room.
Silva sees him enter into the living room and wags her tail in excitement saying "ready to go" he nods saying "as ready as I will ever be." They both walk out the back door and into the woods behind Jim's house.

Jim draws the fresh mountain air into his lungs and exhales. Silva's large paws crunch through the fallen leaves besides him. He walks towards his favorite spot, a large tree that has grown over a boulder next to a small stream. Silva pounces on the leaves that are falling from the tree limbs above her. He closes his eyes he feels Silva press herself against him. He feels the strong pulse of her heart as it beats in her chest. He opens his eyes and pats her on the head at this Silva licks his face. He hugs her and she wags her tail happily.

Somewhere in the woods a shot rings out. The bullet grazes Silva's shoulder, she winces in pain. From the trees emerges a man holding a rifle he is dressed in camo. Jim looks at Silva's bleeding shoulder then back at the hunter who was loading another round into his rifle. Jim picks up Silva in his arms and he runs back to his house leaving the hunter standing there. Denise Jim's mother sees her son run out of the woods carrying a bloody Silva in his arms. She places her hand to her mouth and says "what happened to her" Jim out of breath says "there was a hunter back there in the woods" his mother takes Silva from Jim and carry’s her into the house.

Jim watches his mother tend to Silva's wound. Silva watches as she cleans them saying "it doesn't hurt that bad but my heart is pounding" he smiles alittle at her attempt to cheer him up. He looks from her and his mother to his father who is on the phone with the local police. Ian says "my son was shot at and you say you can't do anything I am just asking you to send a cruiser over here and find this psycho hunter" then he says "ok thanks." He hangs up the telephone, Denise looks at her husband saying "well are they going to do anything" he nods saying "yeah they are sending someone over."

Later that day Jim and Silva are laying quietly in his room when all of a sudden a foxes head flashes into his mind. He remembers something from when he was living in Vermont, he remembers a fox curling against his chest and also the same fox falling into his birthday cake. Then that same fox laying in a pool of blood then everything swirling into blackness. A name rings through his mind "Arctos." When the memories stops Jim sits up thinking to himself "what the heck was all of that and why do I feel I should know this fox" Silva looks at him and says "what is it Jim" he replies "nothing" Silva knew he was lying but didn't wish to press the matter. The cops show up at the house an hour later and Jim takes them to where the hunter had been they find a bullet casing and some foot prints. The cop tells Jims parents that it is best that Jim and Silva for their own safety stay close to the house in order to prevent future mishaps. Silva upon hearing this lowers her head when Jim tells her what the officer had said. She thinks it over and says "well I will try to stay close to the house" Jim hugs her saying "I knew you would understand." She wags her tail but inside she knows that she will miss the outdoors and the feeling of the moist ground beneath her paws.

Part Two a Dangerous Scent

The next day while Jim goes to school Silva stays in his room pacing about. She walks out of the room and through the large doggy door into the backyard where she lopes happily. A smell of steak reaches her nostrils; she licks her lips in hunger. As she follows the smell into the forest it becomes very quiet. Her ears go back against her head and she tucks her tail between her legs. She sees the meat lying on the ground in front of her. As she approaches she smells that there is something wrong with it. She sniffs the meat and the smell is processed by her brain. She paws at it then decides that it is best that she doesn't eat it. After Jim gets home from school Silva tells him about the meat, Jim walks into the woods with her. On the ground before them is the meat Silva was talking about. He picks it up and brings it back to his parents, they curiously ask where did he find the meat he replies “Silva told me about it, I believe it is poisoned.”

Ian calls the police who arrive twenty minutes later. The officer looks suspiciously at the slice of steak then walks out into the woods behind the house. A few minutes later more police show up, Ian asks one of the officers why they are here to which one of them replies “our fellow officer needed help to look for more of these steaks.” In all the police recover ten slices of steak. Even the K9 units they had with them would take a bite of the steak. The police let Jims parents know if the meat was tainted when the results would come back from the crime lab. Relieved that the tainted meat was removed from the woods Jim sits on the sofa watching his father rub Silva’s belly. His thoughts drift back to the fox and the memories of him.

