I darted through the trees, trying stay ahead of the storm, now only a few steps behind me. I'd been collecting shells along the far end of the coastline, it was the only place to find anything shell-related anymore; seeing as how much everyone frequented the main beach these days. 'Though I wouldn't need to collect this many if a certain brother of mine didn't drop everything that got handed to him!' And seeing as the weather had been up & down so much lately, my job was anything but simple. I didn't use my shell that much really, but we all felt more comfortable having at least one on us.

But today had been pretty good, up until an hour ago when I heard one of the few noises that always sent a chill through my spine. Thunder. Rain I don't mind but if anything noise related accompanies it, well….UGHH! I can't stand any of it! Well that &...earth tremors. The fact that both these things sound eerily similar doesn't make coping any easier! Even Tomorrow has its challenges. At one time, our camp had to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. My point being that, whenever it storms, everything is affected. This one didn't look like it had reached that point yet, but I know far too well how everything can change at a moment's notice. Which was proven minutes later.

As I reached for the next branch, a giant blur of furry red creatures bounded in front of me. What they were exactly, I couldn't figure out they were moving so fast. With my timing messed up, I only just managed to clutch a branch no bigger than my hand. Then another clap of thunder rang.

I couldn't stay in the trees anymore. Running was my best bet. As I slid down the trunk, out of nowhere; I felt something hit me in the chest, hard. I looked down & saw something wet, furry…...& red. Just like the creatures that had hurdled past me before. But this one looked fairly young, far smaller than the ones I'd seen before. I tried to ease the little critter off, but that just made it dig its claws into me harder. It shivered in my arms, clinging to me…...like Sandy did with Mum whenever she was scared. As soon as I got down the tree, (which wasn't easy considering the circumstances) I managed to get a better look at this critter latched onto me. It was…..actually...…very cute.

It had a red & white face, black paws, a stripe running down its back towards the end of its tail & long flaps of skin that ran from its wrists to its ankles. As far as I could tell, this was a male. I still didn't know what this animal was; but it wasn't like I had time to.

As if on cue, lightning struck a tree no further than 20 feet from me. The little fur ball finally clambered off my chest, over my shoulder &…proceeded to hide in my hair. Alright, that I found funny. I rolled my eyes, but smiled. 'Fine, hide in my hair. But I hope you're prepared for a fast ride.'

The rain was at full pelt now. I sprinted past the trees, now only a few hundred metres from the camp base. I pulled out one of the new shells I'd picked up & blew. A minute later, I heard the return signal. Guy heard me!

I blew again as I entered the clearing. Guy was at the edge of the main canopy tent, a relieved expression on his face.

'Glad you made it back before it got any worse.'

I shook my head. 'Nah, it wasn't that bad, besides it…gave me a challenge.'

Guy smiled. He wasn't fooled – he knows I hate thunderstorms. But unlike Thunk or Gran, he never teases me about it. Or any of the ideas I come up with, regardless whether they end up working or not. It being one of the many reasons I love being with him. But I wasn't sure what his exact reaction would be to what was hiding in my hair.

'I have something to show you.'

His smile turned curious. 'Cool, what'd you find?'

I needed to tell him this somewhere quiet but as Dad happened to walk in, no such luck. My little friend shivered within my hair, but stayed out of sight.

'Eep, are you ok? You know what we agreed on about storms!'

'I know Dad, I'm sorry. It came out of nowhere ok, there was nothing I could do.'

Mum stepped in here, perfect timing as usual.

'Grug, she got here as quick as possible; she's the fastest out of all of us. She's safe now. So stop working yourself up!'

She gave Dad a light smack on the shoulder. He raised his hands in surrender.

'Okay, but I don't want a repeat of this.'

I decided to lighten the mood here. 'Yeah Dad, I love to repeat getting drenched while running through raging thunderstorms.'

Guy snickered behind me. I didn't get any laughs out of Dad, though I could tell he was fighting a smile.

'Why is it humour is your means of getting out of conflict with me nowadays?'

