Book 1. The long dark nights. RE-EDITING

9. Deep feelings. EDITED

When he woke up, Maria was still asleep. He thought about it all. In the past twenty-four hours, everything went crazy. His feelings were out of whack. He felt pain, and something else. He had never really felt that before. Maybe when his mother was still alive. Maybe. But he didn't know for sure. Then he remembered something from last night. It sounded like his mother had talked to him. Maybe thoughts about what she said? It couldn't have been in real life. Or if it was, maybe twere a ghost. No. Ghosts don't exist. How could they? Ghosts were spirits of the living that, when their body died, would roam the earth. Totally impossible... Or is it?

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by movement on side side of him. Maria was waking up. She got up, stretched, and poked Artos. "Get up, lazy butt!" She said in that same hyper voice as before. He jumped up, poked her with his nose and said "Catch me if you can!" She was surprised by this. She shook the sleepiness from her body then ran after him. He was fast. She, being a being that could transform into a human, and back into a wolf, had just a lot of speed, but he was still faster. Well, while we're on the subject, since she can shift into a human and a wolf, she can enjoy the best of both worlds. :)

Now, she started to catch up after a while because of something called endurance. Her's was greater because she is a Chosen. He is too, but it wasn't awakened yet. But just as she made the dive for him, he slipped to the left, and she fell on the ground next to him. Artos kept running, but Maria grabbed Artos's tail. When that happened, he let out a yelp.

"Ha ha! An you fought you cou e cape me? Ha ha!" She said, her mouth full of his tail.

"Oww. Yeah. Let go? Please?" He asked.

"Well, since you asked nicely." She let go of his tail. "I still got you!"

"Your determined to win every time, aren't you?"

"No, not every ti.. Well, yeah." She said, wagging her tail, and raising her head with a smile.

"Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine."

"I know." She said, lowering her head back to normal. "But we'd better be getting back. I think your gonna go through the trials today." She started running back to the warehouse. Artos looked puzzled. What trials? He was innocent.

"What trials?" He asked, sprinting over to her.

"That's for Hinto to say, not me."

"As usual." He said with annoyance in his voice.

"The Chosens look to Hinto as our leader. He is also Alpha of this territory. It's his responsibility to tell you what is gonna happen. I hope you understand."

"Got it." He didn't quite understand it, for this would be the first organized pack he ever met. But he didn't want to push the issue with her.

When they got back to the compound, a guard was at the door, waiting for them. He had the green circle on his neck. He approached them. "Howdy." He said. "I'm Dasker. We never really got properly introduced."

"Um. Hello." Artos said.

"Did you sleep well last night?" He asked. He looked to be a little older than Artos.

"Yes."

"Thats good. Maria. Where were you last night?" He looked like a fox when he asked that question. Sly.
Maria looked at Dasker.

"I went go find Artos." She said.

"Sure, sure." He said with sarcasm in his voice.

Artos growled a small growl. It was a protective growl. He didn't even realize that he did it.

"Hey, man. I was just being sarcastic." Dasker said, stepping forward a step.

"Artos. Dasker is my brother." Maria said.

Artos stepped back one step, and bowed his head.

"Anywho, Hinto needs us all inside." Dasker said, turning to the door. It opened right up. There was a camera above the door that watched for eye contact with it. Only the Chosen could open it, for their eyes were the only ones in the computer. Now, as I was saying, they all walked in. Artos could see Talia over by Hinto.

"Well, I see you two decided to join us." Hinto said.

"Sorry about that. It was really late when I found him. And by the time I talked to him, it was later." Maria said, bowing her head slightly.

"As long as he's here, it doesn't matter. Now we can get this cleared up." Hinto said, sitting down. His face showed no emotion.

"Why?" Artos asked.

"Why what?" Hinto asked, he already answered that last night.

"There are a lot of questions. Why was I chosen. Why was I given something I can't handle? Jus bout my whole family died and I couldn't stop it. Why did all this happen? I'm not the right wolf for the job."

Hinto looked at Artos. "It is a great honor to be chosen. And you were chosen by the Lunar Queen. She must have saw something about you she liked."

Artos looked away. "Thats only the half of it." He mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Hinto asked.

"Nothing. I just think somebody else would have made a better fire king."

"Well, either way, you were chosen." He turned to the older wolf with the fire symbol on his neck. "It's time to start the mental evaluation." With that, the old wolf nodded, then turned to a door and pushed it open. He went in, then the door shut.

"Wait. Mental what?" Artos asked with a little fear in his voice.

Hinto smiled. "Don't worry. This won't hurt a bit." He said, pushing Artos to the door. "As soon as that door opens, you go find your trainer. Got it?"

"Uh, sure." He said, nervously.

'Don't worry. He's only trying to scare you.' That voice in his head said.

'Well, he sure is doing a good job of it.' He thought back.

'By the way, what did you mean by "thats only the half of it"?'

Artos let out a mental sigh.
'I found someone I really like. I mean really really like. I feel dumb saying or thinking that to be honest.'

The voice in his head got more excited. 'Well, who is it?' She asked.

'Aunt Talia, I'd rather not talk about it right now. I'm still a bit nervous.'

'Okay. But we will talk later, got it?'

'Yes ma'am.' He thought then focused his attention to the door. Three minutes later, the door opened. He stepped inside, and looked around. What he saw surprised him. It was a complicated matrix of walls and obstacles, pools of water, large pits, and, on the other side of this big labyrinth, his trainer. It was a maze. He took a deep breath. This is a maze-ing. He put one paw forward, then another. He was determined to get through this maze quickly. He was gonna be... A maze runner.

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Another Edited Chapter