Untitled Chapter One

I awoke in a sun kissed meadow, lying peacefully on my back.  But after a nanosecond, my mind began to reel in turmoil. Who was I? Where was I? And how the heck did I get here? I struggled to recall anything, and only three things came to mind. One, a silver dragon was after me. Two, my name was Miriam. And three, I got the sense that I was otherwise friendly with dragons. But why so much about dragons come to mind? I wasn’t sure I even knew what a dragon looked like.

                I sat up to feel long blond hair flowing over my shoulders. I finally began to observe my surrounding. The field was quite large from what I could tell, with nothing but wild flowers coating its ground. The trees surrounding the area were behemoths, looming somewhat ominously over all they towered above.

                I now ventured to stand, realizing as I did so that I was in a flowing dress of sky-graced blue. It was just short enough that I wouldn’t trip over it, but otherwise, very flowing. Lost in the beauty of the dress I was sure I’d never seen before, I failed to notice until the huge shadow was almost upon me. Glancing up, all I managed was a glimpse of silver-then I instinctively bolted for the trees on the closest side of the glen.

                Running for what I presume was my life, I didn’t even see her until I almost collided with her. She loomed about me spreading her wings in welcome. “Come with, me,” purred the dragon, “before Silverscales returns.” She was such a deep violet that she was almost black. Peering into the darkness that surrounded her, I realized she was much bigger than I’d originally perceived. But she wasn’t silver, and apparently she was helping me to get away from the silver dragon, so I accepted her offer.

                She flew me to her cave, or I guess lair is a more appropriate term. It was situated high up on the mountainside, with a large outcropping for her to land on. Staring into the scales on her back, the only word I could think of to describe a purple so dark, but a black that had a purple tinge, was the plant nightshade. Strange as it was, I remembered what nightshade was, but I didn’t know who I was!

                Leading me into her cave, I was surprised that I stumbled a little. The flight had been longer than I thought it had. But the dragon seemed friendly enough, and had asked few questions. She led me to a small antechamber which was filled with quilts. “You may sleep here,” she rumbled, “I will return you to your kind in the morning.” I curtsied in appreciation, and the dragon almost smiled. But for some reason, I shivered a little. Maybe it was just her teeth, but the dragon who had been so friendly before now hinted at how deadly she could be, all in that one almost smile.

                But in the next instant I wasn’t sure if I had imagined it or not, because she became friendly once more. She gave me a slight bow, and said, “I am Narissa. You are welcome to explore my cave, but I doubt you will find much to your interest. But I am curious- what has a human girl done to incite the wrath of Silverscales?” Human? The word didn’t sound right, but as I looked at myself, human I was. I shook my head, “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about, but I know that the silver dragon scares me.” She cocked her head, and I felt a slight shiver run down my spine once more. She wasn’t contemplating what I had just said, but rather looked like she what trying to determine what I’d taste like.

                “What is your name, small one?” she asked, her tone gentle again. I was confused by her attitude, but wary. I thought, what is my name? It came to me in an instant- Miriam. But something inside me warned that names were powerful things. Then it came to me- Gwen. For some reason that name seemed to fit me too, but I had no qualms about sharing this one. “My name is Gwen.”

                She seemed a touch surprised, but then her eyes narrowed. “Well, Gwen, I am going to retire for the night. You are welcome to leave, but with Silverscales out there looking for you…” she menacingly left the sentence unfinished. She then turned from me, her dark wings sweeping over my head as she folded them next to her body. She then slid into the next cave, with a silence unnatural considering her size.

                I sat there in the darkness, truly shivering, but not from cold. I didn’t trust Narissa as much as I initially had. She had a sinister air about her, and it permeated the cave blackness around me. Although I had a feeling that evil awaited outside the cave, I knew nothing of it and could possibly be wrong or hide from it. But in here, there was darkness. There was no doubt in my mind that if I stayed here, something bad would happen. It felt inevitable.  I waited silently until Narissa’s snores shook the cave. Then, tiptoeing softly across the floor as best I could without tripping, I made my way to the entrance. Reaching the threshold, I hesitated, as the snoring had stopped. But it soon resumed, and as it did I continued my escape down the slope of the mountain.

                I was so frightened and concerned about the terror behind me that I failed to realize the danger in front of me. I stumbled into the campsite before I could comprehend what it was. There were six men around the fire, but it only took two to restrain me. Struggling all the while, I took in the surroundings I had previously failed to see. Five of the men, including the two holding my arms behind my back, where dressed simply, farmers, perhaps. But the sixth man rose ominously from his place beside the fire. He was wearing a white robe with a sickly green hem.

