Author's rant: Hey all, sorry for my sporadic poppings, my internet went bonkers on me again. There is something(?) somewhere(??) wrong with the building fiber or whatever, and it might take a while to correct, IF they find what is wrong, and IF a technician actuallly deigns to show his face around. End of rant XD

Mc Donald's free Wifi ftw! Here if your chapter, straight from the neighborhood fastfood joint.

Don't forget to rate the story if you like it, let me know my efforts to share it with you are not in vain. My dark, shriveled soul needs nourishment ^.^

Promenons nous dans les bois, (Let’s stroll into the woods,)

Pendant que le loup n’y est pas, (While the wolf isn’t there,)

Si le loup y était, (If the wolf was here,)

Il nous mangerais ! (He would eat us !)

Excerpt from a French nursery rhyme

Two days later I was feeling particularly miserable as I rubbed some more mosquito repellant on my arms and legs, all the smugness I might have felt when my father handed more poor doomed phones to Storm “to practice while we’re away” completely gone with the wind. Right now I’d do anything short of murder to be the one wrestling with technology.

At least technology wasn’t lost in the middle of nowhere in what had to be the nest of the nastiest mosquitoes on earth, bare none.

I never thought a mosquito could grow that big, or be that persistent. The damn things could have made sparrows of a perfectly acceptable size and weren’t deterred much by either clothes or repellants. If I forgot 1 cm² of skin, I could be sure that would be the next place where I’d get bitten.

Kate was struggling too, albeit to a lesser degree. I guess my scent was really enticing to the little blood-suckers, since I could fancy them calling all their family and friends to the feast.

And Uriel in that? Of course the damn critters wouldn’t dare mar his perfect appearance, flying around him but never actually trying to land on him. He was sauntering through the ancient firs completely unconcerned, as if the mountain was his backyard. I would have to devise a good payback for this.

We had veered away from the commonly treaded paths almost immediately after entering the forest, following my father across almost invisible trails, climbing over a few small but steep slopes.

I truly hoped he knew where he was going, and more importantly, the way back, since both the imp and I had been hopelessly lot after the first hour. Speaking of the imp…

“Sis! My legs are killing me, and I’m hungry! Can we stop for a bit?”

“Ask the guide, not me.”

Uriel shook his head, looking at us with false sympathy.

“Poor little city girls lost in the woods, what would you do without me?”

“Search for the best sales instead of some unknown minerals.”

“Surf the web in Sis’ bedroom!”

“Hopeless, truly hopeless…don’t you girls feel any connection to Mother Nature?”

“Oh, I feel plenty of connections all right, in fact I’d like to be a bit less connected to the holy mosquitoes, if you have a trick for that?”

“Nope, no can do. Having power doesn’t mean you should use it anytime something annoys you.”

I know some pixies who would have some nice decorations for their homes when we’d get back. Gaming disks shaped decorations. There was a yard sale soon, I’d surely find some nice boring stuff to put back in the empty boxes.

Let’s see if he will still be that smug when he’ll try playing with one of his games then.

We continued walking the whole day, only stopping for the night when the sun started setting. We had found a good place to camp, a break in the trees too small to be called a clearing, but enough for our tent with some spare room for a small campfire. I wasn’t too sure about any fire regulations out there, but it shouldn’t cause any troubles as long as we were careful.

While Uriel set up the camp itself, Kate and I both left the campsite to search for some usable fallen wood, although I made sure to keep an eye on the imp at all times. I don’t think Mom would be very happy if we lost her in the forest, and her usual pixie guard had opted to leave us for the day to do forest pixie stuff since Uriel was with us.

Apparently they’d have no problems finding us again thanks to their bond to the family, whatever that meant.

Kate pulled me away from my thoughts, bounding excitedly towards me.

“Sis! I found some mushrooms here, do you think we can eat them? Look, they kinda resemble those Mom brought back last year.”

“We can if you want to puke your guts out tonight. Those are mildly poisonous. Look, the underside’s different.”

“Meh. I wanted to eat mushrooms tonight.”

“There will be more when the rain comes, it’s been too dry for the good ones to pop.”

We headed back to the camp slowly, hopefully with enough dry wood to last us the night. A fire might not be a necessity in the Alps as it is in other mountains, but it still is a comfort with the cooler temperatures of autumn nights.

What I hadn’t anticipating was the neatly butchered rabbit just waiting for the campfire to be lit, courtesy of my father. Now I knew why he hadn’t wanted to pack more than a couple days of food.

We’d just have to hope not to cross path with a gamekeeper, although the probability of seeing one was quite low out of the common trails.

Oh, well, we’d improvise if we met one. That illegal rabbit just smelled too good to be wasted, roasting on the fire.

“Old man, have you found some of what you wanted yet?”

“Not yet, but if my memory serves me right, we should come across a good spot tomorrow afternoon, if nobody took the goodies in the last century or so. Or was it two centuries before…? The old forest was much bigger back then, and much more dangerous.”

“Did you see bears? And wolves? Wolves are coming back through Italy I heard, but there should have been a lot at that time.”

