Four

STACY SAT AT her desk in the back of the cave and stared at the runes in her journal. It was the next day, and Pipsqueak was already showing signs of improvement. She had been giving him the medicine, and he had slept for a long time, almost the entire night. Everest had woken up with him very early and helped him to take a few bites of pumpkin. It was now late afternoon, and he’d eaten a portion of fish around noon and even showed a few signs of wanting to play with Milquetoast. Stacy hadn’t nearly enough money to pay the bill for Pip’s care, but Dr. Kay told Stacy she could work off what she owed by helping at the animal hospital in the summer when Stacy wasn’t in school. Stacy hadn’t bothered to tell Dr. Kay that she didn’t go to school. Stacy hadn’t decided what to do about Miriam’s offer. She still wasn’t sure how she really felt about it. She also wasn’t sure what Addison would think, and she didn’t want to tell any of the wolves just yet, either. She had been trying her hardest not to think about it ever since she got back to the taiga, which had proved impossible. Stacy suspected Everest already knew.

Stacy put the thought out of her mind again and went back to looking at the rune in her journal. Lqcca. Auiom. Patpb. Irrpe. This has got to be another language that I don’t know. Stacy was frustrated. If I can’t figure this rune out, how am I supposed to go to a school where I don’t know anyone and I haven’t learned any of the things they’ve learned? I will definitely be the dumbest one in my class. Maybe Miriam was just trying to be nice.

Everest walked over from where he was watching Pipsqueak and nuzzled her shoulder. You must know what I’m thinking about, Everest, but nothing has been decided. Everest gave her an understanding nod. Just then, Addison walked over to Stacy. The spectacled wolf bent over Stacy’s shoulder, looking at the runes. The two of them stared at the page until Stacy’s eyes hurt. The unfamiliar shapes all began to blur together for her. Suddenly, Addison nudged Stacy’s shoulder, breaking Stacy from her trance. Stacy looked to Addison, whose eyes were darting around wildly at Stacy’s scrawls. Then, Addison took her nose and pressed it to the page of Stacy’s journal, dragging it down the letters.

“L . . . a . . . p . . . i . . . s,” Stacy read aloud as Addison moved her nose. “Lapis!”

Stacy jumped up from her wooden stool. I know that word! Stacy knew lapis lazuli was a deep blue metamorphic rock found in caves. The words aren’t meant to be read horizontally; they’re written vertically!

“Addi, you’re a genius,” Stacy said, rubbing the wolf’s head and sitting back down. She quickly read the rest of the words. Quartz. Citrine. Copper. Amber. Garnet. All gemstones. Was the tundra explorer also a geologist? Was this just a list of the various rocks she’d uncovered in the different biomes she’d traveled to?

Stacy walked over to her rocking chair and sat down. She wasn’t sure what she had expected when she began her translations, but this certainly wasn’t it. She’d hoped the rune would have contained some secret information about the wolves—something the tundra explorer couldn’t risk writing down so that just anyone could find it and read it, but something important that needed to be recorded. Something someone like Stacy—a person who also knew the rune language and about the wolves’ powers—would need to know. There had been no traces of gemstones in the glacier cavern and no mention of mining in the first entry of the journal Stacy had translated. What am I missing?

A week passed, and Pipsqueak continued to progress. For all his balking at having another animal in the cave, Everest had taken a real liking to Pipsqueak. Milquetoast loved Pipsqueak too and groomed him every day. He had finished his medicine and, just as Dr. Kay predicted, his appetite had returned. He could eat almost a whole salmon by himself now, which Stacy thought was a remarkable feat for a cat who was still so tiny.

Stacy hadn’t looked at the rune since that first day back. She had set it aside and had been busying herself with chores around the cave. Since springtime was nearly in full swing, there was lot to accomplish. Stacy had worked for several days with Wink to chop wood to stack inside the cave, where it would stay dry. Spring was a strange season in the taiga. It could be sunny one hour and hailing the next. And there would inevitably be one or two surprise springtime snowstorms. Stacy wanted to have plenty of firewood to keep the cave warm.

The next day, however, was sunny, and Stacy decided it was a good day for a trip to the river. Noah would be able to fish for salmon there this time of year. Stacy wanted to dry a lot of fish skin to have around as treats for everyone. She and Addison had spent a lot of time over the past week drying the fish Noah had caught on their tundra expedition.

A trip to the river would also give Stacy the opportunity to wash all her winter clothes and store them for the season. And while they were there, she could forage for some wild asparagus. Sadly, it was too early in the year to find blackberries, Stacy’s favorite. But if she found asparagus, perhaps she and Addison could attempt to make the breakfast Stacy had eaten at the diner. She’d been dreaming about it ever since.

Everest decided to stay with Pipsqueak and Milquetoast, along with Tucker, who was still sleeping more during the day than usual. And Addison had left the cave early to work the land over at the little grove where they farmed. Stacy suspected she wouldn’t have wanted to go to the river anyway. Addison hates it when her glasses get wet.