                He strode confidently towards me, with an air of superiority. “Who are you?!” I demanded. The man laughed, and it threw more terror into my heart than Narissa had. It was a cold cruel laugh with a sadistic pleasure to it. “Oh, you don’t remember me?” he playfully asked, his yellow-green eyes turning me inside out. I glared at him, still struggling to free myself, although I had already admitted to myself escape was impossible at this point in time. But I didn’t want to show weakness or be docile in this man’s presence.

                He leered over me, searching my eyes for recognition. I wanted desperately to frighten this man, to make him run and cower in terror, but I honestly had no clue who he was. But he was evil. I could almost smell it. I could smell the fear of the men around me though, and that made me balk for a moment. Smell fear? Humans shouldn’t be able to do that. The word still felt strange to me, but I was obviously human. And I could smell the fear radiating off these men, in waves that weren’t all directed towards the evil one in the white robe. A large portion of that fear was in connection to me. Why would these men be afraid of me, a girl who was obviously weak and lost?

                As I contemplated this, the man in the robe smiled and nodded to one of the men holding me. “You really don’t know who I am?” he asked in gleeful delight. A silent glare was my response. Then I felt a sharp pressure on my wrist. One of the men restraining me was pushing down hard with his thumb, and I didn’t understand until spots began to swim in front of me.  Sinking down to my knees, the evil one loomed over me. “That’s good,” he muttered to himself, “that’s good.” As blackness closed over me, I saw him smile. And even in the state I was in, I shrank away from that smile with all my might. For it was the smile of a predator. A confident predator- moving in for the kill.

                Imagine my surprise when I woke up. Not only did I wake up, but I had all my limbs. I considered that a high point at the time. I was tied to a post that had obviously been cut from the surrounding trees. Arms tied behind me, I felt vulnerable as I surveyed the scene before me. The men were hunkering down for the night, and one got ready to presumably stand watch. I thought of Narissa, and how I perhaps had made the wrong choice in leaving. But just as I thought of her, looking towards the mountainside from which I had fled, a terrible gut-wrenching shriek filled the air. All the men bolted awake, and the man stand watch whispered, “Cougar?” the wail of despair filled the air once more. The man in the white cloak smiled and shook his head. “No. Dragon.”

                We were rushed up the hillside. I stumbled a lot with my hands tied behind my back, but surprisingly the men didn’t complain. They would prod me along if I started going to slow, but never really got angry. I thought back to my first impression, that they were afraid of me. But why? If I could find that reason I could exploit it. But before I had time to think it through, we arrived at a cave. No, not a cave. The cave. We had come to Narissa’s lair. The evil man strode confidently into the cave, questioning, “Narissa?” My blood turned cold. He knew her. I was roughly pushed into the cave.

Of Claw and Tooth, Bone and Blood Chapter 1: The She-Wolf

             In the light of the full moon, an adolescent she-wolf was running. Running for her life. She could hear the bays of the pack behind her, and even though they were not the sounds of pursuit, she did not slacken her pace.      

 Some five hours later she slowed her stride to a cautious trot.  Scanning the forest around her, she finally found a hollow tree to curl up in for what she knew would be a long, cold, and lonely night. As she settled in, her breathing still heavy and labored, she closed her eyes and thought back on the events of the day.

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Rose had always been the scapegoat of the pack. The one blamed for everything, guilty or not. If the pack got lost, it was because Rose had been doing something or other to slow them down. If the pack did not make a kill, their irritation and wrath was released on Rose. No matter how hard she tried to please, the teeth of the other wolves were always at her throat.

        This had been going on since Rose was born. Her father, Prince, was Alpha male, or leader of the pack. But Prince had a weakness. He believed in things being proper, and that a wolf that did not act as such was to be harassed, outcast, and humiliated. One of the key things he looked at in a wolf was not their ability to hunt, or even their skill at tracking. It was the color of their fur, something which no animal has control over. If it did not consist of solid coloring with the occasional light tummy, they were not considered a wolf in Prince’s mind.

        Rose was born blind and deaf, as every proper wolf should be. She was a bit smaller than her brothers and sister, but not quite a runt. Nothing unusual there. Then you got to her fur. She was a silky midnight black, from the tip of her shiny nose to her small puppy tail. Except for the white streaks on her ears and her left forepaw. To other creatures, Rose was a beautiful and unique specimen of her species. But to Prince, those white tufts and streaks were as ugly and obvious as chalk marks on a dirty chalkboard.

