The Golden Leaf and the Grey Wolf

A golden leaf fell from higher than any tree grows. Seven points it had, with an edge lined in red. Almost floating, it slowly spun, periodically fluttering on the wind, taking weeks to fall to the curved earth miles below.

A large grey wolf spent this time searching for a white rabbit running through the snow. The wolf would run at it's fastest, it's silver hair would streak back in straight lines with it's strands blurring into a tail like that of a shooting star. Thirty times the wolf ran, and thirty times the rabbit hid among the snow. In the wolf's haste he had lost sight and given himself away to the small wide eyed creature.

It was time for a change. Running now slower, the wolf could keep a better eye on the rabbit; and the rabbit was left with a worse eye for the wolf. It was only moments before the golden leaf would finally reach the earth, and the wolf too was moments from his well earned feast. The wolf, quickly jogging, could feel his fur sticking to his body rather than blurring behind him, swimming along the currents and subtle waves of wind.
If the wolf had been running his fastest, he would not have survived the impact. Moments before the capturing of the clueless rabbit, the golden leaf that had been traveling for weeks was blown into the face of the speeding grey wolf. Unlike an ordinary leaf which would have been pushed aside as easily as the air, this golden leaf was unmoved by the wolf's jogging plea to have any obstacles between itself and the rabbit removed by force, and the leaf held it's ground, or rather it's air. It continued to fall as though the wolf had never touched it and the wolf instantly stopped as if it had hit an invisible tree, then fell to the ground.
The leaf fell to the ground just in front of the wolf, melting the snow immediately around it. The leaf grabbed at the dirt, biting into it, and watched the world and the wolf as they slept for the winter. A few moments were spent by the wolf, trying to scratch the pain from his nose, but he slowly drifted into a dream; the dream lasted months. He dreamt of nothing but snow.

Though the cold white dream lingered, the snow had melted and the air was warm and filled with waves of green and brown by the time the wolf had woken up, and a tree now stood where the leaf had fallen. The wolf stood up to stretch. The strange lack of hunger had slipped from the wolf's mind and his first curiosity was to sniff the strange new tree who's branches hung long and thin, this tree who's wood and leaves shone brighter than any he had seen. The moment his nose touched the bark, a great vertical slit opened revealing a massive eyeball.

"Hello," a voice came from the the tree, though where it came from the wolf could not tell, "So wonderful to finally see you awake. I do apologize for our accidental collision, for you have suffered a greater blow than I."

It was unintentional, the jump back upon hearing the voice of tree, but the wolf now stood several feet away, like a stone, baring as many teeth as possible, staring into the enormous eye of the tree, who quite literally stood planted, staring right back with it's blank, seemingly emotionless eyeball.

"You needn't be afraid dear wolf," it sounded like multiple voices vibrating from the wood of the entire tree, all trilling through the air together, "I've dressed your wounds and filled your stomach."

Though the wolf's fear had begun to dampen, he still showed his teeth. Odd as the voice was, it seemed full of kindness, but the wolf hadn't planned on letting his guard down until he had an answer to the question: why?

"Why you wonder?" were the tree's next words, "as you can see," the great eyeball rolled to the left to look at it's greatest branch, which then began to move. The wolf took a few more involuntary steps away from the tree, "I can move my branches, I can see, I can think, I can feel the soft dirt between my long roots. On a sunny day I can even taste the sun, and the quenching refreshment that is the rain. We have much in common, but you have something I want, and I have something you may want in return." The tree's branches had limped to the ground, and it began to speak with a higher voice, "as I fell to Earth, miles through the sky, I saw a glimpse of the world: full, waiting to be seen, touched, heard, spoken to; but alas! I am rooted, stuck to my patch of soil, stuck to the fate my ancestors have given me. I ask you, wolf, trade with me our fates, roots for legs, and you'll never have to challenge any prey to dinner again. The very Earth will become both your prey, and my playground." There was a slight pause, "you wonder: without roots, how will this tree survive?" The branches of the tree slowly began to rise again, and the voice deepened "you needn't worry, I could catch anything, for I had caught you as just a leaf. I need only legs." There was a moment of silence, the voice of the tree continued, sounding less recited: "I know it was I who took your life, but it was I who gave it back to you. Those who tried to take you for a corpse, I fed to you. Now it's your turn, you owe me something in return for my kindness, and here I am asking you for a foot of yours for travel, four in the very least." The branches, now all pulled from the ground, began to creep towards the wolf.

The wolf, at the realization that he had closed his mouth, once again flared every tooth he had and used the simple tool of feet to retreat out of reach from the branches, which in the best word can only be described as creepy. To say it once more, the slowly moving branches truly creeped.

"No!" the voice from the tree now sounded uncertain and fearful, quiet and less trilling, though it remained calm, it spoke more quickly paced, "please, do not walk away. I need your feet. I need to see more than this forest. I need to see the world." The wolf had begun to walk away, the voice of the tree was fading with the distance, and with one last sentence spilled it's emotion, "I want to be free!" but the wolf had passed away from the tree.

The wolf began to walk, and began to think much on what had passed, and on the feeling that the large eyeball had set deep into the stomach of the wolf. Whether the feeling was guilt or a sense of unachievement the wolf could not tell, but the feeling persisted. The wolf continued to walk, and being lost in thoughts of pine cones and butterflies forgot he was walking, until he realized he was no longer in his forest.

This place the wolf had wandered to was unhindered by trees, and for the first time he was looking at the entire blue sky. Below, a great green field was cut by a small river feeding the grass, and in turn, the teeth of a herd. The wolf had never seen a herd like this before, white fluffy clouds with black legs, simply standing and chewing. He ran to the herd, but the herd ran from him. He didn't mind, he kept chasing the creatures enjoying the company, even if they didn't enjoy his.

There was one, where the rest would be white clouds on a sunny day, this dark cloud would bring thunder. Still fluffy, this one's fluff was black, and where the others ran, this one stood, staring off with a mouth full of grass. The wolf excitedly sniffed and did his best to say hello but the creature stood there indifferently. It suddenly shook itself, looked at the wolf for a moment, and began chewing the grass. At some point it turned away from the wolf and looked to it's distant flocked. The wolf kept walking.

Rolling on the grass, even trying a bite of the grass himself, the wolf began to truly appreciate what his feet had done for him. He glanced back at the forest, his home, then turned his head the other way to spot a mountain. What could be on the other side of the mountain? He proceeded to walk forward without a question in his mind; it was time to explore.

He walked for days, hunting a new type of food for each. Days kept going, and how many passed none could tell, but the wolf kept walking. Over the mountain, across a desert, through the deep places of the world and cities in the clouds. He swam across rivers, and stole away onto boats to cross the seas and oceans.

