I'm still here! Glad you're back and I'm looking forward to a new chapter.

IX
Kayl

The next morning, Kayl told Dymond to meet him at a little coffee shop on the corner of the street.  He had gotten there before Dymond had, so he went up to the counter, thinking he’d be kind and pay for Dymond’s coffee for her.  It was after he’d order his (a simple decaf with cream, no sugar) that he realized he didn’t know what kind of coffee Dymond drank.  He didn’t know if she even drank coffee.  Then it dawned on him; he didn’t know what Dymond’s favorite color was, who her parents were, who her siblings were (or if she had any), or where she lived.  He knew nothing about this girl and she probably knew nothing about him.  And they were supposed to help each other save the world.

He knew that knowing her favorite color wasn’t exactly important at the moment, they had other things to worry about, like Jacob, but he did know that if they were going to start trusting each other a little bit more, they would need to know everything about each other.  No matter how trivial.  

So, when Dymond arrived that morning, the moment she sat down, Kayl asked, “What’s your favorite color?”

Dymond looked at him like he’d grown another two heads.  “What?”

“I started thinking this morning…”

“Wonderful,” Dymond interrupted.

Ignoring that, Kayl shared his fears with Dymond, watching how her expression changed as he was telling her his thoughts.  When he was done, he saw that she must’ve been thinking the same thing.  Her face might have been carved from stone, but her eyes gave away her feelings.

“I think you’re right.”  Dymond said.  “But this isn’t something we should concern ourselves with just now.  Maybe later, when Rodolfo’s with us…”

“Who?”

Dymond hit herself on the forehead with the palm of her hand.  “That’s right, you weren’t with me last night, were you?”

“What happened last night?”

“Well, long story short, I found the Triangle leader.”  Dymond launched into her story of how she had come across a boy named Rodolfo Cline who was a boy she had seen a few days before at the bus stop.  She told Kayl how she had to transform to make him believe, but only did it after she double checked he was who she was looking for by using the pearl.  She then told Kayl how she had taken Rodolfo to meet Meka and how the she-wolf had confirmed Dymond’s suspicions.  “So we have the whole Triangle.  All we have to do now is keep Jacob from discovering that we did it.”

“Well that shouldn’t be too hard.”  Kayl said.  It was at this moment that he almost told Dymond about Maryanne – the girl he had met – the same day she met Rodolfo.  He had opened his mouth and had started to say, “Now I have something to tell you,” but something made him stop.  

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell Dymond about Maryanne just yet.  He didn’t see why he would think that, but the thought was there, and so was a fear.  What if Dymond didn’t understand?  The fear whispered. What if she thought Maryanne was tricking him?  

The previous day had gone further than Kayl had ever imagined.  After he had helped Maryanne find the place she was looking for, she had asked Kayl to stay with her.  “I have a lot of errands that I have to run and I don’t think I can find them by myself,” she had said, flashing him her super-cute, supermodel smile.  She had perfect white teeth, none crooked or filled.  And her eyes; they were such dazzling, golden eyes.  They didn’t match her hair – which was an interesting shade of teal – but they were still amazing.  Besides, her eyes matched his hair.  Kayl took that as a good sign.  

After he had helped Maryanne run her errands (which took them all over town), she had looked him right in the eyes and said, “Would you like to go get a coffee or something sometime?”  Kayl, drowning in her eyes like two little golden oceans, smiled and nodded.  “Great.  How does tomorrow night sound?”  He nodded again, unable to find his tongue.  “Wonderful.  I’ll see you tomorrow.  I guess you can find your way back to my place?”  For the third time, Kayl bobbed his head up and down.  She smiled at him with the perfect smile.  “See you then.”  And then, the next thing he knew, she was kissing him.  It wasn’t a full on-the-lips boyfriend-girlfriend kiss, but it wasn’t just a peck-on-the-cheek either.  She did kiss his cheek, but she held it there for a good long while.  Then, she turned and went into her house.

“Gosh,” he said like an idiot.  

Dymond had noticed that he had started to say something so she asked, “What’s up?  Did you want to tell me something?”

