Hope by Megan Rees (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

"Sorry." Hope told Raven with a smile of amusement. "I'll be back soon, I imagine."

As Hope scrambled down her tree with Raven just behind her, Eski approached her. "Heather has told me about what happened to Sasha. She also told me that she saw a strange child wondering around the edge of the boundary. I'd like you to go and investigate this."

"Sure." Hope said. "I'll be back before sunrise tomorrow."

As Hope wondered through the forest alone, she thought about the future of the Tribe. So far, The Falling Stars had thrived well, despite the fact that many children were very impaitent and untrustworthy. The Swooping Eagles were desperate for food, as Hope had seen earlier today.

Jumping over a fallen tree, Hope eventually reached the edge of the boundary. She saw the tree with the strange-looking fruit, and realised in suprise that there was actually quite a lot of food. It would keep them going for a while.

A flash of brown over the boundary switched the attention of the young Captain, but she was bowled over by a young brown bear. It slashed at Hope's face, leaving a long scratch. Hope got her knife out and stabbed the bear's shoulder, making it stumble off Hope and let out a screech of agony. It swung it's head round, but fell to the ground, blood flowing from it's shoulder. Hope jumped up to her feet and cautiously approached the bear, who was breathing heavily.

"Fortis!" A voice cried out. Hope turned her head towards the bushes and saw a small white monkey, followed by a maginificent stag deer. The white monkey instantly turned her gaze onto Hope. "She's the one who attacked Fortis! Let's get her, Protege!"

"Wait a moment, Paulo." The stag called Protege said. "Would everyone else agree? Perhaps Fortis was threatening the human's territory." Paulo looked disgusted, but eventually agreed to what Protege had suggested. She approached Hope cautiously, sniffing her. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

"I'm Hope." The Captain introduced herself politely. "Who are you?"

"I'm Paulo, which is Latin for 'little." The monkey replied. "The stag is Protege, meaning 'protect'. The bear who you attacked is Fortis, meaning 'strong'."

"Do you speak Latin fluently?" Hope asked. Paulo shook her furry little head, but flicking her long white tail over to the trees. "We will take you to meet everyone else. I must warn you that we are not who we seem."

Removing the knife from Fortis' shoulder, Hope inspected the wound. She was no Healer, but she remembered that she had a little bottle of cream in her pocket which would sooth it for a little while.

"Do you posess healing ablities?" Protege asked curiously as Hope applied the cream. Hope shook her head. "In my Tribe, we have Healers that look after us. I just have some cream that will take Fortis' mind off the pain."

"There are more of you?" Fortis looked alarmed, but Paulo comforted him. "The humans won't hurt you if you are one of them."

"What!?" Hope was utterly confused. "But Fortis is a bear!"

"Oh dear." Paulo sighed. "Allow me."

Hope watched as the monkey sat down on the ground a little way away. Within about half a second, a small pale skinned girl with blue eyes and wavy brown hair sat on the ground. She wore a small blue t-shirt, demin shorts and white trainers.

"Oh, shapeshifters!" Hope realised. "You're all shapeshifters!"

"Well done." Paulo sighed again. "In my human form, I am ten years old. In monkey form, I have no idea how old I am. But I'm pretty young regardless."

"We'll take you to our home now." Protege announced. "Come on."

Soon enough, Hope and the three shapeshifters arrived in what looked like a small village. There were several small huts made of wood and straw dotted around the place. Some children were crouched beside fires, while others washed clothes or anything similar. A large fire was situated in the centre.

"Can you see the snow leopard over there?" Paulo whispered to Hope. "That's Larva, meaning 'ghost'. She is what we call our leader here."

"The polar bear next to her is Ignis, her younger sister. Her name means 'fire'." Protege added. "Fortis has a crush on her."

"Do not!" Fortis growled, his fur spiked up in fury. "I'll kill you if I have to!"

They bicker more than anyone I know! Hope realised in amusement. I wonder how much they fight in one day!

A long-legged red fox with a scarred muzzle caught Hope's eye. She poked Paulo gently and pointed him out to her. Paulo rolled her eyes. "That's Sica, meaning 'dagger'. He's my brother."

"Let us all gather by the fire to share news!" Larva cried out, changing back to a human. One by one, those who were still in animal form changed back to humans and gathered by the fire. Sica was a tall pale skinned boy with blonde hair and hazel eyes from what Hope saw. He wore a black shirt, blue jeans and black trainers.

"Paulo, Protege, Fortis." Larva addressed the three shapeshifters. "Who is this you have brought?"

"This is Hope. She's from the other side." Paulo said casually. "She saved Fortis' life."

"I see." Larva looked interested. "Carrying on anyway, we will need a home for Hope. Has anyone died recently in any households?"