Each day brought a new sky. The ground smelled different, and the animals shone in colors he had never dreamt of. Some greeted him with kindness, while others tried to eat him. There were those who would ignore him while others ran away. One direction he went, never faltering from his forward line, and never turning around.

One day, upon looking at the sky, that familiar azure, smelling that sappy pine that defined the air of his home, and noticing how none looked at him as though he was out of place, and how nothing looked strange or new, he realized he had come back home. Things kept moving, growing, and dying while he was gone, and seeing everything back where he had left it all that time ago left the wolf with a displaced sense of time.

He came upon a tree, with a large vertical slit in it's side. Brown leaves were hanging on it's limp branches, even the top of the tree hung down to the side. The wolf walked up and the slit opened to reveal a large eyeball. The wolf felt vibrations as the tree saw him, and there was a low faint rumbling noise, but no words could be heard. The branches did not move and the wolf bared no teeth. His tail moved back and forth in excitement. A small hole, at the base and under the large eye of the tree was raised from the ground, revealing a small patch of soil directly where the tree stood. Holding a deep breath the wolf stepped into the hole, and the tree closed in around him.

With another deep breath, the wolf smelt his favourite smell: home. Between his wiggling roots he felt the soft airy ground. A small white rabbit hopped up to him, sniffed his face, and hopped away. After looking at the high flat clouds between the massive pines, the wolf closed his eyes as he began to drink the cold filtered sun through his greening fur.

Though he continued to grow, the wolf drifted off to sleep with a smile, and never woke up except by another.

The Adventures of Yosemite - Part 3

Day 3

"Wait!" Jon exclaimed from a dead sleep, "I want Ice cream too!"

"We asked you and you said no," Elisheva said, "but don't worry, I scooped you a bowl."

"Oh, I don't remember that, I must have triggered my, 'let me sleep longer,' morning defense mechanism, oops." Everyone enjoyed their morning ice cream which Elisheva had made herself, from scratch; from salt found in her special handbag, milk squeezed from the teat of a mountain goat, ice found floating down the streams that came from the highest peaks of Yosemite, and sugar distilled from boiling an orange away. It wasn't long before they all cleared their breakfast and headed out to find Jordan, who was still under a curse leaving him frozen all except for his vocal chords.

"Well it does seem to have cleared up since last night's rain," Philip said with a sudden switch to an Englsih accent, "there's not a cloud in the sky." Nobody questioned the change. They scaled the base of the rock wall that the cave was part of, hoping to God no rocks broke from the mountain to tumble their way.

A large brown movement caught the corner of Jon's eye. He turned to look, but saw nothing, and said nothing; the others would call him crazy, no doubt. Large prancing footsteps were heard from behind them. All three turned around, still nothing. Jon then decided it might be beneficial to bring up the brown blur he thought to be a bear, as a precaution, but the others just called him crazy.

"You should listen to him," a deep growling voice tried to emit a condescending feeling, but

the wheezing and the nasaly sound that came with the voice made you feel a sort of pity instead, "there could very well be a bear in this forest."

Their backs were to the sheer rock wall, and a giant grizzly bear completed their, 'rock and a hard place,' scenario they now found themselves in. None of them said another word, they stood there, staring at the bear.

"Well," said the giant beast, nearly coughing the sentence out with a sense of snobbiness, "with my heightened sense of smell, I know you had ice cream this morning," the three continued their silence, "I'm pretty sure that means I'll be eating all three of you today because you'll all be extra sweet!"

Philip turned around, without seeming alarmed at all by the bear, to begin studying the wall.

"Ok, uhh, just... don't... hurt me..." Jon said, followed by a hard gulp.

"Look here," Philip's accent now Australian, "we could climb the wall, the bear could never make it up." Immediately the three turned around and saw the small rocks sticking out from the cliffside that Philip had noticed. They were soon out from the bear's reach, but the monster sat waiting under them, "looks like we're climbing to the top then, eh mate?" the accent persisted. One protruding rock and foothold at a time, they began to make their way up the wall, vowing silently to themselves never too look down.

What a rough weekend, though Grant, waking up in the dirt with a cloudy memory for the second night in a row. He quickly found his footing, almost too quickly, and began to follow the foot steps leftover from the night before. Stepping first with his back pair of legs, and working through all eight pairs, from back to front, before his back pair took another step. This all came so naturally to him that he didn't seem to notice the extra pairs until he stopped and nearly tripped over one of his own feet. Looking back he saw the other eight pairs of legs sticking out from behind him. The biggest mystery to his second overnight transformation was how his pants also grew eight extra pairs of legs to clothe his new body parts.

It must have been the centipede. Thinking back, Grant recalled a bug with a hundred legs digging into and under his skin. Grant continued on, following the foot steps, and hoping to pick up the scent of the pretzels. While he walked he spent the time thinking about what he could call his new self. Part jackalope, part centipede, and part Grant. Centigrope? No, funny, but not cool enough. Jackipedrant? Lame. Grentipelope? He didn't think of a name he wanted to keep, not yet anyways. He continued to walk, seeing the signs of their trailer growing stronger.

"It's you," Grant whispered when he saw the familiar face of a man standing in the road with a staff in hand. Grant's many feet brought him over to the man and standing behind him, whispered into his ear, "hello."

The standing man stood motionless, "oh, you scared me. Hi!"

"Interesting," said Grant, still behind the other man's view, "I tried to creep you out, but you seem.....?"

"Excited? Happy? Inviting? Oh I've been here all night, alone in the rain, I'm just looking for someone to talk to. At least until my friends show up."

"Your friends?" Grant moved to the front of the staff holding man, keeping close. His back legs were still behind, leaving his back eight legs curving around Jordan, "where did your friends go?"

"I guess to a cave, with a champagne bottle, a magical one that can--"

"Magical cave!?" Grant interrupted him, "I know where that is thanks!" and Grant took off behind him.

He ignored the man's, "wait," and was too far away to hear when he said, "you can just wait here for them to come back, with, me..." and Jordan stood waiting, once again alone.

It seemed to be hours before they reached the top, everyone's arms a solid limp jello... Or something like that.

"Oh wow," for some reason, everyone heard it before they saw it, "look what fell into our laps."

"I know," another voice replied, equally as deep and raspy, "Lucky for us."

"Well," the monster took a step towards them as it inhaled a powerful snorting grunt, "You'll either come with us, or fall off the cliff."

The three of them, now with their back to a hundred foot fall to the previous bear, found themselves cornered between death and two bears both eager for a meal.

"Wait!" yelled Elisheva, halting their movement towards them, "you do intend to eat us do you?"

