The Phoenix Stone: Chapter 8

Isabel, obviously, had no clues of her aunt’s plans. Some historians argue that she didn’t even know she had an aunt. Isabel was one with the wolves. A true hunter. So it’s no surprise that when a stranger entered the country, she and the wolves were the first ones on the hunt. The man was wearing a cloak that was dark black. The wolves chased him for a few hours, until Echo figured out who the man was. Echo stopped the pack in its chase. When the pack was completely stopped and panting, the wind carried a voice that said, “Taking in another of my kind, eh?” The voice was deep, not soft, but not rough either. It was low and hollow and left Isabel in shivers. Storm glared ahead, as Maverick scurried along the brush. He poked his head out and whispered, “Who was it?” But the wolves turned around and walked away. When the party reached the cave, all the wolves howled in unison. Instantly, critters from all over the woods came rushing into the wolf cave. Isabel saw beavers, squirrels, birds, and the finches. Then, Isabel saw the two biggest black tabbies she had ever seen. They were about the same size as the wolves. The tabbies sat down in the back of the cave and sat down. An orange tabby came in as well and sat down with the other two. All the animals were yelling and chattering on and on until Apollo yelled, “Silence!” The cave went quiet. So quiet that you could hear a pin drop. “The meeting will come to order.” Duke snarled. Echo stood up. “Jaxar is in the area and he’s most likely after Isabel. We are going to have to attack. We are here today to discuss how.” The finches chirped amosted themselves. The beavers mostly argued because each beaver thought that his idea was best, so they didn’t listen to each other. The squirrels all talked and decided to ambush the Rejigs and catch them off guard. The cats and wolves just sat and watched. All of a sudden, Isabel blurted, “Who is Jaxar?” All eyes turned to Isabel, and Midnight backed up, hiding herself from view. “Nothing important that you need to know,” Duke snarled. “All you need to focus on is staying alive.” “Duke! She has a right to know what is going on!” a black tabby stood up. “And if you won’t tell it, I will!” The rest of the animals moved back and let her in the middle of the group. “Hello, Isabel. I’m Cassi. My sister is Lucy and my brother is Greg. Jaxar was a Rejig who was raised by this here wolf pack. When he reached his twelfth year, Jaxar turned against the wolves. He killed off more than half the pack. It took years for the pack to get to the size it is now.” The other black tabby came forward. “Jaxar isn’t a danger because he’s a Rejig. He’s a danger because he’s also a Profuse, a type of Rejig that can turn into more than one animal.” The cave was silent for a little while, until the beavers started arguing again. This drove the squirrels nuts and they started squabbling. The wolves were getting annoyed, and the cats had half a mind to just walk away. Storm was baring her teeth at the squirrels who were running all over the cave. This continued until footsteps were heard outside the cave. Men and women entered the cave. They all had light blue eyes that faded into gray. Almost all of them held swords of bows and arrows. “Hold still and this will all be rather painless.”