Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 71- Spirit: Messy Fur

"He was in the dream!?" I gasp, feeling stupid and mis-led. All this time Shadow had looked familiar, and I was so eager to get out of the human-place I'd forgotten.

"Yes!" Midnight hissed, clearly excited. She steals a glance at Shadow now, who is watching Diamond do one of her signature flips.

"He told me he leads a pack of dogs back there, though," I say to Midnight. There's no reason to say out loud what needs to be put forth: Shadow joining us on the way to Cheetah Pride.

"But he doesn't seem happy leading them. I can tell," Midnight advised. Her purple eyes were challenging because she knew she spoke the truth. Shadow hadn't sounded happy when he'd talked about it. In fact, his tail had drooped just a little.

But how did I ask a thing like that to a dog who was a leader?

"He wouldn't leave his pack to join a pride."

"You have to try," Midnight argued. If course I knew she was right. So far, my dream had led me to all the members that were in Cheetah Pride now. Shadow was the last animal, no kind of cat but instead, a dog, to appear in my dreams. He'd been there in the grass-fields with my Pride.

"I will." I promised her. It would be hard to ask and an awkward approach, but Shadow seemed like a good fit already. He held himself very differently from a wolf. I could tell because now he was urging Diamond to run in circles while he turned quickly on his back legs, trying to stay in front of her. It was goofy and a warm sight to see, the older brown dog whirling in a circle.

"This is the only chance to do it," Midnight urged me. I knew she was right, and sighed stubbornly.

"Shadow," Midnight calls across the grass.

The light is bright in my eyes as I watch the red-brown dog walk up. Diamond doesn't linger because Hannah calls her back to wait for the prey to arrive.

"That one could keep me busy beyond my years," Shadow jokes as he comes up. Midnight pricks her ears, clearly telling me this is a perfect opening.

Taking a breath, I turned to Shadow. How weird must it be to ask a dog to join a cheetah pride with cats?

"If you want, you could come with us to the fields upland. You told me that the city has been getting worse," I say softly, using the dog word for a human-place.

"There would be good hunting and a lot more freedom." I go silent then, not knowing what else to say. Shadow already knows about the wolves, because I told him sullenly about why we were traveling somewhere so far, and through human-places to get there. He'd said that no cats like us had passed through in his lifetime, meaning cheetahs rather than human-cats or strays.

"When you go there, you are hoping it will be free of wolves?" Shadow cocks his head again, the way he did yesterday. I'm taken aback and don't know what to say. After a second he has the silence filled, though.

"Wherever a dog can reach, a wolf can reach, too."

Shadow stares at me thoughtfully and I realize what he's saying. I'd wanted to be free from wolves, so how would a dog be much different? And how true are my expectations of Cheetah Pride about wolves if dogs were welcomed?

His words, for a few moments, haunt me. But then I realize the reason that wolves wouldn't be able to reach Cheetah Pride is because there is many cheetahs there, to protect each other, and even Ash's pack would be no match.

Or at least, I hoped. My mother couldn't have been wrong.

"None of us would treat you as a wolf. Wolves have just harmed us a lot in the past, but I can assure you that we don't see dogs as the same." Midnight had moved forward to stand at Shadow's paws now, her black fur unruffled and smooth.