and fear overcome her.

She stepped back. "I can't do it," she told him.

Kai walked over to her and grabbed her paw gently. "Trust me," Kai said softly. Silvermist looked at him and then at the ground in front of her.

Kai slowly led her outside. Silvermist heard the crunching noise she made after stepping into the snow. She smiled. Her fear seemed to wash away at that moment.

She looked up at the cloudy sky. She smiled even wider and wagged her tail. Kai cocked his head. He still thought that wolves wagging their tails seemed odd.

Silvermist picked up the snow and threw it in the air above her head. She giggled and laughed and started to play in the snow. She made snow angels and just rolled around in the snow.

It seemed like a winter wonderland to Silvermist and she never wanted it to end. Then, as she got up to check how her snow angel looked, she felt something hit her back.

She turned around and snarled, thinking it was a guard. But it was just Kai. He grinned a sly smile and said, "C'mon, let's have a snowball fight."

Silvermist smiled. She picked up some snow, but Kai threw the snowball at her faster than she could. Soon, after ten fails, Kai tackled her to the ground and laughed.

Silvermist laughed and then stopped. She looked around. She had no idea where she was. "Kai," she said.

"Yeah, Misty?" asked Kai, getting off of her.

"After we get everyone out of that mean old goat's dungeon, I want to go back to my family," she said.

Kai nodded in agreement. "Okay, we'll do that after we help the others." Then, he got up and turned to her, "Now, let me show you how to make a snow fort."

Silvermist nodded. As he went over to the side, gathering up some snow, she watched him. Then, someone grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her back hard.

Silvermist was about to scream, but the person covered her mouth. She looked to see who it was. It was the goat.

She squirmed and tried to get away, but stopped once he gave her a hard hit in the rib. She breathed heavily, worried what the goat might do to her.

The goat slammed her against the back of the hut that was his home. "Where do you think you're going little puppy?"

Silvermist looked at the goat that seemed to tower over her from the position she was in. She froze up, too scared to speak. The goat narrowed his eyes and said, "Going back to your family?"

She felt tears start to build, her face warm, and her heart racing. "Well let me tell you, little puppy. Your family has forgotten you and has moved on already. They don't care about you."

Silvermist felt heart broken at what she was hearing. She shook her head, denying all that the goat was telling her. "No! You're wrong!"

She went to run away, but the hit she took from the goat still stung. He was stronger than he looked. She staggered to move and fell to her knees. The goat walked over to her and just said, "Just give up child. They don't want you anymore."

Silvermist closed her eyes, trying to ignore him, but the words only echoed. The words growing louder and louder the more she tried to deny them.

She soon felt the salty tears run down her face as she gave up trying to block out the words the goat spoke to her. The goat then snuck into the shack when Kai wasn't looking and got a shovel.

He saw the mountain lion cub had finished the fort. "There we go," he said proudly at his snow fort.

He turned around, but then he blacked out as the goat knocked him unconscious. "Maybe that will teach you to stay in that dungeon," the goat said.

He picked up the two and brought them back to Sue and Fengbao's room. Silvermist came to Kai's side. She tried to help him, but he wouldn't wake up.

Silvermist looked at the goat who just said, "Just remember what I told you and you won't have to feel rejection."