Ella

Another summer had come, and Ava did not think that her best friends Makayla or Bella where ready for this one. Their last summer camp was a rundown camp with tiny water usage and no water activities. And the only downside to Camp Sakaine was that they stayed one more day over. Makayla was not one for long stays overnight and had never really been prepared. Makayla was a tall girl with green eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Bella on the other hand was a short athletic girl with light blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Bella was, actually maybe the most prepared for staying over. Ava or Makayla had only seen her crying during softball and that was it. Bella was the most competitive, even as Ava watched them play slap jack Bella was almost screaming the rules to Makayla. Which made everyone in the van turn to look at their row, and Ava was the only one to notice it. The girls playing bop it stopped playing and the boys in the back stopped saying jokes. Even the girls playing candy on a stick stopped on the line, "Candy on a stick it makes me sick makes my tummy go 2, 4, 6." 

Ava had to take matters into her own hands, as usual and said, "Bella isn't the objective just to slap the jack? It's not that complicated."

Bella turned to her like she was ready to squeeze her head off but turned back and stopped yelling as she figured out what was going on. Makayla, on the other hand, did not notice and before she could counter with another yell the van driver turned on a corner that had Sakaine written on the little green sign. Ava put her face against the window and nudged Makayla over. Bella looked over too and suddenly the window was the most crowded seat. 

"Woah," all the girls said in unison as two riders on horses waved them to go in. Trees upon trees made it impossible to see anything. Until they parked on a little gravel road. It was night, and the stars littered the sky. 

"I hope they have an archery range," Ava told her best friends.

"I don't. Archery is boring," Bella decided. Ava shrugged, Bella didn't really like that side of camp, yet she wasn't a wimp like some girls she knew. As they got out of the van a tall boy councilor greeted them at the front. His hair was wavey and blonde and had just a tiny bit of stubble on the sides.  He was wearing a councilor bandana that was a barrage of different colors and was tied around his neck. 

"Alright gather around so I can give you your cabins. Umm, the three boys right there will go to Whitepine. The girls in the front will go to Cherry, the girls in the back will be Birch. And finally, you three will go to Butternut," He looked ready to move on but, Butternut? 

"Excuse me but, butter what?" Bella said behind her.

"BUTTERNUTT!" the councilor confirmed. Ava shook her head and turned to leave but the councilor wasn't finished, "Now I can separate you into teams. You are all red for the game Wells Fargo."  Ava knew the game, two teams would try to put as many coins in the bucket as possible, but they could steal the coins from the other person if they were on their base grounds, "The boundaries will be the black road that streaks down the middle of camp." Then he held out his hands to reveal a little bottle of red paint. 

"Hold out your hands," He ordered as he spilled a little into everyone's hands, "You have to put red paint on you to mark your team." Ava felt the cool liquid in her hands and dipped two fingers in. She put two stripes down each cheek, two streaks starting at her bottom lip and ending at the end of her shirt collar. Then she made a two lined cross on her forehead. 

"Ava! You're going full warrior mode!" Makayla laughed as she only put two stripes on her cheeks. Bella had the same and Makayla had obviously copied her. Ava wasn't surprised, Makayla had always done the same things as Bella. They played the same sports, both played the clarinet in band, and hated the same foods. Ava on the other hand only played softball, wasn't picky about foods, and played the cello in orchestra where she had made some pretty good friends. Makayla had copied her for a while too, claiming when they were both six that mac and cheese was her favorite food. Really it was probably cheeseburgers, but Ava never mentioned it. Even when they were playing, at Bella's house they were girly and did make-overs on each other. But when they were at Ava's house, they usually were adventurous and explored the forests. But most of the girls in her class copied Bella, so no one was surprised when Makayla did too. 

"Guys we should try to sneak through the forest, see if we have a chance to sneak past them," Ava suggested. 

"Yeah!" Makayla agreed. Bella nodded and then they started to go through the trees. 

"Smurf!" A couple of reds shouted behind them as a counselor with dark skin and hair started to run toward them. He had died his whole body with the blue paint.

