chapter 3 Home sweet . . . home?

Chapter 3 Home sweet. . . Home?

The first place I think to look for Alex and Chris is a little meadow in the woods. It was like our own little secret garden. Sometime's we'd spend all day there, talking and playing games.

But when I reach the meadow, there is no one here. I shift into a wolf, and try to sniff the ground, but the scents are weak; nobody has been here was a while.

If they aren't here, they are either at their homes, or mine. Mom had left the door to our cabin unlocked so Chris and Alex could take care of it while we were gone. They have to be there.

Just before I take off towards my cabin, a voice calls my name.

"Ylvana?" A little red fox emerges from the woods.

"Pine!" I smile. "What are you doing here?"

The story of how I met Pine was very different from Luna's. He had broken into Mr. Erickson's bait store, and was picking through the garbage when he got his head caught in a paper sign that said "The bigger the bait, the bigger the catch!" He was chased out of the store, and shortly after got caught up in a thicket of branches.

It was Luna who spotted him. The thing is; owls eat foxes. Little Pine was completely defenseless, tangled up in the sign. But because he was tangled, Luna couldn't reach him. She came to me and asked if I could let him down. I didn't think it was right to just hand the poor fox over, so I untangled him on the condition that Luna at least let him give him a running start. We talked, we bonded, and long story short, Pine did not turn out to be Luna's lunch. Besides the occasional bickering, the two got along quite well.

"Oh, you know, going shopping," he says, sarcastically. By the way, Pine has a horrible sense of humor, but I miss his jokes.

"Question is;" he says, "what are you doing out here? You can't leave the castle unattended."

I start walking. Pine comes up besides me.

"Technically I can, I'm just not suppose to," I grin.

Pine laughs. "She hasn't changed a bit, huh Luna?"

"Tell me about it," Luna says from above us.

As we get closer to my cabin, old memories come to me. Memories of days spent on a dock, overlooking a glassy lake. Of nights spent around a warm campfire, roasting marshmallows and playing guitar. Accompanying those memories are the feelings of love and comfort of home.

Those feelings die hard when I see my cabin.

The grass is overgrown, and the chimney bricks are choked with vines. I expected some maintenance, but I didn't expect the shattered windows, or the foul smell of Crows.

A deep growl shakes my throat.

"When were you two going to tell me about this?" I snap.

"I'm sorry, Ylvana. We didn't know," Luna says,  "This--this must have happened recently," Luna says.

I walk up to the cabin and look into the window. Furniture is scattered and ripped, and the kitchen cupboards are left open. It is a good thing we had brought our belonging's with us to the castle, otherwise they would have been strewn across the wooden floors like everything else.

This cabin is my childhood; this is where I grew up. Now it was destroyed.

Pine and Luna watch me sadly walk back down the steps.

Pine comes up and leans against my legs. "You okay, Ana?"

I take a shaky breath, and nod. "Yeah. Fine. Let's go."

The next meeting place I go to is Moose Lodge. Immediately after walking through the oak doors, and can already tell something is wrong. There is almost no one in the restaurant. The room is still and dark.

"Well, if is isn't Miss Mikkleson," an old man says from behind the bar.

I barely recognize John Northmen, or as everyone calls him, Moose Northmen. He is in his usual place, whipping the bar with a rag. But he seems to have loos most of his cheery spirit. His slanted eyes look down. His silver pony-tail looks grayer than normal.

"Hey Moose." I lean against the bar. "Have you seen Chris and Alex around here?"

He waves a hand towards the back. "They're in their usual spot, playing cards."

He looks up at me. His eyes are so watery and old, it breaks my heart. "Can I get you something to eat?"

My stomach aches--two pieces of toast are not enough.

I shake my head sadly. "I haven't brought money with me."

He looks a little disappointed, but he forces a smile. This restaurant is his whole life, and right now he has almost no customers.

"You can have anything you want. On the house."

I try to decline, but Moose won't hear it.

"You're two skinny, Mikkleson. You got to eat something," he says.

I finally settle for a turkey sandwich, and go to meet Alex and Chris.

They are sitting in our booth. Alex's red hair covers her face as she leans over her cards. Chris rests his chin in his palm; his sandy hair is as neat and tidy as always.

Neither of them see or hear me approach them, that is until I shout; "Hey!"

Alex whirls around and tries to punch me in the face. Chris jumps and hits his knees on the table. 

"What the bloody heck, Ylvana!" Alex flashes me her deadly glare as I laugh. But their shock passes, and they get up and hug me.