        When pups are born, it is the way of nature for the mother to give them a name and hence, an identity in the forest. Normally these names reflect things that a wolf loves, like food, items in the forest, and activities of wolves, like howling and such. No one was quite sure why Prince’s mate named that little female pup what she did, but Rose was a most unusual name. It was something special.

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        Waking with a start, Rose whimpered from her hollow in the great tree. It had begun to rain, and soon lightning and thunder accompanied it. Even though she did not miss the snarls and bared teeth of her pack-mates, she did miss their warmth and comfort at night. Lowering her head back onto her paws, she drifted off to sleep amidst the pitter-patter and boom of the night.

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        When Rose was about half-grown, her mother got very sick. Soon all of the pups got sick as well. They were always thirsty and tired. Strangely, Rose started to get better, but the other pups and their mother did not. Finally, after having strange seizures, they all died, one by one. With each death and the fact that Rose was recovering, the hatred for her grew inside Prince, feeding the fires of his eyes.  He snarled at her when she tried to eat, snapped at her when she tried to sleep next to him.

        One day, about a year later, the tension just snapped Prince in half. Rose had found a wounded elk, trailed it, and brought it down on her own. Trying to please, she had even called the rest of the pack to the kill, as she was the bottom of the pecking order and usually ate last. For some reason her success fed the flame in Prince. When he and the pack arrived at the kill, he couldn’t believe it, and lunged at Rose. Within minutes the rest of his pack-mates had joined in, trying to tear at her. Rose had broken free and run. She didn’t know where to, but somewhere she would have a chance of survival, which was certainly not with this pack.

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        BOOM!!! Rose jerked to attention once more, and then sighed, wondering what to do. It was hard to think when her stomach was growling so loud as if to match the thunder. Guess the first thing I’ll have to do is get some food once the rain stops. She thought glumly to herself.  She had not received one measly bite of her hard-won elk. Rose knew that she was going to have a hard time feeding herself, as she was still just a young wolf with very little experience. Plus, she was slender and thin to begin with, so she might not last as long on her own as a normal sized lone wolf. The thought made her heart drop down to her paws.

        Soon the rain stopped and the sky slowly cleared, revealing hundreds of stars in the nighttime panorama. Rose waited until the leaves stopped dripping, then pulled herself to her feet. Even though she was not wet, she shook herself off, perhaps trying to shake off her old memories. Without even glancing south, where her old pack lay, she trotted northward.

She needed to find a more permanent shelter, and of course, food. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she had not eaten for a couple days. Food, she decided.  Food had to come first. Meat had been scarce this season.

Shelter was also going to be a problem. Rose would have to take care not to wake a slumbering bear or angry badger, as it was the beginning of hibernation for some. She could walk into what appeared to be a deserted cave, when all along a bear was sleeping in a chamber off to the side, its scent undetectable. And, as most creatures do not appreciate being woken up, she would certainly be torn to shreds.

        Suddenly she froze mid-step.  She had heard something, a creature hidden in the thick forest foliage.  Normally, Rose would have simply sniffed the air and known in an instant what it was.  But the rain had not washed all the blood off her nose, the gashes tokens of her loving pack-mates.  The scent of blood dominated her otherwise keen sense of smell.  Plus, her sniffing had broken the scabs, allowing them to bleed anew. Rose held as still as she could, becoming no more than a breathing statue.  She fervently hoped that the creature was either harmless, which she doubted, or would pass her by.

        She heard it moving again.  It was limping by the sound of it, and it was definitely bigger than her.  An injured animal is always more dangerous than any other.

        Rose crouched low, bracing herself for whatever was going to emerge.  The animal was running now, and in her direction.  All of the sudden, a small flurry of fur was right in her face.  She jerked back, then almost simultaneously leapt forward, pouncing on the creature and killing it with a strike of her broad paws.  It was a squirrel!  Meat was rare this far north, but even so, Rose didn’t spare any second thoughts.  As she bent her massive head to consume her prize in a single bite, she heard it; A rustle in the bushes.  This squirrel was not what she had heard.

        Although she was scared to death, Rose knew she could not let this, this thing have her kill.  She needed this food so desperately, that she did something she had never done. She defended her kill.  She stood over the squirrel, crouched low, and bared her teeth.  This was a dangerous position, for as some might see it as a defense stance and move on, others could interpret it as a challenge.

