Jaci Dawn

Dusk fell before the three travelers found a dry place to spend the night. They were surrounded by mushrooms, and the heady smell of fungi filled their noses, not to mention they sated themselves before they crawled far up under the chanterelles and nestled against a moss-covered rock. Outside of their shelter, rain had begun to fall, and their eyelids drooped to the sound of drops on their fibrous roof. They dozed with their weapons at the ready.
They awoke refreshed and ready to go. The air was decidedly cooler now, and the sound of rain had ceased. There was no sound, and the air smelled of ‘shroom, musty, damp, and delicious. Aric was the first to leave the shelter.
“Guys! Dork! Deke! Come look!”
Ella shoved Aric as she came out from under their shelter, “Derp.”
“Oh.” Twerp stepped cautiously out. “It snowed!”
“Is snowing,” Ella corrected, as a flake landed on her nose. “I think we better get going before it gets too deep.”
“Aw,” Aric groaned. “I forgot for a minute that we were mice.”
Ella led, downhill again. The night was eerily still, and their shoes left little tracks behind, with their tail imprint. Ella hoped it would snow enough to cover their tracks, at least. She wondered how normal mice got around when it snowed. “Isn’t it strange how we’re not cold?”
“Speak for yourself,” Twerp snapped. “You have boots on. I have sandals.”
“You wear sandals all year, and you should have mouse feet. Mice walk in this stuff all the time and don’t get frostbite.”
“Says you, Aric. My toes are cold.”
They trudged along, dodging rocks and snow-covered ferns, and catching snow flakes on their whiskers. Once, they all slipped on a rock they couldn’t see for the snow, and slid on their butts and tummies until they all smacked into a larger, lichen covered boulder. The barbed wire and stick with a nail clattered down the slide behind.
They took turns leading. The snow changed the way things smelled, and they almost missed the bounty of pine nuts as they navigated through a cone-infested, snow-covered landscape. The snow was not falling as heavily now. Ella shoved at a fairly large pinecone, in an effort to move it out of her way. Several seeds fell out as she did so, and Aric picked one up. His nose twitched.
He took a bite, closed his eyes, and sighed. “These are really good. You need to roll pinecones around more often, Dork.”
“Seems all you think about is your stomach, Derp.” Ella picked up one of the dark nuts and bit into it. “Wow.”
They grazed for a short bit before starting out again. The world was turning grayer, and the croak of a raven floated through the woods. A pack of coyotes gathered and began singing, their voices harmonizing and echoing. The mice headed back under the cover of vegetation that was now drooping under the inch of snow.
“Crows, coyotes, toads, hunters. I hate the wilderness,” Twerp griped.
They forded a tiny stream. Ella found a dry space under the shelf of a stone, hidden behind a small, thick-growing yew. “Rest time,” she announced.
They were asleep in a few moments.

A howl woke them. It was not a howl like a coyote. It spiraled up in anger and despair, an eerie thing that consumed the air. It formed words. “Veeeennnnnnnnnnnie! Aaaarrrrggggghhhhh! Who killed you, my Vennie? Whoooooooo? Awooooooooo”
The mice cuddled together and shivered. “Guess he found his t-t-toad,” Twerp whispered.
“B-b-but how’s he kn-know it wasn’t natural?”
“N-nail through the h-head.”
“Could’ve been – b-b-been a t-talon.”
“I-I-icicle.”
A cold wind whooshed through the tree tops, still howling, still cursing. “Ayyyyyyyyeeeeeee wiiiilllllllllll fiiiiiinnnd yoooooouuuuuuuuu Awooooooooo.” It seemed that a shadow passed overhead at the same time, then the wind changed directions and blew back up the slope, screaming “VEEEENNNNNNNNNNIIIIIEEEEEEEE!”
“Pretty sad, considering he wasn’t afraid to kill other people’s familiars…” Aric whispered.
“We need to move.”
That voice came from outside the shelter, and sounded familiar. The mice jumped up and scurried out, carrying their weapons. They came face to back with two rabbits looking back up the hill.
“Yes, and quickly,” the one on the left said.