"Senior died of sickness." A black girl called Flos offered. Larva shook her head. "Flos, your hut is still full. You had too many people in there and I fear you have your hands full."

"I can take her, sister." Ignis offered. "Equus and Talpa moved out and Talentum died of sickness. Rivum, Silva, Nocte and myself can take her in."

"Brook, Forest and Night." Paulo told Hope quietly.

"Thank you, Ignis." Larva said. "Now, we'll continue."

After the meeting finished, Hope followed Ignis into her hut, which was near Paulo's. Silva was already asleep in bed, but Rivum and Nocte were playing a board game which looked like Monopoly.

"How's it going?" Ignis asked. Rivum gave a short laugh, her short wavy black hair shaking. "I'm loosing pretty badly."

"Let me see." Hope pulled over a stool and glanced at the game, which defintely was Monopoly. "Well, if you get Mayfair on your next go, that's a full set and you can start putting houses on it, costing Nocte more money."

Rivum shook the two dice in her hand and dropped them onto the board. It added up to four, putting Rivum onto Mayfair. She punched the air in triumph, giving Nocte the loser sign with one hand. "Full set! Oh yes! And it's the most expensive!"

"Calm down, Rivum." Ignis hushed her. "Silva needs her sleep and it's not fair if you're going to wake her up."

While Rivum and Nocte continued playing, Ignis nudged Hope away. "They'll be playing until dawn at this rate. But if you're not tired, we've got plenty of other games to play that won't take too long. Have you ever played Go Fish?"

"Yes." Hope responded. "I played it with my brother several times when we lived in the orphanage." Ignis looked confused, but didn't question Hope as she got out a pack of cards from a cupboard near Silva's bed. Hope had to admit that Ignis was very pretty, with soft pale white skin, ginger hair and friendly green eyes. Paulo had told Hope that Larva was fifteen, while Ignis was thirteen.

"Do you have many friends here?" Hope asked suddenly. Ignis looked a little suprised, but responded quickly. "I have the friendship of pretty much everyone. My best friends though are Paulo, Rivum and Mirus, which means 'wonderful'."

"What about Fortis?" Hope pressed on, remembering his obvious crush on her.

"He's quite nice, I suppose." Ignis admitted. "Very quiet and awkward, but nice. We were good friends when we were younger."

Hope had a strong urge to confront Ignis about her friendship with Fortis, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She just nodded as Ignis placed the pack of cards on the table and started arranging them.

Later that night, Hope laid on the sofa with a blanket wrapped round her. Ignis had won the Go Fish game, while Rivum managed to beat Nocte in Monopoly, which Nocte wasn't very happy about. Silva had been up a couple of times throwing up, but she was sound asleep now.

In a few hours I became one of them. Hope realised. Time flies quickly here. I can't believe they actually trusted me and let me into their village.

Hope could hear Rivum getting up from her bed and retrieving a sweet from Ignis' stash on top of the cupboard. Ignis had invited Hope to take whatever sweets she wanted, so Hope guessed this rule applied for all residents in Ignis' hut.

"Are you awake?" Rivum whispered.

"Yes, I am." Hope replied. "What's the time?"

"Two thirty in the morning." Rivum told her. "Ignis has to get up at six thirty, while Nocte gets up at seven to help prepare breakfast. He's a good hunter in animal form, because he's a black panther."

"What about you?" Hope asked. Rivum let out another laugh. "I get up at eight, which is ten minutes before breakfast. Silva gets up with me usually, but she's now in bed most of the time because she's ill."

"That's understandable." Hope agreed. "It's not really fair to drag someone out of bed if they're sick."

"We'd better get some sleep, anyway." Rivum yawned, snuggling under her duvet. "Good night, Hope."

"Night." Hope murmured, closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Hope was woken up by a loud bang coming from not too far away. She quickly rose to her feet and turned around. Silva was lying on the floor, her leg bleeding pretty badly.

"What happened?" Hope asked calmly as she picked up the young girl. Silva blinked at Hope, but then pointed at the floor, where there was a sharp metal thing pointing through the wooden floor. She then pointed to her bleeding leg, before pointing at the metal thing again. It didn't take long for Hope to realise that Silva had landed on a nail. "Where are Ignis, Rivum and Nocte?" She questioned. Silva pointed to the door, and Hope groaned. "Fantastic. Now I don't know anyone who can help you, unless you can tell me."

As Hope carried Silva outside, the clearing was deserted. There was no one there, not even in animal form. This was going to be a difficult task for Hope, who had barely any knowledge of who everyone was.

Soon enough, Hope's luck was turned round when a group of shapeshifters returned, carrying meat and berries. She reconised Protege and Nocte among them,