Owls Above The Trees

The trees swayed in the light wind. I cantered through the dark forest, fearing the monsters that haunt it. “Home!” I called, as I saw the light through the foggy darkness ahead of me.
“Caw!” an owl swooped down and flew with me like I was his sister. I held the lantern to see the owl. Then suddenly it hit me; the owl crashed into me and I fell down on the dirty road. A car sped by. The driver yelled down at me as they turned away onto a separate street. I yelled at them; I patted my dress.
“Oh, no!” I begun to cry, “Mother will kill me!” I looked at the owl, and he looked back.
The owl looked down as if to show he was sorry. But I knew he only crashed into me to save me from dying. I patted his head and then my mother ran out and yelled “Alli! Where are you?!” I scanned for the lantern. The light didn’t gleam through the darkness.
“Ouch!” I howled, just low enough so that mother couldn’t hear. Glass shards clawed underneath my skin and the owl perked up. He leaped over to me and plucked his beak into my skin. One by one he pulled out tinsy, tiny shards of the ragged broken glass.
“Alli!” my mother called as my two sisters and two brothers rushed out. “Cam, Alex, Zoe, and Hachi,” my mother said, “do you see her?” she asked the four. Hachi saw my light blue dress.
“Yes, there’s an owl beside her,” Hachi said, “the owl looks like it’s removing something from her hand.”
“Shh,” I said as we moved to cover into the bushes.
The owl flew off and then came back with a leather strung necklace with a red jewel hanging from it. I put it on and suddenly the owl started to speak.
“This is the animal necklace. It harnesses the power to speak with me and other animals. It also holds more power than that. You have the power to be any animal you wish, but you must promise me something...” The owl went on after I nodded “You must not use this power for bad. You may not tell anyone that you have this power, okay?”
“Okay, but how do I-” I got cut off and the owl started speaking again.
“I will teach you everything about this necklace. Nothing will be hidden from you,” the owl promised. “Nothing.”
“Alliana!” Mother came rushing and I hid the necklace and the owl flew off “Are you alright? Nevermind that the house is a mess!” I sigh and the owl peered at me from a tree.
“Alright.” I said as I got up “But the water spilled…” I picked up the bucket.
“Then go get more!” Mother yelled as she walked back “Wash your dress, too!”
I walked back to the well with the bucket on my arm, and the owl swooped down next to me. “She’s a bit strict, isn’t she?” I nodded.
“She is a tiny bit strict,” I said. “I also don’t like my siblings.”
“Would you like to stay with the wolves?” The owl asked “They are really nice.”
“I guess,” I said “I never did catch your name. What is it?”
“Oh! I’m so impolite! I’m so sorry. My name is Tyler,” Tyler chuckled a small bit. “But you must be Alli.”
“Yea, I’m Alli,” I said. “where is the wolf pack?”
“Right here,” Tyler said “Sky should be here soon. She’s the leader.”
“Hello Tyler!” Sky got excited. “And this must be Alli! Welcome to Cloudpack, my dear!” she led me to the pack.
“Hey, I’m Willowpool, the medicine wolf!” a white wolf with blue tail and paw tips emerged from the bramble patch.
“Would it be okay if I stayed near the territory but built my own cabin?” I asked nervously.
“Of course!” Sky and Tyler exclaimed in unison.
“Well you’re going to have to build your own,” Tyler added.
“Is there any lumber or things to build it with?”
“Well, Tyler there is an abandoned twoleg cabin around here,” Sky sat down. “it’s on our territory.”
“Perfect!” I sang “I will make it a great cabin!”
“Amazing!” Sky chuckled a bit “I will have some of the wolves bring you fresh kill and moss. Even the apprentices!”
“I’ll have some of the owls help you build!” Tyler said, as Sky went back to the pack to announce my arrival. We walked to the old cabin which had an old hat on the front and a lantern.
I grabbed the hat and dusted it off “Can I have this?” I asked as Tyler glared at me.
“Sure, I guess,” he said before we started to laugh. I put the hat on and I went into the house. At that instant, bats started to swarm around me.
“Alli!” Tyler flew in and I heard a battle going on,. Lots more owls came to help Tyler and eventually the bats hurried off.
“Ahg!” I called, as the owls scurried around cleaning the cabin up.
A wolf entered the cabin. “Hello Tyler, and you must be Alli?” the dark-furred wolf asked and I nodded. “I’m here to give you this.” The wolf revealed a sleeping bag.
“Thank you so much!” I said, as I set it on the ground.
“If you ever need me, I live in the brambles just outside the cabin. If you like, I could possibly move in with you.”
“Sure!” I smiled at the one-eyed wolf.
“My name is Susi,” the she-wolf laughed. Suddenly the house was finished and the owls all left.
“Call me if you need me!” Tyler called as the sun set. I turned the lantern on and let the small fire burn. I went into the sleeping bag and Susi curled up next to me.
