"Wolf!" Davion blurted out as the wolf lunged at them, forcing Davion to throw himself out of the way.

  The dog didn't hesitate to rush forward to face the wolf head-on when the wolf suddenly declared, "Found you."

  In an instant, the duo froze and stared at it.

  After several moments, Davion tentatively asked, "Is it really you?"

  The wolf gave him a confused look as it asked in return, "What is that supposed to mean?"

  "Uh, I, you never gave me a name."

  Davion had been strictly referring to the wolf as wolf in his head the entire time, but with two wolves roaming around, he couldn't keep doing that without getting confused.

  "You can just call me Miss Wolf," the wolf said as its tail wagged back and forth.

  Oh, it's a girl wolf. I couldn't tell.

  "Anyway, I'm glad to see you two are doing okay. I feared that the huntsman got to you," Miss Wolf said.

  "No thanks to you," the dog muttered at Davion's side.

  He ignored the dog and asked, "Why did you come back?"

  If it were him, he would have kept running without looking back. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration since he did come back for the wolf, but that was only because he had the dog with him, and he hadn't known that the huntsman would be there. Facing a wolf and facing the huntsman were two different things.

  "I couldn't just leave you alone," the wolf said.

  Davion was tempted to point out that the wolf had already done that. However, he didn't think it was a good idea to say it out loud and kept his mouth shut. The dog, on the other hand, had other ideas.

  It scoffed and said, "It's a bit late to say that."

  Miss Wolf didn't bat an eye. "I can see that you have a problem with me. Is there a reason why?"

  "Besides the fact that you're a wolf?"

  Oh no. I better stop them before things get ugly.

  "Okay, that's enough. Don't fight." Miss Wolf complied easily while the dog reluctantly backed off. "Come on. We better go. The huntsman might catch up to us."

  "Good idea, but which way do we go?" the dog asked as it scanned their surroundings.

  Unfortunately, Davion didn't have any ideas.

  "I wish there was some way to see through this fog," he said to himself. "It would be so much easier for us to see where we're going."

  "There's nothing we can do about it. We'll just have to pick a direction and hope for the best. Of course we should avoid going back the way we came," Miss Wolf said.

  With no better ideas, the trio walked in the opposite direction away from the huntsman. As they moved in total silence, Davion occasionally glanced between the two animals.

  Ever since they started walking, neither of them seemed interested in talking, leaving it up to Davion to fill the silence, but he found himself unsure what to say. It was impossible not to notice how the dog disliked Miss Wolf while Miss Wolf had no interest in the dog. He feared that if he said something wrong, a fight might break out between the two of them. Davion couldn't understand why the dog didn't like Miss Wolf.

  Is it because Miss Wolf is a wolf?

  Acting so hostile to Miss Wolf because of that didn't seem right, as she had done nothing wrong. She had only helped Davion since they met. Then he suddenly remembered his own reaction to Miss Wolf when they first met and the dog's reactions when wolves were brought up. Maybe he was being unfair to the dog. It clearly had issues with wolves in general, not that Davion could blame it.

  He threw a pitying look at the dog.

  As if sensing his gaze, the dog turned its head to look at Davion, who quickly looked towards Miss Wolf. "By the way, Miss Wolf, do you know what's causing the fog? I think you mentioned early about having an idea."

  The wolf gave him a confused look. "Did I?" Davion couldn't actually remember if it had or not and had only said that because he thought it had. "Well, I'm not sure. I don't remember it being part of the story." His shoulders slumped when Miss Wolf said, "By the way, there's something that I've been wondering for a while."

  Davion perked up. "What is it?"

  "Why are you dressed up as Red Riding Hood?" The question completely caught him off guard—it had really come out of nowhere—and he stared dumbly at the wolf. "Most boys your age wouldn't pick that costume for Halloween."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He hesitated, unsure how much he wanted to say.

  His family issues weren't something he wanted to talk about to anyone, much less a wolf. It felt wrong to tell anyone who wasn't his parents or twin sister, like revealing a dirty secret. On the other hand, it wasn't like the wolf was going to tell anyone what he said.

  "It wasn't my original costume. This one belonged to my sister," he reluctantly admitted.

  "What happened to your original costume?"

  "One of my cousins took it from me."

  "They just took it like that?"

  "Yeah."

  The dog chose that moment to jump in. "That doesn't sound fair. Shouldn't family be nicer to you?"

  "Well, my relatives are like that."

  Seeing the look on the dog's face, Davion wondered if it had any family.

  It hadn't mentioned any, and he hadn't asked about it as it hadn't crossed his mind. There hadn't been any reason for Davion to bring it up before, but he now wondered if maybe he should have.

  "That doesn't sound like a good family," Miss Wolf said, drawing Davion out of his thoughts.

  "I just have to live with them," he said with a shrug. "You mentioned having siblings. Just how many do you have?"

  "A lot."

  "You mean like five?"

  "It's more in the double digits."

  Davion tripped over his feet, nearly falling face-first into the ground.

  What? How was that even possible?

