Chapter Three

  I smiled at Father and Gabriel, doing my best to look brave. "I'll see you again," I assured them. Father nodded woodenly and Gabriel tried to look encouraging. He kind of failed. "Well, later."
  "Wait! Ariana, I want to give you something before you go." Father ran  back into the cabin and came back out with a package. "Here," he said, "it was your grandmothers. She told me to give it to you when you were ready, and I believe you are." He smiled genuinely and handed it to me.
  "Thank you, Father." I unwrapped it and gasped. It was a silver cloak that looked like it was woven from moonbeams. "It's beautiful!" On the back was a design that resembled a young wolf, howling at a moon in a sparkling white thread.  I grinned and slipped my arms through the holes, then tied the strings. "I love it so much. I'll never take it off!" He laughed.
  "Just be careful while you're out there and know that like that wolf cub, you always have a family watching out for you. We will always be protecting you, Ariana." 
  "Yeah. And Little Sis? Try not to die, okay? I'd just gotten used yo having you around." Gabriel smiled and hugged me, then helped me onto King. "I'm expecting you to be back by summer solstice, hear me? Oh, and don't forget to snag some souvenir's, 'Kay," he chuckled.
  "Okay, I'll try, Big Bro." We started laughing as Michael and Peter rode up on their horses, Fortuna and Ares, and smiled at me. "Are you ready?" I asked seriously.
  "Yup," Peter said.
  "Uh huh," Michael said absently, looking at the sky. "We better get going if you want to cover some ground before nightfall." I nodded.
  "Yeah. Let's go." After one last wave good-bye to our parents, the three of us rode away. Off into the shaded trees, birds chirping happily as bucks and deer skipped alongside us. The hood on my new cloak fell down, and the wind whipped my wavy chocolate brown hair back and made it stream behind me.
  I smiled and realized why felt so good when so many bad things where happening; it was because I felt good doing something about it. If I'd just stayed home, I would have gone crazy. But out here, I could help.
  I just wish I'd known that I was going to be the one needing help.
  "Come on, let's go; I just hope we aren't too late to save them all." Especially Mother. I can't loose her too. Not after Bethany. There's no way I could handle the claustrophobia of living in the village without them. I'm barely managing with only one.