Prologue
Of all the teens at my high school, or all the young adults trying to find their place in the world, you'd never find a name as peculiar as mine. For one, my name is Moon, in case you wanna know. But something that's even more strange is the night I was born on, Halloween. Not just any Halloween, a full moon one, with a partly cloudy sky, and stars twinkling. And I was born at midnight, just so you know.
Chapter 1
I sit on an empty bench at the airport, something told me to wait until my bush plane arrived, but I was too excited to be going to Alaska to even notice the voice in my head. Out of nowhere, I hear a baby cry out loudly as people scatter and scamper around the entrance ways and exits. So much for spending the rest of my high school in Rhode Island. Now I was going to dressed so tightly that I'd probably look like a burrito, and sent like a postcard to Alaska, the Last Frontier.
As I heard the loud speaker call the bush plane's number: 2079, I had one thought that came across my mind, me riding on a sled, and racing in the Dog Sledding Championship. But as that thought came up, I saw an image of my favorite Siberian Husky which my mother owned for her sledding team, Anuke.
We landed in Alaska a few hours later. I stepped out onto the cold ground below, slippery and wet. I exhaled a breath as I smelled the fresh air, much better than that of Rhode Island's air. I went back over to the bush plane and unloaded my luggage from the luggage department in the back of the plane.
As I walked up to a poster about the dog sledding race, I heard a person cough. I turned my head in its direction and saw and old man sitting in a rocking chair in front of one of the cabins. He had light grey hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a black beard.
I turned and looked away from the old man as I saw a dark shape on the horizon. It was a teen boy, about my age, perhaps one year older, walking towards me wearing a caribou skin coat, and snow boots that made soft thumps on the ground as he walked. I shuddered in fright; it wasn't just the way he looked at me that scared me, it was the fact that he hadn't made me aware of his approach, nor a wave or word. Once the stranger was close enough for to get a clear image of me, he said something to me. "Hello there, I'm Tito." the stranger said friendly-like. I stood still, frozen in fright about this boy.
"Hi, my name's Moon," I said in a quavering voice, trying to make my voice sound like I was shivering, but I wasn't. He made a noise that was neither a sigh or a gasp, he made a sound that later I would approve it as awe. He looked away from me as lights fell on us and a snowmobile parked in front of us. A tall man steps off of it, and he pulls back his hood. As he does this, I recognize the face that belongs to none other than my grandfather, Antonio. His face was smiling, and at the corners of his eyes, stood out some bold age wrinkles. His sky-blue eyes twinkled as they looked at my pair of chocolate brown eyes.
"Sorry for taking so long to get here, Moon," Antonio said suddenly, "Please forgive me, child." he says and gives me a big bear hug. As he hugged me, I sensed his emotion of joy in not having seen me for a while, most people would notice that after getting a tight hug. The teen boy who had approached me took a step back, and my grandfather noticed. Antonio let go of me and turned towards Tito "Moon, this is Tito, he is the groundskeeper of your mother's cabin when she was away. He is also a member of sledding school, so if you want to start it as well, you will have to listen to him. He's got more intelligence about dogs than the entire bible has about men." he adds sarcastically. When I glance at Tito, he straightens his standing position proudly as the "intelligence" part leaves my grandfather's lips.
After a while of family reunion, Antonio took me up the mountain and towards my mother's log cabin. Once we got in the front yard, he whistled once which had three notes in it. I recognized it as Anuke's whistle, the one he always came to when my mom did it. I looked at the barn door as the huge husky came hurling himself across the snow towards us. His tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he reached us. He jumped up and actually knocked me off my feet, wetting my face with his "I love you" and "I missed you" kisses. His tail wagged like crazy, but as he stood over me, I noticed he wasn't wearing his collar.
"I missed you too, Anuke." I say after I finally get my mouth free of his slobbery kisses. I pat his back and rub my hand over it. Out of nowhere, and without warning, a bigger husky came running over to us, stopping right next to Anuke. The new husky barked threateningly at me, growling and snarling at me like I was some intruder.
I got up from the ground immediately as I was forced upon by a black and white husky, almost exactly identical to Anuke's black and white fur, only slightly larger. I back off, afraid of being bitten by the massive dog in front of me. Anuke understood my message, and bravely got in between us and snarled a warning at the snarling black and white mass. The new dog, I would later learn, was Demon. No guessing how he got his name, one look at those canine teeth, and you'll be praying for mercy, thinking it's the Devil himself.
For some strange reason, even though the dog was almost twice Anuke's size, he backed off from me, and went trotting back into the barn. If it weren't for Anuke, I'd possibly be Demon's chew toy. I bent down and kissed Anuke on the head. I looked back at Antonio, astonishment hidden deep within his eyes while he sat on the snowmobile's seat, and stared at us. "Grandpa, perhaps it's a good idea to either train that devil, or get a shock collar and hand the remote to me." I said, still in shock mode from the ordeal.
