Simple Plan

The black wolf looked into the house and saw an old lady, sitting on her rocking wooden chair. He knocked on the window, smiling. As soon as the old lady saw the head of Ella, she came over to the door.

"Ella...what took you so long? Are you hurt?" She was concerned with the empty hands. "Where are the food?"

The black wolf tried to answer, "wooo...wooo...wooooo."

Ella's grandmother frowned, "what are you talking about, my dear? Come on in. Let's cook some soup to warm you up first. Poor little girl...look at you. So dirty."

The black wolf tried to remember how humans spoke. He observed quite a lot in the village, always listening to the humans' talking inside the buildings. "I...erm...slept."

Ella's grandmother smiled, "I could have guessed that." She ruffled her hair. "Now let's see what have you brought..." She grabbed the basket from the wolf and put it on the table.

The black wolf sniffed, feeling very hungry. He looked at Ella's grandmother, licking his lips. "I want..want...to..e..eat."

Ella's grandmother laughed, "alright,baby girl. Give me a few minutes to prepare, okay?" She pecked on the black wolf's forehead.

The black wolf leaned into the grandmother's touch, sniffing her deeply. Delicious.

Artemis went into a cave and found the grey wolves. She explained the current situation to the grey wolves and promised that they would have a big reward after helping Ella. The grey wolves of course would not refuse to help the goddess that they worshipped. They agreed to help.

Athena brought Ella to the cave. At first, Ella did not want to get in since she was really afraid of dark. However, with the wolf's eyes she had, she could see what was going on clearly in the cave. She followed Athena's lead.

The grey wolves saw Ella coming in. All of them got quiet. Ella stopped, trembling a bit as this was her first time to be so close to a bunch of wolves. This was overwhelming. She took a deep breath, walking toward them.

She cleared her throat, "hello. I am Ella."

The master of the grey wolves walked over, "hello Ella. We met earlier today. Well...actually I saw you earlier." He circled around her. "You look so different from before though."

Her eyes widened, surprised by the fact that she understood what he was speaking. She looked at Athena who winked at her.

The master continued, "I am Max, and there is my wife, my son and my daughter. All of us are willing to help you." He stood in front of her, wiggling his tail.

Another wolf came over. Its eyes were so blue and clear, and its fur was whiter than Max. "Welcome, Ella. I am Max's wife called Eva."

She walked over, placing her neck on top of Ella's. Her warmth calmed Ella down. Ella snuggled against Eva, thinking of her mother again. Ella closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears from sliding down. A tear dropped on the ground.

"It will be alright." Eva whispered. "We will help you." She looked into Ella's eyes, and tipped her nose against Ella's. This was a wolf's peck.

Athena clapped her hands and said, "now let's plan this. As far as I know, the black wolf is at Ella's grandmother's house. We need to trick him out and make him to go to the lake."

Ella sat down like a wolf - her front legs were straight and her butt was on the ground with her black legs curled. She spoke, "how can we possibly do that?" She paused, "wait. It is at my granny's house? Will she be safe?"

Athena nodded, "for now. We did ask Hestia to make some tasty food for the black wolf to fill up his belly."

Artemis looked at Max, "do you think you can try to get him out there?"

Max scratched the ground with his claw, "if you could get the old lady out of the house or just simply make her sleep and would not wake up with any noise, I think I could just walk in to scare him off. He should know that with his human form, he cannot fight against a wolf."

Athena nodded, "very well. Ella, you should just wait by the lake then. Artemis and I will get the thunder. Max and his family will go to get the black wolf out."

Ella nodded her head, whispering, "thank you." She turned, walking slowly toward the exit.