The two of them slammed into the den walls and fell to the floor, bruised and beaten. Abigail picked herself up and shook herself back to reality. Apholie was groaning in pain as she picked herself up too.

"Apholie?" Abigail said, walking over to her.

"Hggggghhh, what in the Lord's name....?" she said groggily. She noticed Abigail instantly.

"Abigail!" she said, perking up. "Are my eyes messing with me, or...?"

"No, it's very much me," Abigail said. "I don't think you fixed the bite in the way you thought you did,"

"Christ, no, I didn't!" Apholie said, clearly beginning to panic. "This is so bad!"

"Yeah, it is," Abigail said with slight annoyance. "I'm a wolfwalker now, thanks to you!"

"Yeah, I'm so sorry about that again, but I can show you the good side to this, at least," Apholie said thoughtfully, walking behind Abigail.

"HOW IS THERE ANY GOOD SIDE TO THIS?!!" Abigial yelled, actually making some loose rocks shake slightly. "I could be killed! No, scratch that. I WILL be killed!!"

"You're one of us now!" Apholie said with excitement. The wolf pack emerged from the chair where her mother slept. "This is so great! I'll teach you everything from running to following scents to..."

Abigail was too annoyed and worried to listen to her, but she quickly calmed down after she turned to notice Apholie's mother sleeping away.

"Oh, Apholie," Abigail said. "Your mother,"

"Oh yeah, she went out tonight," Apholie explained, looking up. "She hasn't been back in a bit,"

"Why'd she leave?" Abigail asked, sitting down.

"She went out to find us a new place," Apholie replied, a little sadly. "Somewhere far away from town where no-one would ever find us or harm us again,"

The two of them sat there in silence, with Apholie gaining a little bit of sadness every passing moment. It was clear to Abigail that she missed her mother.

"Well, anyway, I gotta teach ya how to be a wolf!" Apholie said, suddenly piping up and ignoring her sadness. "Come on!" She sprinted out of the den with Abigail not too far behind.

"How long will this take exactly?" Abigail asked as they arrived outside. Apholie humphed.

"Who cares how long it will take?" her friend replied, jumping a little. "What matters is that you learn how to be a wolf. Follow me!" She dashed down the pathway to the den's forest, this time with Abigail only barely keeping up.

She clearly wasn't as good as being a wolf as Apholie was. That was something Abigail was becoming more sure of.

Apholie stopped just outside the trees.

"Right, first lesson," Apholie began, turning around to face Abigail running down the path. "Close your eyes,"

"Um, why?" Abigail said, stopping in front of Apholie.

"Just do it," Apholie said, mildly annoyed. "I'll explain as we go,"

Abigail did what she was told. She closed her eyes and scoffed, not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen.

Boy, oh, boy, was she wrong.

Apholie materialised in front of her in a flurry of orangey-brown lines.

"Can you see me?" Apholie asked. Abigail nodded.

"Awesome!" Apholie said. "Now, listen in closely,"

Abigail pricked her ears up. She, indeed, heard far more sounds than what she could normally as a human. She heard (and saw) a deer jumping over a log around 10 or so metres behind her. She heard a fox trotting across the path nearby then leaping off after it had spotted a mouse, another thing Abigail picked up. She was intrigued in her new power.

"You can hear more, can you?" Apholie said, breaking her thoughts. "Wolves can hear so much more stuff than humans can and they can sense so much more as well!"

Abigail used this information to her advantage and listened for vibrations through the ground beneath her. That deer she heard from earlier made loud, rhythmic vibrations, similar to a horse. It wasn't too far away now, probably about half the distance than what it was earlier.

"You're getting it!" her friend exclaimed, clearly excited that she was learning well. "I'll teach you more as we go!" She bounded up the path through the trees. Abigail opened her eyes and just managed to catch her tail before she disappeared.

"Hey!" Abigail yelled, pretending to be annoyed. "Wait up, Apholie!" She ran towards the trees and picked up some speed as she dashed through the forest, following her friend's scent. She closed her eyes again as she ran to try and figure out where Apholie went. She made multiple twists and turns, jumping over fallen trees, rocks and rivers. She jumped in a tree and rebounded off, running on the soft vine covered grass again.

That's when she realised that she was approaching a cliff.

Apholie's scent went over it, however.

Well, if she can do it, Abigail thought proudly. Then, so can I!

Abigail didn't hesitate to stop, (which is something her past self would think of doing). In fact, she ran faster and faster, hoping to gather enough momentum to make it across.

And, as she reached the edge, she leapt off.

That's when she got an insight to how big the den's forest was. It stretched far beyond the horizon, as far as her eyes could see when she looked around.

When she looked back in front of her, she saw herself falling, paws in front of her, with ground getting ever closer.

But she wasn't afraid.

She bounded off the hard earth and skidded to a stop, turning around as she did so. She was panting heavily, processing what she just did.

Wait, she thought. I just jumped over a cliff.

Jumped over a cliff...

Over a cliff.......

A cliff...........

Those words echoed in her mind. Her happiness faded away as panic quickly replaced it.

"There's no way I just did that," she said aloud.

This only made her panic grow. She whined, turned around and dashed off into the trees.

What has Apholie done to me? Abigail thought. I never wanted this! How on earth am I enjoying myself?! Being a wolfwalker was changing her.

For the worse in her opinion.

But she was interrupted by a vine catching one of her back legs. She yelped in surprise and tumbled down the sloping path, stopping in front of a large walkway carved into the hill just in front of her. Abigail stood up and shook her head a little to get her bearings back. She looked up and gasped.

Vines were hanging down from the ceiling. Dimly lit lamps flickered and lit the entrance as the entrance stretched backwards. The faint sound of running water filled Abigails ears. Stalagmites hung from the ceiling, looking strong yet delicate with droplets of water dripping down every once in a while.

What is this place? she thought, curiosity quickly taking over her emotions. She began to walk, very tentatively towards it.

You know how curiosity killed the cat?

Well, something like that would happen to her...

(Jeez, I hope that last sentence made sense. Oh my God, it feels like centuries since I last saw this text.....)