by StacyPlays
Dedication
For Nan
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Map
Cast of Characters
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Stacy’s Favorite Words from the Book
Meet the Real-Life Milquetoast!
Get to Know a Bear Biologist!
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Books by Stacy Plays
Copyright
About the Publisher
Map
Cast of Characters
One
“HHHEELLLPPPP!” STACY SHOUTED at the top of her lungs. She was sliding down a steep mountainside, helpless against the avalanche that had carried her away from her wolf pack moments earlier.
Suddenly, everything around her stopped moving. She was trapped in the stillness—suspended in the snow, unable to tell which way was up or down. An eerie calm rushed over her . . . and then fear. The avalanche had subsided, and she hadn’t been carried off a cliff or broken any bones. But her current situation was worse—she had been buried under at least thirty feet of snow and would run out of oxygen in minutes . . . maybe even less.
I’m going to die, Stacy thought to herself. We’re going to die. She reached down into her satchel and stroked the lynx kitten’s tiny head. It stirred, too weak to do much else, and Stacy could feel the vibrations of its purrs against her fingertips. A tear crept out of the corner of one of Stacy’s eyes and froze on her cheek. She closed her eyes and thought of the happiest memory she could. It was two weeks ago, back in the taiga in the clearing outside of their cave, before they decided to journey to the tundra, before she knew about the elder wolves, before any of this had happened. . . .
“Three . . . two . . . one! Okay, ready or not, here I come!” Stacy opened her eyes and looked around the clearing. None of her wolves or Page were in sight, but Molly—the littlest and newest member of her pack—was sitting at her feet, staring up at her with a quizzical expression. Her head was cocked to one side, and her giant floppy ears hung like pigtails on either side of her white-and-brown-spotted face.
“I guess you don’t understand hide-and-seek, do you, girl?” Stacy said, reaching down to pat the small beagle on the head. “We need to go find the others . . . come!” That was a command Stacy was at least pretty sure the little dog knew. She’d only had Molly for about three months, but it was clear Molly’s previous owners hadn’t taught her many commands. They’d obviously not cared for her at all, which is how Molly had wound up lost and stranded on a ledge in the mesa biome, which is where Stacy and her pack of wolves had rescued her. But whatever Molly lacked in skills, she more than made up for with sloppy and enthusiastic kisses. She had barely left Stacy’s side all winter.
“Let’s try to find Page, girl,” Stacy said to Molly. “She doesn’t blend in as well as the wolves do.” Stacy set off through the taiga forest, scanning the snowy ground for any signs of fresh tracks. Stacy’s wolves—Everest, Basil, Noah, Addison, Tucker, and Wink—were all white with the exception of Addison, whose coat had tinges of brown and rust red. They didn’t have to work very hard to hide in the taiga, which had been blanketed in deep snow since they had arrived home right around Christmastime. It was now the end of March, and the snow, which just a few months ago had come up to Stacy’s waist, was beginning to thaw.
Ordinarily Stacy would have stuck out like a sore thumb in her usual outfit—a blue-and-white-striped long-sleeve shirt. But today she was wearing her winter coat, which was the same green as the spruce trees and had fake coyote fur trim around the hood. The coat, a gift from the only human who knew Stacy lived in the forest with a pack of wolves, was quickly becoming one of Stacy’s favorite possessions. It allowed her to walk around the forest with her wolves and finally feel like she was one of them—especially when she pulled the hood up over her head.
Droplet and Splat, Stacy’s two timber wolves, had dark coats mottled with patches of brown, black, and gray. Stacy and the pack hadn’t seen much of Droplet and Splat over the last few months. They hung around the cave during the holidays when Addison was baking tasty treats every day, but when Stacy’s pack returned to their normal diet of salmon and mushroom stew, Droplet and Splat disappeared into the taiga to hunt. Stacy didn’t mind this one bit—she knew that wild wolves needed to hunt to survive and keep the taiga’s ecosystem balanced. She guessed they were at least fifty miles away by now, deep in the taiga, and Stacy was just fine with that.
Suddenly, Stacy saw something out of the corner of her eye, a flash of something reddish with a streak of black that disappeared into an old hollow log on the ground: Page’s tail. Stacy walked slowly over to the log and leaned down to peer inside.
“Found you!” Stacy exclaimed. Page, startled, whipped around and stared back at Stacy. Molly wagged her tail in excitement and Page followed suit, happy that she had been found. And in that moment Stacy felt so happy to be in her home in the taiga, with her wolf family and two pet dogs.
“All right, Page,” Stacy said with a smile. “You’re on our team now. We’re the seekers. Let’s go find the others, shall we?”
Just as Stacy was talking to Page, a dusting of snow fell in front of her.
“But . . . it’s not snowing,” Stacy said, perplexed. She looked up into the towering spruce tree above her. “Everest?”