“Wait! Guys! Madison! Dylan!”
The rabbits turned slowly, warily. One was wearing a beat up black hoodie with CRYPTIC in white lettering on the back. The other had a newer hoodie with THRASHER written in white across the back. “Who are you?”
“Ella. Ella Peabody.” She got no further because the big female cottontail leaned in close.
“Ella? As in, ‘there’s no such thing as magic’ Ella? Nerdy Ella, the hacker?”
“Hacker?” Aric and Twerp stared at her.
“The same.”
“If there’s no magic,” the male bunny said, “How is it that you’re a talking mouse?”
“I did that,” Twerp blurted out. “We were in a situation that called for drastic measures.”
“Um, this is my bro, Aric, and that’s Twer- er, Deacon.”
The male sniffed at Aric. “You the dude who does the serious backflips on his BMX? That’s an Aric.”
Ella glared at her brother, but he didn’t look at her. He puffed out his chest and nodded. “That’s me, bro.”
“You guys know anything about that freaky wind? Scared us.”
Ella stepped forward. “Depends. Where are you guys heading? Can we trust you?”
The cottontails exchanged glances. “Have we ever given you reason to not trust us, El?”
She nodded. “You can trust us, too. Now, where are you headed?”
They paused. “We don’t know. We’re following a sort of map.”
“You’ve met Kitsune?”
“The Animé dude? Yeah. Weird. You, too? You know where we’re going?”
“No. But we need to get going.”
“That’s what we were doing.”
“One thing, Dylan. We can’t travel as fast as you can. Can you guys give us a ride?”
Madison looked at her boyfriend. “She totally hacked that creep for me.”
Dylan knelt down. “I would be honored, even if you dudes ride BMX.”
Coyote howls filled the early morning air, closer than they had been earlier. The mice scrambled up onto the backs of the rabbits and clung on. Dylan led and Madison followed, their ears back and tails up. They hopped through the snowy landscape, following the little rivulet of water. Overhead, the sky turned white: another day of snow. It no longer mattered to Ella: the rabbits could navigate snow. She crawled into Madison’s hood and held on. She hoped her brother and Twerp thought of the same tactic.
The rabbits did not always run. They slowed down, here and there, stopping to nibble and study their surroundings. Their ears were always swiveling. It was during these breaks that they compared notes with the mice. It was also during one of these breaks that a flock of crows flew overhead and the mice hid in the hoodies, shivering. The crows did not bother the rabbits and continued on.
“So, what do you think this talisman is?”
“A magic wand, maybe? Something powerful.”
“It has to be, to pit magician against magician. Why try to imprison other wizards and ban all magic? I don’t get that part.”
“Maybe it has been used for evil. I know our parents wouldn’t practice evil. They’re all about healing and law and order.”
Madison lifted a hind leg to scratch behind an ear. “Let me know if this bothers you, Ella. I get you. My mom is a waitress. Dad is a mechanic. I only know they’re wizards because I once threw a fit and made the bed in my bedroom rise to the ceiling. I was trying to recreate a scene from some horror flick I’d watched. Mom totally made the bed while it was in the air, vacuumed under it, and then ordered it back down and me tucked in. She wasn’t even mad, just amused.”
“My dad’s an EMT. When they came and arrested him, it was surreal. Mom was in her studio and she told me to change into an animal that could move quickly. She turned herself into a deer, and placed herself out in the woods, a hundred yards from the house. She leaped up into the woods, and I haven’t seen her since.” Dylan wiped a tear from his eye.
“I was already a rabbit. I didn’t know if Dylan would get my text or not, but he must have. Next thing, he was by me.”
“What did you do with your cell phones?”
“We sent them to the toilet. It wasn’t long afterward that we met Kitsune. He was pleased that we’d ditched the phones into the toilet. He warned us not to use any magic.”
“Did he tell you where we’re going?”
“No. He just gave us, like, GPS coordinates, but in rabbit terms. What about you guys?”
“I guess it’s GPS coordinates. I just know when I’m not headed the right way, like when we went uphill to hide.”
“Hide? From who?”
“What.” Aric corrected. “When you’re a mouse, it’s always a ‘what’ that wants to have you for lunch or dinner.”
