Previously: Frost showed her a few magic places, including a healing fountain, an orchard with magic apples(one of frosts apparently did nothing), and the graveyard where other marked people were buried. she saw a vision and apparently the ghosts of everyone buried there, at night. the entire time frost seemed distracted, and when she got her back extremely traumatized she immediately had to go, taking another bite of he apple that did nothing.

echo woke up. she wasn't sure he see felt about that. one the one hand, if she stayed asleep she didn't have to face the real world, on the other she escaped her nightmares by waking up. each dream was at night, but it was as bright as day, the moon glowing powerfully. she was pretty sure that the wolfwalkers said on the hand and on the paw, instead of on one hand and the other. 

"Raven. dont go near her, she needs sleep." a boy said. echo was pretty sure his name was truth, he didn't look happy, she vaugly remembered Secret assigning him to keep the pups away from her. an adorable little puppy sulked away, from where she had been trying to catch a rabbit pelt another pup had thrown that landed on echo. she sat up. 

"i think I'm awake..."she thought back to what exactly had happened last night and snapped back. she didn't want to think about it. but once her mind had started thinking about it it wouldn't stop, and the giant fog cloud swam in front of her eyes again. truth sighed, as though relived, and started to stand up when he caught secrets eye. 

"shes cursed! dont make me go near her?" secret glowerd at himand he groaned. 

"do you need anything?" he grumbled. she furrowed her brow, she couldn't keep up with what was going on

"hm? wha..?" he grunted and glanced at secret.

"ok shes broken." secret shrugged.

"she'll be fine soon, just make sure the pups leave her be until frost gets back." he sighed and nodded. echo pulled out her journal, still confused, and recorded under the poem the things she had heard in the vision. she was really confused about exactly what happened, and what happened when? she wasn't even sure exactly everything that had happened. or maybe she did remember it all, it was hard to tell. suddenly a little pup rammed into her, knocking the journal from her hands. truth had been reluctantly watching a different pup.

"Key!" Secret scolded, catching truths attention. he didn't particularly seem to care. key glanced up guiltily.

"yes?"

"get off her. what were you told?" he obediantly waddled off.

"to stay away." secret nodded, just as frost came in, looking confused. she glanced at echo, but with something different, she couldn't analyze it. probably pity. or mabe she finally understood how she felt. 

"how are you?" echo shook her head, unsure. a wolf ran in and mattered with secret.

"Frost, no time.  get another on wolf to watch her. the lions are coming."

"what? why?" frost was alared, but echo was both confused and preoccupied.

"their here for her. we dont know why. wait... i understand it now! her mark is an agent of the sun, and they've come for her!"

"no, her mark is cresents. that's not a sun, if anything its the moon."

"no, the moon is good. i dontknow what it is. but we need to go."

"ok. Pine, you watch the pups and echo, make sureshes ok. should we leave a warrior, in case the lions come and take her?"

"fine. Area, you guard the cave. pine, you still watch the girl. if a lion comes near, take her into the caves and ill fetch you both later." one wolf looked dejected.

"and just to be safe, Slate, Eden, youre both in charge of protecting the pups if a lion gets in. try and hide if you can, fight if not." Slate and Eden were mates, or a couple, she wasn't sure how wolfwalkers relationships worked, but some of the pups were their litter, and they were basically in charge of the pups whenever the other parents were away.they nodded and went over to the pups. Scret looked around and nodded.

"alright. lets go send the lions back to their territory." everyone turned into a wolf and ran after her. frost hesitated, glancing back at echo, then shook her head and ran off, yelping with excitement. would a lion actually dare show up there? she looked around at all the wolf guards and felt a little more secure. if it did, it would have a hard time doing anything. at least the lions would hopefully not kill her... but was that a good thing? she really didn't know. she didn't feel so nub anymore, she could think more now and all. she had been watching the pack and felt a little jealous. they all so clearly loved each other, they'd do anything for any of them. she wanted to be part of it, but she knew she never would be. aside from her being human, she was literally marked to die. at home she knew her parents loved her, but they spent almost all their time at work and when they came home they were exhausted. not because they had to, they choose to work overtime, so she never saw them

"why is secret risking a month? what if we have the time wrong or the lions attack again?" pine broke the silence, speaking to Area.

"dont question her. I'm sure she has her reasons." pine looked dubious.

"i say, we kill her now and when they get back they'll thank us! we did the job for them." echos eyes widened and she backed further into her corner. she didn't feel so safe anymore... slate glared over.

"remember what happened to forest?" pines ears hung for a moment, before perking back up.

"yes, but he had been causing problems for ages, that was just the final straw. does a month really matter?" area glared.

"that is insubordination. drop it now and we might not tell secret."

"they'd thank us!" pine was making her nervous. what would happen next? from what she understood, pine was significantly lower in the pack heiarchy, but wolfwalkers were part human, that might not stop him. Eden jumped over to her, so slate gathered the pups closer. echo closed her eyes, eden hadn't spoken, she might be about to die. she didn't have time to process. she heard a low snarl, and saw Eden stand in front of her, snarling at pine, who had started to get closer.

"when secret hears about this you'll be in so much trouble."

"i would be doing the pack a favor. even if secret said no, i serve the pack first, not her. you should be helping me." area growled.

"dont make this a fight. if lions attack we need everyone doing their jobs." area highest in the pecking order of those present. 

"if lions attack ill hand her right over." suddenly, he sprang at her, but eden anticipated it and jumped, intercepting him. slate glanced at the pups, then area who nodded and motioned at the deeper reaches.

"they dont need to see this." she affirmed. slate gathered up the pups and took them into the cave, his tail close to them. echo screamed, and eden held pine by his scruff. everyone ignored echo. area glared at them, and eden pinned him down. 

"now what do i do? why on earth would you do that? Slate, you can come back now!" slate returned with the pups, who were al trembling.

"alright. Eden, you take over pines job, slate, you manage the pups alone. ill keep pine down. pine, do you realize what you've done? if were attacked i wont be able to defend the pups!" he struggled.

"just lt argh! me- kill  her! then well have one less problem to deal with." area leapt onto him and sat. eden went over to echo and watched her, not sympathetically. shehad followed orders, bt she wasn't trying to calm echo, who really needed it. slate licked the puppies, and they started to relax. Area glared at pine and snarled.

"turn human." pine whimpered.

"no!" area growled, low and aggressive. he did, and she stayed on him.

"you might full well be killed."

"forest wasn't!"

"oh, yes, you can live ut your dream of being a lone, unbound wolf. thatll be great."

"what if the lions attack now?" echo asked, not sure if they'd answer.

"eden will take you to hid, slate will take the pups, and ill hand one ver to them and then try and fight them off." was she beingsarcastic? it was had to tell...

"will a lion attack?" a pup asked.

"not likly-" they heard a rustling outside and saw a tuft of silver fur.