Seven

STACY CLOSED HER eyes and took a shallow breath. She almost didn’t dare breathe at all. Slowly, she turned her head back around to the wolves to see if they’d also spotted the growing crack in the shale slab. Everest had. He was staring intensely at it, almost willing the crack to not spread any more than it already had. Addison’s, Wink’s, and Noah’s eyes were all trained on Stacy. All the while she crooned a lullaby to keep the little dog, and the wolves, calm:

    Hush, little doggy, don’t howl or moan.

    Stacy’s gonna bring you a nice big bone.

    And if that bone’s gone when you wake,

    Stacy’s gonna bring you a juicy steak.

    And if Wink steals that steak from you,

    Stacy’s gonna bring—

Stacy had always wondered where she had learned the original version of that song. It was as if she had always known it. She had been making up her own words to the melody for so long that she didn’t even remember how the song was supposed to be sung. Now wasn’t the time for memories anyway. She shook it off and replaced it with determination.

I can do this, she thought.

Stacy took one more shallow breath in and leaned forward, now completely reliant on the rope that Wink and Noah were still holding on to. She began to reach her arm out toward the dog. Only, she didn’t have to. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, the dog leapt onto Stacy’s head and then leapt again onto the shale behind her, causing the crack to double in size and spread quickly up toward Stacy. The dog scurried off the slab and past Everest and Addison to safety.

“That works, too,” Stacy grumbled matter-of-factly, spinning around quickly and jumping toward the wolves as the shale cracked in half and fell into the magma, sizzling as it sunk.

Stacy fell to her knees and gave all the wolves big hugs, beginning with Everest. His eyes were stern, but Stacy knew that was because he loved her. Addison gave her big, slurpy kisses and Wink and Noah nuzzled her cheeks.

Stacy scooped up the little dog that had caused so much trouble. It eyed them all curiously. It didn’t seem to be afraid of them any longer, but Stacy didn’t trust it not to run. After all they risked saving it, she needed to make sure it was unhurt.

She ran her hands up and down its body and then its legs. There were no visible cuts or obvious broken bones. There was a small burn on her foot—yes, it was a girl—which Noah was already treating with tender licks. But other than that, the dog seemed fine. And she was accepting Noah’s attention with a calm poise.

“I guess you’ve decided wolves are okay after all,” Stacy said, giving her a good scratch. “Now let’s go home. You need to rest. We all do.”

The walk back to the hole that led up to the mine seemed a lot longer on the way back. Everyone was exhausted by the heat and the effort they had made. Stacy had drunk all the water in her canteen, so the wolves and the dog licked at the water droplets that ran down the cave walls as their elevation got higher. Stacy welcomed air that had seemed scorching on the way down, but now felt cool compared to the blistering heat generated by the magma.

“Maybe we should find a way to plug that hole when we get back up there,” Stacy said as they neared the deep chasm that had led them from the mine to the dog. “That way, no other animals will find themselves in the same position as this little pooch here.”

Everyone—including the pooch—shot her a double take. There were no words required for Stacy to know what that meant.

“Okay, okay,” she answered. “We’ll come back another day. We’re too exhausted to do a good job now anyway.”

Stacy gave Everest’s head a quick pat. He would suffer more than any of the others if something were to happen to her. The other wolves had him to turn to and rely on, but Everest and Stacy relied on each other.

A minute later they reached the bottom of the deep hole and Stacy was shouting up to Tucker and Basil, who howled with relief when they heard Stacy’s voice and Everest’s low rumble.

“You’re up first, Noah,” Stacy said, tying the dangling rope around him. Then she shouted up to Basil, who used the cart’s lever to reverse the pulley system. Once Noah had reached the top, they dropped the rope again.

Addison went next and then Wink. Everest insisted on being raised last, so Stacy, with the dog in her arms, was lifted next.

There was another joyful reunion when Everest finally made it to the top and they were all together again.

“And this is our dog,” Stacy said. “She doesn’t have a name yet, but she’s coming home with us—at least for now.” She put her own nose up against the dog’s. “For as long as she wants.”

The dog seemed to understand. She wagged her tail and jumped into the mine cart with Stacy. The torch had long since burned out, but they had the track to follow. Stacy pumped the lever to get them started. Going uphill was harder than going down, so Tucker and Basil got behind and pushed—the others were too exhausted. With each foot they rose, the air got clearer and cooler. It wasn’t long before Stacy was shivering. She couldn’t wait to bed down among her wolves, warmed by their thick fur.

But bed was a long way off. It took quite a bit of time to reach the entrance to the old iron mine, and then there was the deep ravine to climb up before they made their way to the taiga.

Now that the danger was over, Stacy became aware of every scrape and bump she’d earned on their climb up the ridge and their race down the cave. Her eyes were red and sore from all the salty sweat. And her arms were exhausted with the effort of holding the sleeping dog.

They all needed baths in clean, cool water and they needed to take care of their wounds. And most of all they needed sleep.

They got closer to their part of the taiga. The sky changed from black to purple to gray as the sun began to rise. Even with the light, Stacy stumbled a couple times before Basil lowered herself by Stacy’s side to invite her to climb on, dog in arms.

Stacy did so, and buried her face in Basil’s fur, smelling the scorching sulfur stench that had permeated every inch of them when they were deep in the cave.

They reached the mouth of their cave and Stacy tumbled off Basil onto the floor—too tired to even try to stand. She laid the dog down and simply sat with her head against the wall, trying to keep her eyes open. There were things she needed to do.

Noah pushed a water bucket in Stacy’s direction and she drank until her stomach couldn’t hold any more. Then, without cleaning her wounds, without making sure that everyone was taken care of, or even that the dog was really settled, Stacy allowed Tucker and Everest to lead her to their sleeping area. She was only vaguely aware of the wolves quietly padding around her as she dropped off to sleep.