A New Beginning (2 page)

“I wish you were mine,” Lily said dreamily, leaning forward to pat Bandit's satiny neck.

Suddenly Bandit stumbled on a tree root and the reins were jerked right out of Lily's hands.

“Oh!” Lily pitched forward and fell right over the pony's neck. As the ground rushed up to meet her she closed her eyes, ready for the painful landing.

Chapter TWO

The collision with the ground never came.

With a dazzling golden flash and a crackle of sparks, Lily found herself jerking to a sudden halt. Her eyes flew open in shock and she saw that she was caught inside a huge glowing golden net, in midair, half a foot above the ground!

Very slowly, Lily felt herself float down and land gently on some leaves. With a fizzing noise, the glowing net broke up into golden sparks and then melted away into the leaves.

Lily sat up, blinking confusedly. Her first thought was for Bandit. She whipped around and was relieved to see the pony nibbling some grass in a small clearing a few feet away.

“Your riding creature is fine. I hope that you are not injured,” said a strange voice.

Lily stiffened. “W-who said that?”

A tiny puppy with sandy fur, floppy ears, and huge midnight-blue eyes crawled out from beneath a pile of leaves. “I did. My name is Storm of the Moon-claw pack. What are you? And what is the name of your pack?” it woofed.

Lily's jaw dropped as she stared at the puppy in utter amazement. She felt like pinching herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. But she saw that the puppy was looking at her quizzically as if waiting for her to respond.

“I'm a g-girl. A human . . . I'm L-Lily. Lily Benson,” she found herself stammering. “But I don't know what you mean about a pack.”

“A human? I have heard of these.” Storm's silky forehead wrinkled in a frown. Lily saw that he was beginning to tremble. “Can I trust you, Lily? I come from far away and I need your help.”

Lily was still having difficulty taking this in, but she didn't want to frighten this amazing puppy away. He was absolutely gorgeous with the brightest midnight-blue eyes she had ever seen and big soft paws that looked too big for his body.

Very slowly she got up onto her knees and reached out her hand.

To Lily's delight, Storm edged closer and brushed her fingers with his damp little nose. His tail wagged nervously. Despite being so scared, the tiny puppy seemed to trust her.

“Why do you need my help?” she asked gently.

Storm's deep-blue eyes flashed with anger and sadness. “A lone wolf called Shadow attacked us. My father and brothers were killed and my mother is sick and in hiding. Shadow wants to lead the Moon-claw wolf pack, but the others will not follow him as long as I am alive.”

“
Wolf
pack? But you're a pup—” Lily stopped as Storm held up a velvety sandy paw and began backing away.

There was another dazzling bright flash and a burst of gold sparks showered over Lily, crackling around her feet on the ground.

“Oh!” Lily rubbed her eyes, blinded for a second. When she could see again, she saw that the tiny sandy puppy was gone. In its place now stood a majestic young wolf with thick silver-gray fur and glowing midnight-blue eyes.

“Storm?” Lily gasped, eyeing the wolf 's large teeth and thick neck-ruff that glimmered with hundreds of gold sparks like tiny yellow diamonds.

“Yes, Lily, it is me,” Storm said in a deep velvety growl.

Before Lily could get used to seeing Storm as his magnificent real self, there was a final gold flash and he appeared once again as a cute sandy puppy.

“Wow! You really are a wolf. That's an awesome disguise,” she said, getting up from her knees.

Storm began trembling again. “Not if Shadow's magic finds me. Will you help me hide?”

Lily's heart went out to the helpless puppy. “Of course I will. You can live with . . .” She trailed off as she remembered her parents' rules about having no house pets. They'd probably insist on taking Storm to the pet care center. There must be some way she could help the tiny puppy. “Maybe I could smuggle you into my house, but I don't see how I can hide you for long,” she said thoughtfully.

“Do not worry. I will use my magic so that only you will be able to see and hear me,” Storm woofed.

“You can make yourself invisible? Wow!” Lily breathed. “No problem, then. You're coming home with me. Just let me catch Bandit. By the time we get back to Greengates, it'll be time for Dad to pick me up.”

A few minutes later, as she cradled Storm in her lap on Bandit's back, a big smile spread across Lily's face. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined having a magic puppy for a friend!

Chapter THREE

“You should sleep in here in case Mom or Dad gets suspicious,” Lily told Storm, spreading an old coat in the bottom of her closet. “But when no one's around, you can get on my bed.”

Storm looked in the closet and then padded around her bedroom, sniffing everything and exploring. “This is a good place.”

“Glad you like it!” Lily said, beaming at him. “Are you hungry?”

The tiny puppy barked eagerly.

“Okay. I'll go and raid the kitchen to see what I can find. I won't be long.”

Lily dashed downstairs. Luckily her dad was in the garden cutting the lawn and her mom had just gone out to her yoga class. She found some leftover chicken in the fridge and quickly broke a piece off for Storm.

Back upstairs, she watched as Storm ate hungrily and then sat back licking his lips. “That was delicious. I like human food.”

“I'll get you some dog food later,” Lily said.

Storm nodded. “Good. We will go hunting together!”

“I couldn't do that!” Lily said, horrified. “Anyway, there's no need. The store at the end of the street sells dog food in cans. I'll buy some with my allowance,” she told him.

Storm yawned, showing his sharp little teeth. “I think that I will rest now.” Padding over to the closet, he curled up on the old coat with a contented sigh and promptly went to sleep.

Lily watched the tiny puppy's furry sides rising and falling. Almost immediately his paws twitched as he started dreaming.
He must be exhausted from his long journey
, she thought.

Leaving Storm to sleep, Lily reached for a book of pony stories and stretched out on her bed to read.

The book was really good and she hardly noticed time passing. She was halfway through an exciting story about a pony being stolen, when something leaped onto her bed and launched itself on top of her.

Lily almost jumped out of her skin. “Storm! You scared me!” she said, laughing as she rolled over onto her back. “Did you have a good nap?”

“Yes, thank you. I feel safe here with you,” Storm woofed happily. Plonking his big soft paws on her book, he leaned up and began licking her chin.

Lily wrapped her arms around his plump little sandy body and gave him a cuddle. After a couple of minutes, Storm squirmed free and sprang onto the rug with a surprisingly loud thud for a tiny puppy.

“I would like to go outside now!”

“Okay,” Lily said, getting up off the bed. “Our garden's not very big, but there's a field nearby. I'll take you for a walk over there.”

Storm gave an eager little bark and followed her downstairs.

As they reached the hall, her dad appeared at the living room door. He had a frown on his face. “What was all that thumping upstairs? It sounded like a herd of elephants.”

“Dad! I . . . er . . . thought you were outside,” Lily gasped in panic.

She quickly shifted around, trying to stand in front of Storm before she suddenly remembered that he was invisible. Then, realizing how strange that must look, she began bending and stretching her arms. “Whew! Whew!” she puffed for added emphasis. “Just doing some exercise. I'm trying to get in shape. I was about to come and tell you that I'm going out for a jog around the field!”