A Forest Charm

by Sue Bentley

“That makes two of us then,” Cassie said cheerfully.

  As Cassie, Storm, and Erin walked back into camp, they saw that all three teams were finishing their tents. The Blues and Greens had fires blazing in front of theirs.

  Cassie’s mom called to her as she approached. “Everything all right, sweetie?

  “Fine. We found the package,” Cassie replied, smiling.

  “Good job,” her mom said warmly.

  Mr. Ronson frowned at Erin. “All the other kids got back a long time ago. What happened? I expected better from you, Erin.”

  Erin hung her head. “I’m sorry … I didn’t …” she began hesitantly.

  Cassie felt sorry for her. It couldn’t be much fun having such a strict dad. “It was my fault. I forgot to put any chalk marks on the trees, so we got lost,” she interrupted quickly. “Erin was great, though. We were wandering around forever, but she somehow found the way back here.”

  Mrs. Ronson put her arm around her daughter. “Did you? Good job, Erin.”

  Erin threw Cassie a grateful look and gave her a rather shaky smile as she handed the flint and striker to her dad. “Well, at least we can get the fire started now. Better late than never, I guess,” Mr. Ronson sighed.

  “That was a good thing to do. You are a kind human, Cassie,” Storm woofed.

  “Thanks, Storm. But I think even Erin deserves to be rescued from such a bossy dad!” she whispered to him, smiling.

  Cassie and Storm went to see how their tent was coming along. It had a square frame made of branches lashed together. More branches leaning against it formed a slanting, open-fronted shelter. Inside it, a thick layer of dried leaves made a soft surface to sleep on.

  “It looks quite cozy in there now, doesn’t it?” Cassie said.

  Storm seemed to agree. He immediately bounded into the shelter and began nosing around. Leaves flew in all directions as he scuffed them up with his front paws.

  “Careful. Someone might notice all this stuff being stirred up by itself,” Cassie gently reminded him.

  Storm put his head to one side, grinning apologetically. “I am sorry, Cassie. There are so many interesting smells here. I am enjoying exploring and rooting into everything.”

  “Well, that’s what puppies do, don’t they?” Cassie said fondly.

  Storm nodded happily and suddenly dashed off toward an interesting-looking tree stump.

  Cassie hid a grin as she watched him. She felt a surge of affection for her cute, mischievous friend.

  Later, Cassie secretly shared her meal of canned beans and sausages with him. The light began to fade as they were clearing away and the moon rose over the trees. An owl hooted as Cassie was spreading out her sleeping bag.

  Erin came over to put hers next to Cassie. “Thanks for what you said to my dad about it being your fault that we got lost,” she said quietly as they both got ready for bed.

  “That’s okay,” Cassie said, pleasantly surprised. “Good night, Erin.”

  “G’night, Cassie. Sweet dreams,” Erin said sleepily.

  Cassie snuggled down with Storm’s little warm body next to her. The air was soon filled with soft snores, but she lay awake, enjoying looking out of the open-fronted shelter. The sky was deep purple and blazing with silver stars, like a million tiny diamonds. She wondered whether Storm could see the same stars in his own world.

  Cassie felt a deep glow of happiness. “I love having you here. I hope that you can stay with me forever,” she whispered to him.

  Storm twisted his head to look at her, his midnight blue eyes glowing brightly in the moonlight. “That is not possible. One day I must go back to my home world to face Shadow and lead the Moon-claw pack. Do you understand that, Cassie?” he woofed, his little, square, white face serious.

  Cassie nodded sadly but she didn’t want to think about that now. This moment was just perfect as it was. She kissed the top of Storm’s fluffy, white head. “Sweet dreams,” she yawned as she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter SEVEN

  It was cold and misty when Cassie woke the following morning. No one else was awake. She lay snuggled up inside her sleeping bag for a while longer, cuddling Storm’s warm, stocky, little body.

  “This is nice and cozy, isn’t it?” she whispered, stroking his fluffy fur.

  Storm looked up at her and she saw his midnight blue eyes darken with sadness. “Yes. It is like being curled up in a safe den with … with …” he woofed and then trailed off into a deep sigh.

