Dakota's POV:

I had heard the footsteps just moments before, but I still couldn't help but jump when they slammed the door open and burst into the hall, already fully transformed. There were at least a dozen werewolves, all with red eyes and bared fangs. Their fur was disheveled and matted with blood, and I had a feeling that that blood was not their own. Everyone in the hall stood up, except for myself, Alyssa, and Blake, who had one arm on Alyssa's and one on the table, ready to push himself up if a fight broke out.

Alyssa was shivering from the sudden draft in the room, unable to move much more due to fear. "Who-- who are those?" she managed to say.

"They're members of the Red River Pack," I told her, careful to keep my voice mundane. "Nobody ever thought they'd cross the river so suddenly, much less dirty their pretty nails with our blood." Only the Red River wolves had these characteristic red eyes, but they usually acted civil. However, no word could better describe these ones than rabid, with the wild look in their eyes and the smell of my comrades' blood dripping onto the floor.

Beside me, Blake let out a shaky breath. "I don't know why they're here," he said. "But I'm willing to bet it has something to do with you. You should go. A human's no match for a werewolf."

"Unless it's romance," I muttered without thinking. That sounded hostile, and I didn't want Alyssa to get any wrong ideas.

Alyssa clearly didn't hear me, as she nodded and stood up. She dashed out the back door, and Blake moved to stand sentry. "Go after her," he told me. "I'll stand guard here."

"Whatever, lover-boy," I said. Then with a softer voice, I said a simple "Good luck."

The door Alyssa had just used slammed shut, and like a drum, it set everyone into motion. The sounds of a fight started as soon as I turned tail, running with long strides out the door Blake had just reopened. Blake quickly grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to a halt. "You forgot your daggers," he said, holding out a set of rough silver blades with leather hilts.

I accepted them. "Will I need them?" I asked anyway.

He nodded. "Five of them went back around. They'll be after Alyssa, I know it."

"Who would've guessed?"

"Hurry!"

He opened the door, and I was already moving before I could think to say something back. It wasn't hard to make out the path Alyssa had taken. There were deep footsteps in the muddy ground leading into the forest, where the more fragile branches and brambles had snapped off.

I was starting to think how this task would be almost easy until I stepped through the foliage. Almost immediately, I was hit with the overwhelmingly sweet smell of human blood. It was weak, I knew; I'd smelled worse before. The fact remained that I never got over my apparent intolerance to it. Quickly, I raised my hands to cover the lower half of my face. That helped to block the smell, and the sick feeling in my throat and stomach eased a bit. I stood still, as any movement made me feel nauseous, until I heard movement behind me: padded footsteps getting louder by the second. Right, I had a girl to protect.

There was no time to run, so I held my breath and waited for the wolves behind me to pass by. Thankfully, they didn't notice me, only stopping to sniff at the fallen brambles. So that's where the blood came from, I thought. She must have scratched herself while she was running. It was good to know she wasn't seriously harmed. However, the ones who did seek to do so were already ahead of me, so I forced myself to move. I walked to the side as fast as I dared, and broke into a sprint when I was at least ten feet away-- just close enough to track the smell and not be affected. I was confident that I could catch up to the lurching werewolves ahead, who were clearly drunk on blood.

If I knew the forest as well as I claimed, I'd know there was a cliff about forty yards ahead. I could jump to the rocks opposite if I timed it right, but I knew Alyssa wouldn't know about it. I had to get there before she did. Just as the thought crossed my mind, I heard a strangled cry close by.

Too late, I thought, and almost laughed aloud at my bad luck. Dagger in hand, I sped up and practically flung myself over the edge. Before Alyssa had time to blink, I had grabbed her wrist and dug the blade in my right hand into the clay that made up the cliffside, forcing us to a stop. In moments, the beasts chasing us could be heard, whimpering and growling as they fell as well.

Alyssa was speechless. "Thanks," she said breathlessly. I nodded silently to say "You're welcome."

My grip on Alyssa's wrist was slowly slipping. I quickly scanned the face of the opposite cliff and saw a small cave a few feet away. "In there," I told her. "Can you reach?"

"I think so," she said, and she kicked away from the cliff and landed almost perfectly inside the cave. Her agility is impressive for a human, I thought as I copied her actions. I landed on my feet, but immediately fell onto my knees as the smell of fresh blood filled the confining cave.

"You scraped yourself," I managed to say, head turned away from where Alyssa was sitting in the back.

"Yeah. Does it make you sick?" she asked, showing me her scratched palm.

"Don't shove it in my face," I said. I looked up at the ceiling, which, somehow helped to restore my sense of balance. I saw that the long roots of the trees above us broke through the earth to hang like strings. "Fire," I said. "Good combatant of wolfblood."

Alyssa gave me a confused look in response, but she looked up as well. At the word "fire," she started pulling down the weaker roots. She wasn't as strong as she was fast, I observed, but she managed to tear out more roots than I could hack down with my blade. "How're we gonna light it?" she asked.

