AN. Me again! But before we begin, I wanted to thank Michelle (guest) and

thecakemasterofpanem, your reviews made me smile =). I hope that, if you continue to read Stowaway, you like what I'm doing. Now, without further comment, here's the next chapter!

Stowaway

Chapter 2

"Are you kidding me?!" Everyone gathered flinched at Enzo's tone. "Why would you even get near the thing in the first place?" His brother Rico looked down with his grey ears laid flat.

Still staring at the floor, the tabby hybrid mumbled: "He was giving me the eyes, Rico. He was perfectly friendly so I fed him a bit."

"How come I didn't see this?" Their captain asked incredulously.

"Because you were arguing with the manager about seemingly nothing whatsoever."

Enzo paused for a moment, apparently trying to remember back to the fueling station. It came to him and he scratched the nape of his neck in embarrassment. "Oh...Yeah." There was a chorus of exasperated sighs from the crew. He could be so thickheaded sometimes.

"Anyways," Rico continued, "I didn't bring him on; The sly devil crept aboard when our backs were turned. I only found out about five minutes after takeoff, and it was too late to turn back by then. I decided to put him in here and deal with it later.

Emily, who (along with everyone else) had been watching the entire exchange, now spoke up. "The question is: what are we going to do now?"

The girl and the cats turned toward the topic of the current debate, who had his muzzle in Luger's lap and was having his ears scratched.

"So do they all look like that?" Enzo asked. Emily shook her head. "No, not all of them." 'To be honest, she thought, I've never seen a creature quite like this one in my life.'

After much discussion they came to the conclusion that he was not a dog, as she had first thought, but a wolf. The appearance of the animal itself wasn't extraordinary; lean and muscular, with jet black fur. However there was something off about him. For one thing, he was proud, dignified and aware; not like a normal animal would be, almost human.

The wolf felt Emily's gaze and turned his head to meet it. His irises were deep, dark blue and oddly familiar. Every time she looked into them, she felt herself falling into a sort of hypnosis, unable to look away.

"...Far from any city." Trellis was saying, she immediately woke up. Their mechanic, the Robot, Cogsely, sighed, "Well, there goes the idea of dropping him off."

"What's wrong with keeping him? I don't see any harm in it." Luger inquired from where he was petting the wolf. The captain looked miffed, "How the hell are we going to take care of an animal here? We're on an airship for heaven's sake!"

"Can we focus on the task at hand, please?" Emily turned toward the speaker. Vigo continued, "Let's just get to our destination and see how things work out. Then we can worry about keeping a pet." The girl hid a smile. Vigo Light was the oldest member of the Guardian Council (Trellis was second youngest and she was the youngest). He was also very wise so they usually listened to what he had to say, like they did now.

"Sounds good to me." Enzo said with a grin. "Come on Rico, let's get back to work." With this, everyone split up; The cats and the robot to maintain the Moth and the Stonekeepers to train.

Time passed quickly like this and before too long, Enzo came on over the PA system, telling the crew that they were just five minutes from their destination. Emily, now released from lessons, went to the guardrail. The landscape below had been swallowed by a fog so thick that it looked as if an enormous, white blanket had been spread out over the land.

Her attention was pulled away as her amulet flashed with pale light and began hovering at eye level. The voice spoke: 'Are you ready Emily?'

'Oh. You again.' She replied bitterly. Emily knew she was being rude but she didn't care, her tone covered how anxious she was. She had always had a rocky relationship with the spirit of the stone but she had been especially on edge since the last time she went into the Void.

'Temper, temper~. You need to keep sharp, you never know what you might encounter down there.'

She pushed a few scarlet locks out of her face in annoyance. 'Please don't remind me.' She grumbled.

'We will be landing soon, are you ready?'

'As ready as I'll ever be.'

'Good to hear.' Then the amulet began to dim. 'Oh Emily! One more thing.'

'Hmm?'

'Bring the wolf with you.'