  He’s thinking of his mother and the Moon-claw pack in his own world, Cassie realized with a pang.

  There must be something she could do to help him feel better. “I know! How about an early morning walk?” she suggested.

  Storm pricked his ears, and his face brightened a little. “I would like that!” He sprang out of the sleeping bag and wagged his stumpy, white tail.

  The others were starting to wake up now. Cassie quickly dressed and pulled on her boots. “I’ll grab some water for washing,” she called, picking up a bucket.

  As she and Storm went off in the direction of the nearby stream, hazy bars of sunlight pushed through the mist hanging over the trees. There was a smoky smell of frosty autumn leaves in the air.

  Storm tore around as usual, scrabbling under fallen logs and sniffing at clumps of grass. He ran toward Cassie with a broken branch in his mouth and dropped it at her feet. Crouching down on to his front paws, he barked hopefully.

  Cassie laughed and threw the branch for him to fetch. With a happy bark, Storm ran after it. He seemed to be feeling much happier than when he woke up—just as Cassie hoped he would.

  She swung her arms as she walked, feeling perfectly happy. At the stream, she kneeled down to fill the bucket from a spring gushing down over some rocks. Storm was splashing around in the shallows a few feet away.

  He jumped out onto the bank and came lolloping up to Cassie. His white fur stuck up in little wet peaks and there was a mischievous expression on his dripping face.

  “Don’t you dare—” Cassie began, but it was too late.

  Storm’s whole body shivered from head to foot as he shook himself. A shower of droplets splashed all over Cassie.

  “Storm! You little terror! You did that on purpose!” she scolded laughingly. “It’s a good thing I’m wearing waterproof clothes.”

  Storm beamed and stood up on his short back legs to paw at her pants. His sharp puppy teeth were very white against his little black lips.

  As they made their way back to camp, the delicious smell of frying bacon floated toward them.

  “I like human food,” Storm yapped hungrily.

  Cassie’s mouth watered, too. Why did food always smell so much better outdoors?

  “Hello, sweetie. You’re an early bird this morning,” Mrs. Yorke said as she turned bacon in the pan.

  Mr. Yorke was just opening a can of tomatoes.

  “Hiya, parents,” Cassie sang out as she put down the bucket of water. Storm’s cheerfulness was infectious. “I was wide awake, so I thought I’d do something useful.”

  Her dad goggled his eyes. “Quick, someone, call the police! Someone’s stolen our Cassie and swopped her for this helpful, strangely cheerful girl!” he joked.

  “Da-ad!” Cassie pretended to swipe him on the head.

  She wished she could tell them that the reason why she was so happy was sitting there invisibly, wagging his little white tail. Cassie would have loved to see the looks on their faces, but she knew that she would never give away Storm’s secret.

  That afternoon there were team games. The most fun was when each person took turns being blindfolded, and then their teammates talked them through an obstacle course.

  “I will make myself glow very brightly and you will be able to see me through the band around your eyes. You can just follow me,” Storm woofed, eager to take part.

  “No. That would be cheating. I have to do this myself, but thanks, anyway,” Cassie told him.

  So instead, Storm joined in by padd
ing around on tiptoe behind the person wearing the blindfold. Cassie laughed so much that others began to laugh, too, and even Erin joined in.

  “I didn’t think this game was that funny!” Erin said, giggling and wiping her eyes.

  “It’s not!” Cassie spluttered.

  Later there was more firewood to collect and then a short talk about identifying and collecting wild food. Time passed quickly for Cassie and soon, after dinner, everyone sat around in a circle to do a task together.

  “You can make everything you need from the materials around you. We’re going to make some cord from a plant you can find growing almost anywhere,” the instructor said, producing a bundle of green stems.

  “Ouch! Stinging nettles!” Cassie said nervously.

  Storm twitched one ear. After having rushed around all day, he was lying next to her with his nose resting on his paws.

  “Hold your nettle like this,” said the instructor, holding the stalks at an angle. “Now, push firmly upward to strip off the leaves. Try it. You won’t get stung if you do it like this.”

  “It would be much easier if we all wore gloves,” Mr. Yorke joked.

  Cassie grinned at him.