Kayl shook his head, coming back to the present.  “Uh… No, I forgot what I was going to say.  Sorry,”

“No skin off my nose,” she shrugged.  “I’m going to get a coffee,”

She stood and went to the counter at the front of the shop.  Kayl sat back and chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking about Maryanne.  He looked towards the front door as it opened and a familiar boy walked in.  Kayl sat with his arms folded, staring at the boy for five minutes before it clicked.  “Jacob,” he hissed.  He quickly sat up straight and grabbed one of the “Deal of the Day” pamphlets on the table that the shop offered so costumers could see what was cheap on that day of the week.

He glanced over the top of the pamphlet at where Dymond was standing in line.  She must have noticed Jacob quicker than he had because she had already pulled a Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball cap on over her purple hair.  It was all hidden underneath.  Jacob got in line behind Dymond.  Kayl bit his lower lip as Dymond finished her order.  The man behind the counter got her her coffee and sent her on her way.  

Dymond carefully kept her back to Jacob the whole time.  When she got to the table she whispered, “Let’s get out of here,”

“No,” Kayl said sarcastically.  “I thought I’d order croissants and bear claws.”

Dymond glared at him but didn’t argue as Kayl calmly climbed to his feet, leaving his unfinished coffee on the table.  They both slowly walked past the line as if nothing was amiss and they were soon safely outside the shop.  “Do you think he recognized us?”  Dymond asked.

“I don’t think…”

“Kayl, hey!”  A voice called from behind them.  

At first, Kayl thought Jacob had seen them, but he nearly kicked himself for that stupid thought a few moments later when he processed that it was a girl’s voice.  He turned and saw Maryanne standing in the door of the coffee shop.  How could I have missed her?  He thought, trying not to let his frustration show.  “Hi, Maryanne.  I didn’t see you.”

“Well I gathered that considering you walked right by me.”  She came up to Kayl and threw her arms around his neck, like they had known each other for years.  She kissed him on the cheek like she had the night before.  When she was done, she pulled out of the hug and repositioned herself so she was facing Dymond.  “And who’s this?  Not a girlfriend I hope.”

“No!”  Dymond and Kayl said at the same time.  

“I mean, she’s a girl and she’s my friend, but we’re not, you know, romantically involved or anything…” He feebly explained.

“I know, silly!  If you had a girlfriend you wouldn’t have agreed to go out with me tonight!”  Maryanne laughed.  It was musical and beautiful and everything a laugh should be.  “But who is she, really?”

Dymond’s face as still and calm, but once again, Kayl could see in her eyes how angry she actually was.

“This is Dymond.  She’s a… coworker.”  Kayl said.  “She and I just met, but we’re really good friends.”

“Not too good of friends, I hope!”  Maryanne laughed again.  “Well I’m Maryanne.  Your friend Kayl here really helped me out last night.  I hope you and I can be as good a friend as you and Kayl are!”  

“I hope so to,” Dymond smiled warmly at Maryanne, but it didn’t reach her eyes.  

It’s always her eyes.  Kayl thought.

“Well, Kayl, I’ll see you tonight.”  Maryanne hugged him goodbye and went into the café.  

When she was gone, Dymond turned to him and let her anger and frustration take over her whole face.  “What, did you just forget to mention that you had a girlfriend?”

“It’s not like that Dymond.  I just met her yesterday and she seemed so nice…”

“So did Jacob,” Dymond shot back.  “Did you even think about…?”

“What, so now that I’m a member of a Triangle anyone who’s interesting in me has to be evil?”  Kayl tried to keep his voice calm, but this was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to tell Dymond.  He knew she would react like this, and he knew this is how he’d respond.  “Have you ever thought that just maybe she’s actually interested in me for me, and not for whatever the heck the Borrowers want?”

“I’m just saying that if you met her last night then you don’t know who she really is!  I think you’re throwing caution to the wind because of her looks!”

“Come on, Dymond!  You can’t seriously believe that that be…wonderful girl is evil!”

“You almost said beautiful!  Exactly my point.  You’re forgetting that anyone can be the enemy!  Even her!”

“Even you?”  

“Come on, Kayl, you can’t seriously think…”

“That’s my point,” Kayl glared at Dymond.

“The pearl has already accepted me, Kayl.  Marcus and Meka came to me first!  Do you think they would’ve done that if they didn’t think that I was inherently good?!”