Stacy squinted her eyes and could just make out Everest, her pack’s largest wolf, perched in the treetops, the branch swaying under his weight. Stacy chortled at the sight of her largest wolf teetering on a branch that looked like it might break at any moment. I know you’re not afraid of heights, Everest, but be careful up there, Stacy thought. Everest immediately began to nimbly work his way down the massive spruce. Stacy was still getting used to the fact that Everest could hear her thoughts. She knew Everest was an exceptional wolf—he was their pack’s natural leader and the bravest of the group. Stacy even knew he was an unusual-looking wolf, with his pale silver eyes and mammoth size. But the fact that he was a supernatural wolf, with the ability to hear her thoughts as plainly as if she was speaking them, was something Stacy had only just discovered recently.
It made sense that Everest had this ability. Every wolf in her pack had developed one. It all began last spring, when Basil was struck by lightning. After she’d recovered from the shock, Basil had been able to run at speeds so fast she could leave a cheetah in her dust. She was also able to summon fire. Noah was the next to develop powers. He could breathe underwater just like the river fish he was so adept at catching. Addison had human-like intelligence and could read and solve math equations, and Tucker was the nurse of the pack. He was skilled at first aid and knew what flowers and plants to apply to wounds to help them heal faster. As for Wink . . . well, Wink was indestructible. He had survived a fall in the mesa that, for any other animal, should have been fatal. No big deal, Stacy thought to herself (although she was sure Everest was listening in intently). I’m living with the craziest pack of wolves in the world. Of course, Stacy was thrilled to learn the wolves’ secrets. She loved her pack more than anything; they were her family, and thei
r abilities were extremely useful to her pack’s mission of keeping the creatures of the taiga and its surrounding biomes safe from danger. But it is strange, she thought. Basil got her ability from the lightning strike. But how did my other wolves get their abilities? It was a question Stacy wasn’t even sure the wolves themselves knew the answer to.
Half an hour later, Stacy had found the hiding spots of Basil, Noah, Tucker, and Addison. It turned out Basil hadn’t been hiding at all, but rather she’d been following Stacy and quickly darting out of Stacy’s sight each time she turned her head. Noah had been the hardest to find—he’d sunk down to the bottom of a pond where he could hold his breath indefinitely. This time of year, the pond was a brilliant dark blue, and Stacy could just make out Noah’s white figure underneath the ripples. Stacy had to send Everest down to tell Noah he’d been found. Tucker had been hiding out in an abandoned beaver lodge; Page had sniffed his location out. As for Addison, she had apparently not been interested in the game at all and had used the time to forage for edible mushrooms buried beneath the snow. She’d tucked the mushrooms into the pack on her back, and Stacy suspected they were all going to have stew for dinner that night.
“Let’s head home,” Stacy said to the others as she turned and began walking in the direction of their cave. “Wink won. He’ll figure it out eventually.”
As the pack started off for home, Page and Molly walked directly beside Stacy. Everest and Basil led the way. Addison and Noah brought up the rear of the pack, and Tucker . . . Stacy realized Tucker was no longer with the group. She spun around, her eyes searching everywhere for him. And then she heard a sound that filled her with sudden dread—Tucker’s forlorn howl calling out from somewhere in the taiga.
Two
ALL THE WOLVES, and Page and Molly too, set off in the direction of Tucker’s howl. Stacy had no idea which direction Tucker’s call had come from, but it was obvious to the wolves and Page, so she was following behind them. It had started to rain, which began to thaw the snow. But Stacy didn’t let that slow her. She pumped her arms and ran as fast as she could after the pack, stumbling occasionally through patches of slushy snow.
Stacy caught up to where Page and Molly were and then nudged her way through the pack members to where Tucker was standing. Stacy saw what Tucker had been howling about. He was crouched low to the ground, gently poking an unconscious baby badger with his nose. Stacy let out a small gasp and then walked closer to examine the tiny creature.
The badger cub was gray with black paws and had two black stripes down either side of his face. The middle strip of his head was as white as the melting snow that was all around them. His eyes were shut tight, and the rain beat down on the badger’s face, trickling down the white stripe and dripping off his button nose. Stacy knew that badgers were not particularly cuddly animals, but she couldn’t help but fall in love.
“Tucker, is it . . . ?” Stacy whispered, but trailed off after she got a good look at the poor creature. The baby badger looked icy and stiff. It needed to be underground with its mother and the rest of its clan. But for whatever reason, it had been out in the cold too long and appeared frozen. Tucker picked up the baby badger by the nape of its neck, lay down, and placed it in the center of his body, curling protectively around the tiny lifeless mammal.
Heat began to emanate from Tucker’s body, melting the snow around him and blanketing Stacy and the pack. Stacy couldn’t believe what she was feeling. It was almost as if she was standing in front of the cave’s fireplace. Tucker had always given the best hugs out of any of her wolves and, if she was being honest, was the wolf she loved snuggling next to the most at night. But could it be that Tucker was able to increase his body heat to whatever temperature he desired?
Stacy thought back to when Basil had been recuperating from her lightning strike. Tucker never left her side. Had he been keeping her warm then? Performing some other type of healing art that Stacy couldn’t see? Stacy wondered how powerful Tucker’s healing abilities really were.
Suddenly, the baby badger wiggled its nose. And then opened its eyes. Stacy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. In a matter of seconds, Tucker had been able to raise the baby badger’s body temperature and bring it back to life. She threw her arms around him.