"Why," The words came slow, and there was a clear sound of mucus building in the throat, "yes we do."

"Shall we strike a deal then? It'll be in both our favors," Elisheva said, remembering the bear before.

The grizzly thought for a moment, then replied, "What could you possibly offer me?"

"Well," Elisheva started, "I have something in bag that everybody likes, I'm assuming you like egg salad sandwiches."

The bear nodded, "go on."

"Let us eat them, as a last meal. If you could grant us this one last pleasure before our lives end," Elisheva then tried to cater to the bears, remembering how the other wanted the ice cream, "then, when you eat us, we'll be twice as delicious! Imagine, egg salad sandwich flavored humans. What a wonderful treat that would be wouldn't it?"

The bear sat thinking, then it moved back to where the other was standing and they whispered. The three adventurers could only hear snorts and grunts until finally they spoke: "Ok, we'll stand here, there is no escape. Try to enjoy your last meal as much as we'll enjoy you!"

"Oh," Elisheva gave out a fake laugh, "impossible m'lords," the bears smiled. Elisheva turned around and the three of them sat in a triangle next to the cliff facing each other. She pulled the loaf of sandwiches out from her bag of magical wonders, and with it a phial of red powder, lightly pouring it onto the sandwiches.

"Paprika?" asked Jon.

"Prepare to fly," she said.

And with no other explanation, they all ate their sandwiches.

"Oh," Jon, seated, fell to his hands, "one of the only bones I remember from anatomy, and for some reason it hurts."

The others shortly brought their hands to the floor as well, "Don't worry," said Elisheva, "it's normal, well, the reaction is, the paprika was not."

"What was in the paprika?"

"Nothing was in it," she answered, gasping as the pressure in her shoulder blades grew "the spice was magically enchanted itself."

"With what?" Jon asked, then just like his hands fell seconds sooner than the others, wings shot out from his scapulas, three white small feathers with black stems fell to the ground.

"Jump!" Elisheva demanded, "these wings practically fly themselves," then she jumped, shortly followed by Philip.

Jon looked back at the wide eyed bears, then glanced down the side of the cliff. The great distance down seemed to rise up and punch into his chest as he slid from the cliffside, losing his breath to fear. His heart seemed to be testing his rib cage. The bears had a sudden dash towards him, roaring, causing Jon to simply jump away from the more immediate of the two fears, and into the open air. Both of Jon's hands grabbed the opposite arm, and his new wings spread out like a parachute, keeping him seemingly weightless for a few moments before his wings began to lose balance on the air, then he started to fall. Jon loosened his arms, and his wings straightened, cutting through the air rather than grabbing it, and as his slice of wind got more horizontal, so did his fall. Soon, he found himself falling completely horizontally and eventually flying.

"You're doing it! I knew you could," yelled Elisheva through the whistle the wind made past their ears, "now, lets find Jordan, the wings won't last for long."

It wasn't hard to spot Jordan through the clouds and trees, and though they had little time left before the wings disappeared, the three of them hesitated to return to the ground, for there is nothing quite like flying through the clouds. As their wings began to blink in and out of existence, they decided to head for the ground, and as they got closer the speed of the blinks became increasingly faster until the time between the blinks faded into seeing the wings and what's behind them, in much the way a ceiling fan looks when turned on high. Their feet lightly touched the ground and the transparency of the wings increased until after a few seconds they were gone.

"Ok Jordan," said Elisheva, with the champagne bottle in hand "I'm about to crash this over your head, are you ready?"

"Oh please do!" exclaimed Jordan, "I can't stand this."

The crashing commenced, the broken glass didn't seem to hurt Jordan. The bubbly wine soaked Jordan and the staff, and he continued to stand there like a statue, until the liquid looked as if it sizzled on his clothes and skin and the staff, gradually disappearing and leaving Jordan dry. As soon as the last of it bubbled away Jordan fell to the ground, dropping the staff and raising his arms above his head (well, beside his head really, but if he was standing rather than laying down it would be above), and his legs stuck straight out as well.

"Oh yeah!" he once again yelled, "this feels pretty good."

"Is the staff still cursed?" asked Jon, hunching over it.

"It should be fine," Philip answered, waving his hand it's way as if it were completely unimportant. Jon hesitantly hovered his hand over the staff, then decided not to grab it and stood up. Philip waved his hand back at it, but this time kept it up rather than dropping it, and flames flew from his palm like a squirt bottle sprays stuff. The flames flew far enough it burn the broken staff but concentrated enough to leave Jon unharmed even before he jumped back. The fire stopped and where the staff had laid, were now two grey sticks of ash.

"Wait a second!" Everyone sensed anger in her voice, "you know magic? You knew magic this whole time and did nothing about the bears!?"

"You saw bears?" Jordan's question immediately followed.

"Hold on!" Elisheva snapped at him, then looked at Philip, "Why didn't you flame the bears!?"

"Well," Philip calmly wiggled his glasses as he cleared his throat, "quite simply, I didn't have my magic before, the staff had absorbed all of it. You see, every wizard has a staff of their own. The staff, magical itself, works with his or her master, and together they heighten each other's powers. The two of them lend their own powers to the others, and by learning each other's strengths and weaknesses, both grow. I once had a staff, but it abandoned me for another master, leaving me to find a new one. Instead of looking, I began to craft my own from a fallen branch off a giant redwood.

"There were two things I didn't consider, the power of such an old and large tree, and second, I didn't know that a fallen branch from a tree contains some sort of evil that the tree no longer wanted. In this case, it was greed. I did all I knew how to do to make the most exceptional staff I could. Once I started using it, and we started exchanging our powers, I soon found out the staff had the power to bend the will of another. It was half dead when I found it, and it's powers were drained; it only retained half of it's power, which was altering the will of another; or simply, mind control. This process could no longer be completed because I chose a dying branch.

"So this staff, unable to bend my will and use my powers, altered my ability to move; or simply, stopped my brain from controlling myself. I was stuck, and although I resisted, and never meant to surrender any of my powers over to it, over the course of the next 10,000 years, it eventually got a hold and drained all of my power, every last bit. Knowing I would find a way to break the curse, it kept me under it's hold. Being half dead when I made it, it fully died many thousands of years ago and in the way a dead man's arm will hold it's grasp when cut off, the staff had held me under it's will for so long that it's natural being then held the will of anyone touching it, that is, until we broke that curse. And along with breaking the staff's power, my powers soon found their way back to me, allowing me to exact my revenge." Philip went silent for a few moments.

"Oh," Elisheva soon broke that silence, "well sorry."