This left Noah, Basil, Wink, Page, and Molly to accompany Stacy to the river. The six of them set off together. Basil wore a pack filled with Stacy’s winter clothes. Stacy carried her satchel, as well as a folded-up piece of tarp to hold all the fish Noah would catch. It was the same tarp her wolves had used to carry Noah into the cave a few weeks ago when he’d been unconscious from a tranquilizer dart. He’d been able to sleep off the sedation in the cave, but boy, was Stacy grateful they’d had the tarp with them then.

The taiga was wet. Tiny droplets of dew were everywhere she looked on the way to the river, but Stacy knew the sun would soon dry everything up. A family of deer crossed in front of them, unfazed by Stacy and her clan, even Page and Molly. This made Stacy smile. She and her animals had truly become part of the forest. Stacy reached into her satchel and pulled out a handful of lingonberries to snack on while they walked.

The group reached the river and walked north along the shore for thirty minutes until they reached the waterfall where Stacy had once rescued a small rabbit with Everest and Noah. The waterfall was powerful during this time of year when all the snow from the mountains was melting. Stacy was grateful for the thundering noise from the falls—no one would be able to hear them as they splashed, barked, and yelled. The six of them spent an hour playing and soaking in the small hot springs Noah located on the west riverbank near the waterfall. Noah and Basil had a swimming competition to see who could swim the fastest while Stacy and Page treaded water, basking in the warmth of the water and the midday sun. Wink decided to climb to the top of the waterfall and jump several times, and Molly—poor Molly—sat on the shore of the river, determined not to get wet.

Eventually, Stacy and Page swam back across the river to where Molly was patiently waiting. Stacy spread out the tarp for Noah’s fish and got to work washing her clothes while Page and Molly napped. Basil decided to help Noah with his fishing while Wink was off gallivanting somewhere. Stacy finished washing her clothes and laid them out to dry. She took the tundra explorer’s journal and her own out from her satchel and began to translate another entry. When she was finished, she sat back and read it.

Spent the day with the male on the tundra, exercising his abilities, several of which have developed since I’ve come to live here. My current hypothesis is this new (or ancient?) species of wolves develop and deepen their powers throughout their lives. Whether they are born with them or they evolve, it is unclear, and I do not expect to know until our first litter of pups are born. His abilities are extraordinary—he can summon fire, freeze and unfreeze ice under his paws and, what is perhaps his strongest and oldest ability, he is able to show me past events by triggering memories in my mind—memories that are not even mine, but are his. I’ve taken to calling him Ames—short, of course, for Amethyst.

Stacy stared at the last word of the journal entry. And then remembered the elder wolf’s piercing purple eyes. His name was Amethyst? Stacy flipped back to the rune she was trying to make sense of and then looked around at the wolves who had come to the river with her. Noah’s blue eyes: lapis. Basil: citrine. Wink was back from his adventure, the now-setting sun glinting off his deep brown gaze: garnet. It’s their names! Everest’s eyes were silver like quartz, Tucker’s were copper, and Addison’s were amber. Stacy looked at the rune. It all made sense to her now. The rune was a perfect family tree. Stacy’s wolves were the descendants of the tundra explorer’s two wolves: Amethyst and Diamond. Diamond. The wolf with prismatic eyes from the vision! Their mother! And by that logic . . . there were two other wolves living in the mesa, Alpha and Beta, and . . . and four wolf pups! Stacy sat in stunned silence. Diamond was crossed out in the ice cave and Ames was alone. I think that means she died. But there might be more magical wolves in the mesa? And maybe that’s where the tundra explorer is too. We’ve got to go to the mesa!

Stacy knew this wasn’t the ideal time to take a trip away from the taiga, since Pipsqueak was only just regaining his strength, but the more she thought about the idea, the more she had to admit she liked it. Every other time she and her wolves had left the taiga, it had not been of their own volition. They were running away from guns: hunting rifles and tranquilizer darts. This time will be different. This time it’s on our terms. And Tucker will probably want to stay behind with the cats, which would be good since he still needs plenty of rest.

Suddenly, Everest bounded into view, panting heavily as if he’d just sprinted from the cave to where Stacy was sitting on the bank of the river. Oh, so you heard what I’ve been thinking about, have you, Everest? Well, let me have it. You probably think it’s a terrible idea, right? Stacy looked up from folding her clothes and into Everest’s big gray eyes. She was surprised. You . . . you want to go? Stacy saw it right away in his expression. Longing. And Stacy understood completely. If there was even the smallest chance that she could find her family, she would jump at it. Her parents had died in a tragic accident—an accident she had survived. Stacy didn’t like to think about it too much; she was happy with her life in the taiga after all. But she couldn’t blame Everest for wanting to find more of his kind. And it had been her idea anyway!

“Everyone, gather round,” Stacy said to the others who were still splashing around at the river’s edge. “We’re going back to the mesa!”