“It's empty in the valley of your heart the sun, it rises slowly as you walk away from all the fears and all the faults you've left behind,” a scratchy voice growled quietly.
Suddenly a dark wolf came next to me and growled at the dark shadow, it was Susi! She’d come to rescue me! “I knew this would happen sooner or later!” She looked up at me; her eye was open! “Get back Alli!”
“What is happening!” I demanded. The shadow lunged at me, Susi leaped at me knocking me over, the shadow suddenly leaped at Susi and I realized it was a wolf. The wolf tore through Susi’s flesh! I saw blood splatter on the grass.
“You will never win, Susi!” the wolf growled.
“Say that to yourself, Bear!” Susi lunged at Bear and bit down on his flank and he turned around, but Susi was already attacking him again.
“I will be back for her!” Bear called as he turned to mist and disappeared.
“Alli, wake up,” Susi was pawing at my side I opened my eyes and saw fear in both of her eyes. She was completely unscathed
“What… happened?” I sat up ready to hear an answer but Susi dropped a thrush in front of me.
“Eat up,” she sat down and started to eat her own piece of prey “you’re meeting the horses today.”
“What?!” I looked at her in shock, I knew what she would say next.
“We have one that you can ride,” she had just finished her prey and I set the prey aside.
“I’ll eat later.”
“Well, come on then!” She leaped out of the cabin and led me to the herd of horses. One horse stood out from the rest. It was a black horse with the shape of a white star on her forehead. Her mane and tail were white and she had white socks.
She looks beautiful. I thought to myself. I hopped on her and held on to her mane. She started to walk and I steadied myself. We leaped into a trot and time felt like it had sped up. I found myself on the hard packed soil. I felt something jingling in my pocket, money! Lots of it! I got excited and Susi lit up.
“You can afford clothes!” Susi beamed down at me, I still lay on the ground.
“And possibly horse tack!” I got up and leaped on the horse I had decided to name ‘Star’ “I’m naming this horse Star.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to go buy clothes. Possibly tack if I can.”
“Only buy a bridle if that’s what you can afford out of the two tack items,” Susi looked up at me and I nodded “Be careful.”
I will be. I hope… Star trotted away towards the village, I hopped off in front of a cloth store. I went inside and bought seven outfits and a pair of boots. I leaped onto Star and cantered to the horse store.
“Hello kid.”
“Hey.”
“Here to buy a saddle and bridle?”
“Reins too.”
“Here ya go kiddo.”
“Thanks.”
“That’ll be-”
“I got it,” I handed the store clerk as much as they needed and left. “Here you go Star.” I put the tack on her and put my clothes in the saddle bag.
I hopped on and cantered to Susi who was eating a mouse outside the cabin. “Heya,” Susi finished the mouse and padded over to me. I took Stars tack off and set it on the cabin railing.
“There’s a wolf walking towards us,” I looked at the light gray wolf carrying a basket.
“Hi,” the wolf mumbled through the basket as she set it down, “i’m Foxpaw. I’m training to be a warrior in my pack!”
“Hello, Foxpaw,” Susi stepped forward smelling the air “Alli, Foxpaw get inside, now!” Foxpaw grabbed the basket and ran inside. I locked the door and we looked out the window.
“I'm scared…”
“Me too, Foxpaw,” I looked down at my hands- no paws now?
“Woah… you’re a- a wolf like me!”
I saw Susi fighting off Bear and I leaped out the door and tackled Bear, “Alli!?”
“Finally the chance to finish my work!” Bear pinned me down and I kicked him off with my hind legs. I turned into a cat and pounced on top of Bear, clawing his back she tore through the flesh leaving Bear bleeding. Blood dripped through his pelt drying.
“You won’t kill me!” I screamed as Bear launched on top of me I bit at his paw and he whimpered, but he bit down on my paw and I yowled and Susi leaped up and tackled Bear. She tore through Bear’s ear and he whimpered away. I limped toward Sky’s camp and went to Willowpool.
“Hurt paw?” Willowpool asked before I nodded “I’ll need some chervil and cobweb,” she walked into her herb store and came out carrying cobweb and went back to the herb store and emerged carrying leaves that smelled of mild basil. They must be chervil leaves. She chewed the leaves into a pulp and applied the pulp onto my paw.
“It feels better already,” I sighed “I also have a cut underneath my stomach,” I flinched as I turned over to reveal a scar nearly from my hind leg to my front leg. She ran into the herb store, grabbed the rest of the cobweb and a few other herbs, she exited the medicine den and called her apprentice, Shinepaw who was eating a rabbit with Foxpaw near the entrance.
“Shinepaw! I need more cobweb!” Willowpool called. Shinepaw was carrying a small kit to the nursery. She trotted back to the medicine den.