"Philip," Jordan now stood, standing, "I've never seen a wizard that powerful, even with a great staff in hand, how were you able to shoot such powerful magic back there? I've never seen a thing quite like it."

"10,000 years is a long time," he answered, "there are few who have ever had such time to... What's the best word for it? Meditate? Or contemplate? Something along those lines. I've had much time to think, and thinking is the biggest part of magic, my friend."

The group began to walk toward the direction of the buffalo city they were originally heading for, talking with Philip further about the part of his past he had kept secret before. Jordan, at some point began to complain about the night he spent in the rain, alone, out in the open, and about the centipede human with white fur about him. This alarmed everybody, but none knew how to deal with this information and decided pushing forwards and forgetting it would be the best choice. Though in the backs of their minds, they did recall the unpleasant encounter with the sniffing man from the day before.

Suddenly, a squishing noise came from Jordan's foot, and all looked down to see Jordan standing in what some would consider a heaping pile of buffalo droppings. Jordan complained further about how this was the most horrible adventure ever, so everyone agreed that Jordan deserved the rest of the yogurt covered pretzels, especially since it was the last of the sweet food. All the ice cream had been eaten, which was another complaint of Jordan's.

A sniffing noise was heard, ever so faintly by Jon, who passed it over as the wind. Jordan munched out on the pretzels, pulling one after another out more rapidly than was necessary to eat them. The sniffing noise got louder and louder, until suddenly, just as Jon recognized the noise as sniffing, a loud high pitched scream came from all around them, and the arm of Jordan's that was holding the bag of pretzels, before he realized that something was running his way, was halfway down the centipede man's throat. The furry many legged man opened his mouth wide enough to put it over Jordan's head and around his other arm. Then, he kicked his head back and tossed Jordan down his throat like a pelican would drop a fish. After a quick swallow, the man looked at the others with beastly eyes and let out another high pitched scream.

Philip raised his hand like he did just before he shot the fire from his palm, but Elisheva slapped his hand in a weird sideways high five, "no," she said, "Jordan's in there."

"But-" Philip started but was cut off.

"No!" Elisheva said to Philip, but with her eyes on the monster. With it's many feet, the monster scurried away at high speeds. Elisheva stood at ease and looked back at the other two, "he may still be alive."

"Wait," said Jon, "You don't think that was a--?"

Elisheva finished Jon's suspicion, "Jackalope! I think Jordan is going to be part of that, thing. In which case he may come find us. Philip, do you know any magic that could break someone free from a jackalope?"

"Umm, no, none that I know of."

"I thought you had 10,000 years to learn magic."

"Oh no, that was 10,000 years to imrove my magic, I had no way of learning new spells. I can shoot a fireball like a muvva fuvva, but I wouldn't know where to start learning how to shoot ice rockets."

"Well, there has to be some way, don't flame him if you see him. Ok?" Elisheva asked of Philip.

"What if he tries to eat you too?"

"Umm, ok. Then you can torch him away, but only then ok?"

"Agreed."

The team continued on, knowing that the buffalo poop on the ground meant they were getting ever closer to the city of the buffalo. It wasn't long until they actually came to the city of the buffalo, there was a sign next to the road that read, "Welcome to The City of the Buffalo, Population, Some Buffalo," and there was a broken fence that crossed the road where the sign was.

"Wow," said Jon, "I didn't realize that was the actual name of the city."

They hopped the fence in anticipation of actually meeting a buffalo, but all they saw were abandoned cabins with broken windows, missing walls, and fallen trees lying scattered across the floor in every direction. Jon fell to his knees yelling, "Why!" As Jon was yelling, the others noticed Jon's scream scaring a silvery haired bear cub run from it's rumbling power.

"Follow that baby bear!" Elisheva yelled, the others followed. The three of our heroes were humans, with sweat glands, this allowed them to outrun the bear. exhausted, the bear layed on it's back, showing it's belly.

"Please," it had a little voice, not raspy like the others but clear as a young child's, "Don't hurt me."

"Tell us then," started Elisheva, always the best at questioning strangers, "What happened here, and do you know of the food box?"

"Oh I don't know what happened," said the cub, "and the food box, it's just north of here, past the purple pond and over Harken Hill. The hill is rather flat when it needs to be, you shouldn't have a problem passing over."

"You guys go," said Philip, "I'll stay with the bear. There's something else here, some other source of information he won't tell us. I'll catch up with you."

"How do you know?"

"Magic," Philip said just before reaching down and grabbing the bear's neck. The bear lay frozen, staring in fear into the fierce eyes of Philip, who arched frozen over the bear.

Jon snapped his fingers between the two faces, no movement, "He must be searching it's mind. I guess we should go then," and the two made their way past the purple-green pond, seemingly switching between the two colors but also both colors at the same time. Impossible to describe, you just have to see it. What seemed a daunting hill to climb at a distance seemed to get smaller and smaller as they approached it, until it was almost flat by the time they got to the top of it.

"Oh look," Jon pointed past the hill, "you can see the food box from all the way up here!"

The two of them, excited to have finally reached their destination, ran to the food box as fast as they could. The box was locked, and fashioned into the ground so it could not be taken. They put their ears to the green metal door and heard the faint voice of a young boy singing. It almost sounded familiar, but they could not quite make out the words. The two of them were now more determined than ever to get into the box and save the young boy. There was a padlock that didn't quite fasten the box's door completely shut, and they could fit their skinny arms through the small part of the door they could open.

Elisheva was the first to try, and her arm was just big enough to slide it up to her elbow.

The young boy grabbed Elisheva's hand, and small tear came to Elisheva's left eye when the boy's voice gave a hint of hope in his song.

"We have to save him," she said to Jon.

"What else is in there?" asked Jon, "Are there chips?"

"Probably," Elisheva's voice lightly answered, and immediately Jon pushed Elisheva to the ground and stuck his arm into the box. Jon felt around and found a bag of chips. He popped the bag open to let out the air, and in trying to pull the bag out hastily, crumbled the few bigger chips into many smaller chips.

"Oh," Jon smiled, "I'm ok now, thank you," he walked to a rock not ten feet from the box, sat down and began eating chips.

A wetness began to swell up in the right eye of Elisheva. Her eyes closed, releasing both tears to her cheeks. She got up and leapt to the green box, landing both palms on the door, "I'll get you out yet, little boy!" Elisheva dropped her hands to her lap and looked down at the dirt she found herself sitting in, and whispered to herself, "I'll get you out."

Jon ignored all of it, lost in the trance of the, "Crunch, crunch, crunch," the chips gave him.

Philip, back from the bear, walked so silently Elisheva jumped when he put his hand on her shoulder, "I've got the key," he said. Elisheva turned around to see the key clearly in his hand, and jumped up to hug him.

