Paw Prints (Book One in the Trails Series) *BEING EDITED-NEW VERSION WILL BE LONGER*

~Chapter Ten~ Magic and Secrets

Sparrow waited for the impact of a sword going through her heart, but she felt nothing. There were definitely still hands on her shoulders, with the same tight grip, but there was no blade slicing her open.

After two minutes of total silence, Sparrow cautiously opened her eyes.

Marley was still pinning Sparrow to the ground, and she was definitely shoving her sword into Sparrow's chest, but there was no pain. A silver light had spread like a protective bubble over Sparrow's heart, an it was spreading.

"SPARROW!" Tony's voice screamed. "I'm alright!" Sparrow called back.

Dead silence greeted these words.

"What...?" This was Vinny's voice now, sounding just as confused as Sparrow was. "Just come here!" She told them.

She heard footsteps in the grass before Tony's face obscured everything else around her. She grinned at him.

"Oh my God." He muttered, staring at Sparrow and exchanging a perplexed look with Vinny.

Marley let out a frustrated growl, continuing to jab at Sparrow. In spite of what was happening, Sparrow found it in her to laugh. This only made Marley more annoyed, and she stabbed more furiously at Sparrow.

The sound of grass rustling distracted Sparrow. She glanced around to see four gigantic white paws beside her head. "What's going on?" Tiquail asked sharply.

Sparrow grinned at her. "I'm being murdered." She answered, not sure why she was finding this so amusing.

Tiquail lashed her tail angrily, though Sparrow noticed that her whiskers twitched, something that happened whenever she was nervous. "This is not a laughing matter!" She hissed.

But for some reason, Sparrow couldn't stop laughing. She sounded hysterical. As she let out a screech worthy of a chimp, the silver light expanded into bubble.

Sparrow immediately stopped laughing. The silver light continued to grow brighter until it was almost blinding. "CLOSE YOUR EYES!" Tiquail roared, she seemed panicked. Sparrow shut her eyes tight. There was a loud boom and the sound of someone hitting the ground.

After a moment, Sparrow opened one eye and sat up. She gasped as she discovered Marley lying on the ground, blood dripping from a thin cut on her neck.

Sparrow stared at her friend for a moment, horrified. Vinny walked slowly over to Marley, a look of terror on his face.

Sparrow followed. She knelt down beside Marley and felt for a pulse.

There was none.

"You're doing it wrong, Sparrow." Vinny murmured. He gently moved Sparrow's clammy hand away and grabbed Marley's wrist himself.

"HEY GUYS!" Dot and Miki appeared over the side of the hill. They were both smiling, holding swords at their sides. Chase and Theo followed closely behind.

"What's going on?" Miki asked, trotting over and standing beside Sparrow. She let out a gasp of fear. Dot worked her way over as well. She covered her mouth with her hand.

"She's still alive." Vinny whispered. "But barely." Tiquail stalked up to them, her tail lashing angrily. "Put her on my back." She growled, crouching down.

Vinny gently situated his hands underneath Marley. As he lifted her up, several things happened at once.

Marley's eyes flew open and she took in a huge gasp of breath. Tiquail reared up onto her hind legs and growled as loudly as she could. Vinny yelled and dropped Marley. There were two loud whistling sound and a screech of triumph. Tony collapsed and Sparrow felt a searing pain in her neck.

"SPARROW!" Dot's voice echoed oddly in Sparrow's ears. She swayed slightly on her feet and crumbled to the ground.

***

Tiquail dropped to all fours and used her tail to push all of the kids behind her. She watched helplessly as Tony hunched over in pain, a dart sticking out of his stomach. He turned a sickly shade of green and threw up all over the ground.

Sparrow's eyes rolled into her head and she dropped to the ground. Tiquail's tailed quivered in rage as Tony collapsed, his chest heaving.

"What's wrong with Tony?" Dot whispered, fear tinging every word. "You can't get hit in the stomach with one of those darts." Chase explained quietly. "It tears you apart."

Tiquail almost retched herself. The smell of fear on the air was sickening.

"What happened?" Marley's weak voice disturbed Tiquial's thoughts. She pressed her ears to her head. "How are you not dead?" She snapped, spinning around and baring her teeth. Marley flinched, her already pale face growing whiter. She was shaking.

Vinny placed his hand on her shoulder protectively, steadying her.

Tiquail sighed and flipped her ears back up. "Listen Marley, I don't want to scare you, but you should be dead. Once the poison hit you..." She allowed her voice to trail away before continuing. "Whatever the matter, we've only ever known one way to get rid of the poison, and it was to kill. What Sparrow did to you...well it could be dangerous."

"But she's alive." Vinny pointed out loyally. Tiquail growled. "We'll have to see how this works out. That's all I'm saying."

A low moan interrupted the conversation. Tiquail turned back to gaze at Tony, feeling her own despair coming off of herself in waves.

Tony's back was arched. His face was twisted in pain and he had lost all of his color. A dark tattoo was standing out against his white skin, on his neck. He tried to struggle to his feet, but his legs shook violently and he collapsed again, sweat dampening his hurt and running down his face.

"Can't we help him?" Miki wailed. Tiquail hung her head and looked away from Tony, not able to bear the pain of watching him die a slow, gruesome death.

"We have as long as his willpower holds, Miki." She said sadly. "Tony is strong, but this will eat away at him, and he has but one life to spare."

"Well, why do we have to watch him suffer?" Theo asked, staring intently at Tiquail. "Why not make his death fast?"

Tiquail hissed softly. "You don't get it, child." She growled. "We can't kill him ourselves. That would only make his death slower. Only the poison can kill him."

"But that makes no sense." Dot whimpered. Tiquail's tail drooped. "It's the way it was designed. If the poison is injected anywhere except the neck, the victim will die slowly and painfully, no matter what you do."

Vinny opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes fixed on something behind Tiquail. Tiquail spun around and came face to face with Sparrow, silver light glowing around her.

"I can do this." She whispered.