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Anti sat in the sled he had made for himself. Ropes of twine were attached to Leotie and Tala as the two girls pulled him through the woods. It was impossible for him to keep up any other way.
“The scent is moving this way.” Izrah kept her nose to the ground and lead the way.
Leotie tired of pulling the sled and longed for her turn to sniff out the trail.
“Could you all please stop,” Anti said from behind. “I have to pee.”
Leotie tried not to grumble at yet another break.
Anti took the twine ropes off them. “You girls take a break, and I’ll be right back.”
They found a grassy area and lay down. Anti headed behind a large tree. Tala and Izrah licked the tops of their paws. Leotie had the same urge, but refused and couldn’t help thinking to herself over and over again that she was stuck forever as a wolf.
She tried to rest, but an uneasy feeling filled her. A slight breeze came from behind. Leotie turned around. The branches of a small tree and some brush rattled as if blown by the wind, except everything else was still. She looked hard and saw something gray moving. Then it disappeared. Could Markus be watching us?
“Markus!” she thought. “Why do you spy on us?”
“What are you doing?” Tala asked.
“I thought I saw someone watching us, and that person needs to be a man and stop hiding.” Leotie nudged her nose toward the tree.
Tala looked and put her head back down. “That could’ve been anything.”
Leotie sat down again. Next to her in the dirt, she found an arrow head. She wanted to put it in her pouch, but it would be such a struggle. Tala and Izrah had dozed off, so she didn’t want to ask for their help.
Leotie looked at her hairy paw and grimaced, thinking back to when she had hands. She pictured her smooth skin, instead of hair. Then for a moment, the hair on her paw shrank back, leaving a patch of tan skin. Leotie flinched and the wolf hair came right back.
“Izrah, Tala! I just somehow shortened the hair on my paw!” Leotie shouted in her mind.
The two jumped up.
“Look!” She held her paw out to them, concentrated, imagining smooth skin, and the hair became shorter until it was gone for a few seconds, and came back when she stopped thinking about it.
“That’s amazing,” Izrah thought.
“How did you do that?” Tala asked.
“I imagined I had skin instead of hair.” She did it again, but every time she thought of something else or looked away, the hair came back.
Izrah and Tala tried and tried, but nothing happened.
“I don’t see how you can do this, because I can’t,” Tala thought in a whiny tone.
“Neither can I,” Izrah thought.
Tala looked to the side. “Maybe Leotie is turning into a skin walker, seeing as she saw her own skin.”
“Oh Great Spirit, no!” Leotie thought loudly.
“What are you girls doing over there?” Anti asked, hobbling over.
Leotie held her paw out for him to see. He leaned down as she repeated the process.
Anti bolted upright, oddly fast for him. It was a while before he spoke. “That’s incredible.” He paused, in deep thought. “From the old stories, we know that skin walkers can change form. You must be getting this ability already. How about Tala and Izrah?”
Tala and Izrah shook their heads.
“I’m getting some of my true form on my own!” Leotie thought. The ability to imagine seemed to have something to do with it – if only she could hold the memories in her mind. She could see how one could look like a skin walker if these attempts went even further. Leotie planned to practice to achieve human form so she would never need Markus.
“Yeah, yeah, congratulations.” Tala went back to the sled and picked up a rope with her mouth.
“You’ll be able to do it too soon.” Leotie took the other rope.
The group started walking again along the trail until, at sunset, they heard voices coming from a camp ahead.
They followed Anti as close as they could to the camp. Watching from behind trees, they saw a small camp of brush shelters. They spied and recognized several men from their tribe, and only a few women. Leotie feared they were the only survivors. Several of them sat around a small fire while she spotted several men posted at various guard positions around the camp, no doubt in fear of another attack from the outlanders.
“It seems to be mostly the remaining men of our tribe,” Anti said. “I must go ahead and talk to them. You all get some sleep, and I’ll return to you in the morning, hopefully with an answer.”
“Keme?” Leotie asked.
“Don’t worry. I’ll look for him.” Anti headed off.
“Come on, Leotie. Let’s get some rest,” Izrah thought.
“Yeah right, as if I could sleep.” She watched him walk out of view, but it was all she could do not to go running into the camp.