"It's the leader!" A few campers shouted. Ava tied her dirty blonde hair in a ponytail and started to regret wearing her favorite strap sandal, but she decided to run at him anyway. The councilor acted scared but dodged her right in time for Makayla to tag him as he zig-zagged away. The councilor looked defeated as he turned back to his base. 

"Ready for the plan now?" Ava asked.

"Sure," Bella nodded. They saw the road ahead of them and raced to get to the other side without being noticed. The forest was beautiful, as beautiful as the pictures they had seen on their camp website. Moss covered the trees and weeds covered the floor like a carpet. They started to tread up the hill and Ava saw a face of a Smurf, but the boy didn't see them.  He had three huge stripes on each of his cheeks.

"Keep your head down," Ava whispered. Bella and Makayla nodded and started to become very interested in their feet. The boy started to run on the opposite hill and Ava lifted her chin, "He's gone."

"We are so getting poison ivy from this," Makayla said behind them as she picked up her tennis shoes. 

"We might even get poison oak, and I think I spotted some hemlock up that ridge," Ava informed.

"What's poison oak? And what is hemlock?" Makayla asked.

"Poison oak is a very painful plant that burns, and hemlock is a little white flower that is deathly poisonous," Ava told them.

"I see you know your plants, most of them anyway," a silky voice carried from behind them. 

Ava turned but didn't see anyone, so she asked quite harshly, "Who are you?" 

"Someone that holds power, and if I were you, I would watch where you tread," The voice spoke again.

"Show yourself!" Ava shouted to the trees. 

"I would, but I would hate to ruin the surprise," It replied. 

"What surprise?" Ava asked yelling into the night. No answer. But she soon knew. Wolves howled in the distance and Ava wished more than ever that this camp had an archery range. 

 

Ella

They waited. Ava looked around and saw nothing. Makayla wasn't back yet. Bella jostled the net but eventually gave up. 

"How long is this gonna take?" Bella asked annoyed. Ava wasn't about to grace that question with an answer, so she stayed silent. She had faith in Makayla, she had proved herself once or twice. Her mind flashed to the time that she had held a crying Bella on her shoulder when they found out that they weren't going to be in the same classes next year at the end of third grade. Ava had never got after school cries. She was always glad to be done with school and not think about it again. Except for fourth grade. She had cried then. That was when she had the best teacher ever. Mrs. P. She was awesome and had even helped her find one of her favorite book series.  There was another time Makayla had proven herself even more. The times she had calmed down Bella after she had messed up in a sport. Ava never really got that one either. She didn't really see the big deal in sports. She played them of course, but never really committed to them. She did them for fun and for hanging out with friends, but nothing else serious like Bella and Makayla did. She never really got it she guessed, Ava never really understood Bella or Makayla and their competitiveness. She was more into reading and writing herself. She also loved drawing, a thing Bella nor Makayla really got the hang of. But Bella was at least good at crafts. Makayla on the other hand, well Ava just said that Makayla just never really practiced. 

Ava looked around again and shivered, the evening air was cold on her skin. Ava picked up a small twig and started to scrap the mud off the inside of her nails. She had done it since she was little, though most of the time the twig was a pencil, and she was in class. Bella just sat back on the tree and looked at the stars. Then Ava noticed that if the wolves came, they had nothing to defend themselves with. She looked around for something, anything, a log, a long weed to whip them with. But the stranger had been smart. The clearing had nothing except a weed carpet and a few trees. In the distance another wolf bellowed. But it wasn't in the distance. No, it was close, closer than she thought it was. She looked around and turned the net, earning her another grunt from Bella as she fell in the mud again. Drip, drip, drip. She looked up and saw a few droplets of rain, as if this situation could get any worse. Now in the drips there was another sound, she thought it was only the rain falling on the leaves. But it sounded like footsteps, light, stealthy footsteps. Then she saw them, two yellow pairs of eyes in the darkness. Slits cut the middle of them like snake eyes. 

Two pale white wolves with black stripes running down their faces jumped onto their net. Bella screamed but Ava noticed that the wolves were only going for the net, not them. 

"Hold on," the first wolf ordered in an airy female voice. Ava caught her breath.

"What is it this time Moth?" The second wolf replied growling. 

"Well Tussock, don't you think that Daurian would want their little friend captured too?" Moth answered. 