I smirked. 'Didn't realise you missed the yelling.'

Dad couldn't hold his smile back now. 'Go on then, dry off.'

He chucked a dry animal hide my way. I was getting pretty good at defusing him nowadays.

I turned to Guy. 'Still want to see?'

He grinned in response. 'Have I ever said no?'

I felt my little critter moving around. I had to tell him now, but not with Dad around. 'Let's go to my tent.'

As we sat down, I breathed out. 'We won't be needing anymore shells for a while now.' I spread them out on the floor. I'd managed to collect 9 in all. Guy looked them over.

'Nice…..Now show me what you really found.'

I attempted a half-smile. 'What gives the impression I have something else?'

As Guy answered me, Belt raised his claws one by one.

'You were in a rush from the moment you got back.' (first claw) 'You've been biting your lip the whole time, which you only do when you're nervous or hiding something.' (second claw) 'Not to mention…..your hair is moving.' (third claw).

He was right on all accounts. I sighed, then parted my hair. 'Come on, time to say hello.'

Slowly, he poked his head through, sitting on my shoulder. I stroked the top of his head. Doing this seemed to keep him calm. Guy & Belt just stared. The word surprised, didn't begin to describe the looks on their faces.

'Well say something.'

Guy blinked in reaction. 'Sorry, I just haven't seen any creature like this for ages. Where'd you find him?'

'In the bushlands to the north, not far from the coastline. Wait, have you seen this little one's kind before?'

Guy looked at him closely. 'Only a handful of times. My parents called it….A Panda Glider! In this case, a Red Panda Glider.'

Finally! I could call this little one something other than an "it". Then he curled up in my lap, nudging my hand.

'Fine, more stroking…...Wow, you're really soft.' He felt completely different to when he'd been wet. 'Guy, feel this.'

Guy reached out to pet him. At first he hesitated, sniffing Guy's hand & then looked at me.

'Trust me, you don't have anything to fear with him.'

For a moment he remained hesitant, then looked back to Guy.…..& accepted his touch.

'So how'd you come across him?'

Thinking back on the memory, I tried not to laugh. Of course that just made Guy look all the more curious. 'You won't be able to keep a straight face either once I finish!'

I didn't leave anything out & as predicted, he was in stitches. He cracked up hard at the part where the little glider hid in my hair. 'Then again, you do keep a fair few items in there!'

That made me chuck a shell at him (lightly though).

'He's a cool little critter, wouldn't mind having a pet like that myself.' That earned him a dirty look from Belt. 'But he's no cook, conversationalist or navigator.' Belt seemed satisfied with that.

I looked again at the little glider. 'Is he my pet?' I had our red Bear Owl Flare, but she was as much Guy's as she was mine. We had gained a whole menagerie of pets since arriving at Tomorrow, but lately Dad had been saying he'd had enough. And seeing as we had nearly 10 animals already, I'd say it was somewhat understandable.

'Well, maybe. We'll see. He might head back once the storm clears.' Guy shrugged. 'He seems pretty happy with you.' The little glider then proceeded to climb atop my head, lean over my face; his head upside down. Guy smiled at this. 'Example one!'

Then, losing his balance the glider fell over my head & onto my lap again. Now I was the one who couldn't keep a straight face.

'Fine, he would be pretty fine as a pet, but if he'd rather be out in the bush….I'm not going to stop him.

Guy nodded. 'Fair enough. But usually it's the pets who choose their owners more often than not. It's been the case with nearly all our pets so far.'

I admit I'd never thought about why our animals decided to become our pets. But we'd never forced it on them, they just seemed satisfied to stay with us. And that suited us just fine. Looking again at this little one in my lap, I couldn't help but get hopeful that maybe, he might stick around.

Then I felt teeth gnawing at my hand. 'Hey! I'm not your personal chew toy!' But he wrapped his paws around my hand & kept at it. The look on Guy's face left me somewhat peeved. 'Stop laughing!'