        She heard a limping gallop, flicking her ears forward to catch the sound.  Suddenly, it was there.  It sailed out of the bush, landing right in front of her.

Thief Stealer Summary

Bobbie Giovatti is the 14-year-old daughter of one of the richest crime lords in Verona. Besides avoiding her endless line of suitors, she has little to worry about. That all ends the day her best friend’s father goes missing, the most prominent crime lord in all of Italy. Soon after, other crime lords across the country are disappearing. When the ransom note appears from the kidnapper, known only as the Diamente Nero, the families are shocked to find that money is not the objective. The kidnapper wants the crime lords’ trade secrets, plans from the past and plans for the future. When Bobbie finds a list of the missing crime lords, her father is next on the list. She and her friend Grayson must rush to save his father, yet protect her own at the same time. With danger around every basilica, Bobbie must outwit the ultimate thief, one who steals thieves.

Question

So what if I posted like four stories here. Too confusing? I would like feedback on all of them, as I'm stuck on most of them. Yeah or Nay?

Imagination Chapter Two: Flamingos, Motorcycles, and Cul-de-sacs

Although it all happened so fast, I would later recall it in slow motion, analyzing every detail with a precision I didn’t know my subconscious possessed.  With mine, Laura, Marci and Lacy’s strangled war cries, we sent our phantoms after the tiger, at the same time rushing out Rachelle’s front door.  Lacy’s flamingo attacked from above, while Marci’s fox and my wolf lunged from behind, Laura’s dog assaulting the front. The tiger froze for less than a nanosecond before jumping higher than a creature of such size should be able to jump. It sailed over the fox and wolf, taking a swipe at the fox before taking off down the suburban street. Lacy and I exchanged glances, then took off after it.  As we started down the driveway, thunder rumbled in the sky, and clouds churned above us. We had to hurry before a storm forced us back into the house.

About a block away and gaining, we heard pounding footsteps behind us. Lacy glanced back, then returned her gaze to the tiger that was picking up speed. Reassured that whatever was behind us was not a threat, I chanced a look over my shoulder. Grinning, I turned back to the challenge ahead, comforted that we had backup.  Laura, Marci, and Sara chased after us, their phantoms running by their sides. Sara called out to me, but I couldn’t understand her with the wind in my ears. I looked questioningly at Lacy, and she pointed to the hawk above us, “Sara’s sending her phantom ahead to scout out, and the others are coming in the car.” Nodding, I sped up. The tiger veered ahead of us, cutting to the left through a backyard.  The others had caught up to us, and the five of us put on speed, knowing it would be hard for the car to follow the tiger.

Crossing through the backyard, we ran into a secluded cul-de-sac. We all skidded to a stop, confused. “Which way did it go?” Laura yelled above the thunder that was getting louder. Unsure, we all shrugged and scanned in every direction.  For some reason, Lacy ‘reabsorbed’ her phantom. I may never know why she did it, but I do know it’s what gave us a fighting chance. She screamed and pointed at the tiger, who’d been silently stalking us. “It growled and I didn’t know what to do,” said Lacy, apologizing for the scream. We all stared in shock as we realized that if Lacy hadn’t heard the big cat, it would have possibly killed us. 

But that was the least of our worries as Marci and Laura quickly discovered that every yard in the cul-de-sac had a fence, all of them too high to escape over, especially me with my arm. The road and the one unfenced yard we had cut through were blocked by an angry feline. It had lured and trapped us. As it slunk towards us, it had a confident air, that of an opponent that knows it has already won.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a hawk dove at the tiger’s face, screeching its challenge.  The tiger batted it aside, and next to me Sara collapsed. Laura and I quickly checked her over for injuries, but she seemed okay aside from being knocked unconscious. Heaving her upright between them, Marci and Laura looked at me desperately.  I whipped around, looking for an escape. We couldn’t fight with our phantoms, it was too dangerous. Lacy went over to help Laura and Marci while I yelled at the tiger, trying futilely to keep it at bay.

When it was less than a hundred yards from us, we helplessly hugged each other.  But then Lacy stood in front of Sara, and defiantly growled at the tiger. Laura and I did the same, while Marci watched Sara. Unfortunately, it did nothing to deter the predator blocking our escape. Terrified, I squeezed my eyes shut as I waiting for the tiger to pounce. But it never did. Instead a roaring engine filled my ears.

