Epilogue

STACY COULD BARELY see where she was going over the tall stack of books she was carrying home to her cave in the taiga. It was September now and, despite all her worrying, Stacy’s first day of school in the village could not have gone better. Addison and Everest had walked her to the school in the morning—Everest camouflaged himself and Addison as they neared the schoolhouse. Addison gave her a packed lunch and her pair of drugstore reading glasses for Stacy to borrow. Stacy gave Addison the biggest hug good-bye before nervously entering the building. But all of Stacy’s fretting had been for nothing. Her teacher was patient and easy to understand, her classmates were kind and welcoming, and not once did Stacy feel as if she was too dumb to be in the class she was. In fact, she could remember at least five times during the day when she had raised her hand to answer a question the teacher asked—and had answered correctly! Now she was heading home and she couldn’t be more excited to tell Addison all about how the day had gone and what she had learned.

Stacy and the wolves had experienced a very uneventful summer, which, after everything that had happened over the last year, was perfectly fine with her. She had spent most of the summer volunteering at the Village County Animal Shelter and planting saplings around the taiga to regrow areas the villagers demolished the previous summer. She also finished working off Pipsqueak’s veterinary bill by assisting Dr. Kay at the animal hospital and even made a little bit of extra money washing dishes for Miriam at the diner. She’d stashed away some of the money she earned in the tin on her bookshelf in case one of her animals had another emergency that required a trip to the vet. The rest of the money she spent on a few new outfits to wear to school; some school supplies; and collars for Page, Molly, Milquetoast, and Pipsqueak. Lastly, she purchased a new journal to replace her old one that she had completely filled with stories of everything that had transpired over the last year—everything from animal rescues in the taiga, Page’s rescue, the timber wolf pack and the forest fire, her pack’s first trip to the mesa, Molly’s rescue, their expedition on the tundra and—most recently—their adventure with the mesa pack to the beach and their transformation into the sentinels in the deep ocean.

Speaking of transformations, the cave that Stacy, her pets, and her wolves called home in the taiga had undergone a bit of a transformation as well. Addison, Tucker, Wink, and Basil had surprised Stacy while she was away and had expanded the cave. They were likely preparing for a scenario in which Stacy brought the mesa pack home to live with them if the tropical island had proved uninhabitable, however their improvements were still much appreciated considering Stacy now had four pets living in the cave. First, Basil had created a small chamber near the cave’s hearth for proper chest storage—a place where they could keep extra food and supplies, including lots of firewood for the cold months in the taiga. Meanwhile, Tucker, Wink, and Addison had dug out the back wall of the cave, expanding the room significantly. Next to the cave’s small spring of water, Tucker and Wink had dragged in a fallen birch tree and propped it up as a perfect makeshift cat tower for Milquetoast and Pipsqueak to play and nap on. And opposite that area, Addison had expanded Stacy’s bookshelf—giving Stacy additional space to spread out her homework and keep the growing collection of books she was borrowing from the village library. Part of Miriam registering Stacy for school in August had meant Stacy getting her own library card. Stacy could check out science books on whatever topics she wanted. And that’s just what she’d done.

As she approached the clearing near the cave, Stacy stepped in a patch of soft podzol and lost her footing—the stack of books in her arms swaying back and forth. They were just on the verge of toppling over when suddenly a large tail appeared, steadying the books before they crashed down around Stacy.

“Thanks, Everest,” Stacy said. “That would have been disastrous.”

Stacy and Everest walked into the cave where Addison and Noah were busy canning cat food to keep in the pantry for the winter. Noah was having a hard time keeping up with Pipsqueak’s appetite, so they were trying to get a supply saved so he didn’t have to fish every day. It had been a pretty big shock for Stacy when she had arrived home with Noah and Everest to find that Pipsqueak was no longer a scrawny kitten, but a giant fluffy cat twice the size of Milquetoast. Stacy smiled lovingly at Addison and Noah and then stepped over Wink and Tucker, who were sleeping in front of the fire, on her way to set her books down at her desk. Basil had already left for the night to start her shift of patrol duty on the ridge above their cave. Next, Stacy walked over to see Milquetoast and Pipsqueak, who were hanging out on their birch tree cat tower. Stacy picked Pipsqueak up—she needed both her arms to hold him now. He purred loudly. Milquetoast hopped down from the highest perch on the birch tree and climbed onto Stacy’s shoulders while Page and Molly ran over to greet Stacy.

Stacy walked back over to her desk and sat down to begin writing in her new journal. She took a fresh pen out of her box of school supplies and began to write in her mother’s language, in which she was now fluent.

My name is Stacy. If you are reading this, then you have also discovered the secret I discovered—and that my mother first discovered—of a new wolf species. I implore you to keep this secret and join me in my fight to protect them and use their powers for good in the world. I have no doubt that the wolves you are with have changed your life, the way my life was forever changed by Everest, Basil, Addison, Noah, Tucker, Wink, Atlas, Ribsy, Paisley, and Pearl. They’ve given me a purpose and a love for the natural planet and the animals in it. They’ve given me a family of pets to care for and who care for me. I don’t know where I will be when you are reading this, as I expect my work with the wolves to take me on many adventures all over the world. But I hope you will join me. Join me in being a guardian of the forest and a sentinel of the ocean. Join me . . . in being a wild rescuer.

THE END.