When Jim asks his parents if they ever owned a fox they both go pale in the face. They tell him that Jim was once friends with a fox named Arctos when they lived in Vermont. His mother explains that her brother told her that he could communicate with animals when he was young and Jim apparently had the same ability. Jim asks “why didn’t you tell me any of this?” his mother says “we didn’t want you to be hurt after finding out Arctos was gone” He replies “I am upset because I couldn’t even remember my own friend.”

That night Denise, Jim’s mother calls her brother in Vermont. She tells him how Jim has bonded with a wolf named Silva and how he can talk to her. Her brother tells her he will be on the next flight to Vermont and that he had to explain some things to Jim. After he said that he hung up leaving his sister curious as to what he was going to say. The next day Jim takes a day off from school since he comes down with a small fever. He sniggers at his father who spent most of the day staring blankly at the TV screen.

The doorbell rings and his mother opens it to find her brother standing there with his suitcase in hand. Silva pads into the room and looks up at him. He smiles and pets her on the head saying “she is a good wolf” his sister nods saying “she saved Jim when we had someone break into our house.” Silva licks his hand and looks at Jim saying “it has been a long time although I don’t think you remember me I am your Uncle John” Jim hugs his uncle saying “of course I remember you.” Later that night John gives Jim a small present which contains a small pendant in the shape of a wolf’s head. Jim thanks his uncle for the gift and watches as he takes a small piece of Silva’s fur and ties it to the leather string the pendant is attached to. He tells Jim all he has to do is squeeze the piece of fur and Silva will come to him.

Jim returns to school the following day, his uncle drops him off before he gets out of the car he thanks his uncle again for the pendant and hugs Silva goodbye. He watches as the car disappears from view.

Jim walks towards the main entrance to the school when Bobby and his group of thugs blocks his way. Bobby pushes Jim saying “how’s it going wolf lover” Jim’s left hand tightens into a fist. Jim looks at Bobby saying “I don’t have time for this Bobby please just leave me alone” Bobbies eyes narrow he replies “what the hell are you going to do about it” Jim tries to walk around Bobby but he gets in the way again. He looks at Jim saying “did I say you could go” looking up into Bobbies face Jim replies “I didn’t know I needed permission from a giant idiot like you to go anywhere” Bobby punches Jim in the stomach and watches as he falls to the ground. Jim watches in horror as Bobby pulls out a large hunting knife most of Bobbies friends tell him to relax and that Jim isn’t worth the time. Despite their pleadings Bobby says “I should have done this a long time ago” just as he raises the knife Silva comes running across the parking lot and bites into Bobbie’s hand that is holding the knife. Bobby immediately drops the knife and starts to wreath in pain. The SRO comes running over to where Bobby and Jim are seeing the knife on the ground he arrests Bobby.

Silva is nowhere to be seen; when Jim gets home his parents are relieved to see he is ok. An officer later arrives telling them that Bobby confessed to drawing the knife on their son at the high school. Jim’s parents press charges against Bobby, Bobby is later sent to serve a 60 day sentence in jail. Jim hugs Silva tightly thanking her for saving him she says “you have saved my life more than once and I figured I would return the favor” He smiles as he watches his parents close the door after the officer has left. His uncle stands by saying “I thought that giving you the necklace was the right choice” Jim thanks his uncle once again and heads off to bed with Silva at his side.

Part 3

The weekend finally came and Silva seemed to be bursting with energy. When Jim asked her why she was so giddy she replied that there was going to be a full moon soon. The full moon finally arrived on Saturday night; Jim sat with Silva on the back porch looking up at the sky. The clouds parted like the curtains on celestial stage revealing the moon. It was at its zenith in the heavenly bodies above them. From all around the darkness fled in its light, the trees swayed in a gently breeze.