Enchanted

I crunched through the forest probably scaring any animal that lived there. Paul was more silent than I was and he was easily twice my size. I didn’t understand it. I was guessing it was due to him being part wolf. He was probably natural in the forest.

Neither of us started up a conversation but I didn’t mind. I could listen to the sounds of the forest. I could hear birds singing, alerting others to our presence. I would see occasional squirrels scurrying about. Everything seemed to be green. The trees and the ferns scattered on the ground, the bushes, they were all bright green. The tree trunks were often covered in moss so that attributed to their color. I could easily see getting lost in this place. It was hard to differentiate between things. But Paul marched forward with purpose and I was betting he knew where he was going. He’d probably done it enough times that he could do it with his eyes closed.

We had walked quite a ways when I heard Paul’s stomach growl in protest. I covered my mouth with my hand to try and hid the giggle that was threatening to escape. “Well, if you could walk faster this wouldn’t happen,” he said glaring at me. I didn’t feel any threat behind it so it simply made me laugh more. “The threat of throwing you over my shoulder still stands,” he warned. That immediately sobered me up. I put my hands behind my back trying to feign innocence.

Suddenly a wolf’s howl pierced the silence of the forest. Paul immediately looked towards the sound before looking back at me with worry. He seemed to be debating something as he stopped and shifted from foot to foot. “How bad would you freak out if I became a wolf right now?” he asked hesitantly.

“I would probably be frozen in fear for a bit before starting to hyperventilate and then pass out. At least that’s what happened last time.” I said it nonchalantly but it was still laced with panic. I did not like wolves.

“Well we need to move quickly then. You need to get out of these woods now.” He took long strides as he moved through the underbrush. I hurried to keep up with him and found myself almost jogging to keep up.

“What’s going on?” I asked. I glanced around the forest looking and waiting for something to pop out. Paul’s eyes seemed to scan the forest as well before turning to look at me.

“I don’t know,” he said grudgingly. “I can’t become a wolf so I can’t hear what’s going on.”

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“When we’re wolves, we can hear each other’s thoughts,” admitted Paul. His eyes traveled around the forest again. “If I could phase right now, I could find out what’s up. But someone would pass out and if that happened Jake would kill me.” I don’t get what I being harmed and Jake killing him had to do with anything. That’s the second time he’s mentioned it. Why would Jake care?

I sighed loudly and couldn’t believe what I was about to say. I closed my eyes, forcing the words out of my mouth. “You can become a wolf,” I said. “I promise I’ll try to remain calm.”

“Are you sure?” asked Paul cautiously.

“Yes,” I said and then gulped in air, not realizing that I had been holding my breath.

“Stay here,” said Paul and moved off behind a tree. He was gone about ten seconds before a silver wolf reemerged. I could tell as he walked slowly towards me that I was up to his shoulder. He towered over me. His tail swished the branches of a fern lightly.

He was looking at me but seemed to be somewhere else at the same time. I was taking slow, shallow breaths. I could feel the panic welling up inside of me, wanting to overcome me. I forced it down and tried to remain in control. My limbs began to tremble as the fear slowly crept in them.

Suddenly the wolf snarled viciously. I screamed and jumped backwards, placing my back up against the trunk of a very large tree. Instantly the wolf seemed to snap back out of wherever he was from and looked at me. His eyes were locked onto mine and I could see they were the same brownish color as Paul’s. I could see the worry and regret in them. He flinched slightly and pinned his ears back.

His tail drooped between his legs and he lowered himself down so that I was looking slightly down at him. He gave a low whine and swished his tail lightly. I could see the huge amount of regret in his eyes and I knew he hadn’t meant it.

I took deep, calming breaths and closed my eyes. “I’m okay,” I said slightly breathless. I heard the snap of a twig and opened my eyes quickly. The wolf went behind the large tree he had come out of. Ten seconds later, Paul emerged.

“I’m really sorry about that,” he apologized right away. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that. Something just angered me a bit and I couldn’t control my reaction. I’m really sorry.” He looked so sincere. Almost like he would get on his knees and beg me to forgive him. It was a bit strange for him to react that way towards a stranger. But then again these weren’t your average boys.

“It’s okay,” I said softly. “It just…startled me a bit. I’m fine.” I hated making people feel bad. I hated when people were sad. I immediately wanted to cheer them up. “How far away from Sam’s are we?” I asked to change the subject.

“Only about five minutes,” he said and after giving me a once over to see if I was really okay, began to move in the direction we had to go.

Five minutes later we exited the woods and were standing at the side of Sam’s house. Paul quickly ushered me inside. As soon as I was in the doorway he turned around and immediately ran back into the woods. I shut the door before walking towards the kitchen where I assumed Emily would be. With so many hungry mouths to feed I could imagine why.

As I came around the corner I saw the faces of three girls. There was Emily, a girl who looked to be three years old, and another only a couple years younger than me, if not the same age. “Hi,” I said shyly as they looked at me.

“Alyssa, I’m glad you’re here,” said Emily. “This is Kim, Jared’s girlfriend, and Claire, my niece.” Kim and I shared shy, tentative smiles while Claire continued to play with her doll on the table. She was sitting in her own chair with Kim next to her.

“Do you want to help us bake cookies?” offered Emily. “When the boys get back, they’ll be starving.” My throat closed up for a moment in irrational fear. I had to remind myself that they wouldn’t be hungry for me.

“Sure,” I said quietly.

“Well, most of them are in the oven now. We just have to wait for them to come out.” She paused, trying to come up with some way for me to become involved. “Do you want to put the rest of the dough on trays?” asked Emily. I nodded and Emily led me into the kitchen. A bowl sat on the counter with a couple trays next to them. I could see the oven light on and the timer counting down. “I hope you know what to do,” she said standing near the doorway as I walked to the sink and washed my hands.

“Yes,” I said and immediately moved to the bowl and began to get down to work.