“I get that,” Dylan said.
Madison was in the lead now, and she stopped, sat up erect, and thumped her foot in warning. Her long ears pointed forward. She whispered, “I hear cars.”
Dylan crept up next to her. He sniffed the air. “Exhaust fumes. Diesel. I think we’re close to a road.”
They stayed in the brush and ferns as much as they could, creeping closer to the highway sounds. Dylan peered over a rock. “There’s a culvert with a small stream running through it. We’ll be exposed for a short distance on this side, but not to traffic. I can see a … I think it’s a gas station and convenience store. Bar. It’s a bar. Crazy Sully’s. I know that Big Foot sculpture in the front.”
Madison peered over the rock. “Not much traffic. Why can’t we just cross the highway?”
“Because we all have clothes on.” Ella had climbed out of the hoodie and was trying to see what the rabbits were looking at. Her bad eyesight kept her from making out much.
“Oh. I forgot.” Madison sank back down. “I hate getting wet.”
They sneaked down the steep slope until they were out of brush. No birds overhead, no peering eyes that they could discern, only the little streamlet snaking through the rocks. The snow had melted some, but they all thought the same thing: the water would be very, very cold. Madison went first, agilely avoiding slipping. She held her breath when she stepped into the darkness of the culvert. Water swirled up to her tail.
Dylan followed, relying on his years of skateboarding to navigate the rocks quickly. He splashed loudly into the culvert. “Not so bad,” he grinned.
“Shush!” Sound echoed in the culvert. The sound of cars passing overhead rumbled and shook the ground. The rabbits waded slowly, paws akimbo in case they teetered to one side or another. The opening behind them began to get smaller as the one before them got larger. They could hear more water gurgling now.
Dylan reached the end first. “Shoot.Me.Now.”
What is it?” Madison edged up beside him.
The end of the culvert dangled over a steep, rocky, drop.
“How far do you think that is?” Madison whispered.
“Further than I think I can jump.”
“Not even.” Madison stepped back from the edge. “You just gotta believe in yourself, Dyl. Think about the first time you jumped stairs. Just pretend you’re going to grind the stair rail at the old church.”
Dylan waded back to where she stood. “That’s crazy, Maddy. There’s no stairs or rail out there. Just air and rocks.”
“No, air, rocks, water, and a dirt spot between two trees, if you aim it right. Go look again.”
“This is crazy,” Ella squeaked.
“Hush. You just be the geek girl and hang on. Tight.”
Aric and Deke peered over Dylan’s shoulders. Aric couldn’t make out much, but Deke’s glasses gave him an edge. “I could do that on my bike,” Deke boasted.
“Okay, dudes. You hang on real tight, because I’m going to grab some serious air.” Dylan back tracked, turned around, and said, “Got a grip, dudes?”
“COWABUNGA!” He took three running steps and pushed off with both feet. They sailed out over the water and rocks and into the low-hanging branches of a tree. The tree slowed Dylan’s momentum and broke his arc, sending him tumbling down into the mud and snow between the trees, where he did two somersaults before landing upright.
Deke held on tight, even through the somersaults. Aric flipped out of the hoodie and grabbed at the branches as they tumbled. He caught himself and dropped down by degrees. Dylan jumped up in the air, fist pumping.
The next moment, there was a flash of black hoodie and brown rabbit as Madison made the jump in typical rabbit fashion: from all fours. She missed the tree branches, but she managed a cartwheel as she hit the ground. Ella fell out of the hoodie during this maneuver, dizzy and stumbling a bit. “Wow,” she said.
Madison hopped up to Dylan and high-fived him, then did a hip bump, and they did a double high five. “That was freaking wild!”
“Wooo!”
They all heard a car screech to a stop above the culvert, and immediately dove for cover. A clatter of hooves thundered across the pavement, then a herd of elk crashed into the timber. The heavy scent of musk filled the air and the ground shook. Steam rose from the elk. They grunted, squealed, and tromped heavily over the rabbits’ recent tracks.
The car started again, and the woods receded into a peaceful quiet.

23670 words