"Oh thank you!" she said, sniffling away her leftover cry. She took the key and put it in the lock. Nothing happened, "It's not working!" she said.

"Oh, it's definitely the right key, we must be doing something wrong," Philip replied, taking a closer look.

"Try turning it," It was Jordan's voice from behind them. They both turned around.

Jon still sat there, mindlessly eating chips, paying attention to nothing but the crunches so loud to him and so quiet to the rest.

It was Jordan, furry, with two horns, numerous massive legs, and something else, someone else. Philip put his palm up and Jordan raised his hands, "It's me don't worry, turn the key," he nodded at the padlock. Elisheva turned the key and the lock unlocked. The door swung open, and the little boy jumped out holding coffee and ice cream for everybody. They all danced to the little boy's songs that he sang.

Jon stopped eating his chips for a moment and heard the voice of the child.

"You're Chris aren't you?" Jon left his chips on the rock and approached the party, "Chris Garneau. I know you from somewhere, I've heard that song somewhere," the boy continued to dance, as did everyone else.

Jon stood there as the song brought back the memory of the girl from the river, "she was a Naiad!" Jon exclaimed to himself.

"Yes," the boy stopped singing, "the song of the Naiads. They taught it to me when I was very young."

"You seem pretty yo--" Jon stopped himself from finishing his sentence because suddenly when he looked at Chris Garneau, he was now a full grown man. Jon and Elisheva exchanged looks of confusion but didn't say anything. Chris Garneau started to sing again, and everyone, including Jon, began to dance.

After Returning Home

"And do you, Elisheva," said Philip standing between Elisheva and Jordan, who had somehow found himself as one creature combined with the jackalope, Grant who had been eaten by the jackalope, a centipede who had spliced it's DNA into Grant's at some point, and a buffalo who got in the mix from the poop Jordan stepped in. Jon stood behind Elisheva, supporting her. Cameron and Leonda, the hobbits, stood behind Jordan, supporting him.

"Take just the Jordan part of GrantalJordapedeallo, to be you're awfully wedded husband?"

"Oh yes, because to marry just part of a man is an awful wedding indeed."

"I now pronounce you, Mr. and Mrs. Just-the-Jordan-Part-of-Grantallordapedallo, you may kiss the bride." The rest of the minds within the creature receded, leaving just Jordan there to kiss and receive a kiss. As their lips touched, an explosion not of force, but of light blinded all at the wedding, and as the light faded, there stood on the altar Elisheva kissing just Jordan. Looking around, the others could see scattered Grant, a jackalope, and buffalo poop. The centipede was nowhere to be found but the jackalope had ten legs, it ran away. The reception started then and there, and the wedding singer, Chris Garneau, began to sing. Grant stood up from the ground and found that he was still holding the bag Anjelica had given him. Such a large bag, Grant thought to himself, I could fit a whole person in here, what did she want I never found out? Just then, looking at the wedding singer, he figured it out. He slipped the bag over Chris Garneau's head, and down to his feet. He then ran away to Anjelica's tent with the bag over his shoulder. Nobody stopped him.

Later that night, and many nights following, Jon went to the nearest river and listened to the sound of the flowing water. Almost like a static, but soothing, changing, and musical. It cleared his mind even better than the crunch of the chips. He laid there under the stars, listening to the water, listening to the song of the Naiads.

The Adventures of Yosemite - Part 2

DAY 2

The next morning, grant woke up on the dirt among the trees, next to an empty camp with a few stragglers and a dead campfire. What happened last night? Thought Grant, a quick memory flashed in his mind of having been eaten, but at the same time, he remembered himself eating someone. It doesn't matter, Grant reassured himself, I'm still here now, and I must pick the trail up of the two.

Suddenly, as the wind began to blow east, his nose picked up a scent stronger than any he had ever known, and with the wind came the scent of yogurt covered pretzels. Grant, upon smelling this, knew it to be Jon and Elisheva's scent. The smell brought a memory of them tossing a pretzel his way while he stood chomping on grass. Grant knew he never did such a thing, but the memory was as clear as the rest of yesterday. The scent led him down one of Yosemite's many trails.

Jon let out one of the many yawns of the morning, and although breakfast had been eaten,

his stomach still yearned for chips. The group of three now headed down a pathway under an

archway of dogwood trees and crooked pines.

"Mushrooms!" Jordan ran to mushrooms beside the road and began to catalog them, With Elisheva equally intrigued. Jon stood at the center of the wide brown pathway and looked down the eerie hallway the trees made.

"Get off the road!" Jon yelled as his spine sent a message of fear up and down his body. Elisheva and Jordan just gave out a little laugh, "guys, I mean it, something's not right."

"We're looking at mushrooms." Elisheva rolled her eyes at Jon.

"Umm, yeah!" Jordan did the same.

Jon looked back down the road, a the sudden dry yet creamy scent rushed past his nostrils. Immediately, after another shiver through his spine, Jon knew it was the jackalope he could feel. It's hunger for their pretzels rippled out and Jon picked it up.

"Get off the road!" Jon yelled this time, then crushed the mushrooms under his feet. The other two gave him a dirty look, "we have to hide! The jackalope is coming for our pretzels!"

"Relax," said Jordan, standing up with Elisheva, "it was a silly ghost story, it's not real."

Suddenly footsteps were heard from down the pathway Jon was looking, and they could see a small form growing where the edges of the road seemed to meet. They suddenly scurried to find a hiding spot. Just below one of the most crooked pine trees was a steep ramp of dirt, and the roots grew horizontally along the top of this ramp, giving a small overhang to hide under the tree. They hid there hoping for whatever they saw, jackalope or not, would pass without noticing them.

The wind blew the tall skinny trees, causing them to sway back and forth. They could hear

the pine needles flowing across the dirt floor, but the needles kept the human jackalope's foot steps and presence hidden; until, that is, they heard sniffing. It had stopped, and was smelling the air.

"It smells the pretzels," whispered Elisheva to Jon, raising both her eyebrows "the stories were real." There was a sudden crinkling of a bag, and the jackalope gave out a gasping sniff, turning it's head to our hero's hiding spot.

Grantalope bent down, hands upon the horizontal roots. The scent of the yogurt covered pretzels was strong, and he was near, his eyes scanned the trees ahead, hoping for any sign of movement.

Luckily, it was Elisheva who had the centipede on her shoulder and not Jon, for Jon would have run and given himself to the jackalope in fear of such the small creature, but Elisheva held her ground, waiting for the centipede to continue crawling up the the root above. The two looked beside them and saw Jordan sticking his hand into the yogurt bag, feeling for the perfect pretzel, and thus causing no noise from pulling his hand out. They were both afraid to move from fear of bugs, but as soon as the cetipede left her shoulder Elisheva reached over, grabbing the bag.

