WOLVES DON'T TALK

Chapter 19. FIRE

I jammed the key into my pants pocket and made tracks out of the clearing and away from the fire as fast as I could, heading back up the mountain toward the chemical dump. Also, hopefully, toward the wolf. I had to rescue my friend and didn't have any time to think about the key or Pythia or Carmenta or what I'd learned.

I stumbled along through the woods as long as I could see in the dim night light. The moon had come out strong, but its pale beams filtered poorly through the trees. Finally, I gave up on the journey and stretched out on a pile of soft moss beneath one of the regular huge trees and went to sleep, feeling too exhausted to do anything else.

I slept soundly and dreamed of home and watched myself as I nestled happily beneath the white down comforter on my very own bed. My mother stood over me, smiling and patting my head.

Everything felt warm and very, very safe. That is, until my mother stopped patting and started thumping me roughly on the shoulder instead, delivering one sharp slap after another. A mighty weight came crashing down on top of me next, knocking the air out of my weary body and forcing my eyes wide open.

The Daphne rabbit bounced off my chest and back onto solid ground when she saw she'd succeeded in waking me up.

"I can't breathe," I said, attempting to sit up, glaring angrily at her as I spoke.

The red creature quickly backed off and started flickering her eyelashes at me, apologizing in that silly rabbit way of hers.

"Forget it," I said, finally managing to sit and then stand up.

I reached out and started to stroke the silly beast. I didn't need any useless emotion. I had other business to pursue and needed her to cool off. After a few pats from my sweaty old hand, the rabbit seemed to settle down.

"We've got to find the wolf," I instructed, hoping for some cooperation as I reached for the remains of the old blue backpack Daphne had found for me and rummaged through it until I located a couple granola bars, which I immediately jammed into my mouth. "He needs us," I mumbled between crunches.

But the red rabbit was having none of it. She shook her head wildly and reared up on her hind legs and pointed her funny bunny nose in the direction of the dump with all the rusty old barrels and hopped off, heading straight for it, clearly expecting me to follow her.

Which is what I did, of course. Something was worrying her and I knew better than to argue. Also, I figured we'd find the wolf somewhere along the way if that rotten two-faced rabbit hadn't already delivered him to the dump and left him there.

I was two hops behind Daphne when I finally noticed the fire. The world blazed around me. I'd been slow to see it because I'd been so rudely awakened from a deep sleep. Now, I looked anxiously around at the surrounding woods. The blaze burned bright orange lower down on the mountain. A breeze whipped the sparks from the fire through the air, pushing it toward us and the dump area at a fast pace. The forest was on fire. Everything was burning down.

As usual, the crazy rabbit rushed on ahead of me and I had to run just to keep her in sight, which didn't always work. She disappeared completely at times, but never for long and even stopped twice and waited for me to catch up when I fell too far behind.

The fire seemed to run with us, always lapping at our heels but, luckily, never passing us as we raced up the mountain.

A major lump of fear forced me onward as I felt the heat of the flames on my back. For the first time since getting lost in the forest, I was truly terrified. The wolf and Pythia had sheltered me at the start of my adventure and then later, when they needed me, I'd been too busy to be afraid. But, now, true destruction surrounded us and it would have been foolish not to fear it.