Escape to the Mesa

by StacyPlays

  “Typical teenagers,” Stacy scoffed. She felt a little silly for telling the others that Droplet and Splat would be waiting for them.

  “Wake up, you two,” Stacy said. “Everest is here for your lesson.”

  Droplet opened one of her eyes to peer groggily at Stacy while the other stayed shut. Splat rolled onto his back and began snoring loudly.

  “All right,” Stacy said, reaching into her satchel. “I was going to save this for after your lesson, but it seems like you both need a little bit of motivation today.”

  She pulled a small newspaper-wrapped parcel out of her bag and unwrapped it, revealing a partially eaten rabbit carcass. At least, Stacy thought it was a rabbit. It was a bit hard to tell at this point. Immediately, Stacy spotted Splat’s nose twitching. Droplet’s other eye flashed open.

  Within a couple of seconds, both juvenile wolves were sitting at attention at Stacy’s feet. Page sat next to them, eyes wide, hoping to get a piece of the gruesome midmorning snack. Stacy turned to Everest and Basil, whose jaws were hanging open with surprise.

  “What?” Stacy said innocently. “A bald eagle dropped it in front of me while I was going to the bathroom this morning. What was I supposed to do?”

  Taking extra care not to touch the rabbit, Stacy flung the paper away from her and tossed the carcass to Everest.

  “Here, you take it,” she said to the alpha wolf, motioning toward Droplet and Splat. “Maybe you can use it to do some kind of scent drill with them.”

  Everest caught the carcass in his mouth and took off, running out of the clearing with Droplet and Splat close on his heels. Page looked pleadingly at Stacy, who shook her head.

  “Stay, Page,” she said in a commanding tone. Page was fast, but there was no way she could keep up with the wolf pups when they ran, and Stacy didn’t want her to get lost. “All right, Basil. Let’s get to work, shall we?”

  Basil nodded and began walking in a slow circle around the clearing. Stacy found the wooden hoe she’d carved out of a fallen birch branch last year and began to dig up a couple of potatoes. She would bake them for supper in the coals of Basil’s fire back at the cave.

  “Just let me know when you’re ready, girl,” she said to Basil. Stacy pulled her knife from the leather holder attached to one of her belt loops. She sliced off the end of one potato, cutting off a small nub known as an eye, and replanted it in the ground so a new potato would grow. She used the hoe to fill in the hole and patted the soft dirt until it was firm.

  Stacy had been bringing Basil to the farm every other day so she could supervise the wolf’s rehabilitation. She had pored over every book they had in the cave trying to find information on recovery time for lightning-strike-related injuries, but they seemed very rare and often fatal for humans. Basil had been lucky to survive, but Stacy and the pack were definitely in uncharted territory when it came to overseeing her recuperation.

  Stacy looked up to see Basil crouching beside her, which meant Basil had walked around the little farm fifteen times.

  “Already?” Stacy asked incredulously. “See, I knew you were getting stronger.”

  Stacy climbed on Basil’s back, sitting sidesaddle and sinking her fingers into the wolf’s thick white pelt.

  “Okay, girl,” she said. “Five times around with just me and then five times with me and Page and whatever else I can find to add some more weight.”

  Basil nodded and began walking at a pretty brisk pace.

  “Nice!” Stacy exclaimed excitedly. It felt good to be riding Basil again. Stacy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the cool autumn air. Fall was her favorite season and she couldn’t wait to eat pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, and, her favorite snack, toasted pumpkin seeds.

  A few minutes later, Everest returned with Droplet and Splat. Stacy could only imagine how confusing it must be for the wolf pups to see Stacy sitting on top of Basil holding a pumpkin with Page balanced on top.

  “How did it go?” Stacy asked as Page jumped off the pumpkin and began playing with Droplet and Splat. “Did they do okay with the scent drill?”

  Everest nodded and then gave Stacy what was left from his training exercise with the pups: a rabbit’s foot.