"What are you doing here?"  Alex asks, brushing one of her red curls out of her face. "And where's you're mum?"

"She . . . well, she . . . had to get . . . something. . . "

"She's not here is she."

"Nope."

"You mean you came all this way alone?" Chris looks at me like I'm a disobedient child. Hanging around us all these years, he has mastered this look.

"You both know I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," I say, pulling up a chair to their table.

Alex starts dealing out another hand of cards. I recognize the game of Crazy Eights. Chris use to play this game with his sister in their home of Minnesota. When he taught it to us, Alex became the master of the game.

"I can't help but notice you guys have been skipping out on a couple of things in your letters," I say, picking up my cards.

Alex and Chris exchange a nervous glance.

"What do you mean?" Alex says.

"Oh, I don't know. You kind of left out the fact that this town is practically empty. And what the heck happened to my cabin?"

Chris sighs. "I'm sorry, Ylvana. We just didn't know how to tell you."

"Well, someone better start telling me something," I say, putting a card down.

An uneasy silence settles between them. 

"The Crows did it didn't they?" I say.

Crows are a less-than-polite name for the Fenrir Warriors. Like we can shift into wolves, they shift into Crows and Ravens.

Alex and Chris nod, confirming my fear. I feel my breath grow heavy with rage, and I have to fight to keep myself from punching something.

"They did this to three other cabins in the area. Luckily the families weren't home," Alex says.

Moose stops by, and drops off my sandwich. I am careful to keep my eyes down; I can tell they are glowing. I have to calm myself down. Chris and Alex don't know about my shifting abilities, and now is not the right time to tell them.

"There seems to be a new incident every day. Everyone knows the Crow's can just fly in, but no one knows what to do about it." Worry lines Alex's voice.

"They can't just kill every crow they see. Most of the time we don't even see them; they hide so well," says Chris. "Forty have disappeared. Now everyone's afraid to leave their cabins."

I take a deep breath, and blink my eyes a couple of times.

"I don't have much time here. Let's focus on something else," I say.

Chris and Alex eagerly agree, and we continue playing Crazy Eights.

"Fours," Alex says as she places a black eight on top of the other cards.

Chris and I groan; neither of us had any fours in our hands. We both reach for the pile and pick up another card.

I need to get rid of three cards, but Alex is close behind with five as she places a red four on the ground. Poor Chris has ten cards in his hand. Alex is the gamer of the three of us. She knows every trick, and can win any game. But by using a red four, Alex has made a huge mistake.

I smile as I put all three of my remaining cards on the ground, all of which are red. Alex's jaw drops.

Chris throws his cards down.

"She's cheating. She has to be. She's won ten in a row!" he exclaims.

"You can't cheat at Crazy Eights," Alex murmurs, "I would have found a way by now."

"Are you guys tired of losing, or should we pick a different game?" I tease.

A sly smile spreads on Alex's face.

"I think someone needs to be taught a lesson about gambling. Moose? Would you happen to have a chess board?"

"I actually do, somewhere in the back." Moose disappears

Alex rolls her eyes, and looks back at me. "Chess, you and me."

Chris looks nervously between the two of us.

"I accept," I smile, "what will we be gambling?"

"Honor," Alex says, "this game is about honor."

Of all the games Alex mastered, she is the best at playing chess. She takes joy in beating Chris and I at the game repeatedly. But what she doesn't know is I've been practicing.

We start the game, and twenty minutes later, I have Alex in complete check mate. This is a pretty fast ending for this kind of game. Alex and Chris stare at me in awe.

"I don't bloody believe it," Alex murmured, "You hate chess! When did you become an expert?"

"It could get really boring in the castle. It was either play chess with Miria, or drink tea with the Royals," I say.

"You mean Princess Miria?" Chris says.

"You never mentioned in your letters that she was teaching you how to destroy people at chess," Alex says sourly as she puts the board away.

"You never mentioned how awful things were around here," I reply. I realize how harsh it sounds, so quickly added: "You should play Miria one time. I think it would be a very interesting game."

We start playing other games. Alex and Chris desperately try to make me loose my winning streak. I don't win every game, but I put up one heck of a fight.

"So, how's your dad doing?" I ask Chris.

He frowns. In his last letter, he told me how his father has fallen very ill, and was forced to leave the house to go stay in the hospital. He is the only family Chris has left. He had served in the king's army, and was forced to leave after a sever head injury caused my inhaling coal dust. The poison was cleared, but not after suffering severe brain damage. Every day, he got sicker. Now that he is in the hospital, Chris is alone.