  “Gloves?” Mr. Ronson scoffed, obviously taking her dad seriously. “I suppose you’ll want a cushion to sit on next! Come on, man. Rise to the challenge!” He pushed up his sweatshirt sleeves, flexed his bulging muscles, and then began rubbing his palms together noisily.

  As her dad’s face reddened, Cassie tingled with embarrassment on his behalf.

  She couldn’t stand the way Erin’s dad always had to show off.

  “Me first!” she shouted on impulse. Gritting her teeth, she leaned forward and grabbed a big, hairy nettle, exactly as the instructor had shown her. It didn’t sting at all. She ran her hands upward toward the top and the leaves fell off on to the grass.

  “Ta-da!” Cassie crowed, waving the stripped stem in the air.

  Mr. Ronson looked at her in surprise. “Not bad,” he said.

  Coming from him, that was praise indeed, Cassie thought.

  As everyone got to work stripping nettles, the instructor showed Cassie the next stages in making cord.

  Cassie felt a tiny tingle down her spine. Next to her, little gold sparks were starting to glisten in Storm’s white fur.

  She suddenly found herself smoothing, flattening, rolling, and twisting, her nimble fingers flying. In half a minute, she had her first ever piece of strong, green cord. “Storm. I can do this by myself,” she scolded gently.

  Storm nodded. The sparks in his fur went out. He gave a contented sigh and began dozing as Cassie carried on making nettle cord by herself.

  “Are you sure you haven’t done this before? You’re a natural,” the instructor said as the pile of cord in front of her grew.

  “I’ve always loved making things. I guess it’s some consolation for being terrible at sports and stuff,” Cassie said modestly.

  The instructor smiled. “A good team needs ‘doers’ and ‘makers.’ It’s all about sharing skills.”

  Cassie hadn’t thought of it like that before. She felt a stir of pride. Perhaps being part of a team was something she could be good at after all.

  On the other side of the circle, Erin grinned encouragingly.

  Chapter EIGHT

  Later that evening, the instructors left for the cabin, intending to return early the following morning.

  “You should all be fine by yourselves for a few hours. But we’re not far away and we’ll leave you a cell phone in case of emergencies,” one of them said.

  “I’ll hold on to that phone,” Mr. Ronson said promptly, tucking it into his pocket.

  It was another clear night. Trees cast long shadows in the moonlight as the Blues, Greens, and Reds prepared for bed.

  Cassie settled down with Storm. “It’s Sunday tomorrow. We go home after lunch. You’re going to love it there,” she told him.

  Storm gave a tiny woof and yawned sleepily. He turned around and around in circles before settling comfortably with his head resting beneath Cassie’s chin.

  Cassie said her good nights to everyone and instantly fell asleep.

  She woke suddenly a few hours later, in the dark gray light of dawn. There was a loud drumming noise all around her. At first Cassie couldn’t understand what the noise was and then a cold raindrop splashed onto her nose.

  She crawled to the open front of the shelter and peered out. Rain was coming down in torrents through the trees. In the semi-darkness, she could just see wriggly lines of water trickling past the shelter. A huge puddle glistened across what had been grass the night before and reached almost to the Greens’ tent.

  Storm stood up and shook himself.

  Lifting his nose, he sniffed the air. “There is too much water. We could be in danger,” he yapped, flattening his ears.

  “You mean floods? I’d better wake everyone up!” Cassie leaped up and scrambled into her clothes. She leaned over to shake Erin, who was nearest, and then woke both sets of parents. “Quick! There’s water everywhere!” she told them.

  “It’s just a bit of rain, for goodness’ sake.” Mr. Ronson’s voice was muffled from deep within his sleeping bag. “Stop fussing and go back to sleep.”

  Storm lifted his lip in a soft growl and danced sideways, barking in annoyance. Cassie felt like doing the same thing.

  “No! We have to move. Storm says so!” she burst out, hardly realizing what she’d said. Luckily, no one seemed to have heard her properly.

  “What’s that about a storm, Cass?” her dad asked sleepily, opening one eye. His hair was all sticking up. “Are you sure you didn’t just have a bad dream?”

  “I’m not imagining this. Please, Dad, just take a look outside,” Cassie said desperately.

  “Okay. Anything for a bit of peace,” Mr. Yorke groaned.