“Maybe they made a mistake with you,” Kayl said.  “Maybe you’re not supposed to be one of us.”

Kayl knew he’d gone too far.  The pain of his words erased the anger from Dymond’s face.  “Maybe you’re the one they made a mistake with, Kayl.”  She whispered.  “If you want to date her, so be it.  But when it turns out that she was only after you for the pearl, don’t come crying to me.  I’m not going to be there for you.”

With that, Dymond turned and walked away.  Kayl wanted to shout after her, to call her back, to tell her he was sorry and hadn’t meant it.  But he didn’t.  He was furious.  He was furious with her.  He was furious with Maryanne.  But above all, he was furious with himself.

awesome chapter cant wait for the next

X
Dymond

The moment she had rounded the corner and was out of Kayl’s line of sight, she broke into a run.  She didn’t know where she wanted to go, but she knew that she didn’t want to stay here.  She couldn’t face Kayl; she couldn’t face anybody.  

She had only been trying to warn him.  She had learned in her short time with Meka and the pearl how to listen to her instincts, and how to trust them.  Dymond had a very bad feeling about this Maryanne girl; Kayl had gotten too close to her too quickly.  But Kayl wouldn’t hear it.  Like every boy that ever walked the face of the Earth, he was distracted by her beauty.

Which Dymond had to give to her.  Maryanne did have exceptional beauty.  She had a supermodel figure, two perfect rows of sparkling white teeth, wavy teal hair that fell a little past her shoulders, and her eyes… Her eyes were enchanting.  Dymond had never before seen eyes that color before; they were melted gold pools of light.  Dymond had always thought that she had the most unique eye color – violet –but that changed when she saw Maryanne’s eyes of gold.  

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was being ridiculous.  Maybe Kayl was right.  Maybe there was nothing wrong with Maryanne.  Maybe she was just a beautiful girl that was actually interested in him.  But if that was true, why had her instincts sent up the little red flags?  Was she really jealous that Kayl had a girlfriend and it wasn’t her?  

No.  That was ridiculous… Or was it?

It was only now that Dymond realized she had stopped.  She looked around and realized that she was at the clearing where she had first met Meka and Kayl; the clearing where they were training to hone their powers.  “Meka?”  Dymond called.  “Meka, are you here?”

In a flash of milky white light, Meka’s astral wolf form appeared.  She looked at Dymond with her kind eyes and studied her.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Dymond lied.  

“Your face tells your lie, your eyes show otherwise.  We will have to work on that.”  Meka said.

This wasn’t the first Dymond had heard of this problem.  All throughout her school life, anytime she had lied to a teacher, her face had remained stone still.  She was good at keeping her face from showing any emotion.  Even though she had great control over her face, her teachers always knew when she was lying.  One time, she had asked her teacher how he had known that she had lied.  He told her, “You have great control of your face, Dymond, but your eyes always betray you.”  Since then, Dymond had practiced lying in front of a mirror.  And it was true.  Whenever she lied, her eyes gave her away.  Every time she lied, her eyes darkened.  Apparently, everyone had learned to watch for it and now it was impossible to lie to anyone.

“Tell me what’s wrong, Dymond,” Meka demanded.

“It’s Kayl.  He has a girlfriend…”

“Are you jealous?”

“No!”  Dymond refuted.  

Then Meka looked at her and Dymond had a feeling her eyes were betraying her.  “Maybe a little, but it’s not like that!  I’m worried about him.  This girl… Maryanne… I have this feeling that she’s not who she appears to be.  I think… she’s working for the Borrowers.”

“Is it because she’s with Kayl and you want him for yourself?”  Meka asked, glaring knowingly at Dymond.  “Have you considered that?”

“Yes,” Dymond said, looking at her feet.  “On my way here, I did think about that… But, I don’t think that’s it.  I’ve learned to listen to my instincts and they’re telling me that we can’t trust Maryanne.”

Meka listened quietly to Dymond’s worries before nodding and saying, “If it will make you feel better, I will look into this Maryanne.”

“Thank you, Meka,” Dymond said.  

“Would you like to practice?  I think we are getting close to the three of you being able to hunt.  The first hunt is the best way to seal the deal between you and the pearl.”

