Chapter 2
Thorne awoke to find himself lying on a bed of soft grass, surrounded by trees and flowers.
"This isn't real!" he said to himself as he came to his senses. "This can't be real!"
In the midst of all this anger and confusion, Thorne happened to glance downwards, where he saw that his hand was now a paw. He gasped, and jumped back in horror.
So many questions were plaguing his mind.
Where was he?
Why was he like this?
How did he get here?
What had happened to all the others?
What had happened to...?
"Shaiden." he said aloud.
He started running, and called out into the wind- "Shaiden!"
Silence.
He called again, louder this time- "SHAIDEN!"
Again, silence.
He was just about to give up searching, when he heard a voice echoing in the distance-
"Thorne?"
He smiled, and ran towards his sister. They hugged each other, before Thorne jumped back in disgust. Shaiden's fur was dripping wet. "What's happened to you?"
"Well," Shaiden mumbled, "I may or may not have woken up in a puddle."
Thorne couldn't help but laugh.
She continued. "I looked down at my reflection, and I saw that I'd turned into a-"
"What?" asked Thorne, wanting to know more about what had happened. "What did you turn into?"
"A wolf." answered Shaiden emotionlessly.
"A WOLF?" Thorne said loudly. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Shaiden, we aren't wolves. Wolves don't look like we do."
Shaiden rolled her eyes. "Thorne, wolves don't always have to howl at the moon and be feral creatures, to be wolves. YOU'RE thinking about werewolves."
Thorne was about to reply, when Shaiden's face turned from that of annoyance, to that of total confusion. "Thorne, your face..."
"I know, it's furry." replied Thorne.
"No," said Shaiden. "Your face- it still has the mark. You know, that blue mark you always have."
Thorne didn't believe her, but as she was led over to a puddle, he saw that the mark, although it was now grey, was indeed still on his face.
He looked up at Shaiden. She had her mark too.
"Look," he said firmly as he came closer to his sister. "I don't know where we are, or why we're like this. But if I'm sure of one thing, it's that we're going to get out of this. Together."
Shaiden swallowed hard. "OK." she said quietly. "I think we should explore wherever- whenever, this is, and try to find out more about it."
Thorne nodded, and they began walking. The forest was eerily quiet, with nothing, not even birdsong. The trees were an electic green, and their trunks curled upwards, so much that their leaves nearly touched the sky.
The flowers were larger than life, and their scent was almost too much to handle, as it was so strong. They were in all the colours of the rainbow, and every shade in between. They were impossibly shaped- some had hearts crawling up their stems, some had blue swirls that seemed to loop round and round, and some had petals that looked more like umbrellas!
Shaiden was both confused, and excited. This place, wherever it was, reminded her of the book Alice in Wonderland. She'd always wanted to go to Wonderland, to see what Alice saw, and to do what Alice did, and now, it seemed she was finally getting the chance.
Before long, the two came to a crossroad. Thorne immediately took charge. "I think we should split up." he said.
Shaiden's eyes went wide. "Are you crazy? We can't split up, who knows what could be down those paths?"
Thorne raised an eyebrow, and, without saying a word, he walked down the path to the right.
"Typical." Shaiden said to herself as she began walking down the left path. "I give him an idea, and he totally disregards it!"
Thorne was walking cautiously down his chosen path. It was much darker than the forest before it, and unlike in there, where there had been no sound at all, in here he was being constantly taunted by what sounded like a whisper- a voice, telling him to turn back.
He thought nothing of it, and kept walking. Until he heard a sudden crack, a thud, and a whimper, coming from the bushes.
"H-hello?" he called. "Is anyone there? I can help you!"
There was a rustle, and then, slowly, something began to emerge...