Snapping my eyes open, I saw a cherry red motorcycle barreling towards us. As it approached, the tiger barely sprang out of the way, and the motorcycle continued on its path. Straight at us! Not sure which death I preferred, I watched to see how the tiger reacted. The motorcycle screeched to a halt a mere three or four feet from us, the back tire squealing around so the machine was broadside to us. The tiger had recovered and was angry, I mean really angry, that its fun had been disturbed.  The cyclist shouted something to us, but the helmet muffled the voice. Shocked, we simply stood there. The tiger roared, and the cyclist’s head whipped around at the noise.  Lacy looked at me questioningly, and I understood her confusion. Why could this person hear the tiger? Further thoughts fled my mind as I watched what happened next.

The cyclist dismounted their bike, on the tiger’s side, and stood tall. All of the sudden a huge bear appeared out of nowhere, roaring in the tiger’s face. Startled, the tiger backpedaled.  Taking this advantage, the bear lunged and swiped the tiger’s muzzle. Hearing a cat scream is a truly terrible sound, but it didn’t even phase the bear as it continued its attack. After a few more swipes, the tiger turned and took off on a dead run, quickly disappearing.

Now that the tiger was gone, we all turned our attention to our mysterious rescuer. Pulling off the sleek, black helmet, she shook her cropped auburn hair out of her impish eyes.  Grinning at us, she ran her fingers through her hair. “What trouble are you getting into without me this time?” Paige asked.

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The others had arrived moments after Paige’s rescue, but explanations had to wait, as it was beginning to rain heavily. We carefully put Sara in the back of Mikayla’s car, and everyone squished into the other seats. I opted to ride with Paige, even though it was raining, other than attempt to fit in the car. Though fully soaked when we arrived, I had appreciated the fresh air to clear my thoughts.  Rachelle and Lacy put Sara on the couch, and Rachelle found towels for Paige and me to sit on.

After Bri and Laura told the two stories, we turned to Paige. She looked almost guilty. “Okay,” I said as sternly as possible, which wasn’t very much considering she’s my friend and had just saved our lives, “Explain. You knew what that tiger was and how to use your phantom. What do you know that we don’t?” Paige cleared her throat, then said, “Not much. Most I just found out on my own. By accident. I don’t know any more than you guys do.”

I growled. A bit unnecessary, but I was mad. At myself, at the tiger, and at Paige. “Paige, this is serious. Even if you think we know it already, tell us everything. That tiger wasn’t just playing with us, it wanted to kill us.” Exasperated, I thrust my bandaged arm in her face. “This is from the tiger you just scared off. And it never made contact with my skin. That tiger is the reason Sara is lying unconscious.” Paige drained of color. I had scared her, probably more than she deserved, considering she hadn’t really done anything wrong. But I must say, it got results. We had to slow her down a few times to understand her.

“Well, it was last week when I was at the theater, bored out of my skull,” she began, “so when my mind wandered, as it often does…” she paused for laughter, but realized we were too exhausted to get it, and continued, “and I thought about our phantoms. This may sound silly, but I named mine Nuka. Well, after I thought up that name I couldn’t get it out of my mind. For days, I often lost concentration, my thoughts turning to my phantom bear, trying to figure out why it was a shadow-like black instead of like a patronus kinda thing.

And why it was a bear. Yeah I liked bears, but it was like I couldn’t have switched my phantom if I wanted to. It became a part of me, an obsession, a distraction. I wanted to tell you guys, to have someone to talk to, but I was scared. I mean, what if I was going insane? Like really insane, not just our usual craziness.

Anyway, so yesterday I was on my way home from work when I had a crazy thought. Why couldn’t it be real? I’d always dreamed that Harry Potter or Avatar was real, why not this? And that’s when I just accepted it.”

She looked at us, ready to be rebutted or laughed at, but we all breathed a sigh of relief. Including Sara. Startled, we all just watched as Mikayla rushed over to her. “Oh my goodness, Sara, are you alright?” Sara shook her head to clear it, looked around and said, “What?” The look of confusion on her face was so priceless that, despite the situation, we all burst out laughing. After recounting everything she’d missed, she sighed dramatically. “My valiant attempt dies in vain.” We laughed again, glad she was okay.  Paige looked at me shyly. “We cool?” I smiled at her and grabbed her in a one armed hug, the best I could manage, and laughed. “We’re cool.”

Imagination Chapter One: Phantom Flight

Imagination is more important than knowledge. I mentally cursed Einstein. He had no idea. Our imaginations were what had gotten us into this mess, and knowledge was what we were desperately in need of. I shook my head as I thought back on the past few days, and how life had taken on a surreal hue.