“I think practicing would help get my mind off Kayl… But… will I be able to transform without the pearl?  Rodolfo has it and I don’t know where he is…”

“The connection between the three Triangle members and the pearl is very strong.  It has been told that the very first Triangle could transform into their wolf forms without the pearl in the near area.  It is a very difficult process to perfect, but I think that it’s a good one for you to learn how to do.  That way, in case something ever did happen to the pearl, you wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to transform because you don’t have the pearl.  However, this process hasn’t be perfected, or even attempted, since the first Triangle.  It can be dangerous and sometimes painful, so I won’t force you to work on it if you don’t want to.”

“No pain no gain, right?”  Dymond said.  She walked over to the stump with the red triangle in the center and sat down, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes.  “Tell me what to do.”

“You have held the pearl in your hand, Dymond, so you know the power it truly possesses.  It is not just a little orb with a large amount of power in it, but a living object.  It has a heartbeat, and if you hold it in your hand, you can feel it.  It’s warm and feels like it has blood coursing through it.  I want you to imagine what it feels like to hold it, enclosed in your hand.”  Meka instructed.  

Dymond thought back to that first night when she held the pearl.  She thought of how she had felt it pulsing beneath her closed fingers.  As she pictured  that night, she could almost feel it in her hand again.  “I feel it, Meka.”

“Good.  Now, I want you to picture what that power would feel like coursing through your body.  How would it feel to have a second heartbeat, this one in your hand?  What would you feel like?  What would you be able to do?  Once you have this feeling, try and see inside the pearl.  See what it would look like if it was cut open.  Do you see it?”

Dymond nodded.  It was beautiful.  She was inside the pearl.  It was a living thing.  It wasn’t inanimate; she could see the heart of the pearl; it was a very small red, diamond, cut in the shape of a triangle, and it was pulsing like a heart.  She could see a red liquid flowing in a circle around the triangle.  As she watched, the liquid stopped at the bottom left of the triangle-shaped heart.  It swirled in circles before coming together and forming a wolf.  The red wolf.  “My wolf…”

“You see it,” Meka said.  Her voice sounded far off, like she was shouting down at Dymond from the top of a canyon.  “It’s working…” She said; she sounded proud.  She couldn’t feel herself transforming, but she supposed she must be.  “Open your eyes, Dymond.”  

Dymond did as she was bid.  She wasn’t seeing in color.  “It worked.”  She said, looking at Meka.  “I did it!  It didn’t hurt at all!  It was beautiful!  The pearl, Meka!  The pearl has so much power!  And it’s really alive!  It has a heart; a triangle-shaped heart made of a diamond!  It has blood, red blood, and the blood forms the shape of the wolf that the user is turning into!  I’ve never seen anything so fascinating before!”

Meka was smiled.  Or smiled as much as a wolf could smile.  “I wish I could see it.”  She closed her eyes.  “I wish I could see half of the things that you’ve seen.”

“Is there no way to make you… real…tangible, I mean.”  Dymond asked.  

Meka sighed.  “I don’t know.  I never imagined this would happen to me… Then again, I don’t think anyone ever imagines something like this would happen to them…”

“Maybe when the threat of the Borrowers passes over we can start looking for ways to make you tangible… Or send you back to your own time…”

“Kayl,” Meka said.  

Dymond, still sitting on the stump, quickly jumped to her paws and turned.  Kayl was there.  Rodolfo was with him.  “Where’s Maryanne?”  Dymond asked.

Kayl glared at her.  “What’s it to you?”

“I was just wondering where she went to,”

“Home,” Rodolfo said.  “How did you transform without the pearl?”

“Meka taught me how to do it without it,” Dymond said.  “I think you two should suit up and we can go hunting.”

“Where would we hunt, Dymond?”  Kayl asked.

He was still angry at her.  “There’s a forest not far from here.  We can go bring something down and then come back before anyone misses us.”

Rodolfo nodded and came to stand before the stump.  “May I?”  He asked.  

Dymond nodded and stalked off the stump and let Rodolfo sit.  He quickly transformed into his wolf.  When he was done, he walked off and stood next to Dymond.  Kayl transformed and stood next to Rodolfo, away from Dymond.  