“Tucker, you’re amazing!” Stacy shouted into his soft white fur. The baby badger stood up and looked adoringly at Tucker, who in turn gave the badger a slobbery kiss. The badger, full of energy now, scampered past Stacy and the pack and into its burrow just a few feet away, at the base of a large spruce tree.
“Keep warm,” Stacy called after it. “It’ll be springtime soon!”
Wink was waiting at the cave when Stacy and the pack returned. He spun around a few times in circles and then gave a few excited barks.
“Yes, boy,” Stacy said. “You won that game. You’re the champ.”
Stacy ran to give Wink a quick nuzzle and then stepped into the cave and looked around. The cave had undergone quite a few changes in the months that had passed since they’d returned from the mesa. During the winter, while the wolves were running around during the frequent snowstorms in the taiga, Stacy was stuck inside and so she filled the time working on lots of cave improvement projects. The first thing she’d done was make dog beds for Page and Molly. She whittled down spruce logs into planks and used dovetail joints to join them into boxes with open tops. She’d found a discarded old sleeping bag at the forest’s campground that she cut into two pieces and placed inside the wooden frames. But even after she made the dog beds, Page and Molly still usually wound up sleeping with Stacy, snuggled among all the wolves on the cave floor. The effort wasn’t wasted, though. It was nice for them to have a place of their own to go to nap during the day. Molly loved to nap and was delighted when Stacy positioned her bed closest to the fireplace. Stacy also crafted wooden bowls for both Page and Molly and carved their names into each. They were smaller than the wolves’ wooden bowls, and lighter color as they were carved from birch, but they fit in nicely with the cave’s rustic décor.
The next project Stacy completed was a contraption for her chicken, Fluff, so the eggs she laid in her roost at the top of the bookshelves could roll down into a basket without breaking. It made it easy for Addison to collect them whenever she was baking.
Speaking of baskets, Stacy had also gone a little basket crazy. She’d spent a lot of her time indoors crafting baskets out of willows that Noah had brought to her. They weren’t perfect baskets, and you could tell which ones Stacy weaved first because they were the most misshapen.
There were baskets all over the cave now: a basket for Fluff’s eggs, another for the bread Stacy and Addison baked frequently. A basket with a lid for the few items of clothing Stacy owned. A large basket for all the squash and pumpkins she’d harvested that fed her and the wolves during the winter months. A basket near the fireplace to keep small kindling for Basil to use when she tended to the fire. A basket for the newspapers Addison would fetch for her from the village so that they could do the crossword puzzle together.
Stacy had also made a new broom out of a sturdy birch twig and pine boughs to replace the one she’d worn out sweeping the floor of the cave. And on one particularly cold morning when Stacy was really bored, she’d carved the initials of each member of the pack around the cave’s fireplace.
Stacy was proud of the work she’d done around the cave, but she was relieved the snow was thawing. She couldn’t wait to get back to what she and her pack did best: animal rescues. And while she loved the fall and winter seasons in the taiga, spring and summer were definitely her favorites. When the weather warmed she could spend as much time as she wanted outdoors with her pack and her pets—exploring new parts of the forest with Everest, going for long walks with Tucker, picking wildflowers and huckleberries with Basil and Addison, playing fetch with Wink, and swimming in the river with Noah.
After the long game of hide-and-seek, Stacy and all the wolves lay down to nap near the cave’s hearth. Molly curle
d up in her bed and looked expectantly at Basil, who stood and walked over to the hearth. Instantly, a fire was roaring, and Molly quickly nodded off. Page took her usual spot in the crook of Stacy’s right arm, her head resting gently on Stacy’s chest. Addison and Stacy fell asleep quickly, leaning against Tucker, who, she noticed, still felt warm.
Stacy woke up to the smell of mushroom stew. Addison was cooking at the hearth. Only Tucker, Molly, and Page were still sleeping. Wink and Noah were wrestling while Basil set the wolves’ bowls out in preparation for the stew. Everest wasn’t there—Stacy suspected he was out patrolling the forest. Even though there was no longer a wolf bounty (where hunters were paid to kill wolves) and the taiga had been declared a national forest, Stacy knew that Everest was still worried about humans discovering where Stacy and the pack lived. He kept his guard up, especially as they now had Page and Molly to protect as well. And after the close brush Noah had with Dr. Berg and his research team last fall, Stacy couldn’t say that she blamed him for being concerned. If only she could read Everest’s thoughts the way he could read hers.
Stacy wondered if she had to be looking at Everest for him to be able to read her thoughts. Could I think of something now and he would hear me no matter where he was in the taiga? She looked over at Addison, who was tasting her stew with a pleased expression. Molly was still asleep, but Tucker and Page had woken up and were both groggily looking around the cave. Suddenly, Everest came bounding in and ran over to Stacy and gave her a lick. Well, that answers that, she thought. I guess we’re connected no matter where in the taiga the other is.
Stacy was still thinking about all the ways Everest’s telepathy could come in handy as she peered out of the cave’s entrance at the setting sun. She reached for her jacket, zipping it up and smoothing out her hair. Stacy had almost forgotten that she had an appointment today and wouldn’t be joining the pack for their stew supper.