I held up a matchbox. "I always keep this on me when I leave," I explained. "Among other items."

"I'll say that's more helpful than weird," Alyssa said cheerfully. "Can I light it?"

"I was never able to, anyway," I replied, handing her the box and a match. There was a strong fire going in less than a minute, and the rich smoke chased out any sickness in the cave.

"So, when're we getting outta here?"

I didn't respond.

Alyssa waited patiently for an answer, then spoke up. "It's just that the sun came out, and we should be heading back. Werewolves turn back during the day, right?"

"Right," I told her. "This isn't a big place. They'll notice the smoke and come looking for us, if they're still alive, that is."

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine?"

I laughed softly. "Never took you for the sarcastic type."

"Thanks, I-- Hold on, was that sarcasm?"

"No."

"I'll never know," she sighed. "We're just going to wait for them?"

"What else is there to do? It's too far to climb, and a fall from this height could seriously injure you."

"I dunno, I was just thinking you'd have some magic artifact or something on you. You werewolves are full of surprises."

"Magical artifact, that's ridicu--" I stopped mid sentence. "Wait, I do have something." I reached into my pocket. "Wishtoken," I announced, holding out the coin in my palm. "Blake gave it to me some years ago. I imagine that was before he'd met you, or else this would be yours."

"It's beautiful," Alyssa said, staring at the intricate abstract carvings in the bronze coin. "What does it do?"

I tossed the wishtoken up in the air and caught it as it bounced away from the ceiling. "I suppose it's like a phone," I explained to her. "You charge it and you can use it until the power runs out. A wishtoken's charger is the owner's emotions. I apparently don't experience much emotion, since it's taken me years to fully charge it when it's supposed to take only days."

"No surprise there," I heard Alyssa mutter. Then she spoke up in a louder voice. "What can it do?"

"Grant wishes, with limits. You can use it to get back." I handed it to her. "Just visualize the cabin, then say 'Thelo na pao ekei.'"

"Won't you need to hold it, too?"

"I'm not coming."

"What?" she exclaimed, surprised. "How're you going to get back, then?"

"I'll stay and wait," I stated. "Those of wolfblood have better endurance even in human form. Anyways, you'll tell everyone where I am."

"That's true..." Alyssa agreed, and accepted the coin.

"One more thing," I said. "By allowing you to use this, the ownership of the wishtoken will go to you. I expect you'll make better use of it."

"I can give it back."

I shook my head. "It's kind of like a 'no tag backs' rule. I can't take it back until you allow another person to use it, fully charged, and I use it after. Besides, Blake would rather you have it. Ask him yourself."

She turned the coin over hesitantly. "What're the words again?" she asked, indicating her consent.

"Thelo na pao ekei."

"Here goes. Thelo no--"

"Thelo na," I corrected her. "Hey, Alyssa." She looked up, as if this were the first time I had called her by her first name. "You'd better not bring them back dead."

"That's a promise," she smiled. "Thelo na pao... ekei." she miraculously said with little trouble. As she said the last syllable, the coin hummed to life, glowing with a bluish light.

"The wishtoken will change form once it is in your possession," I said. "It could be anything: a key, a pin... Oh, and remember that your promise is to bring them back alive, not to come back for me."

Alyssa nodded in acknowledgement. "I'll see you later, Dakota," she said firmly as she was engulfed in the suddenly blinding light, and in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Was it that I had a sudden surge of emotion? Perhaps her optimism was rubbing off on me. Maybe it was the concern she showed that only Blake had ever shown me before. Whatever it was, it seemed to get her to the cabin faster.

I realized that I was feeling rather tired, so I sat down beside the still burning fire. "You'll do just fine for Blake," I said out loud. "I would accept you as my sister."

o0O0o

Alyssa's POV:

The air suddenly got cooler. The light had affected my eyes so I couldn't see yet, but I could tell I was at the hall. "Blake!" was the first thing I thought to say. It was eerily quiet here...

Someone grabbed me from behind, a hand covering my mouth so I couldn't speak. I panicked, trying to pull free until I heard Blake's voice. "Alyssa, you're fine, just be quiet."

I spoke in a softer voice. "What's going on? Are there still Red River werewolves around?"

"No," he admitted. "It's going to take a long time to explain. Where's Dakota?"

"She-- Dakota!" I remembered. "She used this," I said, raising my hand to show him the coin. By then, my eyes had adjusted enough to see how it'd changed. "What... It's a card now." I wasn't holding the wishtoken anymore. Instead, it was a thick white card, almost like a playing card, with the same image on both sides. It was vibrantly colored, depicting a winged heart and the moon.

I looked up to see Blake with a saddened expression, but he looked otherwise just fine. "She gave up the wishtoken?"

"She was talking like you wanted me to have it more. Not that I believe her," I said hurriedly. "But she was really stubborn."

"That does sound like her."

"We're going back, right? I know where she is, she said to look for--"

Blake shook his head. "Like I said, I have a lot to explain."