The centipede was on the finger of the jackalope, and the crinkle of the bag startled the creature, causing the centipede to bite, and the jackalope to give a painful scream. Using the distraction, the three got up and ran into the forest, and out of sight.

Grantalope didn't notice they're escape, for he was too busy swatting at the bug that bit him, but it did not move. At first it seemed to shrink, but he realized it was entering his skin through the finger. With just the tail left, Grantalope used his other hand to try and grab it, to try pulling it back out; but it slipped burrowing too deep to retrieve. He felt it moving for a moment, rather quickly; but it soon disappeared.

A sudden sharp pain from the inside of his back was too much, Grantalope fainted on the side of the road.

"Is that a person?" the three of them, now lost in the forest, wondered as they stared at a human figure standing completely still with a great wooden staff in hand a small distance away. At first they thought it may have been a statue, but the detail was far too great, and the clothes were affected by the wind. Jon ran ahead of the rest to investigate, but stopped dead in his tracks when that frozen man spoke with a kind voice.

"Hey," a voice came from the man.

There was a silence as Jon stood staring. The man didn't move.

"Oh hi," Jordan replied with a laugh, after catching up.

"Would you mind holding on the this staff for me?" he remained still, only his mouth moves.

"Uhh," Jordan's head gave a slight tilt, then snapped back straight as he said, "yeah!" He walked up, stood beside him, and grabbed it, standing still after it fell to his hands.

The tall man let go right as Jordan grabbed, and immediately, his hands went to the sky; he proceeded to preform various stretches.

"Hi," Elisheva smiled at the tall man; He didn't answer and spread his legs on the ground, stertching further.

"Umm, guys?" Jordan stood completely still as he spoke, "I can't move,"

Elisheva rolled her eyes at him, "it's not funny," and kept her attention on Philip.

"No really, I can't," Jordan assured her, but she just shook her head.

"It's true," said the tall man.

"What?" Elisheva's eyes widened.

"I told you!" Jordan had a tone that was out of place with his absence of body language.

"I'm Philip," he got back to his feet, standing four feet taller than the others.

"Wait, why can't I move, please help!"

"There's a curse upon the staff," still standing, Philip spread his legs out three shoulder lengths, and reached his hands down to his right foot, "Any who grab the staff are cursed to a state of not-moving-ness."

"Not-moving-ness?" Jon had a slight laugh, "is that the official word for what it is?"

"Yes," Philip's hands moved to his left foot, "I was stuck for 10,000 years until you came along? My muscles are stiff as a muvva fuvva."

"Wellllll, how do I get back to moving-ness again?" asked Jordan, a small distance away from the conversation.

"Well I thought it may be obvious," Philip stood up, and keeping his legs apart, reached backwards until his hands were grabbing the floor. All four limbs held him up, and his back remained arched backwards as he stretched the entire front side of his body, "the only way to break the curse," his voice had trouble pushing itself from his lungs, due to the stretching, "is to have someone else grab the staff."

"Oh Jordy!" Elisheva ran up to Jordan, "I can take it, are you ok?"

"No! I'm not Okay,"

"Wait!" Jon stopped Elisheva from taking the curse, "I know a way to break the curse... for good."

Jordan, hoping to get free; Elisheva, hoping to free her man; and Philip, hoping to obliterate the curse that held him so long, all listened to Jon's story of the hobbits back in Curry Village. They decided that the artifact they sent Jon to get could be used to free Jordan, so they set off, Jon following because he did not want to leave his friends.

The three talked, leaving Jordan, promising to return as soon as they can break the curse. Philip spoke of the many people who lived in Yosemite all those thousands of years ago. Elisheva and Jon were surprised to hear that ancient Yosemiteans spoke English as fluently as Philip. Philip told him of the hundreds who passed, how none of them were silly enough to take his curse. They pressed forward through the constant flat ground, until they began to see fallen trees. The ground was darker and softer, and there seemed to be other small plants on the ground than just ferns, bright red flowers sat near a river, and Jon went closer to further notice the way it's small center blended with the outside edges of red, and the blending shades of orange that connected the colors on these massive flowers.

But with flowers, comes bumble bees, and with massive flowers, massive bumble bees. Jon heard the deep humming of one approaching, but could not spot it. Looking at eye level would do him no good, for the bee was at his feet. It jumped, and bit his leg with it's butt. Jon fell to the floor letting out a high pitched yelp and rolled away from the flowers. His hands grasped his leg, which was already beginning to swell by the time Philip and Elisheva investigated the

yelp, then they left him between the river and the flowers, promising to return soon with baking soda to cure the wounds. Elisheva knew where to find it naturally growing in the forest. Shortly after their departure, Jon was looking at a leg that had swelled to ten times it's original size, and decided to soak it in the river until they return.

It was near a waterfall that Jon had limped to, and after ten minutes of a soaked leg, ice cold freshwater at it's purest had worked some magic on his wound. The swelling had gone almost completely away. After an attempt to walk on it, it began to swell again and only stayed healthy in the stream.

The waterfall gave off a mist of the falling water that had bounced back into the air from the rocks, and Jon wanted to get closer, but he had gone as far as his leg would carry him. He settled for a cold face with gradually forming drops of water instead of an air so thick a man simply standing would be soaked from head to toe, hair to clothes, and socks to shoes in seconds.

Jon took a glance around to see if he could spot his friends; nothing. Scooting closer to the water, he dipped his leg deeper into the water, giving himself a slightly better view of the river's surface through the mist. Scanning every inch of the surface for fun, a pair of eyes peeked out from the river Jon hadn't noticed before, next to a boulder across the way; eyes, forehead, and hair. A frightened jump nearly slipped Jon into the the river, but he found his holding. Eye contact scared the curious eyes back under the surface, and Jon's eyes danced on the white surface of the river and it's varying depths faster and more carefully hoping to see them again.

Looking around for his friends, Jon doubted himself for a moment. To his right, away from the waterfall he looked out; still nobody. Relaxing himself to look straight at the river, Jon suddenly saw a woman to his left sitting just next to him, and a bigger leap of fear did send him slipping into the river, but halfway down she grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his seat; leg still dangling in the water.

"Oh thanks," Jon laughed.

"Hi," she smiled, and leaned forward, hovering her head above the water.

"Are you a siren?" Jon said, forgetting to return the courtesy of a greeting.

There was a slight pause as her legs stopped kicking the water and her eyes looked off in thought, "Do you even know what a siren is?" she giggled; just slightly.