  “Um, thanks, I guess,” Stacy said, holding the pumpkin in place on her lap with one hand so she could take the rabbit’s foot with the other. She tucked it into her satchel. “Actually, I read somewhere these are lucky, but you didn’t know that . . . did you?”

  Stacy looked down at Everest, waiting for some kind of answer from him, but the huge white wolf only blinked his silver eyes. They were interrupted by a high-pitched warning bark from Page.

  Stacy’s eyes searched the farm until they found Page, sitting at the entrance to the clearing, her ears twitching wildly. She was listening to something that neither Stacy nor the wolves could hear.

  She barked again.

  “All right, Page,” Stacy said, hopping off Basil and looking back to Everest. “Sounds like Milo will be here any minute.”

  Three

  STACY SAID GOOD-BYE to Droplet and Splat, who were already falling asleep again, then shimmied through the passageway that separated the farm from the rest of the forest, with Everest, Basil, and Page behind her. They emerged just in time to see Wink happily running toward them. Flying just above him was a small bat . . . Milo.

  When Stacy had learned over the summer that Page could communicate with bats, it had changed everything. Now, instead of patrolling the forest and looking for animals that might need rescuing, Stacy and the pack relied on a network of bats to bring them word of animals across the taiga that needed saving. It was a much more efficient system, and Milo was the bat who usually brought the news to Page. In fact, he’d even taken to sleeping in the cave with them on occasion.

  Milo hovered above Page for a moment. Then Page took off, running west. Everest and Wink followed behind her.

  “Thanks for the rescue tip, Milo,” Stacy said, saluting the tiny bat. “You probably can’t understand me, so I’m just talking to myself in the forest now. Um, you have a nice day, though.”

  Milo fluttered off toward the cave and Stacy turned to face Basil.

  “All right, girl,” Stacy said. “This is your first rescue since the lightning strike. Are you up for it?”

  Basil nodded eagerly and Stacy and the wolf set off after the group. They ran for just over a mile until they caught up with the others at the edge of the taiga. Just ahead was a small electrical substation that fed power to the nearby village. Stacy had seen the substation before, but now there was a trailer parked near it, with a large logo on its side that read Village Construction Co. Stacy didn’t see or hear any people, but her first instinct was to protect her wolves.

  “Guys, stay back,” she whispered. “Let Page and me scout this one.”

  Everest, Basil, and Wink obeyed Stacy’s command and quietly sank back into the bushes while Stacy and Page emerged from the brush to take a look around.

  The front of the trailer seemed to be deserted. They walked around to the back, and Stacy peered through a window. Inside were two dark-haired men—workers from the construction company, she guessed—with their heads close together in conversation. With a gasp, Stacy quickly ducked out of sight, pressing her back against the side of the trailer. She was tempted to slip back into the woods and get as far away from the humans as possible. But then she saw the animal they were meant to be rescuing.

  “Oh dear,” Stacy whispered, wishing it were actually a deer that needed rescuing . . . or a squirrel or fox or pine marten or anything other than this.

  Directly in front of her, trapped in a rectangular wire cage, was a porcupine.

  Stacy looked at the garbage cans next to the trailer, then back at the traps, and put two and two together.

  “Ugh,” she sighed. “Instead of carrying their trash out with them when they leave for the night, they set traps for the animals who are just looking for a meal. Humans.” She felt a su
rge of anger toward the two men in the trailer behind her.

  Page stared up at her blankly. She couldn’t really understand what Stacy was talking about, but she was smart enough to stay away from the porcupine. She kept a safe amount of space between her and the spiky creature.

  “All right, Everest,” Stacy said softly. She knew her wolves’ hearing was good enough that they could hear her. “You and Wink can come out. But stay low and quiet. Basil should stay there in case we have to make a run for it.”

  Everest and Wink slunk through the long grass over to where Stacy and Page were standing. Everest stopped at Stacy’s feet, waiting for her next command. Wink, on the other hand, kept going toward the porcupine.

  “We’ll have to thank Milo for this lovely rescue mission . . . WINK, STOP!” Stacy said as loudly as she dared. The curious wolf had stuck his nose through the cage mesh, sniffing at the frightened porcupine. But it was too late. Wink gave a sudden pained yelp.

