• My feet padded softly on the sidewalk as I trudged down the street. My hair whirled around my shoulders, and my coat trailed along the ground. I scanned the distance with hazel eyes, searching....
    There! Just ahead, the concrete ended, giving way to grass, and, after some distance, trees. I had almost arrived. I hadn't really planned on going there, but after some time at home, I had the desire to get away. To escape. To leave the dull monotony of everyday life, if only for an hour. With any luck, I'd be whisked away by a dragon, or an elf on horseback. I sighed. Sometimes, life just seemed so...mundane. And daydreaming seemed to be the only way to add some excitement.
    I walked past trees, carefully picking my way along the barely-visible path, until I came to a small clearing. Sunlight flitted through a thin canopy, giving the grass and flowers a shimmering coating, and illuminating a single chair. An old wicker chair sat in the middle of the meadow, so worn and covered with grass that it fit perfectly with the natural landscape. Just like a picture... I walked over to it and sat down, just as I had a thousand times before. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, feeling the sunlight warm my face. God, life could be so hard for a teenaged girl who just wanted something...more. An adventure. A full-out journey, complete with magical beings, dangerous battles, mythical powers...and perhaps a confused, hurt villain, with good heart and a mysterious past.All I need,I thought,is a call to adventure... I knew it would happen someday. As to how...
    I certainly wasn't expecting what that call was.
    Snap! My view snapped to the source of the sound. Another snap, identical to the first, came from the darkest section of the trees. A third twig snapped, just beyond where I could see. Something was coming.
    One more step brought the creature to where I could see its foot...or rather, its paw. A wolf emerged from the trees and stood, motionless, on the edge of the meadow. Well, it doesn't seem to want to hurt me... I know it's dangerous, but it's not attacking...for now. I thought. I took the chance to study it. Shaggy, pure-white fur with sharp black markings covered a lean frame. It was pretty big, for a wolf. It had ice-blue eyes...which happened to be staring directly into mine.
    It stepped forward, coming towards me. I froze, unsure of what to do. I knew that it could, and would, catch me if I tried to run. It kept walking, stopping about five feet from where I was sitting. I remained perfectly still, partly out of fear, and partly out of fascination. For a moment, nothing happened. And then...
    "You are Aurora, correct?" said the wolf.
    Said. The. Wolf.
    The wolf said my name.
    I sat in a stunned silence, unable to comprehend what what happening, Wolves don't talk, was all I could think.
    "Very well then, Aurora," the wolf continued, finding its answer in my silence. It turned away from me, glancing back over its shoulder to fix me with a calculating stare. "Come with me."