Chapter 2

What will happen next?

Twigs and leaves crunched loudly under our feet as we trudged through the forest, but I didn’t hear them. I was too busy thinking about what I blurted out earlier. Did I really think he was amazing? Well yes, he was amazing at singing and that smelly blob trick which really did a number on my hair, but I wasn’t referring to that. My head was starting to hurt. The sun was starting to set over the mountains, making the sky a exquisite array of purples, pinks, and reds. “We can camp here for the night.” Jake said, pointing to a small hole in the ground with a bright red x next to it. Before I could object, he jumped into the hole. “Snow?!” I cried. Everything was silent for a moment, then a cry of pure excitement echoed from the hole. I took a deep breath, ran up to the hole and jumped inside. I rocketed down the narrow hole, my throat started to close up and my breathing became labored. Only when the hole widened could I actually take a deep breath. My heart stopped when I saw the big circle room that held floors upon floors of doors. Doors of all shapes, sizes, and colors lined in perfect rows. I rammed into the pile of pillows face first. As I scrambled to my feet, Jake announced, “Welcome to the Predator and Prey hotel, where everyone is welcome and nobody gets eaten”.

I was stunned. The hotel was bustling with familier noise. Chirps, growls, purrs, barks, squeaks, squawks, and so much more! I marveled at the underground hotel and smiled. My family was here. So many animals that I have met in my life were here and even some others. The great thing about it was that I gave them all names. I have this strange tradition that involves my connection with animals. Any animal that I meet gets a name. I smile and a tear runs down my cheek as I call “Snicker!”. Everything goes quiet all of a sudden as happy barks echo through the hotel. I turn to Jake and say with a big smile and tears pouring down my face in waves, “You found my dog. I knew he was here when you said everyone was welcome. He always was a softy”. He looked bewildered as a golden brown Siberian Husky jumped off of the highest floor ledge and spread his beautiful gold-speckled white wings. He glided down to me, landing on my head and knocking me down with a big goofy smile pasted on his face. He showered me with kisses. “Hey buddy” I cooed. Jake shook his head and smiled. “Figures you’d have a weird dog. Can’t wait to meet your family.” he said with a laugh. I stared at him, confused. I stood up and wiped the slobber from my face. “My family?” I asked, a blank look on my face. He looked at me in confusion. “You know, your mom and dad” He replied. I hugged myself instinctively and said in a voice that had so little confidence, it could have belonged to another person, “I never knew my parents. The animals raised me.” Jake stood, stunned. “I-I’m sorry.” He stammered. “I guess I can show you to the room we’ll be in.” He lead me down a long hallway to a luxurious room with two beds, and a TV. As I tossed the backpacks in a corner, Jake mumbled “Goodnight Celestial” as he climbed into one of the beds. I whispered, “Hey Jake”. “Yes?” Jake mumbled from under the covers. “My name is Celest” I whisper as I climb under the covers of the second bed. I don’t have to see his face to know he’s smiling. After a few seconds of silence, Snicker climbs up on the bed, and nuzzles his way under the covers, and next to me. I smooth his wings down on his body and snuggle into his fur. Only then did I actually think about what Jake had said before. “Can’t wait to meet your family” was a strange thing to say. It has always been a touchy subject for me. Anyone who passes by my shack in the forest asks where my parents are and I’ll have to tell them everything. He probably thinks that I’m royalty or something. Maybe he likes me. Maybe I’m his princess and he’s my prince. Even in a world where flying dogs and shapeshifters are real, I wouldn’t be that lucky to have royal blood in me. Would I? Questions flew through my head until it felt like it would split open. I slowed my breathing and matched it with Snicker’s. In moments, I was asleep. Black, peaceful, deep, sleep.