  Suddenly, Erin cried out. “There’s water coming in. Ugh! My sleeping bag’s getting soaked!”

  Mr. Yorke sat bolt upright. “Yikes! Cassie’s right. If we don’t move soon, we’ll be sitting in the middle of a lake! Look, the Greens and Blues are already getting up!”

  After that, there was a mad scramble to get dressed into raincoats and roll up the sleeping bags. Cassie picked Storm up and cradled him in her arms, keeping him dry beneath her baggy anorak.

  As they all splashed across to join up with the other families, the instructors’ cell phone rang. Mr. Ronson answered it.

  Cassie and Erin were closest to him and both heard some of what he said. “No, there’s no need for you to do that. It’s not that bad here. Yes, I’m absolutely certain. We can make it back by ourselves,” Mr. Ronson said confidently. “Okay. I’ll explain to the others. No problem. Leave it to me.”

  Cassie frowned in puzzlement. Something didn’t seem quite right about the conversation. “I wonder what’s going on. What isn’t there any need for the instructors to do?” she whispered to Storm.

  Mr. Ronson began speaking. “We’ve been told to make our way back to the cabin. There’s a short cut across a bridge, just over that ridge. I went and checked it out yesterday afternoon,” he explained.

  “That seems a roundabout way to go, when we could go via the track we came in on,” Mr. Yorke commented.

  Mr. Ronson shrugged. “That may be. But this is the Wild Wood Experiences way and the sooner we get moving, the sooner we’ll be back. Hurry up now; this way, everyone,” he said, waving one arm in a big arc.

  “He’ll be shouting ‘Wagons roll!’ in a minute, like in those awful old cowboy films!” Cassie grumbled.

  Her dad laughed. “Remind me to buy him a sheriff’s badge sometime.”

  Cassie tramped along, feeling happy that they were all safe, despite the rain dripping from her anorak hood. Storm’s little body was warm against her chest and she could smell his faint, clean puppy scent. “Are you okay in there?” she whispered, looking down at him.

  Storm reached up and licked her chin. “I am fine.”

  T
he rain slowed and then stopped as they trudged along. After about ten minutes, they reached the top of the ridge. The ground sloped steeply downward on the other side. At the bottom, Cassie could see the ditch with the wooden footbridge over it.

  Suddenly, she heard fierce growling and barking through the trees. Cassie felt Storm stiffen and begin to tremble all over. “What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

  “I think Shadow is close. He will have used his magic to make any dogs that are nearby into my enemies. Now he has set them on to me,” Storm whimpered softly, rolling his eyes in terror.

  “Those dogs do sound like they’re getting closer,” Cassie said worriedly. “How will I be able to tell if they’re coming for you?”

  Storm whimpered and Cassie could feel his heart beating wildly. “They will have fierce, pale eyes and extra-long teeth.”

  The sound of growling was even louder. Cassie felt a leap of fear. Storm was in terrible danger! She racked her brains as she tried to think of some way of protecting the tiny puppy.

  A memory stirred within her. In one of her favorite books, Jilly Atkins had been tracked by a hungry bear and had escaped by rubbing something very nasty all over herself to disguise her scent.

  “That’s it!” Cassie burst out. Without a second thought, she pretended to lose her balance and fall over. “Oh,” she cried as she skidded for real and both legs shot from beneath her.

  She landed on her backside with a teeth-rattling jolt. Gathering speed, Cassie went sliding downward in a slippery, muddy avalanche of half-rotten leaves.

  Chapter NINE

  Taking care to cradle Storm in both hands, Cassie twisted sideways and began rolling over and over down the slope. She wanted to make sure that she was covered in smelly stuff from head to foot.

  As Cassie tumbled to the bottom, she found herself heading toward a big clump of brambles, but couldn’t put out her hands to stop herself. Sharp thorns tore at her clothes and made deep scratches in her skin, but Cassie hardly noticed them.

  Tearing herself free, she scrambled to her feet. A strong earthy smell rose up around her.

  “Perfect! No enemy dogs will be able to smell you through this stuff.

  “Thank you, Cassie,” Storm whined softly. “That was very brave. You could have been badly hurt.”