Midnight's Dream

Midnights Dream: Chapter Five

Dream's nose felt like it was starting to going numb. She lifted her head from the frozen ground. Snowflakes still fell from the sky, more heavily by the minute. The Treasure Pack was searching the area where Mama had last been seen, but so far none of them had caught a scent. Dream licked her nose, hoping to warm it a little bit. A worm of worry was working its way into Dreams mind. If the snow kept falling, Mamas scent was more likely to wash away, and any tracks would disappear under the snow. Dropping her head, almost ready to admit defeat, Dream caught sight of some strange tracks in the mud. With a jolt, she realized it was the same kind of track Papa had found before, before Mama had been taken. Tracks from the animal her parents had called "human."

"Papa!" She yelped. She had found the beginning of a trail! Shadow got to her just before Papa did, and she quickly showed them the prints.

"This doesn't mean these are the same humans who took Mama," Papa pointed out. Dreams tail started to droop until he added "we can only hope they are."

"I smell her!" Shadow said quickly. Breathing deeply, Dream noticed he was right. Mamas sweet scent was lifting faintly off the trail.

"You're right," Papa sounded tentatively happy. "Humans walk on only their hind legs, so there must be two of them," he added. "They would have used their front legs to carry her."

"Come on then, we must hurry!" Dream barked. "The longer we wait the less likely we are to find her." Papa nodded, and the three took off in the direction the prints seemed to be going. There was absolutely no time to lose, not even to search for prey before the journey. Trotting through the woods, Dream noticed the snow was starting to decrease, and she gave a sharp yelp.

"We have to hurry, while the snow has stopped falling," Shadow and Papa nodded silently, and soon all three wolves were racing through the forest, following the tracks of the humans who had taken Mama.

The tracks of the humans stopped suddenly. The humans had been walking in relatively straight parallel lines, then one seemed to have stopped and walked in multiple circles before disappearing, while the other had turned in an arc then done the same thing. Between the two circles made by the humans was a pair of long, solid tracks, about a wolf-length apart. How strange, Dream thought. By the looks the rest of the Treasure Pack was giving these tracks, she could tell they found it as bewildering as she did.

"I feel we should keep following these new tracks," Papa decided after a few moments. "Whatever they are, the humans must have some sort of connection with them." Shadow shrugged.

"We have no other options," he agreed. So the three wolves continued after these new tracks, and as they went, a new wave of fear swept through Dream. Who knew how long this quest would last? Or how far from the forest it would take them? What could have made these tracks? She had so many questions, and the last was the most disturbing of all. Would they find Mama dead or alive?