"I'll get Floyen on it. Floyen!" Tussock shouted. A brown wolf with two black stripes on the sides of his chest appeared. 

"What is it?" Floyen asked.

"Go track down the other one of the three, she left about fifteen minutes ago," Tussock explained. Had it only been that long? And since when did wolves talk? She looked at Bella, but she was petrified. She didn't move, didn't talk, just sat there rocking back in forth as the wolves Ava assumed were brother and sister dragged them along. None of the wolves sounded like the first voice they'd heard, and Ava wondered who it was. She didn't dare ask them; the wolves had gleaming white teeth that snapped some of the net. But she was soon proven wrong. 

"Hey!" A voice whispered. Ava looked around, "Down here." Ava looked down and saw a little red fox pacing with them. 

"Who are you?" Ava whispered back.

"Name's Sumac. And you must be the new members," Sumac smiled.

"My name's Ava. And this is Bella. Why are we here Sumac?" she answered the fox.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll leave as soon as the war is over. But I've heard that you have a friend that is a bit of a pickle to catch. But when you get to the Tree you will understand why you're here. You see--" 

"Sumac! What did I tell you about talking to them?" Moth hissed. Sumac looked down and whimpered. Then Ava heard the sound of yelling, and she looked over to see Makayla in a net by herself with Floyen dragging it behind him. Floyen looked irritated as his pinned ears, twitching eyes, and set jaw showed his feelings. Moth and Tussock didn't look to be annoyed as much, and Sumac looked like he didn't even belong among the powerful wolves with his cheerful smile. Ava wondered why he was even among the wolves. A brown fox ran toward the wolves and Moth looked startled but kept going. The fox looked surprised and didn't look like she was to be messed with. A scar ran from the middle of her ear to the end of her jaw. It gave her the look that said, "Stay back, I might look small but I've been in a few fights." And as she noticed Scout's she found another scar on Moth. one that cupped her ear in a half circle in the back. Tussock had a nick in his left ear and Ava wondered why the only scars she'd seen were on their ears. She looked for one on Floyen and Sumac and found that Floyen's right ear was cut in half but only very thinly. Sumac even had two small nicks built on his left ear. 

"Daurian isn't happy that you haven't arrived yet. Also, the rest of the camp is still playing the game so we should move quickly," The brown fox announced. 

"Thank you, Scout. How is Daurian?" Moth asked.

"He's holding up. But I would hurry if you want to keep it that way," Scout answered and then fled. Bella looked at Ava and Ava looked down, she didn't want to try to guess. Daurian sounded like the alpha, but it could always be someone else. Maybe Daurian was just their friend that was in charge of their squad. She didn't know. Bella looked over at Makayla and eventually Makayla looked back. Her eyes were full of fear, but Ava noticed that she had a knife in hand. She had found something. Ava shook her head, but Makayla looked at Ava and then the knife. Tussock noticed their eye contact and nodded to Floyen who looked back at his captive. His eyes hardened and he dropped the net. He turned around and swatted his paw across Makayla's hand making her drop the knife. She looked at her hand as Floyen started to drag her again. It was barely bleeding with just four little scrapes across the top, but her eyes started to well as she saw some of the blood.  Bella winced next to her, and she looked toward her leg, a few thorns had pierced her side. That's why she was quiet. Bella often tried to hide her feelings, especially pain. She looked around and let out a yell to alert the wolves. Tussock and Moth's ears quivered and they turned infuriated.

But as Moth was about to speak, she heard panting. A huge black wolf ran out of the bushes and came to Bella's side. He didn't have a nick in his ears, and for some reason that scared her. That meant that he had only been in a few fights, or was just so good that he didn't have even a scar. He did however have painted red ears, and two silver stripes on each side of his neck. 

"I need some help here. One of them is injured, Sakai isn't gonna be happy about this," The black wolf ordered.

"Daurian. I didn't think you would make it, and since when did you care about what Sakai thinks?" Moth joked. 

"I've been here the whole time, and this time, it's different. You of all wolves should know that," Daurian said coldly. Before Daurian could do anything else another howl sounded, cold and high. Fear filled Daurian's eyes. He mouthed words and Moth looked at him with a scared stare. 