  “Shh!” Stacy froze as she heard movement from the trailer behind her.

  “What was that?” a voice asked, and heavy footsteps came toward the back of the trailer.

  “Get down!” Stacy whispered, gesturing frantically to Wink. The wolf turned toward her with a face full of quills and, whining softly, crouched down in the long grass. Stacy ducked below the window and Everest and Page pressed against her. Stacy’s heart pounded.

  Don’t come out here, she thought. She didn’t think the man would be able to see them from the window, but if he came out of the trailer, he would be between them and the safety of the woods.

  The footsteps stopped by the trailer’s window. Stacy held her breath.

  There was silence for a moment, then the man said, “Nothing out there,” and Stacy heard his footsteps retreat. She stayed still, her hand on Page’s back to keep the little dog quiet, and waited until she heard the scrape of the man’s chair as he sat down at the table again. Then she hurried toward Wink.

  “Oh, Wink!” Stacy exclaimed in a whisper, looking at the sharp quills dotted across the wolf’s muzzle. “Poor thing, run home so Tucker can tend to you right away.”

  She watched as Wink hurried away, holding her breath as he passed the trailer. He got to the woods without the men noticing. I hope they stay where they are until we’re done, Stacy thought, and bent to examine the trap.

  The porcupine inside let out a high-pitched growl and backed away as far as it could, the quills on its back bristling. He’s so scared, Stacy thought. Why can’t humans leave the animals of the taiga alone?

  “It’s okay,” she said, trying to sound as soothing as possible. “We’re going to help you.” Her soft voice seemed to have an effect; after a moment, the porcupine’s quills lowered.

  Now that the porcupine had calmed, Stacy looked more closely at the trap. It was a big rectangular cage with one side—the door, she realized—slanting in toward the porcupine. There was a latch on the top.

  I think this will work. Stacy pushed down the latch and used her other hand to raise the slanted side of the cage so that it pressed against the cage roof, leaving an opening. Her hand almost brushed the porcupine’s head.

  “It’s okay,” she murmured. “It’s okay.” I really hope he doesn’t get scared enough to poke me with his quills.

  The porcupine didn’t bristle, but he didn’t move toward the opening, either. “Don’t be scared,” Stacy whispered. “Come out.” She glanced nervously back at the trailer. They couldn’t stay here too long. If the men came out, they’d see them.

  The porcupine took a tiny step forward, then hesitated, looking nervously from Stacy to Page. Something nudged Stacy’s side. Looking around, she saw Everest holding a long stick in his mouth.

  “Good idea,” she whispered. Taking the stick in one hand, she maneuvered it through the mesh at the top of the cage, so that it supported the cage door against the ceiling. Once the stick was in place, she let go and took several steps back. Everest and Page backed away, too. The stick held the door open.

  The porcupine cautiously poked his head out of the trapdoor and looked around, then took one step out of the cage, then another. Gaining confidence, he turned and quickly trotted away.

  Stacy watched the porcupine scamper off into the woods and then turned to see Everest carrying the metal cage in his teeth, toward the river.

  “Good idea, boy,” Stacy said approvingly. “Maybe they’ll learn not to trap animals when they’re in their own home.”

  Four

  STACY LOOKED DOWN at the steaming bowl of fish porridge in front of her.

  “Fish . . . for breakfast, Noah?” Stacy questioned. All of the wolves looked up enthusiastically from their respective wooden bowls. They were obviously enjoying Noah’s creation.

  Stacy ate a spoonful out of politeness, dumped the remaining portion into Page’s bowl while Noah’s back was turned, and promptly rooted around the cave’s cupboards for some jam and bread.

  A couple days had passed since the porcupine rescue, and the pack had eaten all the pumpkin they’d brought back to the cave that day and made quick work of Addison’s pie. Stacy thought it best to lie low for a few days in case any construction workers were trying to find their trap. That’s why the group’s breakfast consisted of fish that Noah had caught during his patrol a few nights before.