As he stared at me, Antonio tossed a small object my way, which I neatly caught in my glove-covered hands. It was the key to the cabin, which mom always hid under the rug on the porch of the cabin. I nodded at my grandfather, and a little while later he rode off until he was at least 500,000 feet below the cabin's foundation. I put the key in the door of the cabin, and turned the lock. It opened quite easily, possibly would even open without the key. I stepped into a room, dust covering ever single inch of the room.
On the walls, dozens of pictures hung, suspended from nails hidden behind them and jammed into the walls. One picture in particular caught my attention. It was in a nicely polished frame, made of fleet wood. It was the picture of my mother, in her right arm, she held a trophy, with 1st Place carved on one side, and her left arm was on top a massive head, which belonged to none other than Anuke himself. I looked at a dust covered shelf, and saw the very same trophy, carved words still intact.
I walked over to the shelf, picking up the trophy in one hand, and put it against my chest. I walked over to a recliner and sat in it, still clutching the trophy. "Oh mom, why'd you have to leave?" I asked desperately, knowing there'd be no response from her anymore. In my head, I had a flashback from my past.
I was only 7 back then, a cute little lass. Anuke coming by and licking my face, me giggling happily. Outside, a bright light shone and I stood up and padded over to it. "Mommy, what is that light?" I asked in my childish voice I once had. "Those lights are a reminder of the ones that have passed on, it's how the dead communicate with the living. When I die, I will be doing that every single night." my mother told me before tackling me with her childish tickling. Then the flashback faded away, and I stood up.
I set the trophy back in its original place and walked over to the window. If what my mother said was true, then I will see those lights tonight, but I doubted it. My mother was famous for her stories at the camp fires and her capacity for myths and legends. Part of me wished she were still here, and the other part wondered if she ever would be again.
I then went outside, the air chilly and with the scent of woodland trees. It was nearly nightfall, and I was curious if the Northern Lights would come out and dance across the sky like flying hawks. As I was standing there, I kept feeling like I was being watched. I looked around, seeing nothing. But then, a wolf howl sounded somewhere nearby, and low tree branches rustled. I looked over to the branch, seeing a black head pop out, with flaming amber eyes. It was a wolf. I screamed like a sissy girl, but the wolf stayed still.
The wolf, it seemed very interested in me, but not as lunch, but as something else. I took my chance and used my voice to make a semi-realistic growling sound. At the sound of my growling, the wolf's ears prickled towards me, and the wolf growled back. I tilted my head to the right for a moment, and the wolf copied the motion. I was wondering if the wolf was tamed, it seemed like it, but in another words, it didn't have any collar.
The wolf was about ten meters away from where I stood now. Its amber eyes pierced my soul down to the core, but I stood my ground. The black wolf then lifted its head and howled to the heavens. As it did, the Aurora borealis came out of hiding, and lit up the sky with its luminescent ballet. I looked up, gasping in awe at the sight, but then I looked back at the black wolf. It stood there again and howled, this time with its eyes open, and it looking ~ at me.
In that moment, I understood perfectly. It wanted me to howl with it. But, I couldn't howl, I wasn't a wolf. It stopped the second howl and looked at me. "If you think I'm a wolf, then you have a rock for a brain." I told the wolf. As the wolf heard my sarcastic remark, it seemed to understand the speech, I know, because as it did, it snarled. I winced fearfully at it, knowing this wolf wasn't gonna go away until I howled.
So, there I was: feet frozen, nose turning red, and stuck with a wolf in front of me, waiting for me to howl. I finally gave up, drew in a breath, and howled. But my howl didn't sound human, it sounded ~ exactly like a wolf's. I then felt goosebumps again, but this time, it ended very, very slowly. I blacked out while standing, and when I was finally able to see, I was in eye level with the wolf. Did I crouch down, no. Did I sit down, no. I didn't know what I did. The wolf growled afterwards.
For some strange reason, I was able to understand it. It said three words; three words I didn't ever want to hear in my entire life. "You're a wolf", that's what the black wolf said. I looked down at my feet, not believing it, but I got the shock of my life as my feet weren't feet, they were paws.
I really was a wolf. I couldn't believe it at all. I looked back at the black wolf. "How is that possible?" I asked the wolf in complete confusion. The wolf shifted position nervously before a single tear fell from the black wolf's eye, before it answered: "Because.... because I'm your...... mother." it barked towards me. My eyes widened at her answer. "This can't be happen...." I said before fainting, hitting the snow hardly.
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