                It all started when we decided to revert to childhood three months prior to graduation. We were excited to be done with high school, but the unknown loomed ahead. We were bored at lunch one day, and the phantoms had been born. Figments of our imagination, our phantoms were animal shadows of us. We could play with them during a boring class, or watch them chase our cars during long trips. They were simply another way for us to entertain ourselves. That all changed the day it became real.

                Driving home from school, stuck in traffic, I was bored, so my phantom wolf came out to entertain me, weaving between stopped cars and chasing joggers. Then I saw the tiger. I didn’t think much of it at first, as my imagination often ran wild when unchecked. Till the tiger lunged at my wolf. As with my dreams, I decided to sit back and watch the fantasy battle I was sure would ensue.  Shock took over my features as the tiger’s claws came in contact with the front leg of my wolf and I gasped in pain. My wolf vanished as I turned my attention to my right arm, where three gashes appeared amid waves of pain.

                Grabbing a towel from the back of the car, I tried to wrap my arm as I stepped on the gas, as the traffic had chosen that moment to start moving. Luckily only a few blocks from home, I arrived with my mind racing. What was I going to tell my mom? I had to come up with an explanation, and fast.  It was hard to think with my arm throbbing and a headache had started. Stepping out of the car, I nearly tripped on a rake left out in the garage. An alibi forming in my head, I stumbled in to the house.

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                I arrived at school the next day with a bandaged arm, but thankfully no stitches. Mom had flipped, but the doctor had finally convinced her I’d be fine and not even have scars. Marci and Mikayla looked a little concerned, and Laura just shook her head. After telling them I’d explain at lunch, I quickly left before they could question me further.  In each class, I repeated the story that I’d tripped on a rake. Most, knowing of my natural lack of grace, accepted it without inquiring any farther.

                Lunch arrived fairly quickly, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell my friends. Should I tell them my fabricated story, or the real one? And what had happened? I sighed, spotting the group. Once most of my ‘phantom’ friends were there, I decided on the truth as far as I could tell it. Laura, the direct one, got right to the point. “What did you do this time?” After giving her one of my signature glares, I responded. “I’m telling everyone I tripped on a rake.”

                She laughed and shook her head. “Only you, Jen.” Going back to her lunch, she seemed satisfied. But Brianna wasn’t. “That’s what you’re telling everyone? So what’s the real story?” Rachelle seconded the query, as did Mikayla and Lacy. “Um…” I started, “remember when we were bored that one day and made up our phantom animals?” To my surprise, they all laughed.

“Remember?” laughed Kensey, “mine kept me entertained on a number of occasions!” I listened, a little stunned, as the others all admitted they hadn’t forgotten their phantoms either.  “But beside the point,” Lacy intervened, “back to your story. How did you hurt your arm?”

I took another deep breath, realizing how crazy I was going to sound to my friends that were already partially insane. “I was playing with my phantom yesterday when a tiger attacked it. As soon as it hit my phantom, the cuts showed up on my arm.” I looked around to see looks of concern for this information and concern for my mental welfare. “Well…” said Laura, breaking the silence, “that’s a little creepy weird.”

Margaret, glancing up from her novel, looked at me curiously. “What kind of tiger?” she asked, “real or imaginary?” I looked at her, now desperate for someone to believe me. “Well I thought it was my imagination until it attacked my wolf. It looked like a real tiger, but something was off about it.” Now the others’ eyes got wide, sensing I truly believed everything I was telling them. Just then, the bell rang, ending lunch. The thought crossed my mind that saved by the bell was a perfect example of the relief reflected in my friends faces. “Well, hope your arm gets better,” were the only parting words I received from any of them.

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Later that night, I got a shaky phone call. Checking the caller ID, I was surprised to see Laura’s name. She usually texted unless it was really important. “Jen?” she asked in a strained voice, “I believe you.” I gripped my cell tighter.

 “Wha-at are you talking about?” I asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

“I was thinking about our talk at lunch today while I was walking home from voice lessons. I got bored, so I decided to have my phantom dog keep me company.” She drew a deep breath. “Then the dog showed up in front of my house. It was like a Grim out of Harry Potter or something, but I could tell it wasn’t a normal dog. It looked like it was barking, but no sound was coming out of its mouth. It attacked my phantom, like you. But I freaked and decided to, I don’t know, stop imagining my dog, like take it back inside me.