  Stacy was still rooting around for something better to eat when Addison entered the cave, back from her turn as the night patrol. She was carrying a newspaper from the village in her mouth. It wasn’t unusual for Addison to bring a paper home with her after her patrol shift. But today, instead of neatly placing it on the rocking chair for Stacy to read at her leisure, she angrily spat it from her mouth onto the floor where Stacy was standing.

  Stacy bent down to pick up the paper and gasped. There, on the front page, staring straight back at her, was Wink.

  Stacy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Why is Wink’s photo in the village newspaper? When (and for that matter, how) was this photo even taken? The wolves, all finished with their fish porridge, gathered around the table as Stacy read the accompanying article aloud.

  * * *

  ARCTIC WOLF SPOTTED IN NEARBY TAIGA FOREST

  * * *

  A tourist has captured a photo of what appears to be an Arctic wolf in the taiga forest east of the village during July’s forest fire.

  Lydia Summers, an amateur photographer, was visiting the forest the weekend the blaze broke out, and documented the firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the fire. Several months later, as she was deleting files to make room for new photos, she noticed something she hadn’t spotted before. In the background of one of her photos, a white wolf is visible.

  “I almost didn’t see him,” Summers said over the phone. “But he’s there, all right. Staring right back at me too, and . . . winking.”

  Based on the wolf’s apparent coloring and size, experts say this is an Arctic wolf—a type of wolf that has never been documented before in this territory, which is generally home to timber wolves.

  “I’m ninety-nine percent sure that’s an Arctic wolf,” said Dr. Wyatt Berg, an area wolf expert and the chair of the Department of Animal Sciences at Village State University. “What an Arctic wolf is doing this far south is unclear, but my students and I intend to find out.”

  Berg is currently planning a field trip to the forest in hopes of finding and observing the wolf, which he tells us could belong to a larger pack.

  This marks the second wolf sighting near the village this year. The first was last spring, when a wolf bounty was instituted due to timber wolves killing farmers’ livestock. Local experts believe the forest fire forced those wolves to relocate, and the bounty was lifted in August.

  The new wolf sighting will be discussed as an item at this week’s village council meeting on October 14.

  * * *

  “Well, great,” Stacy muttered. “Wink’s famous.”

  Stacy set down the paper and began pacing around the cave. She looked aro
und at the other wolves. Everest looked angrier than Stacy had ever seen him. His lip was curled up and he glared fiercely at Wink, who was still staring in bewilderment at his picture in the paper. Tucker and Basil had retreated to the cave entrance to keep watch, both looking nervous and alert. Noah was feeding an eager Page her second portion of fish porridge. And Addison was looking at Stacy, waiting to hear what she was going to say.

  This is bad, Stacy thought to herself. We’ve always had to be careful not to be spotted by campers, but, before this, we had the element of surprise on our side. No one expects to see an Arctic wolf here, so even if they did catch a glimpse of one of them, they might not realize what they had seen. But now . . . now they know to be on the lookout for white wolves. Stacy knew she couldn’t let the pack see how worried she was.

  “Okay, everyone,” Stacy began slowly. “Let’s focus on the positive. The wolf bounty is over. Yes, it’s still hunting season, so we still need to be careful, but no one should be hunting wolves anymore!”

  Stacy looked around at the wolves, expecting some excited tail wagging. Instead, they looked relieved but still slightly concerned—expressions Stacy realized were more realistic for when someone tells you that hunters aren’t actively trying to kill you anymore.

  “All right,” Stacy continued. “Second, the article didn’t mention building a ski slope or golf course or any type of vacation resort. That’s good, right? In fact, it might buy us some time if people are looking for this ‘elusive white wolf’ in the forest instead of starting construction. Of course, we’ll have to make sure they don’t find any. . . .”

  Stacy’s voice trailed off and she resumed pacing around the cave as the wolves settled down for their midmorning nap, their tails low with worry. So many thoughts were racing through her mind. And so many questions, too. There was one thing she was absolutely certain of, though.