“Not many, but yes, there were bears. Grey wolves were quite common too, they were hunted to extinction not much later after though. True Wolves had already left at the time, hadn’t they?”

The imp scooted towards me and the fire as a low growl reverberated from the bushes. I picked up a rock the size of my fist, positioning myself between her and the place from where the sound originated.

Uriel just shook his head with a disgusted sigh. A tiny flame popped on his extended finger.

“Won’t you drop the dumb beast act and do us the courtesy of coming in the light? I’d hate to have to drag you here by the scruff of your neck.

No one here is planning to hurt you or yours, you have my word on this.”

“They said there were no more Caretakers in this world, and yet here I meet you Ancient One. The word of your demise and our retreat from the hunting grounds really were too hasty.”

The words spoken in our minds were utterly inhuman, carrying the howl of winter winds, the growling of the predator in front of us and the song of wolves under the moon.

No one in his right mind would have mistaken that one for a common grey wolf.

For one, he was bigger, much, much bigger, about the size of a big pony, his shoulder aligned with mine.

Then there was the fur, not grey or white, but a pure silver enhancing the amber of the wolf’s eyes.

Last was the poise of this wolf, surveying the woods like a king his domain. The intelligence shining in the amber eyes shone through his attitude and movements, setting him clearly apart from beasts even without the telepathic speech.

I let my rock fall on the floor at a glance from my father, as the wolf sat on his haunches. He looked coldly at the silver beast.

“Why are you here? Your kind relinquished all claims on the land when they abandoned this world to the not so tender care of the humans.”

“We thought this world dying or dead, until the roads between the dimensions started reopening to those who can find them. I came to assess the situation Ancient One.”

“Join us by the fire, pup, I think a discussion is in order.”

If a wolf could have huffed I think this one would have done so. Still, he wisely chose to obey my father, sprawling on the other side of the fire. It obviously knew, or knew of, my father by the way he acted, rekindling my curiosity about the man sharing our lives.

“I am no pup. I am Asha, son of Methus and Asheara, Clan Chief of the Haksa’Ho’Min.”

“Oh? The old mutt finally got his little Watcher to look at him I see. That would explain your coloring. How are your sires faring pup?”

The amber eyes stared thoughtfully in the fire, the flames reflecting in their depths.

“The Curse hit us when I was barely out of the litter. Mother was the first Watcher to go. Father only waited for me to win the challenge, then he chose to join with the Winter.”

“I will miss them. They were good people.”

Uriel divided the food, giving a big portion to our carnivorous guest. Good bye heavenly rabbit…

“So, what are your plans now that you have seen how things stands?”

“I will try to find some of our foolish little brothers, see if there is still anything of us in them. After that, I don’t know. Today’s surprises need some reflecting. Finding two Caretakers, including you, Ancient One, is a bit too much for hasty decisions.

Are there others of your kind we might have missed?”

Dammit, does everyone but me have a phoenix-meter integrated in their eyes or something? The only ones who still thought I was human were the criminal duo.

“None that I know of pup. Abigail here was a last minute surprise.”

I hugged Kate closer to me, restraining the little hands that had been inching towards the luxurious silver fur.

“We don’t go petting guests without their consent imp”

The wolf cast us an amused glance, having caught the interactions.

“You can scratch my back if you want child. I will not hurt a cub, even a human one.”

I looked at the pouncing imp with an embarrassed smile, nodding to the beast in thanks.

“If I decide to lead part of the Clan back to our ancestral hunting grounds, will you let us Ancient One?”

“Your Clan would owe me, both for abandoning us in our hour of need, and for letting you come back. Will you follow my rules?”

“Haksa’Ho’Min acknowledges the blood debt to you and yours. Furthermore, we will follow the rules you set as long as they stay in accordance to our laws.”

“Contact me before leading more True Wolves in this world. Many places are no longer safe for your kind.”

Asha raised his head with a wolfish (!) grin.

“I will Ancient One. I have your scent; I can find you easily enough now. Tomorrow I will return to the Clan; many will challenge me over this matter. Stupidly might I add since I am currently the only one able to safely open portals.”

“Stupid adversaries are always the best ones.”

“We agree on that point. Give me a hundred stupid enemies any day over a single intelligent one.”

After that the conversation turned to lighter topics, Uriel regaling us of tales of the silver wolf’s parents while Kate somehow settled her back on his flank, laughing at the stories.

Can anyone have an evening more surreal than a dinner under the stars, while listening to the bantering conversation between a primordial bird of rebirth and fire, and a gigantic intelligent telepathic silver wolf fresh out of another dimension?

The regular looking teenager petting the silver wolf flank only enhanced the oddities of the rest of the setting.

As weird as it was, this was my life now, and I was starting to come to terms with it, even enjoying it at times despites my grumblings. It was often scary, sometimes dark, sometimes bright as day, always surprising, and never boring.

It also let me rediscover a world I thought I’d known and didn’t like very much, letting me glimpse the jewel under the grim rock upper layer.