Wolf In Pup's Clothing

I awoke to the bell ringing again. After the witch and king had left, I’d watched for an opportunity to leave my hiding spot. But the girl and the phony Kanchana had started searching for me in the bedroom and I wasn’t sure where else I could go. I decided to take a nap instead. Surely the people had to sleep at some time. I figured I could leave when they did. As before, the bell signified that someone was waiting at the door. This time, the visitor was a man wearing a funny costume and carrying a box. He didn’t stay long. Kanchana placed a stack of leaves in his hand and then traded him for the package, which was beginning to emit a smell. My stomach rumbled as the top was flung off and a cloud of steam rose out. “Pizza!” The boy yelled, scooping out a handful of the contents. “Pit-sa,” I mouthed. The language of these people was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. It seemed to be a broken mix of my own and something else. “Quit picking off the pepperoni!” Evie hissed, smacking at the boy’s hand. Overwhelmed by the smell of food, I almost stepped out from hiding. But the imposter Kanchana had gotten up from the table and was walking in my direction. “Where’s Wolfie?” She asked, bending over to look under various pieces of furniture. “Oh!” Yelled the boy. “I forgot he was outside. He’s probably hungry too.” After the disappointment of Kanchana not remembering me, I didn’t dare hope that Wolf would, if in fact this was the same wolf at all. “Don’t let him on the table!” Kanchana warned as the boy came back into view. I squinted at the squirming bundle he carried in his arms. He set the object on the ground. “What is that?” I whispered in alarm. The furry mass shot forward and looped around, wiggling back and forth as if it lacked a backbone. “Go eat your own food!” The boy told it, shoving the creature away with his foot. “I can’t believe your Mom let you get a dog,” Kanchana was saying as I dropped quietly to the floor. “She says it will help us adjust.” The furry animal had noticed my movement and was bounding over to investigate. I darted behind a shoe. “Wolf?” I spoke softly. It sniffed the spot where I had been. “Wolf, is that you?” Its great shaggy face swung in my direction. “What did they do to you?!” Not only had they shrank him, but they seemed to have taken his wits too. “Can you speak?” It whined and cocked its head as if questioning me. “Are you under a spell?” No reply. “How. Did. You. Get. Here?” Nothing. I stared at the dumb furry creature for a while. It stared back. Suddenly, it leapt forward, attacking the shoe violently. I screamed and shoved at its nose with my hands. “Wolfie!” The boy shouted. “What are you doing?” Both the girl and the boy jumped up from the table. “Is he killing another lizard?” Evie cried out. The boy ran over to where we were at, just as I dove behind the other shoe. “No! Bad boy!” He shouted, grabbing the furry animal by the skin of its neck. “He’s trying to eat your shoes again.” While the boy was preoccupied, I darted around the corner and down the hall. Although it was the last place I wanted to be, I took refuge back in the room I had landed in. “That was NOT Wolf!” I thought with certainty. “What was I thinking? That thing could have eaten me!” Just as I was reaching the bed on stilts, the furry creature ran in after me. It sat beside the bed and barked. “What do you want? Shoo!” But it continued making noise, like an alarm notifying the humans where I was hiding. The girl, Evie, appeared in the doorway. “You are being very bad tonight,” she scolded the animal. Picking it up with difficulty, she made her way to the door and shoved it out. I ducked as she turned around and surveyed the room. I could feel her eyes looking for me. Then she left and the door slammed shut. “No!” I screamed. "Not again." I was back to where I had begun, trapped in a closed room with no way out. Why did everything keep leading me back to this moment? What was I doing wrong? I sat down on the bed and tried to assess the situation. But anger clouded my thoughts making me jump to irrational conclusions. Why had the Phoenix sent me here? Maybe the Phoenix was in cahoots with the Queen. Maybe this was a trap to get rid of me! But why the elaborate scheme? The Queen had proven herself fully capable of killing my kind with much less effort. Perhaps this was just a dream. I pinched myself. “Ow.” I couldn’t imagine the Phoenix working on the same side as Queen White. The thought felt all wrong. “Maybe I’m supposed to find something!” I said aloud, looking around the room with new eyes. “This would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to keep hiding.” How was I going to find what I was looking for without getting caught? Just then the door opened. I resisted the urge to hide again. But instead of a person walking through, a small arm darted in and dropped something on the ground. Then it darted back out and the door closed behind it with a click. I waited for a moment before flying over. On the ground was a perfectly round and flat piece of meat. “Pep-her-owny.” I recited from memory. I bit into the food with relief, devouring the entire thing and then licking my fingers clean. There was no question who the food had been intended for. The girl had seen me. There was no avoiding being caught now. “But maybe that’s what the Phoenix wanted,” I thought. So I waited for her to reappear.