  He had never heard of so many siblings before. The most he had ever heard of was like five, which was why he had thrown that number out earlier. He could scarcely imagine having five siblings, much less over a dozen of them.

  As if reading his thoughts, the wolf said, "It's a bit complicated."

  "I want to hear more," he instantly said.

  "I can't share too much since I'll get in trouble, but let's just say we weren't born the normal way."

  Davion wasn't sure what it meant. He knew where babies came from. That was something they had taught in school. Well, at least where human babies came from, but he was pretty certain it was the same for wolves. Sort of.

  What other way could the wolf be talking about?

  "Enough about me, what about you? Do you have family?" the wolf asked, looking at the dog.

  "I'm pretty sure I don't have any siblings. I don't remember my parents."

  "Then how did you survive?" Davion blurted out.

  The moment the question left his mouth, he instantly wished he could take it back. Davion hadn't meant to say it like that. He just couldn't imagine a puppy surviving on its own without help.

  Fortunately, the dog didn't seem to take any offense as it said, "Don't know. I don't think about stuff like that."

  He wisely kept his mouth shut and didn't dare to press further on the topic. It was an obviously sensitive subject, and he didn't want to risk putting his foot into his mouth again. Once was already bad enough. If he slipped up, the dog might take offense and ditch him like it had before.

  "Just how big is your family anyway?" the dog asked. "You said you have a sister and cousin, but then you mentioned another cousin."

  Davion gratefully took the chance to steer the conversation away from dangerous territory. "Really big. I think I have at least ten cousins."

  "That's a lot. Just how many aunts and uncles do you have?"

  "A lot."

  "You really have a big family," Miss Wolf chimed in.

  "Not as big as yours."

  "Not really. I only have siblings."

  "Your parents don't have any brothers or sisters?"

  "As I said, my situation is unique."

  He immediately stopped talking.

  This is so awkward. And I thought my family had issues. I feel like if I say anything more, I'm going to offend one of them.

  "You know you don't sound like you have good feelings toward your family," the dog suddenly said.

  Startled, Davion asked, "What do you mean?"

  "You talk a lot about your parents and twin sister. Mostly your twin sister. Whenever you talk about any of your other relatives, your face turns funny."

  "Really?"

  Davion hadn't noticed and touched his face, wondering what kind of expression he was making now.

  "It does make sense. From what little he said about them, they don't sound like good people," Miss Wolf pointed out.

  "Well, they're not bad. They're just kind of annoying," Davion admitted.

  He wasn't sure why he said that. Yeah, he didn't like them, but hearing Miss Wolf say they weren't good people didn't sit right with him. They just didn't get along.

  The wolf and dog shared a look and seemed to reach an understanding.

  "You don't have to make up excuses. We understand," the dog said as it nodded.

  Davion blinked. "What are you talking about?"

  "It's obvious that you're defending them because you feel obligated to or that we'll judge you for not standing up to them. Don't worry. We won't. We support you," Miss Wolf said.

  Looking between the two of them, Davion couldn't believe his ears.

  Were they seriously getting along by teaming up against him?

  I don't know if I should be annoyed or happy.

  On one hand, he didn't like how they didn't believe him when he said they weren't bad people. Yes, they could be mean to him, his parents, and his twin sister. He wasn't arguing that, but they weren't bad people. If they were, someone outside the family would have spoken up, yet no one had. That had to mean they weren't bad. On the other hand, it was better that the two were working together instead of picking a fight with each other.

  "You can be honest with us. We won't judge you or tell anyone what you said," the dog said.

  "This might be your only chance to get things off your chest before your return to your family," Miss Wolf said. "Don't you have anything you want to say but feel like you couldn't before?"

  Under their relentless prodding, he finally caved in. "Alright, alright, I get it. I'll talk."

  They backed off, waiting for him to speak. Seeing their eager expressions, Davion faltered.

  Was it a really good idea to tell them what he thought of his relatives?

  It's not like I'll get in trouble for talking bad about them, right? They're not around to hear me, and Miss Wolf and the dog said they won't tell anyone. It can't hurt, right?

  He took a deep breath before blurting out, "They're always causing trouble for the family. Do you know how many times I wished I could kick them out of the house?"

  It was like the floodgates had opened. Now that he started, he wasn't going to stop.

  All his grievances poured out like a faucet as Davion told them everything about his relatives that made him so upset. The more he spoke the angrier he felt and the more he waved his arms around. When he finally finished, his mouth was completely dry, and his throat hurt from talking so much. He couldn't believe how much he talked and wished he had carried a bottle of water with him as he ran his tongue along his teeth.

  "That sounds rough," the dog finally said after a long silence.

  "Sometimes I wish it was just me, my twin sister, and parents," Davion said in a small voice.

  The wolf nodded. "I can see why a huge family is frustrating. I don't get along with all my siblings."

  Recalling how Miss Wolf said she had over a dozen siblings, he winced. "I can see why." Suddenly, a thought crossed Davion's mind. "Hold on. I think we're getting sidetracked here. Shouldn't we focus on getting out of the forest?"