Good, Evil, and the Gray Area (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 40

I swore quietly in cat, which is very interesting to listen too if you ever get the chance. Then, I turned, and stalked out of the tent. My emotions conflicted. I had no idea where Ava was. She could of done any number of things, from hypocritically going to speak with the werewolves to running away herself. Then again, they could have forced her into different living quarters, correctly foreseeing that I would come back for her. 

I sighed, and slipped around the tent. I scanned the ground with my super-sensitive cat eyes for tracks. The messy, slushy ground had been an advantage to me in that I didn't leave any tracks, but now it was a disadvantage, because Ava hadn't left any tracks either. 

I bit my lip, my sharp teeth piercing the tender skin and letting blood trickle onto my tongue. The sharp pain and the salty taste cleared my mind. I leaped onto the top of the tent, surveying the ground. Apparently my arrival hadn't been noticed yet, because no one was yelling and running towards me. I looked for any sign of Ava. 

There, a fluffy wolf tail disappearing into the woods. It was Ava's tail, or at least that's what I assumed. It was her exact shade of brown, and approximately the same size as her tail, as far as I remembered. 

I leaped from the tent to the ground, sinking in a couple of inches. I looked disdainfully down at my now muddy paws, frowning as the water sank through my thick fur and touched my skin. When I looked up again, I couldn't see anything in the woods where I had seen the wolf. 

Panicking, I sprinted towards the area where the tail had disappeared into the trees. I leaped into the closest pine and scanned the ground. Paw prints formed a crooked trail in the otherwise undisturbed snow of the woods. I stared at them. They appeared to be Ava's size. I leaped from the tree, deciding that a trail of bobcat prints probably wasn't unique in the woods where the cat was native. In hindsight, I should've concealed my passing more deliberately, because paired with a trail of small-pawed wolf prints they were actually fairly conspicuous. 

As I ran, I thought. The purpose of getting caught was to find some current information about the war that was currently being waged between the wizards, and the werewolves, and we hadn't really found out much. I sighed. At least now we knew better then to wander into an enemy camp without preparation. 

I looked up, finally seeing the butt of the wolf I had been following. It was carrying a small human on it's back. It also wasn't Ava.

I gasped, stopping short. The human was Ava, and she was unconscious and battered. Blood trickled from a split lip, and a bruise was forming over her left eye. The wolf was small as well, and seemed to be laboring with the weight of Ava. 

"What are you doing?" I growled. The wolf spun, and I realized that it really did look like Ava.

"Rescuing her. Please, don't hurt me. I'm on your side!" The wolf said, crouching so low that Ava almost slid off her back. I leaped forward to steady her. 

"Thank you?" The thanks was a question of whether or not I should be thanking her. 

"You are welcome." The wolf stated calmly.

Well, that was arrogant. I frowned, fuming. I stood, becoming human as I did so, towing over the wolf. It whimpered, crouching again. 

"I better be thanking you, because if I'm not, and you really aren't helping me, you'll be sorry," I growled, "Us. Helping us." I then corrected myself. 

"I'm helping Ava. And only because she's my sister." The wolf replied.