"I'll defend us, you guys go, and don't let them from those nets until you reach the Tree. Also, um, well, Moth, you know the drill. About the pond and all," Daurian decided with a hint of nervousness in his voice. 

"I'll go with you!" Sumac came to his side and grinned.

Daurian smiled, "Not this time Sumac. Some day." Sumac looked disappointed and sat down in the muddy grass. A little mud leaked on his bright orange tail and Daurian looked helpless for once as he gave a weak smile. Sumac meanwhile, had become very interested in his paws. Daurian padded over to him and bent down, "I'll come back, like I always do. When have I ever let you down?" When Sumac didn't respond Daurian lifted his head with his chin and that finally made Sumac grin. And with that Daurian ran into the forest to face the howls with a new bounce in his step that hadn't been there before.  

Ella

Ava screamed a high-pitched scream that clearly made the heads of the wolves above them hurt. Not even wolves could save them, not the creatures. No one. She looked under them as the net tangled around them.  She thought her eyes deceived her but there it was. Water. Cool and black with the shine of the moon cascading over it. But they wouldn't make it to the water. A ledge hung off the cliff and it was coming faster and faster. But she heard running, and rocks were flying off the cliff above them. She looked up and saw Floyen climbing down the cliff like a normal climber.  Floyen was below them. But Floyen couldn't possibly catch them, he didn't even have hands. Ava let out another scream. 

"Stop whining!" She heard Floyen say. His rude calmness helped sooth her nerves for some, weird reason. She saw Floyen stretch out his paws and she almost screamed again. She heard a growl above them, and she turned to see Tussock reaching his jaws around the ropes. Floyen pushed them up with his paws and Tussock's burden was eased. They were going up. Floyen let go about halfway through, and then Moth helped her brother, or who Ava assumed was her brother, pull them the rest of the way. Moth and Tussock pulled them the rest of the way and when they saw the cliff edge Floyen was already up the cliff. How, she had no idea. Ava realized that she was now grateful for the net. If they hadn't have had the net they would've probably died. 

"What were you thinking! Losing the most important part of the plan? Our mother died trying to protect that plan. And this is how you repay her?" Moth fumed.

"Is that what this is about? Why you've been constantly on my case since that day?" Tussock asked angerly.

"What else do you think this is about? Did you think that the Epicyon wasn't real either? I know that if I was there, she would still be alive," Moth veered. 

"I was ten. You were fourteen. What did you want me to do? Fight them? And why did you want me to keep the Epicyon quiet?" Tussock countered. 

"I didn't want wolves to think you were nuts. And I wasn't about to waste my time on educating a selfish prince. You could've warned her. You could've run and got help," Moth growled.  Tussock didn't respond to that. But it did give the girls new information. Moth and Tussock were the prince and princess of the Tree. It made Ava almost feel sorry for the wolves, in an interesting form of pity that even Ava herself didn't understand. 

Floyen broke the silence with an exasperated question, "Wait. Your mother was killed by Epicyons?"

"Sadly, yes." Moth answered with a bit of bitterness in her voice as she glared at Tussock. 

"What's an Epicyon?" Sumac asked, lighting up the conversation a little with his cheerful yet curious voice.

"An Epicyon is a type of wolf actually. With five claws and 8 feet long. It is said to weigh two hundred and fifty pounds. It is as tall as two feet in shoulder height. It has the normal pelts of wolves but in legends they paint themselves red and blue. Usually on the ears," Tussock explained. 

"That sounds like the scary monsters they told me and my friends about. But in their stories, they're called the Nightstalkers," Sumac thought out loud. 

Floyen nodded, "That's what their pack is called." Sumac looked down at his paws and Bella felt as if she should help the young fox. 

"I bet Daurian will keep them away," She decided to say. Sumac lit up at that and Moth, for the first time she'd known her, smiled. 

"I admire you trying to help Bella, but why would you? I thought that all humans were just the same old stupid, selfish things that they are," Moth wondered.

