Ug, everything hurts...everything's black! Wait, oh schist am I dead?! Why does death hurt so much? Annette opened her eyes a bit, blinking at the small amount of light coming from some glowing mushrooms growing on the walls. Where am I? Did that snake boy kidnap me?! Annette's eyes flew open and she tried to sit up, but a hand pressed her back down.
"Hey calm down. You're safe." A soothing voice said. Annette took her surroundings in properly this time, as best as she could tell in the dim light from the mushrooms, she was in a den under a giant tree. And right in front of her a face was starting to come into view, Amara's face. A sigh of relief escaped Annette's mouth.
"How do you feel?" Amara asked, feeling Annette's forehead. Annette mentally assessed her body.
"Umm...sore, confused, wait where's Scott?!" Annette said slowly. Amara just smiled,
"He's in the sleeping den catching some sleep. The gash in his arm should heal soon, he's ok. But I'm asking you." Amara said plainly.
"Yeah just sore." Annette said. There was a soft snore in the corner of the den and Annette turned her head in the direction of the snore. Mitzi laid in the corner with her head resting against a tree root, sleeping. Amara saw Annette looking at Mitzi,
"She's been helping me all day with other injuries. She's a great friend." Amara smiled softly. Amara and Mitzi are really close friends. Annette thought. Amara turned back toward Annette and said,
"Do you think you're well enough to sit up?" Annette muttered a yes and Amara helped her sit up.
******************************
The sun was peeking above the horizon and the birds were drowsily chirping. As light started to pour into Amara's den the mushrooms dimmed. Annette stood, helping Amara put the medical stuff away and sorted. Once they were done Amara let Annette go but told her to take it easy for a day. Annette wandered through camp as everyone was waking up. They emerged from the sleeping den, fur ruffled and yawning. Spot came out of the den arguing with a badger. When they went to their human form Annette saw the boy Spot was arguing with was in High Class. The boy ended the fight and walked off shoving Annette out of the way as he passed by. He made his way to Cypress and sat down with her, Annette turned back to Spot who ran toward her.
"How are you doing? Are you healed?" Spot asked quickly, lifting up her arm to look at her hand and looking her over. Annette laughed at his nervousness and interest.
"I'm fine Spot. Thanks!" She smiled. Spot blushed and dropped her arm,
"Well yeah, sure! I couldn't leave you to die." He stammered while rubbing the back of his neck. Why is he acting so nervous? Maybe he's not used to thank yous?
"Hey what did that kid want?" Annette asked. Spot's nervousness faded and got replaced by anger,
"That was Oak, he wanted me to clean out and replace his bed. When I told him I was spending the day with you and Scott, to show you the ropes. You know without any more injuries, he said 'Screw your plans I need you to clean out my bed!' " Spot mimicked a low gruff voice and shot a hating glance behind Annette to Oak.
"I can't disobey orders from the High Class so I'm gonna go do that so I have the rest of the day free." Annette nodded and let Spot go. Annette heard Oak and Cypress giggle behind her and she turned around to see Cypress walk up to her. Cypress had small brown ears and a brown fluff of a tail. Grizzly Bear...great. Annette thought as she faced Cypress. She stopped in front of Annette and examined her nails as she said,
"So I need you to bring me a nice fat rabbit for breakfast. Got it?" Cypress glared at Annette daring her to object, she did.
"Amara told me to take the day off." Annette said smugly, Cypress stiffened and looked Annette over.
"Well Amara must be wrong, you look fine. Now go get my rabbit!" She growled. Annette spent only a little time with Amara but she felt enough need to defend her,
"Amara is never wrong! She's also higher than you so I'm following her orders!" Annette snarled. After Annette said this Cypress's form changed, and just like Annette predicted it was a Grizzly Bear. It roared at her and Annette shifted too. They started to circle,
"You dare defy me?!" Cypress snarled, Oak stood behind her with a smug smile on his face.
"No I'm just following orders from Amara!" Annette growled back. Cypress stopped and was about to lunge at Annette when a white wolf jumped between then,
"Stand down Cypress!" It snapped. Cypress morphed back and hung her head,
"Yes Elder Paw. I'm s-sorry Annette." Cypress's voice was full of venom and falsehood. Annette shifted back too,
"I accept your apology Cypress." Annette purred, Cypress was still angry as she went back to Oak. Elder Paw shifted back to his human form and looked at Annette,
"Are you ok?" He asked sincerely, Annette nodded. Elder Paw glanced at Cypress again, giving her a warning glare as Cypress was giving Annette a death glare. He looked back at Annette,
"What did you say to get her so rallied up?" Annette shrugged,
"She wanted me to get her a rabbit, and I told her no because I'm following orders from Amara." Annette told Elder Paw. He nodded,
"Good orders from me, Amara, or Mitzi come before High Class orders. You're learning fast." He smiled.
"How are you feeling after yesterday?" Elder Paw asked,
"Fine. How's Scott?" Annette said, Elder Paw chuckled,
"Scott's fine, he was worried more about you than he should've been for himself. But he's healing okay." Annette sighed and coincidentally Scott emerged from the den as a Bobcat just after Elder Paw finished talking.
"Thanks Elder!" Annette bowed her head and ran over to Scott who yawned and stretched. Scott smiled when he saw Annette and ran into her still as a Bobcat. He pinned her down then winced, he lifted his right paw and licked it.
"Still hurts." He grumbled. Annette frowned,
"You okay?" Scott got off her and sat on the grass,
"Yeah, no, a snake guy just attacked me and bit you! No I'm perfectly fine." Scott said sarcastically then laughed. They sat on the grass laughing for a few minutes, Scott shifted back to his half human form and Annette saw the bandage on his arm. Her eyes widened,
"It's that long?!" Scott rolled his eyes,
"Yeah. Just drop it okay? I don't want to dwell on it." Annette nodded and didn't bring it up again. The twins sat enjoying the sunshine sparkling on the pond when a black cat and chocolate lab came running over. Denice bowled over Scott while Adrien just sat next to Annette.
"Hey Scott where'd you go yesterday? I couldn't find you. I tried asking Amara but she was busy and she told me to go bug someone else! Hey why's there a bandage on your arm?" Scott had shifted in shock when Denice bowled him over and he yelped. Denice cocked his head and jumped off of Scott.
"Now that I think about it I didn't see you guys at all after your ceremony." Adrien meowed looking at Annette. Scott padded over to Annette and licked his paw again. Adrien morphed back into his human form and looked at the twins. Annette sighed,
"Well Spot and Alpha brought us on a sorta border patrol to show us the territory and we got attacked by a snake boy. I got bit and Scott got um...cut?" Annette said, not knowing how else to describe what happened.
"So yeah we were in Amara's den the rest of the day." Annette shrugged. Adrien sniffed,
"That sounds like Loki. He's always sneaking around." Denice came over and sat in the empty space in the circle they'd made.
"Why?" Scott asked.
"Because Elder Scales puts him up to it. I don't know why though…" Adrien trailed off. Scott looked at Adrien,
"Are these attacks normal?" He asked, shifting back to his human form. Adrien nodded his head,
"Yeah, they happen every so often." He said, Scott twiddled his thumbs.
"So no reason he tried to kill me and Annette specifically?" He pressed. Adrien looked at Denice for a moment before responding.
"Well there might be a reason but...you'd have to ask Amara and Elder Paw. But me and Denice caught some breakfast! Do you want some?" He replied, smiling. Scott jumped up with Denice.
"Yes!" And they ran to the food stash to get breakfast. Adrien followed them leaving Annette to think. He attacked me and Scott for a reason. Why?