animal jam - the first fox (book one) under editing

;Chapter Seventeen; (UNDER EDITING)

Once Greely had crossed the black gooey river, he again followed the blood trail. It was very long, like someone was being chased.

The wolf had finally reached the area where the blood had stopped. Greely was confused on how it could just disappear! The animal probably put a bandage on the wound to halt it from getting worse. That's when Greely heard a piercing scream.

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The corrupted wolf skimmed his claws across my eye. I screamed and my paw immediately shot up to cover my face. Then when the wolf was about to pounce, a blade ripped through its belly. I gasped and backed up. The corrupted animal fell to the ground and a grey paw reached down and pulled the sword out of its stomach. It was Greely...

"Amelia..." he whispered. We stared at each other for a moment before I zipped up and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm so sorry..." I sobbed. "I'm so sorry..."

Greely continued to hug me. He flattened his ears and squeezed tighter. That's when he spoke. "I searched everywhere for you... where's Mira...?" I pushed away and could feel the salty tears brimming. Greely saw these tears and began to get worried. "Amelia, where's Mira?"

"She's..." I hesitated. "dead." I sniffed and hugged him again. I buried my muzzle in the crook of his neck. Greely didn't push me away.

Then Greely looked at me. "Your eye..." I smiled weakly.

We just stood there until Revelon interrupted. "Okay, sorry to break up this little reunion but it's the middle of the freakin' night and we need to make a camp."

I didn't even bother to introduce Greely. I think they already knew. My crew nodded and gave little waves. Greely smiled softly and sat down. I sat down next to him and grabbed a thick log and a stick. I rubbed the twig onto the log, trying to make a fire when Greely's paws closed onto mine. I blushed as he showed me how to do it properly. By the next minute we had a fire.

As we all sat down around the fire, it was silent. Nobody would talk. Not even Genie, who seemed cheerful all the time. I could tell something bad was going to happen in my future. Something horrible... but I just couldn't work it out. Percy got up and decided to go to sleep. Then after a while, Genie and Revelon yawned, went straight to a comfortable area, and laid down.

It was just Greely and I. It was still silent. Once Revelon started to snore I asked the wolf a question. "How's Juno?"
Greely sucked air through his teeth. "He got a bad chest wound and... he's working for the phantoms."

I sighed. Juno's been working with the phantoms? My heart felt broken. I didn't really want to talk about Juno anymore so I quickly changed the subject. "Hey Greely... Did you know I was a demi-phantom?"

Greely glanced at me. "No." Just one word is all he needed to say. Crickets were softly chirping in the distance. I could hear yells and shouts coming from the battlefield. Wait... yells and shouts?

"Greely? Why do I hear animals shouting?"

"War broke out after you got captured. The rest of the Alphas and the warriors are fighting currently. But right now we need to rest." He caressed my cheek and looked at my hurt eye. He ran a paw over it and then looked at my shoulder where I got stabbed by a phantom, then at my paw where the corrupted wolf bit me.

"You already have battle scars, Amelia," Greely chuckled. I glanced up at him. He glanced up at me. I leaned forward quickly and kissed him. Greely kissed back. As we kissed, the world only surrounded Greeky and I. I felt like we were spinning. The world was spinning. I ran my paw down his neck while Greely's paw was on my cheek. Then the ground began to rumble. I broke apart from Greely. I think he noticed too.

"EARTHQUAKE!" I screamed. I dropped to the ground, so did Greely. Revelon, Percy, and Genie had woken up. The rumbling was shaking Jamaa. Trees began to fall around us. Leaves swirled and landed on the grass. More trees were falling. I covered my neck with my paws and tried NOT to die. I yelped as a cracking sound was made and the ground broke. Greely and I on one side and Revelon, Genie, and Percy on the other. We stood up.

"You guys!" Percy shouted. "Jump!" I nodded to Greely who nodded back and jumped across perfectly.

"Amelia!" Revelon screeched. I took a deep breath, squeezed my eyes shut, and jumped. I yelped as I hit the side and fell. But right in time, I grabbed hold of a root sticking out of the dirt. Greely rushed forward.

"Amelia, take my paw!" he cried. I reached out and took it. Then he put his other paw on top of my paw and pulled up. But I slipped and Greely was getting smaller and smaller as I fell deeper and deeper into the crack. I closed my eyes. This was the end. I'm dead. I'm dead. I felt like crying but I needed to be brave. I put my paw up against my hurt eye. Battle scars... they were useless now. Suddenly time seemed to freeze. Then a flash appeared and my mom stood, floating in front of me.

"Menim sevgi tamam, siz yasayacaq. Özüne inan," her voice rang. I reached out to touch her but she shook her head. "Et bunu."

I nodded and smiled weakly. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Out of the blue, I felt wings unfold from my back, big, red, fiery wings. When I opened my eyes, Fauna Flora was gone. I can feel myself becoming stronger. I looked toward the sky and flapped my wings. I shot straight up and appeared back at the surface. Greely, Percy, Revelon, and Genie stared at me. I flapped my wings once more and landed on to grass. I opened my palms and the crack slowly closed up. I grinned and folded my wings. When I turned back to my friends, their eyes were wide and their mouths were gaping.

I blushed. "Hey guys." I walked over and cleared my throat. "Come on, we need to get going." Genie, Revelon, and Percy nodded and walked ahead.

"We'll catch up!" Greely called up to them. I looked at Greely. "Can we try that kiss again?"

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing. I closed my eyes and smiled. We kissed until Greely pressed my forehead to his.

"We will live, Amelia..." he whispered. "We will live."

I knew it was true. As we caught up to our crew, Greely and I walked side by side. We were both silent, probably thinking about our fates. I knew that I would fight in this war... and I knew that I would have to kill the phantom king. Not anybody else, just me. This needed to happen. We needed to win this war.