“Who is this? She doesn’t smell of this pack,” Shinepaw was sniffing the air.
“Her name’s Alli,” Willowpool sat down next to me.
“Ah, I remember. Is it a cut belly?” She asked.

At that moment I realized she’s blind! I had never seen a blind wolf before. She left the den and I lay there, waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Suddenly I heard a wolf leap through the brambles. I lay with my eyes closed, how I long to be riding.
“I brought Alli some prey,” an apprentice had a mouse clenched in his jaws. I opened my eyes, it was a black wolf with blue eyes.
“Thank you Darkpaw,” Willowpool said gratefully. He dropped the mouse in front of me. I longed for the prey but Willowpool said I couldn’t eat it.
“I got some cobweb!” Shinepaw had come back with cobweb. Willowpool treated my wound as I blacked out.
“Hello, my dear,” Bear snarled, as he leaped onto me tearing into my ear. I dropped to the ground and Susi leaped onto Bear.
“You shouldn’t fight a battle alone!” She was fighting off Bear. I could win this fight in an instant! But this is a battle Alli must fight alone. Her thoughts rang in my head. I woke up in the empty den, my wound had been treated and I was moved to a nest. Susi was crouching next to me.
“I have a question,” I said wearily.
“Don’t ask anything now. You must save your strength.”
“But-”
“Don’t”
“Who is-”
“Shh…”
“Who is Bea-”
“Save your strength.”
“Who is Bear!”
Susi sighed “Bear is, well a sign of sickness. Well sort of. He comes seeking the ones who know more than he does. He tries to kill them, and well he is pretty smart but not really very smart.”
I had passed out. My life had turned into a twenty page test that would keep going on for as long as I lived. I woke up in the den again. I heard Susi talking with Willowpool by the entrance.
“Will she be okay?” Susi had a tint of worry hidden beneath her voice.
“She’ll be fine. Her wound will heal soon enough,” Willowpool had uncertainty in her voice she was clearly trying to hide it though “let’s hope that Shinepaw gets back from searching for herbs. I should have gone with her, she’s blind after all.”
“You made the right decision,” Susi softened her voice “She will be fine. Both of them will.”
I suddenly saw a forest around me. The smell of herbs fluttered in my nose. I must be seeing where Shinepaw is! I saw a flash of orange. Shinepaw skidded back, hearing the sound she was alert. A fox! I have to warn Susi!
I flinched as I slowly got up and gazed around the room. I took a step I heard the two talking outside the brambles. Quietly I gradually walked towards the entrance I stepped outside.
“Alli!” Susi seemed pleased to see me. Willowpool didn’t.
“You shouldn’t be out!” Willowpool tried to shoo me inside.
“There’s more to be worried about than me!” I snarled “Shinepaw is out in the forest and there is a fox out there!”
“Say that again Alli,” Sky was pounding towards us.
“Shinepaw is in trouble!” I said. I just realized it was a couple days later! My cobweb was off and my wound had somewhat healed.
I turned into a human and ran out of the territory. I tacked up Star and cantered to where my vision showed Shinepaw was walking in the forest I picked up Shinepaw and set her in the large saddle bag. She held the herbs and was freaked out.
“Who!? Why!?” Shinepaw muffled through the herbs.
“I’m Alli. I had a vision that you would get killed by a fox.”
“But why did you come he-” Shinepaw stopped as soon as she heard the barking of a fox running behind us. Star sped into a gallop; we galloped to the territory and I dropped Shinepaw off.
“Get inside!” I yelled Susi ran outside and Shinepaw leaped inside. We ran home and I let Star rest on the porch because of the fox.
“Goodnight,” Susi said.
I fell asleep. I heard Bear and a fox fighting. The fox lunged at me and Bear bit down on the fox’s neck killing it almost instantly. “I’m so sorry for the way I acted before. I shouldn’t have attempted to kill you. Forgive me?”
“I don’t really know…”
“Please? I’m very sorry for my behavior before. It was unacceptable,” Bear barked.
“Fine,” I growled unsure of his loyalty. I woke up to Susi prodding my side. I heard the scratchy, yet soft voice Bear bared. My eyes fluttered open and I yawned. I got out of bed and I grabbed the basket of my dirty clothes, still wearing my pajamas I went to the water well to wash my clothes. I saw Hachi and she saw me to.
“Alli! Where have you been!?” She hugged me tight.
“I live with the animals now Hachi. Tell mother I don’t miss her,” I snarled.
“Why don’t you tell her? She’s right here anyways…” I looked back to see mother.
“Alli, you are in huge trouble,” She bit. I grabbed my basket and my clothes and ran into the bushes. I ran home and sigh. My clothes wet I set the basket down.
“What’s wrong?” Bear got up from talking to Susi.
“My mother is there…” I lay on the ground.
“I can take you to another well… Farther from any human civilization… You just have to take Star,”