I tried to get some rest after dinner. The bed looked invitin', it warn't. I did lie down for a minute. Couldn't stay down. Sat up. Dangled my legs. Got a drink of water. Tried to lay down again. No use. The plan was set. We were ready.  There was nothing else to do. I was way more nervous returnin' to Burns than I ever was goin' into Locci Forest. We made all of these careful arrangements to make sure we got through it without incident. I shoulda felt relieved, right? I was feelin'even more anxious. Maybe it was because I knew more about the risks. I unconsciously reached down and scratched at my leg. "Ouch!"

Dang, I clean forgot Gramma used to say, "Itchin' is healin', it ain't quite healed. Leave it be." She was sure right about that. Keepers bandages keep ya from wantin' to scratch. I wish we knew how to do the same Topside. The funny thing is they must'a learned it from a human. That's what they do. The gather all the good ideas that people come up with and use the ones they need. They don't toss the baby out with the bathwater like we do.

Too soon the clock said 10:45. It was time ta go. I had to put on my sneakers. Momma and Daddy waited in the kitchen for me. Mrs. Anderton, Jacob, and Freck knocked. I opened the front door and led them back through the kitchen to the side door. We stepped into the waiting vator just outside  and whoosh, we arrived at the solvers dock. It was crowded. All of the solver's teams were there. The retrievers going with Moma were there too. Grandma Chrys, Stuman, and Zahn showed up to wish us luck. Gee, of course, was standin' beside Grandma. He sent me a message of encouragement. Other keepers crowded the doors. The dock was way too small to accommodate all the keepers who wanted to be there. I expected a speech from the Grand Keeper, but the time for talking was done, now was the time for doin'.

The captain of the blue team stepped out of the crowd and led us to his floater. No one was speaking. I didn't even hear much mind-to-mind chatter. Everyone knew what they had to do. Our thoughts were filled with completin' our tasks. Just before enterin' the blue floater, I looked back and saw all of the keepers with their arms raised. They made a circle with the thumbs and index fingers touchin' and held it high like a symbol of OK. That was reassurin' to see all the support for our journey. We all had a lot ridin' on the success of this mission. Freck, Mrs. Anderton, and Daddy turned toward the assemblage. They witnessed the raised arms and hands too. All of us smiled, and saluted OK back to them, before boardin' the blue craft.

The floaters glided through the portal in single file, orange, pink, red, green, silver, gold, blue and finally purple. All had their lights on except purple. Purple was flying dark.

Freck exclaimed, "Wow, it is so pretty, like Christmas lights in the air."

We stood lookin' out the transparent side of the craft and watched the floaters form a tight circle. They were mere inches from touchin' nose to tail. They all raised together and circled around so that from the ground it would look like one big ship with constantly moving colored lights. It reminded me of how close the blue angels would fly, nearly wing-tip to wing-tip at the Tampa air show. I don't know how much skill it took to pull that off. The commanders of each craft must have been nervous because it wouldn't take much to clip another floater mid-air. What if one teeny mistake took them all down?

"We do need to have you sit down and strap in," one of the blue crew members said to us. "It is a safety precaution. I am sure you'll understand."

We did as we were told. The comfy chairs we were in rotated a full 360 degrees, so we could turn any direction we wanted. I wanted to see everythin' and nearly made myself dizzy spinnin' around. Freck was doin' that too, but Daddy and Mrs. Anderton were sittin' very still. You could tell they were totally engaged in their thinkin'.

In just a few moments we were hoverin' 100 feet or so above the small meadow where we would exit. The floaters slowed their rotation as they dropped lower toward the ground. Now that we were getting so close, I could feel my heart beating in my ears. My hands were a little shaky. If given a choice right then, I might have decided to go back. I couldn't ask it though. It was my idea, after all. What would everyone think if I bailed on my own plan? They might call me a coward or a lily-livered stinkin' skunk. I would never be able to live it down and no one would ever trust my ideas again.

"Wishes," it was Gee, "take three deep breaths. Everything will be fine. Remember I have your back."

I thought, "Thanks Gee. I'm almost ready to jump out of my skin."

"I know Wishes, but do not be afraid. Remember we can communicate and you have the power of cigam running through you. You can call on me anytime for help. Frightening things have the power to scare you, but between the two of us we have the greater power. They cannot really harm you."

"But what about Freck, Daddy, and Mrs. Anderton?" I asked him.

Gee reassured me, "All of you have heard my whistle and kissed me on the head. They have some cigam too. It surrounds each of you in a bubble of protection."

That was just what I needed to hear. I calmed down immediately. Freck looked nervous so I told her about my mind-to-mind conversation with Gee. "What a relief," she said, "I was gettin' so scared I thought my fingers might fly off with all the shakin'."

Just then we touched down. We were told to hurry, because they had to lift off immediately to maintain the illusion that it was a UFO dropping us off. Freck and I went down the ramp first with Daddy and Mrs. Anderton right on our heels. Once we walked ten or fifteen feet from the floater, they all rose in a rotatin' circle and flew rapidly away. I could see with peripheral vision two retrievers in their flutter-by suits. I couldn't tell if one was my moma or if she was in front. It didn't matter. Just knowin' that she was nearby was comfortin'.

Daddy took over and led our party out of the meadow into the surroundin' brush and trees. Mrs. Anderton took our hands as we followed close behind. Despite Gee's reassurances, I was anxiously scannin' our surroundin's lookin' for anythin' that could hurt us. I am sure I wasn't all alone in this. I was also notin' every glowin' bush and tree I could see. Careful, watchful, and cautious is how I would describe our progress.  In other words, painfully slow.