“Let’s go, guys,” Rodolfo said,

The triangle headed out of the clearing to hunt for the first time.

awesome chaper shella keep it up

awesome chapter.

Great chapters, Shella!  Looks like the break from school has thrown you into creative overdrive.  Loving the new material and wishing you luck as you [hopefully] advance through the competition.

Ready for this?  Canis; document is gone.  I have to start a whole new document and pray I didn't have any new chapter started. I'll hope to have the story in a new document soon.  Sorry, guys.

Aw, it's a shame that it's been lost, but I'm confident that you can write another chapter, Shella. This story is really good!

that really suck shella, its when i hear things like that that make me glade that i back mine up on a usb plus i still have my rough drafts in a binder. i was you luck in getting in a new doc and i do hope i hadnt already started the next chapter

The nice thing about ACC and lost documents?  You can simply c&p what you posted here and put it in a new Word document, Shella.  I'm sorry the original was gone and, as has been said here already, I'm confident you'll "pen" the next chapter with relative ease.

Before your laptop went in I really thought you had Canis on a zip drive.  Bad me for not making proof positive you had done that.  Rest assured.  We won't make that mistake again, eh?

((((((((((((( hugs )))))))))))))))))))))))

unless you have works word prossessor . it wont let you copy and past from the internet, so hopefully your not like me and you have word.

We do, or, should I say, we should, Yugioh.  I've done it before with my stuff.  Certain websites won't allow you to highlight, copy and paste elsewhere but I don't think ACC has anything that specific [yet].  So she should be able to pull it from her lap top and dock it there.  If she can't I'll do it for her and bring the zip drive file to her for the laptop transfer.  Just can't believe we didn't see this coming when she got a new harddrive.  Doh!!

its not my fault if my father never put in the product code and id buy office if i wasnt planing on getting my own laptop

No worries.  There are plenty of things I should have done but either haven't, refused to, or just haven't gotten around to understanding the why and how's of yet.

Hey there, Shella!  Just wanted to drop by and offer up my KUDOS and CONGRATS.  Just read the competition thread for Week 9.  Awwwwwwe-suuuummmm!  

See that?  Even if you can't update daily, but if you have a good storyline and do offer up what you can when you can, your readers will thank you.  So hang in there with the school work load and hopefully we'll see you popping in and out with an update in the coming days or what not.

And then she returned!  I have the next chapter written, I just have to wait for my editor to take a quick look to make sure it's all ready for you.  It should be ready for posting tomorrow morning!

(On a side note: That aweful moment when you find out you lost the competition because school interfered with your ACC activity, not because your story isn't enjoyable or your haven't updated in a while.  Just wanted to let you knew that I'm out of the competition and I wanted you to know why.  I plan to try and be more active, but with everything going on this year I'll have a hard time.  Let's try and keep this story alive together [though I know it falls on my shoulders to keep it going]).

hey shella im sorry to hear that youre out and as long as your willing to see this through to the end ill gladly help you keep this alive till the story is done being told

Awesome!  Thanks yugioh20!

your welcome

XI
Rodolfo

The thrill of being in his wolf skin was exhilarating.  He would do this all the time if he could.  Being in his wolf body was easier than being in his human one.  He could hear everything; the cars rumbling on a road that had to be a long ways away, the near-silent rustle of the leaves in all the tress around him.  And the smells; the smells were the best.  Everything in the forest smelled pure and clean; though he could still catch the scent of pollution floating over the city in the distance.  Hunting was the best; the thrill of the chase, his blood pounding in his ears… Everything was perfect… Or it would be, if he couldn’t sense the anger between Kayl and Dymond.

Rodolfo had asked Kayl what was wrong, but he had refused to tell him.  Even Dymond wouldn’t tell him.  It had something to do with Maryanne, but Rodolfo couldn’t figure out what.  Was Dymond jealous because Kayl might possibly have feelings for Maryanne?

“I AM NOT!”  Rodolfo nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Dymond’s voice yell at him.  It was only then he remembered that his thoughts weren’t his own.  Not in his wolf form.  The whole Triangle had access to his thoughts, so everything he was thinking was in both Dymond’s and Kayl’s heads.  

