Chapter Thirty-Three

A Chapter by Tina Kline

It's agreed upon that the Pack will decide what to do about the Others by a Pack Vote.

Mr. Longvalley put his arm on Quetzal’s shoulders. “We’re here for you Quetzal. Let us help you. You’re part of the Pack, remember.”

“Hey Quetzal.” I said. “I’m your Wolf Pal.”

“Same here.” said Mr. Thunder.

“Don’t forget me.” Miss Feather said.

Quetzal looked at all of us. I could see he was fighting his emotions.

“You’re always welcome in my Pack.” Dad said.

“Hey, I like you too.” Mr. Hunter said.

Quetzal clenched his fists. “There’s just something about Shasta. Something still inside me. Not like before. But it’s something.”

Everyone in the room growled at the something. It was a soft, menacing growl.

And it was meant for Shasta and her odd people.

I bet for sure the females in the kitchen preparing to cook some meat were listening intently to what was going on in the front room.

“We need a plan now.” Mr. Longvalley said. “We need to do something about those people, the Others. I think we know enough about them.” He still stood beside Quetzal, his arm still on his shoulders.

“Why don’t we settle back down? We’re all here. Let’s make a decision.” Dad said.

Mr. Stonevalley took a seat on the couch, making sure Quetzal sat beside him.

I sat against the wall, Miss Feather, Mr. Thunder and Mr. Hunter sitting on either side of me.

Dad sat in the comfy chair while Mr. Stalker and the other Wolf Person took up positions near the door.

A weird sound came from the kitchen. It sounded like something hissing and popping. It had to be cooking. It was a rare sound in this Village but occasionally a Wolf Person would cook something.

Then that smell. It was rather unpleasant.

“I’m opening more windows.” I said getting up.

“Good Armand. That odor is rather bad.” Mr. Stalker said.

I opened the rest of the windows in the house that weren’t already open. Wolf People’s houses might not be large but they did have lots of windows.

When I settled back at my place against the wall Dad opened the discussion.

“Mandie and Joshie we know are friendly. But Shasta and Kyle, from what the youngsters told us we can’t say for certain that they are friendly.”

“Look what this Shasta did to Quetzal. I’d say that’s rather unfriendly.” Mr. Stonevalley said.

“It might not have been intentional.” said Mr. Stalker. “She did remove the spell.”

“She did. But Quetzal is still having troubles.” Mr. Stonevalley replied.

“Something doesn’t feel right inside me.” Quetzal said.

“I think the Others need to be removed from our forest.” Mr. Stonevalley said.

“They are having a bad influence on the forest. Disturbing the deer, coyotes and rats.” Mr. Stalker said. “And that odor? It can’t be good.”

“I say it can’t.” Mr. Stonevalley replied.

“They were rather mean.” I said. “Very touchy, anyway.”

“They really didn’t treat Quetzal all that nice.” Miss Feather said. “And it was Shasta’s fault he is the way he is.”

“I was nice to her.” growled Quetzal. His eyes flashed red with his anger.

“I say we vote on whether we want these Others in our forest or not.” Dad said. “A Pack vote.”

“What about Joshie and Mandie?” I asked. “They could go back and warn Shasta and Kyle.”

“They will not be allowed to leave.” Dad said. “There is no vote on that.”

“Prisoners?” Miss Feather asked.

“If it has to be that way, yes.” Dad said. “They know too much about us now. We only know a little about them in comparison.”

He looked around at everyone and everyone nodded agreement when his gaze rested on them.

“I’d say it’s an agreement.” Mr. Stalker said.

“Joshie and Mandie remain here. Their futures will be decided later.” Dad stated.

The hissing and popping sound coming from the kitchen was growing louder. The female’s excited chatter kept up almost constantly. I hoped they were nicely distracting the twins from what we were talking about.

Who knew how they’d take it once they learned they weren’t going to be allowed to return to their own people.

But I had no doubt everyone else in the kitchen was listening. If not with their ears then with telepathy.

The cooking smell was swirling out the open windows. It was still strong enough to be unpleasant but it wasn’t interfering with our conversation.

“Now, as for removing these half wolf half human people from the forest? Are we in agreement we will put this to a Pack Vote?” Dad looked at each person in the room again. And again as he looked at each person they nodded their heads in agreement. “Good. It’s all agreed then.” He looked at Mr. Stonevalley. “You will be bringing representatives from your Pack to participate in this voting?”

“Yes, Mr. Black, I will be.” He answered.

“Good. We’ll have the vote right after we make the announcement. I will call a gathering and as soon as you’ve returned with your Wolf People we’ll explain the situation to the Pack.”

“Sounds good.” Mr. Stonevalley stood up. His Pack Member was beside him as soon as he did so. “I will inform Cerise what we’ve decided. Quetzal, would you like to remain here with your friends?”

“Yes.” Quetzal looked at me as he said this.

I felt a surge of relief and smiled at him. Maybe I hadn’t lost my friend after all.

“I’ll be back very soon.” He went to talk a few minutes with Cerise then he left with his Pack Member.

Cerise stayed behind. They were all too involved in the cooking of meat for her to want to leave.

I thought about what was soon to happen then pushed that worry away. It was out of my hands now. Besides, I was way too happy to have Quetzal back to worry too much about those Others, the half wolf and half human people.

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