"The same; he's still really weak. They're trying to get him to eat, but he has no appetite."

"At least you still have us," I say, trying to cheer him up.

Chris smiles sadly. "Won't you have to go back to the castle, soon?"

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter. We've been through thick and thin together and that's how it's going to stay!" I tell him.

Alex and I are like gunpowder and a spark, to which Chris is the emergency fire-extinguisher. He has been the big brother of our group. He thinks he has to look after us, but Alex and I have to look after him too.

I hear a light tapping, and look up at one of the sky-lights. I can barely see the dim outline of Luna, perching in the window. I realize how dark is has gotten.

I stand up. "Guys, I have to go."

"We'll walk with you," Alex offers, "We were actually planning on going to the ball. It may not be as good as the village celebration, but at least we'll be together."

I'm touched by my friends offer to spend the evening in that horrible place, but I want to walk as I wolf one last time before my mom grounds me for eternity.

"Thanks, but I can walk alone. You two go get ready. I'll meet you there," I say.

"There's no way we're letting you walk home alone. Not with everything that has been happening," Chris says.

"I got here just fine by myself, and I will get back. You two don't want to be around when my mom finds me," I say.

Alex and Chris don't like the idea, but they are also terrified of my mom. She has the greatest patience and temper management of anyone I know. When she get's mad, you know you're screwed. So, they agree to let me face my mother alone.

I give them both a tight hug. I say goodbye to Moose, and leave.

Luna and Pine meet me on the front steps of the restaurant, and together, we walk down the main street.

In the gloomy dusk light, the village is even more empty. The wind whips aggressively, whistling a eerie tune over the land. I pull my silver cloak tighter around myself.

Luna and Pine leave me to find there own way around the gate as I approach the entrance. The guards look much more alert; maybe the darkness of the forest put them on edge.

"Princess, if you wish, one of us could accompany you home," one of the guards says.

I shake my head, and smile politely. "No thank you. You're protection is needed here more."

Suddenly, one of the guards blocks my path. "I must insist you come with us."

As I look up at the guard, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on up end. The man's face is hidden in the black shadows of his helmet. Everything feels wrong; the way he towers over me, and watches me like a hawk.

"No, really. I'm fine." I start to back up. The guard takes a step closer. The other one moves behind me to block the path.

I consider trying to bolt, when I hear the caw.

Above us, in the branches, a huge black birds preach. The dim light reflects off it's black beak and shiny feathers. My heart pounds as I look into it's beady eyes.

It is no ordinary bird. It's too large, and it's eyes are too intelligent. This is a Crow.

My horrible fear escapes me in the form of a scream. Something slaps over my mouth, snaps me backwards. I hit my head against some kind of hard, smooth metal. One of the guards has grabbed me.

I try to bite the hand, but it's covered in thick leather gloves. I try to dig my nails underneath it and pry it away, but the arm is as solid as a brick wall. I kick my legs, only hitting more hard metal. I am using all my super strength, but it's no use. I've never felt so weak. I can't even shift into a wolf--I can't let the Warriors know about my powers.

The Crow leaps from the branches and dives towards the ground. With an explosion of black powder, the bird changes form into a huge, burly man in black armor.

The metal of his helmet curves around his eyes and points down the bridge of his nose like a sharp bird's beak. I expect him to tie a gag around my mouth or put something over my head. Instead, he reaches into a little pouch, and pulls out a handful of some kind of powder.

In one quick gesture he flicks the powder at me. I immediately go slack and my eyes close. I am still fully conscience, but I have no control over my limp body.

One of the Crow's picks me up in his arms and starts carrying me. I am completely at their mercy with no chance of escape. I cam only hope Pine and Luna got away safely.

"How long did you say this stuff would last?" says a gruff voice.

I am lifted up, and someone else takes me. I hear the sound of a horses huff, and I recognize the scent of a pegasus. My hope drops further: on the backs of flying horses these men can quickly and easily take me anywhere, far away from any chance I might have of getting rescued.

"She should stay like this until we reach camp. There should be no problem," another voice answers.

"She better not come-to when we're in the air," the man who holds me grumbles.

I feel the horse start running, and I pray whoever held me has a strong grip. I hear the swoosh of giant wings, and when my stomach begins to roll, I know we're flying. It's a lot smoother that riding an ordinary horse on the ground, but the horse sways a lot more in the air. My instinct are to reach out and hold on to something, but I can't move my arms. I've always wanted to ride a Pegasus, but never like this.