Rodolfo heard Kayl sniggering.  “Enough, Kayl,” Rodolfo ordered.  He could feel Dymond glowering and Kayl’s amusement.  The tension between the two was palpable.  
Rodolfo didn’t know a lot about animals or hunting, but he was pretty sure that the emotions between Dymond and Kayl weren’t natural for normal wolves and that it would probably scare off prey.

Rodolfo sighed and rounded on the pair.  “Alright, stop,” the two stopped.  “You need to listen to me.  I am supposed to be the leader of this group.  I’m supposed to keep us together and unite us.  We’re supposed to stop the Borrowers from taking the pearl and conquering the world.  How are we supposed to stop the most evil power on the face of the Earth if we’re fighting amongst ourselves?”  Dymond and Kayl glanced at each other.  “Pull yourselves together, and whatever the heck is bothering you two, drop it.  Bury the hatchet.  End it.  Whatever you want to say, get it done.  I want to hunt.”

Dymond and Kayl faced each other.  “Okay Kayl, I’ll be a big girl.  I’m sorry; I overreacted.  I guess whatever’s going on between you and Maryanne, I’ll find a way to be cool with it.”

“Thank you, Dymond,” Kayl said.  “And I’m sorry.  I overreacted to your overreaction.  I should’ve seen your point.  You’re right, after all.  I really don’t know anything about this girl; maybe I’m too busy thinking about the fact that she might actually be interested in me.  That’s a first.”

Rodolfo could sense the anger between them fade into nothingness.  “Alright, I don’t know about you two, but I think I smell a deer.”

“Male, right?”  Dymond asked.

“Really?”  Kayl laughed.  “You’re going to worry about animal rights?”

“It’s illegal to kill female deer, isn’t it?”

“We’re wolves, Dymond,” Rodolfo reminded her, giggling.  “Laws don’t apply to us.”

“Oh… Right…”

Rodolfo knew she would’ve been blushing if she was a human.  “But, to set your mind at ease, yes.  It’s a buck.  Now, here’s the plan…”

Rodolfo and Kayl took off down the center.  Dymond disappeared into the trees next to them.  Kayl and Rodolfo were going to distract the buck, back it into a corner as Dymond came around the back and took it down.  He and Kayl were going to wound the buck so it couldn’t run, but Dymond was going to give the killing blow.  Rodolfo knew she wasn’t strong, and wasn’t strong enough to kill humans… yet.  The buck would be good practice.

Already thinking like a leader.  Meka’s voice echoed around Rodolfo’s skull.  

They were nearing the buck.  It was drinking from the river; he could clearly hear and smell it and knew what position it was in and how best to back it towards Dymond.  Together, he and Kayl stopped at the foot of the river, downwind from the buck.  It had no idea they were there.  “Ready?”  Rodolfo asked.

“Totally,” Kayl responded.

“Let’s go,” Rodolfo growled loudly, and burst from the tree line.  The buck looked up, startled, before taking off down the river.  The two wolves followed the buck.  The adrenaline was like nothing Rodolfo had ever experienced.  Panting, he barked at the buck.  It was fast; faster than he had thought.  However, he could smell Dymond coming up behind the deer like she was meant to.  “Come on!”  He ordered.  Rodolfo let Kayl leap at the deer.  He landed on the buck’s back, sinking his teeth into its hindquarters.  

“Whoa!”  Kayl said.  Rodolfo heard him laughing.

“Good, Kayl, good!”  The artic wolf exclaimed as he leapt at the buck, biting at its hind legs.  

And then, Dymond was there.  The rest of the hunt was a blur, fading into nothing as quickly as it happened.  

The one thing Rodolfo remembered the most vividly was it was the best tasting buck he’d ever eaten.

awesome chapter shella

Hey there, Shella.  Sorry to hear about you being out of the fan fic competition.  I know it's a tough time of year for ACCs young writers to be able to concentrate on both stories and school life.  Just wanted you to know I'm proud of how far you were able to get in the competition.  Standing on your story alone with nothing else in the mix speaks volumes.  Kudos to ya, kid!

That was a really good chapter too.  It was, in a sense, disturbing because I know they're all more than wolves; they're people too.  And to see how much they got into the hunt... *shudders*  Makes me think crossing them in their animal forms would not be such a wise idea.