"We're not all that bad, I thought that wolves were just the same old, scary, evil things that I'm sure some of you are. But not all of you are that way clearly." Bella answered as she bent down and scratched Sumac behind the ears. Moth smiled again and for a moment, Ava saw the princess inside the wolf. She was actually beautiful as far as wolves went. She was fair and her light gray fur wisped around her snout. Tussock on the other hand, she didn't see the prince. He slouched, or what Ava assumed was slouching, and he had messy, knotted fur. He could be handsome, Ava could see, but he didn't look like he cared. His fangs were yellowed and crooked, and his snout was most of the time running from the cold. Floyen on the other hand, looked like he cared about his appearance but not for himself. Even now she could see him swallowing and standing as straight as possible to try and match Moth's perfect stance. She supposed that wolves could have crushes, but it was odd to see it now. The wolves they were with seemed about twenty, and in her opinion, twenty was a little old to have crushes. But maybe not, she wouldn't know, not yet anyway. Moth decided to keep dragging them along and Tussock started to pull too, reluctantly. Floyen quickly grabbed Makayla's and followed Moth happily. Ava decided that it would be a while till they got there and decided to get a little bit of sleep as she probably wouldn't get any tonight. After a while she felt Sumac nudge her side and she opened her eyes. 

She now knew why they called it the Tree. It was a giant oak and grew up wide with thick branches that roped around the clearing. The roots tore up the ground and made divots big enough to house a family of wolves. The roots looped and made big arches. About twenty foxes hopped down from the tree branches when they saw the foreigners coming. She saw that all the foxes lived within the branches and the wolves lived in the roots' tunnels. 

"Medic! One of the three is hurt!" Tussock shouted. A fox that was pure snowflake white ran up to them with concern painted on her face. 

"Thank you, Tussock, I will take it from here. Sable!" The white fox shouted. A little black fox ran up behind her and she smiled, "Have you meant my new apprentice?"

"Sable! You are a medic apprentice now?  Silene I must say you chose a fine young fox," Moth answered. 

"Thank you, princess. That means the world coming from you. Now, what are we looking at?" Silene asked.

"Just some thorns in that one's side. nothing major." Moth answered. 

"Aww, I thought it was something serious," Sable whined.

"You best hope I don't give you all the jobs including the elders! Thought it was something serious, I say, are you wanting people to show up with serious wounds?" Silene barked. Sable crouched down looking defeated. "Now, let's bring you into my tunnel and then we'll get that wound fixed quick. And I'll have a look at all of you. I know about those wounds you were trying to hide Floyen. Just because Moth is standing there doesn't mean you have to hide your wounds. And no nets thanks. If they know what's good for them, they'll follow me," Silene finished. Floyen suddenly got very shy and glanced at Moth who just giggled. Ava was sure he was blushing under the fur. As the wolves tore apart their nets Ava began to stand. She wobbled and realized she had net-leg, and apparently that was a thing. She had heard of sea-leg and had even had it herself, but net-leg was apparently when you are used to getting drug. 

Makayla started to run but Floyen quickly pinned her to the ground without much effort. Makayla squirmed but Ava gave her a look that said, "what would your plan possibly be if you got away?" Makayla started to stop, and Floyen let her up. It felt strange walking with wolves, like they were walking with dogs, but the dogs were at her stomach when they walked. She felt like she could just straddle one and ride it out of this forest. It felt creepy, like they were at the zoo, but they were in the enclosure. It was like that one time when she was in second grade and a black wolf looked at her through the glass, the wolf looked her straight in the eye and it felt like he was trying to communicate with her. Its tongue was sticking out of his mouth like her dog's tongue did when she wanted to play. It looked like it had smiled at her with his massive fangs. The classroom helper had just said it was trying to eat her, but now that she knew wolves could talk, she wasn't so sure. They started to walk toward the tunnels when a rustle in the bushes sounded. Ava turned to the bushes afraid of what she might see. 

Daurian ran onto the ground with a wild look in his eyes. He had clearly been running; his breath was ragged. Ava saw that on his side there was a red wound that had five claw marks. She knew what he was about to say but that didn't make it any easier to hear. 

"What is it Daurian? Speak! Anything!" Moth came to his side. "Epicyons!" He managed to say, "Run. Leave. Quick. Coming!" A pool of fear filled Moth's eyes. A shrill howl rang in the distance.