"Eee---waaa--yowh!" That scream could only come from one animal, a Florida panther. It must have been very near because it was so loud. I saw tall grass separating as it charged us from the right. I started to run, but my leg sent a pain up so strong I had to stop. I gathered all my will, turned around, and faced the panther. His malicious green eyes locked on mine. Maybe it smelled my injury. Without even thinkin' about it, I raised my hands palms out as if to fend away the attack. Somewhere from inside of me a overwhelmin' panic-fueled power surged.

"STOP!" I yelled just as the panther leaped, claws extended. I ducked. Nothin' happened. What? I looked up. The panther's golden body with outstretched paws hung frozen in the air like a display in a taxidermist shop. The others had been runnin'. They didn't see what just happened. They must have heard me scream, then stopped, and turned around.

"What the hell?" I heard Daddy shout.

I scooted out from under the hairy chest above me and stood beside the beast. It didn't move. It was stuck motionless in the air just surely as a fly caught in a spider web, except it was rigid. Freck was the first to arrive by my side. "We had better get out of here right quick. Who knows how long that creature will hang up there?"

What she said made sense. We should leave--right now. We should, but I couldn't. I was just standin' there with my mouth gapin' open and my eyes wide. Before I knew what I was doin', I reached out and touched its fur. It didn't move, not at all. I gave it a little shove. It still didn't move. "Wishes," my Daddy said loudly, "we have to get away from that thing." He took my arm and pulled me away.

He saw I was limpin'. The pain in my leg had gotten worse, so Daddy picked me up and carried me in his arms. Our little group proceeded without further incident.

We weren't but a few hundred feet from the tree line when we were spotted by some State Troopers. They rushed over. "Let's get you folks home," I heard one of them say. The officers surrounded us in an imposin' wall of brown uniforms. Now I finally felt safe. They radioed ahead to let everyone know we were found and okay. When we reached the edge of the woods, I was surprised to see lots of tents. There was a whole tent city in the abandoned field. Everybody in Burns, it seemed, was here, accompanied by hundreds of people I'd never ever seen before. As soon as we stepped out of the woods a thunderous cheer went up.

It was a bit frightenin'. I didn't want to be a victim trampled in a crush of joy. They were clapping each other on the back, huggin', and grinnin' like the Cheshire Cat. It was good that we had the police escort to protect us from bein' mobbed.

Mr. Ashe pushed through the crowds with the newspaper's photographer. Flash bulbs were poppin' as fast as the camera would accept them. Mr. Ashe was the first to ask the question, "Where did you go?"

Mrs. Anderton responded, "We don't rightly know. We were lookin' in the woods for the place where the kids found Jacob's wallet. Al, came out to find Wishes and Freck. We saw some colored lights above us and until just now that's all I remember."

"Al Arthur," Mr. Ashe asked Daddy, "Is that what happened to you too?"

Daddy said, "Emma is right. I have no idea where we was, how long we were gone, or even how we got back inta the woods."

Undaunted, Mr. Ashe asked me and Freck, "Do you remember any more than the adults? Do you recall seeing anything, or hearing anything at all?"

Freck spoke up, "I saw the colored lights just like Mizzus Anderton said, but whatever happened after that is blank." I nodded in agreement.

Our words were repeated in whispers throughout the crowd. "They don't know what happened."

"They don't know where they were."

"They saw colored lights in the sky is all"

"They cain't remember anything but lights and waking up in the woods."

"It must been a UFO that took 'em!" someone shouted.

"They were abducted!", hollered another.

"Ah always knew those woods were haunted by spacemen!"

Before you could say butter my biscuits, it all people convinced themselves that it was surely a UFO abduction. Later, they'd all swear that they'd seen colored lights risin' out of the forest the night we were taken.

Mister Ashe looked shaken. It was obvious what was worryin' him. If this was what actually happened he would have to print it in the Gazette, but no self respectin' publisher would print a story about UFO's. He would be a laughin' stock. Mizzus Anderton put an arm around him. "Don't worry," she consoled him, "you can print the story and say that it was the conclusion of the crowd. You don't have to say that it is true, just that they thought it was. This gets both you and the Gazette off the hook."

"Thank you Emma," said Mister Ashe. "That is a better way to put it. I appreciate your input on this."

"Congratulations," Gee communicated to me, "I will be waiting for your return next summer. And by the way that was good use of cigam with that panther. The whole Kingdom is buzzing about it."

I told Freck what Gee said. Freck and I looked knowingly at each other. Somethin' was different. We had changed. We knew that nothin' would ever be the same for us. Ever.

She winked. We both smiled. Was it over, really over?

A thunderous shriek heard over the deafening celebrations silenced the crowd. Hearts stopped, smiles dropped, and eyes whitened, as fright rolled across the faces like ocean fog. I warn't surprised. I knew firsthand the terror in the Howlin' Woods. Without the luck of the salamander, we wouldn't be a standin' here. Lairbeasts would've gotten another meager kill, and our shredded remains dragged into the fetid depths of a dank cave. We just barely escaped this time. What about the next? Would the Salamander's luck hold out? It warn't like we had a choice. We had to go back. We promised, besides that's where my momma is. I ain't ever gonna lose her again. That's a spit in the hand guarantee.

The End