I was again floating in midair, but this time, I got to the ground from Snicker yanking on my leg. He barked happily, dragging me by my pant leg towards a figure in the shadows. I shook Snicker off and broke a thick branch from a nearby tree. I waved my free hand over the top of the stick and the tip of it caught on fire, giving me a torch and enough light to see the figure clearly. I was shocked to see how much she resembled me. The perfect nose, the shining emerald green eyes, the mischievous smile, the dimple on her right cheek but not her left, the flowing golden brown hair that rested on her right shoulder. The only thing that didn’t resemble me was her emerald green ball gown and a golden bracelet on her wrist. Standing next to her sat a beautiful white wolf with emerald eyes. In a voice that sounded surprisingly young and crisp, she said one thing that almost brought me to tears in an instant. “My daughter”. Tears broke the surface and flowed down my face in endless cascades. I had finally found my mother. Dream or not. “Where are you mother? Why did you abandon me? May I see you soon?”. The questions poured out of my mouth until she raised her hand and said “You will see me soon enough.” A flicker of longing and sympathy ran over her face, but withdrew as quickly as it came. “I love you, my Poudretteite”. My mother started to fade away. “Mother! Please stay with me! Mother!” I pleaded, but she was already gone.

My eyes shot open to Jake shaking me frantically with a concerned look on his face. “Celest are you ok?” He says. I nod and hop out of bed, wiping the tears and sweat from my eyes. I slung one of the backpacks over my shoulder and toss the other one to him roughly without saying a word. Obviously he noticed that I didn’t want to talk, so we walked in silence to the pile of pillows. I quietly shrunk into a hummingbird as Jake mounted Snicker. We flew through the hole in the ceiling, and up into the starry night sky. Jake whispered what I hoped to be directions to Snicker, who nodded with a goofy grin and shot through the sky. Knowing my dog, a goofy smile plus a sudden disappearance was not good. I tensed up as I heard a familiar cry of excitement. They were going to dive bomb me. I closed my eyes and hovered, focusing on my brisk wings, beating faster and faster. At the second I felt their presence to be close, I did what normal people would call impossible. The thing you should probably know by now, is that I am definitely not a “normal person”. My wings started to disappear. Than my up my torso and head, and down to my feet. I was still there of course. Pfft. I’m not that powerful, dear reader.

I was invisible. Stealing a bit of chameleon power was hard and sweat started to bead on my face. Looking up, Snicker had leveled out. Him and Jake wore a look of complete confusion and that confusion doubled as I flitted up to greet them with my form returned to full color. I shook my head, and ask “Can we get on with this journey now?”. Jake just nods, mouth agape, still baffled at the fact that I just appeared out of thin air. He shook his head and brought out the map. I hopped onto his shoulder and looked at the map. A small house had an x over it, as well as a small hole in the forest, a mountain beyond the forest, and a castle in the middle of a town. “So we are going to this mountain next?” I ask as I point with my beak. “We have to collect two gemstones to give to the queen.” Jake replied “Emerald, like her name, and Poudretteite, like her daughter” I almost fell off of his shoulder when I heard it. My little heart started to race. Mom had an emerald dress on when I saw her, and she called me her little Poudretteite “What happened to the d-daughter?” I ask, emotions straining to break free. “Oh, the queen had a baby girl about 13 years ago. The queen was going to test the child to see what powers she had, hoping that the baby would have the same powers as her. The former king didn’t want the baby, scared for his kingdom, and was going to kill her. Before the test was done, the queen was forced to abandon the child in the deep forest and told the animals to look after her. She was brave. Exiled her husband before he realized that the child was gone” His voice trailed off as he matched up the stories. Jake’s voice wobbled as he asked “How old are you?” I didn’t have to answer the question, for the silence that stretched on after answered it for me. I was 13. My mother called me her little Poudretteite. I was the princess. My name was Poudretteite. I was royalty. My mother was the queen. My little legs buckled under me. I fell backward, off of Jake’s shoulder. I heard him shout as my eyes blinked closed. A thought appeared in my mind as my descent started to speed up. Why does the queen need an emerald and a poudretteite?

Then, darkness. Pure, black, peaceful, darkness.