"Ummm," Jon drew the word out as his head tilted, "women from the sea."

"Yeeeees," she drew that word out too.

"Women who lure men to their deaths!"

She laughed, "There is one major flaw to your assumption here," she continued to say through more laughing, "two in fact."

"No," Jon joked, "I'm sure your here to kill me."

"I'm from the river," she leaned back, no longer hovering above the water, "not the sea, and I'm pretty sure it was you who lured me from my home. Men have stories of water women out to take them away and eat every bit of them to their bones. But imagine us, women of the water, the stories we tell of the men from the land. Men who dangle their legs like fishing lures, taking us home and drying us out. I do believe it is I who should be fearing you. So tell me evil land golem, in what way do you plan do kill me?"

There was a moment of silence with her smile stealing what little words were left that her former statement weren't able to steal before Jon just admitted, "I'm at a loss for words."

"So your no golem I take it."

"And I'm guessing you're no siren?"

"Nope,"

"What are you then?"

Her eyes went down to the moving water, her smile never left her face, "it won't be hard to remember me, once you hear the river's song."

"Sing it to me then," Jon said excitedly, "I'm anxious to relearn where I know you from."

"I don't sing it," her eyes were still fixed on the water, "the river does."

Squinted eyes of confusion, that was Jon's face.

"Don't worry, when you hear it, you'll understand."

"Jon!" another voice came from his right, Jon turned to see Elisheva and Philip walking his way.

"Turns out!" Elisheva started her statement with a laugh, "you can't actually find baking soda in the wild, but, we found that cave you were looking for, and there was a merchant there selling three things, a heart, a fairy, and a bottle of baking soda. All we had to give him was one rupee for the baking soda."

"You didn't get the fairy?" Jon asked before turning back around to find the water woman missing. Jon quickly turned his body around to face them, and still sitting on the floor he asked, "did you see where she went?"

"Where who went?"

Jon's eyes went back to dancing on the river's surface, a dance accompanied not by and song Jon could recognize, "nobody," Jon's eyes went back to his leg, and he changed the subject before there were questions, "where'd you get a rupee?"

"Oh I had one leftover from those many years ago," said Philip, "I was robbed of the rest, but I kept one inside my sock. Lucky me eh?"

"Yeah," Jon said, "shall we go to the cave now and get the bottle that will break the curse?"

Jon thought back to the river woman he had seen earlier, and realized that his time with her was the only time since their arrival at Yosemite that Jon wasn't thinking about chips, and even now, the thought of her replaces the constant flow of chips running through his mind.

Nightfall was approaching, and the others agreed to go to the cave, retracing their steps. Standing in front was the merchant, a spitting image of Jordan. Upon their inquiry, they discovered that the merchant was in fact Jordan's twin brother, Yordan. A rain had started so light, the droplets of water on them felt misty rather than rainy. Elisheva, if she ever wondered before if her love was superficial, had realized that her love was deeper than Jordan's fine looks, for she felt nothing looking to Yordan. They asked about the curse-breaking bottle of champagne.

"Just inside the cave," he assured them. The night had fallen, and with the bravery of Elisheva and her cell phone light to guide them, they stepped into the cave. Just ten feet into the cave stood the bottle.

"Oh that was not a bad cave at all," Jon said, feeling more brave than ever. They heard droplets of rain falling heavily by this time, and Yordan began to close his shoppe.

"Shall we stay in the cave for the night?" asked Elisheva.

"What about Jordan?" asked Yordan, "He'll have a most horrible night standing out in the rain."

"We don't wanna get wet," the other three agreed that staying in the cave for the rainy night would be the best option, and with Yordan's fire, they all stayed warm until morning.

The Adventures of Yosemite - Part 1

DAY 1

It was a sleepy day in Yosemite. The sun would periodically pop out from behind the patches of fast moving white clouds so close they seemed nearly touchable; if only jumping could bring you a bit higher. Leaves on either side of a clearing between trees framed a sheer cliff side with flat rivers hugging it's walls.

After 23 years of digging, Elisheva and Jon had finally managed to break out of the prison they were born into. Their mother, pregnant, had a life sentence, and the two siblings shared that sentence with her until this day. Immediately after pulling themselves from the hole, they took a deep breath, stood straight up, and got a good view of their new home. The tall walls of rock between every open space of pine trees also peeked over areas where the trees couldn't stand so tall. They were surrounded by walls, but this time they were free.

They found whom they were told to seek out; Anjelica, a citizen of Curry Village. They stood talking next to a small fenced off patch of grass populated by a single fuzzy horned jackalope. A short conversation with Anjelica left Jon and Elisheva with a goal, the food box. After an unhealthy lunch of whatever they could scramble up from their pockets, they headed off to Anjelica's tent; but first feeding the wild jackalope a single yogurt covered pretzel, ignoring the sign that warned, 'do not feed the wild jackalopes.'

"Tell us more about the food box," Jon demanded of Anjelica, "are there chips within it?"

The three of them sat in her large tent that was raised from the dirt ground giving her a flood proof hardwood floor. Anjelica left the presence of a fourth person in the tent a secret from the two as she went on to tell them of the mythical food box; how it sat next to a lonely tent near a settlement deep on the other side of the forest, near the city of the buffalo; and how there was in fact a healthy bag of chips inside this box. She gave them a map that pointed in the general direction of where the settlement was thought to be. Elisheva took the map and placed it in her Mary Poppins Bag along side all her magically enchanted types of dusts, potions, and lunch ingredients. After the visitors left her tent, a man in skinny cut off shorts and a cloak stepped forward from the shadows.

"I want you to follow them," said Anjelica without turning to look at Grant, "and when they find the box, bring whatever is inside to me. Don't let them leave your sight until you have it."

"Of course," Grant gave a slight bow, "that includes the chips?"
"Take this," She handed him a very large bag, "keep the box's contents in this, and do as you please with the chips, you'll see what it is I want, once the box is opened."
"Mochila!" Grant said loudly and abruptly. He then left the tent to watch them and make sure they were up to no funny business.