'Ha heh! Sorry! But I wish you could see yourselves right now!'

Despite my annoyance, I ended up grinning. 'Point made. Let's find him some food before he decides you taste better!'

'Heh, true.'

But what was I going to give him? 'Eh, you don't happen to know a Panda Glider's diet?'

Guy furrowed his brow. 'Hmm, I can't say for sure. But since you found him in the Bushlands I'm guessing he eats fruit, maybe bugs or both.'

It was then I saw the little glider eyeing the fruit Belt had just grabbed out of Guy's waist pack. I looked at him pleadingly. 'Think you can spare a few grapes Belt?'

Belt wasn't too keen, but handed them over anyway.

I held the fruit in front of the glider. Though he was clearly hungry, he just stared at the food. Then he looked to me with that same uncertain expression.

'No one's going to take it. Go on.' Almost immediately, his body relaxed. He turned back to the grapes in my hand, which were gone in the next minute. Guy looked at me oddly.

'What?'

'Does he always look to you before doing anything?'

That question took me by surprise.

'It looked as if….he was asking your permission.'

I hadn't considered that before. 'I….don't know. It never occurred to me like that. I just thought he was nervous because of the storm.'

Guy stared at the glider in my arms. 'Hmm, he is young. But once a bond's formed, there's no breaking it.' Now I was the one with the odd expression.

'What do you mean?'

'From everything you've told me & what I've seen, he looks to you as his source of protection, survival & company. Your hair could be a contributing factor too.'

That answer, only created further questions. 'How do you figure that?'

'Think about it. Your hair is red & thick, not all that different from his coat. The fact that he hid inside your hair further backs that up. If he got separated from his group, you were probably the closest thing he associated with them.'

His answer surprised me, but thinking it over, I completely agreed with it. 'Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense.'

'So, any thoughts on a name? Or is he staying as "Little One"?'

'Mmm, don't know. He's not going to stay this size, so there's no point in calling him that.' He started climbing on me again, his front paws around my shoulders; the rest of his body hanging over my back. Guy hid a smile, trying his best not to giggle. Everything this little one did turned into something hilarious. 'It looks like you're wearing a live mini cloak!'

From that one sentence, an idea came to me. 'Hey, you sorted out his name for me!'

He cocked an eyebrow. 'How'd I do that?'

I picked the glider off my shoulder & held him up, his skin flaps wide. 'When his body is spread out, it looks as if he has a cloak attached down from his wrists to his ankles, & as you pointed out it looks as if I'm wearing one now. So, I think I'll settle for calling him….Cloak.'

Guy's eyes grew wide for a moment. 'Actually, that really suits him. I haven't seen him get off you once.' He glanced at Belt around his waist, a grin appearing. 'So it looks like we're carrying on the practice of naming our pets after clothing items.'

I grinned back. 'I guess so!'

Then my thoughts turned back to the only problem at hand. Guy noticed my expression. 'I'm sure Grug won't mind. Somehow I highly doubt Cloak will be any more trouble than the pets we have already!'

I smiled at him gratefully. 'The one scary thing about you, is how you read me so well!'

'Pffft! Maybe I'll manage to scare Grug if I keep at it!'

We both keeled over in stitches after that!

I decided to leave Cloak in my tent that night. It was probably best to let the storm blow over (figuratively & literally) before saying anything to Dad. To be honest, whatever argument he put up tomorrow, somehow I doubted it would end badly. Cloak hadn't needed to do much to win me or Guy over. None of our pets had. And odds were, we'd at least have Mum on our side quickly. She was getting better at speaking up to Dad a lot more lately.

I sank down onto my grass mat. I didn't want to have to deal with anything more until I had to. Then I remembered – I needed to give Cloak somewhere to sleep. Then I felt something land softly on my stomach.

Cloak walked over, & curled up in the crook of my neck, nuzzling his head against my face. I knew he'd be dependent on me for a while yet. But as to where he wanted to be, well – he'd made that decision perfectly clear.