“After I did that, I could hear the other dog. I guess since my phantom was gone, it decided I was the next best target.” She paused, wary of my judgment, “I could tell it was real, Jen. I made it to the front door. But before I could get inside, it caught me.”

I tried not to, but a small gasp escaped my lips. “Are you okay?”

She sounded relieved that I believed her. “Yeah, it only got my pant leg. But that’s the scary part. It tore off part of my pants. It felt real. But what dog would sense and then attack something out of my imagination? Are we all going insane?”

I attempted to keep my tone light. “Well we already knew we were all crazy. We tell ourselves that every day.”

She didn’t think that was the proper answer to her question. “I’m serious. What are we going to do? We can’t tell our parents, they’ll think we’re nuts. Which I haven’t ruled out as a possibility.”

I racked my brain for an answer, but nothing came of it. “I guess we wait and talk to the others tomorrow. Bri and Rachelle are intelligent, maybe they’ll know what to do.”

“Okay,” she whispered, “well then, ’night.”

“Be careful.” I replied, finishing the call. I rolled onto my bed, reviewing what had just happened. So I wasn’t delirious, with two attacks on different people.  Well, not delirious by myself anyway.  Crawling into bed, I was almost afraid of what tomorrow might bring.

**********

Walking to lunch, Laura caught up with me. “Um,” she started, “about last night.” I nodded. It had happened. She took a deep breath as we approached the group. I was so frustrated. I wanted to pounce something, to give everyone the impression everything was normal. But I felt that was taking too light of an outlook on the situation, and my bandaged arm was kind-of a problem too.

I didn’t really know how to bring up the subject, but Laura solved that problem all on her own. Getting the others’ attention with a quick version of what she’d told me last night, she then turned to me. “And well,” she finished, “I know Jen’s not alone in this…” I shot her a grateful look, “because of THIS.” She uncrossed her legs and rolled the one to the side, showing where a portion of her jeans was missing near the bottom. Rachelle and Kensey let out small exclamations, and Mikayla just looked shocked. Bri and Marci wore equal masks of panic, with Sara and Lacy’s stunned looks to complete the set.  Brianna gulped a little, then asked, “Wait, how do we know that it wasn’t just some random dog?”

Laura looked exasperated. “It attacked my phantom. A dog attacked something out of my imagination!  And I know the dog was real! You guys aren’t getting this!” My frustration increased, a realization coming to mind. I voiced the realization before thinking it through.  “Um, guys? Problem. Who’s going to be next? Two attacks, you think this is gonna stop? I have a hunch that one of you are next.” Now the shocked looks were aimed in my direction. “Will you all knock it off?!?!” Now I was just ticked. They should have figured out by now that Laura and I were telling the truth. But maybe, a voice in my head said, maybe you’ve just scared them out of their wits and they need a minute to digest it all.

Lacy was the first one to regain the ability of speech.  “Okay, I don’t know whether to be freaked out or… wait, I’m officially freaked out, but about your sanity or this thing coming after me next, I don’t know.” McKensey laughed nervously at Lacy’s mid-sentence thought switch.

Laura and I both breathed a sigh of relief. They believed us. Sorta. We began to seriously discuss everything, but within a few minutes, the bell rang. It was Friday, so there was a good chance we wouldn’t see each other until Monday. With worried looks at one another, we dispersed.

****************

We reunited well before Monday. It started with a call Saturday morning. Paranoid, I ran to my phone and flipped it open so fast it almost split in two. “Jen, can you be ready in ten minutes if I get over to your house to pick you up?” Lacy sounded out of breath and scared.

“Um, sure. Where are we going? Is everything okay?” It took a lot to shake Lacy up. She sounded a little exasperated as she explained. “Didn’t Rachelle text you? She and Margaret are trapped in her house. By a tiger. Sound familiar?” I gasped. “Ten minutes,” she said, then hung up.

Ten minutes later I was in the backseat of Lacy’s car, along with McKensey and Laura. “Bri’s bringing her own car, and Mikayla’s grabbing Marci and Sara,” Lacy informed me, “we don’t know what exactly is going on, so Magaret asked us all to come if we could.” The rest of the drive was in silence, until my cell rang. It was Rachelle. “Park a block away first, but please don’t get out of your car.” “Why?” “The tiger’s in the front yard and it might attack you guys.” “What about your parents?” Then I remembered. Rachelle’s parents were out of town, that’s why Magaret was hanging out with her today. “Okay,” I told her, “we’ll park a block away to check things out.” I hung up after she agreed.

