"Okay where am I right now?" I muttered, walking in circles around a bush. "I know I've seen that bush three times now in the last half hour. Alex, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"
With a sigh I wandered around a little more until I found a small clearing and with a sigh loud enough to be heard by anyone other than me I sat in the dirt. "Perfect so I go from being completely lost in a bright forest and now I'm going to be wandering around in the dark all by myself."
Shaking my head I put my head in my hands, still wondering how I'd managed to get lost in a forest of all things. Thinking back for a while I sighed, looking up as the sun started to set. "There is no forest in my hometown and I should know since I've lived there my entire twenty five years. But after those dreams I keep having…." I trailed off as the moonlight covered me and after a long bout of silence I frowned holding my right hand up so that the light reflected off my fingernails.
Rolling my eyes I climbed to my feet, brushing the dirt from my jeans though as I started to walk in the opposite direction to the bush I froze as a howl echoed through the forest. "Oookay that sounded really close by. I hope there are no wild animals around here." I said to myself instantly scolding myself at how stupid I'd just been. "Great idea. Just let any animals know exactly where I am why don't I."
When I heard a branch crack I jumped whirling around in time to find...nothing and once I remembered to breathe I let out a slow breath. When nothing jumped out at me I kept walking only stopping once I remembered that I had started to head in the wrong direction. Rolling my eyes at my nerves I pushed through a grove of trees only to immediately back away once I saw a pack of wolves standing side by side.
Despite being a little worried that they might see me even as well hidden as I was I couldn't help staring at them, having never seen wolves other than on television. But as I stared at them I noticed that two smaller wolves were standing at the front of the pack and after a few more seconds I realised that one was a small cross-breed looking dog and the other was a white poodle with pink fur on his head and tail.
As soon as I started to lean in closer to figure out why a pair of dogs would be that close to a pack of wild animals I tripped on a tree root I missed in the darkness and as I stumbled forward all of the wolves looked up in time to see me make an undignified tumble to the dirt floor. Winded I lay on my stomach in time to see another wolf, a blue one this time, leap into view landing near the wolf pack.
"What's a human doing all the way out here?" Ric asked, looking towards me before he quickly shook his head. "Never mind that we need to get out of here before she sees us. Better get you all back to Howlington." He told the pack and as they started to head back to the school Freddy looked back at Ric.
"Are you sure? That could be the wolf hunter Principle Pincus warned us about" Freddy asked but Ric just laughed as I stumbled to my feet, rubbing at my eyes as I tried to relieve the headache I now had from my close encounter with the ground. "Well alright maybe she isn't but that doesn't mean that…." He trailed off when something struck the ground near Ric who leapt clear his brown eyes narrowing as two familiar faces stepped into the moonlight.
"There's our wolf hunters, Freddy. Get back to the school while I give them the slip." Ric said, his attention quickly moving to the hunters and the twin dart guns they carried. As Freddy watching Scarlet's mum, Ruby aimed at Ric but the second in command of the Night Patrol easily dodged and the dart hit the dirt. Grinning at the miss Ric narrowed his eyes before he opened his jaws, letting out a howl that sent shivers down my spine.
But as I stared at the hunters they just smiled and Ric paused frowning as much as a wolf could when Scarlet's dad, Red threw a round silver ball towards the werewolf. Thinking quickly Freddy leapt into the air knocking the ball back towards the hunters. "Yeah how do you like that?" Freddy called out only to see Ruby aiming at Ric this time. I wasn't sure if it was the knock to my head or the fact that I liked wolves but something forced me in between the large blue wolf and as the dart shot towards it I blocked its path, a set of brown eyes staring at me as the dart struck my left leg hard enough to tear my jeans before the dart buried itself in my skin.
Yelping I started to hop on one leg as everyone stared at me, quickly wrapping my arms around my leg before I overbalanced ending up on my back and the crack of the back of my head meeting the ground a second time made everyone wince.
Red, shaking off his disbelief that a human had taken a silver dart meant for a werewolf started to reload his dart gun until a hand on his shoulder forced him to look towards Ruby. The moment sirens split the silence Red and Ruby rushed back to their van, quickly driving away before the police could find them. Ric was all set to head back to Howlington but when he glanced back he found me still lying on the ground and he stared as I rolled onto my right side. Seeing the dart still embedded in my leg he shook his head about to leave me until Freddy blocked his path.
"We can't just leave her there." Freddy pointed out and Ric shrugged, stepping forward and Freddy narrowed his eyes at his teacher. "I don't know why but she stopped them from defanging you."
"Freddy, you know we can't bring a human back to Howlington." Ric countered glancing back to see me sitting now with one arm draped around my leg. As they watched I grasped the dart, letting out a slow breath before I tried to yank it out, but it wouldn't come loose and I winced narrowing my eyes at the dart that was causing all the trouble.
"Hey Scarlet's a human and she's welcome there. She helped us and you're just going to leave her in the forest all on her own. Aren't werewolves supposed to protect humans?" Freddy pointed out and Ric sighed, giving the poodle a grin before he slowly made his way towards me. Too busy glaring at the dart that wouldn't come loose I didn't even see Ric walking towards me though when I felt someone staring at me I turned my head slowly to find a blue wolf with its face inches from mine and I jerked back, eyes wide as he snorted at me.
"This is going to be a pain in the tail." Ric grumbled as he tried to figure out how to get me to follow him back to the Howlington Academy without me being able to understand him or being caught by Principle Pincus. Lowering his head he pushed at my shoulders and after a few moments of me watching the blue wolf nodding towards a dirt path I hadn't even noticed in the dark I nodded at him, pushing myself up though when I tried to put weight on my left leg my leg crumbled beneath me. Finding myself sitting on my backside I rolled my eyes att the blue wolf and he rubbed at his eyes with one paw looking towards Freddy for help.
"She obviously can't walk so why don't you carry her?" Freddy asked Ric and the wolf's eyes widened as I tried unsuccessfully to climb back to my feet. Failing that I crossed my arms ignoring the pain in my leg as I looked towards the blue wolf again. "If you don't we'll still be here after sunrise." He added with a grin and Ric shook his head their eyes on me.
As Freddy raced back towards Howlington Academy he looked back with a smile to see Ric following him with me on his back, neither wolf nor human looking at all happy about this arrangement. "Try and keep up." Freddy called out, leaping a log and Ric just snorted growling something under his breath as I gripped the fur covering his head and neck.
"Careful there, human." Ric growled when I gripped his mane a little too hard and after I loosened my grip a little he relaxed. "Not sure how we're going to get past the guards and sneak her in." He called out to Freddy once Ric caught up to the were-poodle.
"Leave everything to me, Ric. I'll think of something." Freddy answered and Ric sighed wondering how long it would take him to clear out his office before Professor Pincus found out they'd managed to sneak a human into the school.