It was still a sleepy day, but the two decided they would travel the village, and prepare for what's ahead. Sandwiches, they both agreed egg salad would make for the best lunch. A man in a green hat and green sweater to match the green on Elisheva slowly creeped his way behind the two as they stood there thinking.
"Where do you think we could get egg salad supplies in such a place as this?" Elisheva asked of Jon. The man behind heard them and approached them, putting his hand on Elisheva's shoulder. Elisheva turned around, they met eyes. There was a silence as they stared into each other's souls. It was love at first sight.Jon, seeing only the fact that a stranger had had laid his hand upon his friend's shoulder, spoke up in her defense, quite passively, "hi," a slight smile of amusement.
The trance-like state between them was suddenly broken, they both blinked and shook their heads, "Umm," the man said, finding his thought, "oh yeah, I know where you can find your egg salad sandwiches," he laughed an embarrassed laugh. The two decided it would be best to follow him, Elisheva convinced Jon he could be trusted, but kept the otherworldly moment between them a secret for now in case she was just being foolish and didn't realize it.
They approached a small wooden hut surrounded by what looked to be more established log buildings, "Trust me," said the man, who had introduced himself as Jordan to our two favourite adventurers, "this is the best place for egg salad in all the village.
"Yes," said Elisheva, who had been unable to wipe the smile from her face since they ran into the man, "The quaintest place always have the most--" a slight pause put more into the next word, as did her sudden intentive eye contact with Jordan, "LOVE... into the food." A sparkly pretty noise came from nowhere magically, wind chimes of love.

"It's a pretty small place," said Jon... to himself, "but from the inside it's a bit bigger."
"Oh yes!" a voice from nowhere.
"Hello?" Elisheva and Jordan decided to wait outside and talk, leaving Jon to fend for himself in the world of getting egg salad sandwiches. Looking around the cluttered wooden room, Jon saw nobody. Just supplies in every corner and a counter at the other side of the room.
"Leonda," the voice called.
"Yes?" another answered.
"Fetch my foot stool would you?"
"Of course, I'd be happy to," and from behind the counter, a small stout woman, waist high, with a brown dress and braided blonde hair scurried to a foot stool against the wall half her heighth, and dragged it back behind the counter. Jon stood there and watched, she didn't look at him.
Suddenly a head popped up, long tangled dirty blonde hair, and a beard to match it, "People always complain about the size of my store, but there's plenty of room for me."
Jon held a laugh in, smiling he asked for egg salad sandwiche supplies.
"Wooly mammoth?" the short man asked.
"Huh?"
"Oh, I mean Snuffalupagus!"
Jon tilted his head in confusion. Suddenly the man let out a single whelp as he fell to the floor. The small woman's head popped up where the man's once stood."Sorry about that, Cameron can be a little weird sometimes," she said, then pulling from under the counter she pulled out a loaf of bread, "you said you need egg salad sandwiches?"
"Oh yes."
"How many?" she began to open the packaging.
"Oh oh oh," Jon put his hand out, "I'll just take the whole loaf."
"Really?" she held the loaf dangling in front of her face, causing Jon to take a closer look, "That's a lot of sandwiches." On that further inspection, Jon saw a layer of egg salad between ever other slice of bread.
"Yes, I'll take the whole loaf of sandwiches,"said Jon happily, "and, do you have any chips?"
The moment Jon finished his sentence, the man, who had been knocked to the floor started screaming, and ran out the front door. Jon laughed, "he is a little weird."
Leonda didn't find it funny, "why do you want chips? You don't have any with you do you?" she asked.
"No I don't, and I like chips, I just thought..."

"Oh no, just making sure you weren't." Leonda swallowed hard, "we have a curse on our family, a curse denying us the freedom of chips. Chocolate chips, potato chips, tortilla chips, even..." a single tear that had begun to form at the corner of here eye now fell, "chips off the old block."
"Oh!" Jon was flabberghasted, "that sounds horrible! I'm sorry." The two of them stood in silence for a moment before Jon said another word, "so... how did you guys get this, umm, cu--"
"Nevermind that," Leonda cut him off, and her sadness was swept away, "but if you're so interested I know a way you can help."
Jon, at a loss for words, stood with his mouth hanging open. Leonda pulled out a map, and a sharpie, and circled and Xed some spots. Pointing to the circle she said, "this is where we are," then pointing to the X she said, "and this is where the cave is. Inside the cave you'll find a magical bottle of champagne. Whoever gets the champange bottle broken over their heads, any curse upon them is broken instantly."
"Wait, you want me to get this for you?"
"Yes"
"Well," remembering his own map, "I am headed that way, so, I guess I could check it out."
"Thanks," she said with a smile, "anything else for you?"
Jon looked around the room for anything that Elisheva might give him a hard time for not getting, "I'll take some vegetables too,"

"Wow," said Elisheva, "I'm so surprised you got vegetables instead of chips."

"What could I say," Jon raised his hands, giving his tilted head an even plateau between his shrugged shoulders and palms, "I'm a healthy boy."
They day was getting dark, and the two heroes of our story gave the sun a salute before it retreated behind the rocks. The two, still affected by the sleepiness of this sleepy day, decided they would start their journey on the next day and rest that night under the powdery river of stars. Jordan brought them to a group of campers without tents. Sitting around a campfire they contributed vegetables to the community soup, whereas everyone else just threw in instant noodles. Everyone showered the vegetables with compliments shared stories about the nature of Yosemite. After eating, Elisheva pulled out some more yogurt covered pretzels, and a jackalope jumped from the bushes, grabbing the one she was about to put into her mouth, and then it ran.

"Did you feed the jackalope one of those before?" Yoshi, one of the others asked, "they'll follow you for months after giving them just one you know."
"We'll be fine, we're leaving in the morning."
"Oh, but human food will cause the jackalope to try and take on human form," he replied, using a stick to push a log over. It didn't help the fire grow, but none fed the fire, for sleepytime was nigh.
"Oh, that's not so bad," Jon said, waving his hand as to dismiss the problem.
"Well, Jon, in order to do this, the jackalope needs to absorb a human into itself." Yoshi sat up to say his last part ominously, "when we wake up tomorrow morning, one of us will be missing." everyone sat staring at the two, "the jackalopes usually take the form of whoever likes the food they want to best," Yoshi squinted his eyes at Jon before asking, "how much do you like yogurt pretzels?" Jon's eyes stared wide back at his, lacking a smile his face counter balanced Yoshi's squint and smile. Moments later, everyone around who sat silently listening broke out in laughter, "it's only a story, haha, go to sleep. You'll be fine," Then whispered one last thing, "I hope..." his eyes shut.

In the darkness behind the camp, Grant stood straight up and watched as the group of campers began to fall asleep around a dying campfire. Suddenly, Grant felt four legs wrap around him from behind. He tried to pull the legs off but moments later he felt something wrapping around his head, something wet. His hands went straight for his head, it was furry, and it was trying to eat him. In seconds, whatever had the top of his head now slowed down to try wrapping it's mouth around his shoulders. It didn't take long. Grant couldn't breathe, and the mouth of the creature now held his arms, Grant could do nothing to get it off. Grant, with no air to aid him, used as much energy as he could to try ripping his way out to another breath, but that only caused him to lose consciousness so much faster.