Later, three cars sat around the corner from Rachelle’s house. We talked by phone, to scared to get out of our cars. After discussing it, we decided to drive into the driveway, that we’d be safe enough in our cars. All seven of us crammed into Mikayla’s car, and we started the engine. Once turning the corner, we saw it.  It was prowling on the front lawn.  Watching it in horror, we failed at first to notice a small black bunny on the lawn. Once we HAD noticed it, however, we were terrified of what the tiger would do to the small creature. Mikayla cried out to the bunny, and McKensey looked at her in shock. “Can you see my bunny?” she asked. We all stared. “That’s your phantom?” I asked in shock, “Then how come we can see it? Isn’t it a figment of your imagination?” Everyone’s eyes got large as they realized what this meant. Bri was the first to say what we were all thinking. “It’s not imaginary anymore. This isn’t some make-believe story like Harry Potter or Avatar. We’re in our real world with these creatures. What are we going to do?”

At that moment the tiger spotted McKensey’s cute creature. In fear, she made it vanish. Bad, bad idea as it turned out. The tiger whipped around and locked eyes with us, growling. Stalking towards the car, we saw Rachelle and Magaret staring out the window in horror. Brianna looked like she was concentrating hard, and then a black cat appeared on the lawn. It yowled at the tiger and took off on a dead run in the opposite direction of the car. The tiger roared and tore after the black streak. Shaking from the sound, we turned to look with astonishment at Bri.  “Your phantom’s a cat?” Marci asked. Bri nodded, “I wanted a dolphin but that didn’t really work, and I knew you liked dolphins, so I chose a cat.”

“That roar was really loud,” said Sara, “you could feel it shake you. I’d be surprised if the whole neighborhood didn’t hear it.” Bri looked confused. “What roar?” she asked, “Did the tiger roar?” We gaped at her. Shaking our heads in confusion, we decided to make a break for the house.

Once inside, sipping hot cocoa, we tried to piece it all together. Bri had made her phantom disappear after we ran inside, so we figured she was safe for the time being. After telling everyone’s piece of the story, and Sara pronouncing us all as insane, Rachelle put it all together. “As I see it,” she said, “These are the cards on the table.  We will assume for the moment that this is all real. When our phantoms are attacked, we are hurt. It may be the only reason Laura was attacked may be because the dog was following her phantom, which was ‘inside’ of her. For some reason, we may not be able to hear the tiger without our phantoms ‘inside’ us. The tiger, and maybe the dog, are following and finding us. Why?” We all shook our heads. That was the million-dollar question. Magaret had a theory. “What if it’s an ‘opposition in all things’ kind-of thing? We have to have evil phantoms because we have good phantoms. Or something realizes how powerful our imaginations have grown, and wants to stop it, like communists or power-hungry people. Hello, anybody else want to jump in?” Silence. “Any time now.”

“Or maybe,” said Mikayla, “Our imaginary creatures were made more real to help us fight an evil that already existed.” We pondered this in continued silence until we heard a growl. This growl was different though. It was that of a dog. Laura and Lacy peeked through the curtain on the window. “It’s the dog that attacked me,” whispered Laura, “I’m sure of it. It has the same evil eyes, shaggy hair, and uh….uh big, black, stripes.” She bit her lip in an effort to not scream. Lacy whipped her face from the window, looking ashen.  “The dog changed into the tiger,” revealed Lacy in a hushed tone, “they’re the same creature.”

***********

Two hours later, we were still sitting in Rachelle’s living room, too scared to even play games. We talked very little, which is an accomplishment for someone like me. Once Marci mentioned it was lucky she didn’t have work that day, and Laura commented that she was glad she’d finished her chores. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. “It’s still out there,” I stated, “and it doesn’t look like it’s leaving anytime soon. I propose we chase it off.” They stared at me. “Kay, it’s been three days of you guys gawking at me, so get over it. Stop looking stunned, I have a feeling it’s going to be a while before our version of reality returns. I say we run it off. Who’s with me?” They all were. So we plotted. It was decided that Laura and I, with our phantoms, would attack the tiger. We would start with trying to just scare it, with everyone’s phantoms rushing it. If that failed, Laura and I would make contact. Rachelle got out her first-aid kit, and I prayed my hurt arm wouldn’t affect my phantom’s performance. We turned to the window and drew back the curtains so we’d have a clear view. “Ready, set, GO!” I shouted. That’s when things got hairy.