Riley & Spots ll book 1 - COMPLETED

Find the Light

"This is SO FUN!!!!" I yelled . "I'm gonna catch the ducks first! " Spots yelled to me. "Not if i catch them FIRST!" After a few weeks of adventuring with so called "Spots", we decided to come to the human park again today. We ran after baby ducks all over the park until we finally caught one. We played a few more games. It felt like everything we played, turned into a competition and lucky for him I like a good competition. "You a really great swimmer, though not as good as I am," Spots teased standing up in the lake. "Are you sure about' that?" I asked with a sly smile. I splashed him so hard he fell underwater. He swam back up with a couple weeds on his face and a lily pad on his head. "Really?" Spots said while trying to get the weeds of his fur. "What can I say..I like to win.." I teased. Spots smiled. "I'll say..." he replied. We returned to land. "You should have seen your face!" I laughed. 

                                        "So where do you come from?" Spots asked me. My smile broke. "I was found in a box on a street..."I said quietly. Spots stopped smiling. "I know what that feels like." , "My parents abandoned me...honestly , sometimes...I feel..like I don't belong in the world. Like I mean nothing .." I said trying to choke back tears. "Hey, don't say that..I know sometimes it feels that way ,but i doesn't mean you don't matter. You were born for a reason." Spots told me. I looked up at him. "To be honest I never had a true friend...it felt like no one understood me, but now I finally found someone who does," Spots told me. I smiled. Spots is so sweet. I never knew my first friend would be a dog. I wanted to ask him where he came from, but I decided not to....I don't think it's a good time. 

                          We did one last race and then we were so tired we fell down to the ground. We decided to watch clouds together. As he stared into the blue sky, I turned my eyes to see him. He had a dark gray pelt and white tips on his ears and tail. His eyes gleamed in amusement while he tried to make out the shapes of the clouds. I couldn't help feeling admiration. He's really funny and brave...and just a really good friend.....My first friend. "What you doing?" he asked, suddenly noticing my stare at him. "Um...nothing." I replied hastily, trying to hide the hesitation in my voice. He smirked at my reply. 

                      "I know I'm handsome aren't I?" He shook his head in triumph. My face immediately turned red. "Stop it! I was just lost in thought." I replied rising hastily to my paws. Spots followed my movement. "Mhhmm, sure.", "What I was!" I exclaimed turning my head away so he wouldn't see my face all red. "I know." I didn't have to look to know he was still smirking."Anyway we should probably get going.." Spots sighed. "Yeah," I replied still blushing awkwardly. 

                We kept walking for a couple paces and I saw a shadow loom over mine and Spots's. I turned my head back to see if anyone was following us, but to my surprise, nothing stood there but a field of trees, sidewalks, and grass. I turned my head forward again to see Spots with a worried and confused expression on his face. "Is everything okay?" he asked still padded forward. "Er..yeah. I just thought I saw something." I told him looking at the ground in case I saw the shadow again. A rustle in the a nearby bush caught my ear and Spots and I froze.

                   "Um, I'm going to be right back." he told me. I nodded and watched him go. Just as I turned my head around for the slightest moment, I heard a yelp and I saw that Spots had disappeared. "SPOTS!?" I yelled ,but there was still no answer. Then something knocked me unconscious. "Ughhhhh....where am I ?" I asked. Finding myself to wake up in a cave. Then I remembered that Spots was gone. "SPOTS? Are you here?" I asked. "Ughhhh....Riley is that you. I can't exactly tell, my eyesight is blurry." Spots asked me. "Yeah...why are we in a cave? Also why did you disappear?!" I exclaimed. "Oh sorry, I had to go to meeting in a cave. How should I know?!" Spots replied sarcastically. I sighed. 

           "Stop complaining you two or I'll have to knock you out again!!" said a mysterious voice. "Who in the hula are you?" I asked. "My name is Gia and I need to talk to you." said "Gia". "You won't be talking to anybody if you don't show yourself!"Spots growled. "Fine," Sarah sighed. I saw a dark shadow walk up to us. Once she came close enough I could see how she looked like. She had dark brownish-reddish fur with dark brown markings on her ears and tail and had greenish-blueish eyes. "Why did you bring us here?" I asked. "As I said before, I need to talk to you two about something." She replied. "Why us then?" Spots asked .

      "You're really starting to annoy me." Gia replied to Spots. "Good.." Spots said with a sly smile on his face."I need your help." Gia replied clearly. "What do you mean?" I asked. Gia, without a hint of hesitation in her voice, spoke "I know this is a lot to take in but let me explain." She told us about a gem so powerful it could save our world. "Save our world from what?" I asked. 

           "Save us from crisis. Everyone here has some sort of situation. Some sort of problem. But if we get this gem, we could save everyone and be free of the past." Gia Spots immediately bounded to his paws and flicked over to the she-cat, a mouse length apart from her face."And why exactly should we help you? Some stranger we who lives alone." he asked gingerly. "One, I don't live alone. And two, like I said before, to possibly save the world." she reflected back harshly. For some reason, I seemed to admire her bravery for a moment. 

        "Oh, possibly?! And how exactly would it save the world-" I rose to my paws and stood between them before anything could get worse. "Okay, that's enough!" I growled with my fur standing on the edge. I stared at the both of them and after a couple seconds they finally gave up their quarrel and let their fur rest. Then I turned my head to Gia's. "So, exactly like Spots said-" I said gritting my teeth giving the tom a look. 

       "Why us?" Sarah hesitated for the slightest moment. "You two are the only ones who are able to retrieve it. I-It's hard to explain." I nodded in understanding, although a bit gingerly too. I expected Spots was going to make another angry remark, although out of the corner of my eye I could see he just sat there, listening to our conversation in silence. His eyes gleamed in caution, but sat, breathing quietly. "How will we even find it?" , "You will know it's the right one when you see it-" Gia described that we will need to go through the abandoned hooman forest trails. "There is no direct way. I only know that you first have to go through the forest trails and then only destiny will guide you there."