Skylara's Strange Dream- Part 4

Hello All!
I have returned from my many travels! Well...Center Parcs.
It was great but I am glad to be home. Home is were the heart is as they say- or in my case where my warm comfortable bed is with no one else to snore and keep me up most of the night. Yes, my family snores. I don't but apparently I mumble quite a bit.
On one of the nights I even heard some creepy music and everyone else was asleep. So as you can imagine I was curled up in a ball till about 2.00am filled with fear.
But one of the best bits was when I tried a bit of fencing and completely fell in love with it. Me and my dad are hoping to take it up soon!
Then I shall be a swashbuckling ninja! *gets into fighting stance and trips over her foil* ...Sort of...
Ok, so here's part 4- and don't worry Dragona, this is quite a light-hearted tale so I won't make you kill anyone.
Or will I? DUN, DUN,DUN!
Also, by not giving much away, your not in this part- but a few other new characters are...

Skylara groaned as they passed a sign that read- ‘Orange tar path-7 miles to go.’  Lunar had stopped her merry skipping hours ago and now she, Skylara and Sabien were slowly plodding along, dragging their weary feet behind them.

Skulduggery on the other hand, was walking ahead at a brisk pace. Every so often he would say “Keep up!” or “Isn’t it such a wonderful day for a stroll?” and his comments would always be met by icy glares and angry mutterings.

On the 5^th time he had said something about ‘a wonderful day for a stroll’ Skylara snapped.

“That’s it!” she thundered. “I’m tired, I’m hungry and I’m just about up to here with you and your annoying comments! In reality, I’m strapped to a dentist chair having who knows what done to me, and I’m spending my excitingly random dream walking down a path the shade of Cheryl Cole’s face listening to ‘Skulduggery and his many country walk ideas’!” She breathed heavily for a few seconds, her eyes filled with rage. Then she began to calm down slightly and took a deep breath.

“Quite done?” Skulduggery asked his head cocked to the side again.

“Think so. Sorry. I just don’t like being bored. At least I didn’t draw a smiley face on the wall and start shooting at it.” She chuckled.

Everyone looked at her with puzzled expressions.

“Sherlock thing.” She explained.

“O.K...” Lunar said slowly. “But she’s right, this dream is currently pretty suckish.”

“I have an idea!” Sabien exclaimed. “Skulduggery appeared when you asked about a scarecrow! Try asking for something else now!”

“Technically, I didn’t ‘appear’ as you put it. I was already there.” Skulduggery mentioned before Skylara could answer Sabien. “You just didn’t see me. Also, in case you didn’t notice, I am not a scarecrow.”

“You look like one...” Lunar muttered.

“I happen to be a sophisticated and suave individual with a great taste in fashion.” He replied adjusting the angle of his hat.

“Right...” said Lunar rolling her eyes.

“Ok,” Skylara announced. “I wish for a-”

“That’s not right!” Sabien interjected. “Say it like you did before with Skulduggery!”

“Fine, don’t get your tail in a twist!” she grumbled before clearing her throat to begin. “Say, isn’t there meant to be a gigantic chocolate fudge ice-cream around here somewhere?” Skylara said quite dramatically, putted one hand on her hip and the other stroking an imaginary beard on her chin for added effect causing Lunar to giggle quietly.

For a moment, nothing happened. But then, suddenly a small bundle of white fur dropped from the sky into Skylara’s hands.

Everyone gazed at the bundle for a moment and then all of a sudden it let out a small “Mew!” and sat up, it’s wide eyes looking at them with curiosity. Then, it began to purr contently and lick it’s tiny paws.

“That,” Skulduggery declared. “Is the strangest looking ice-cream I have ever seen.”

“It ain’t like that in Ireland.” agreed Sabien.

Skylara looked down at the name tag on the kitten’s collar and her face lit up.

“It’s Mar-Chu!”she laughed.

“Mar who?” Skulduggery queried.

“Mar-Chu!” Lunar echoed. “She’s one of our friends.”

“...Your friend’s with a cat?”

“And a werewolf,a skeleton, a vampire- do I need to go on?” Skylara replied.

“She’s not always a cat.” added Lunar. “But I suppose she is in this dream.”

“Try asking for something else Skylara!” Sabien encouraged. “Maybe something that’s actually IN the ‘Wizard of Oz’ this time! Really get into character!”

Skylara took a moment to ponder how she would approach it this time. Then she nodded, grabbed a piece of long-grass by the side of the path and stuck it in her mouth.

“Say, I wonder where a tin-man could be hangin’ around in this lil’ old dream!”I’m just a sweet girl feelin’ kinda lonesome!” Skylara said earning her some strange looks from her friends.

“What?” she shrugged. “Dorothy is American and she’s also very cheesy and annoying.”

“Never. Do. An. American. Accent. Again.” Lunar shivered.

“EVER!” added Sabien as Skylara gave them both a stony scowl.

“I thought it was actually quite good...” Skulduggery said, trying to hide the smile in his voice.

“You guys should give it a go!” Skylara huffed.  Just then, Skylara’s wolfish instincts picked up a rustling in the trees about 20 metres away. Her eyes turned a dark amber and her body tensed up so much that she was fixed to one spot but for some reason she couldn’t shift to wolf form. Mar-Chu fell out of Skylara’s tense hands, sneezed and trotted along to Sabien to seek his affections.

Skulduggery was the first to notice Skylara’s eyes and he slowly walked forward and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Skylara?” he asked quietly. “Are you ok?”

When Skylara tried to answer him a deep throaty growl rumbled through her throat. Although she couldn’t move any of her limbs, Skulduggery noticed that her eyes were transfixed to a dark corner in the trees.

Pressing a gloved finger to his lips, and nodding silently to the others, Skulduggery took out his gun and treaded carefully over to where Skylara was looking.

“We know you’re in there.” Skulduggery shouted over to a particularly large bush where he suspected Skylara had spotted something.

“No I’m not!” someone giggled. Then he heard a sound that was like a branch snapping and saw a short wooden stick poked out of the bush.

“I know that voice!” Lunar said running towards the bush before Skulduggery could stop her. “Nicolett-“ Lunar gawped at Nicolette. Sheepishly, she came out from behind the bush.

She was a tiny wooden girl with a long wooden nose and plaits made of a thick yellow wool.

“Pinicolette actually...” Pinicolette muttered.

“You got the wrong story Sky!” laughed Sabien. “Pinocchio is just a tad different from the ‘Wizard of Oz’ don’t cha think?”

“Not really...” Pinicolette chimed in. “because-aw! Not again!” she said, angrily stamping her little wooden foot as her nose grew another inch. “That wasn’t a lie! Won’t you even let me explain myself?”

Skulduggery had walked back to where Skylara was standing. She was still fixed to the spot, growling quietly, her hands now balled up into tight fists.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her again. The others looked back at Skylara, worry written clear on their faces.

“Is she in some kind of trance?” Lunar asked. “Hey! Skylara! Alpacas! Cookies! Sherlock! Chocolate!”

“Maybe she’s in mid-shift or something?” Sabien suggested. “Something must have set off her wolf instincts. It’s her most comfortable form for her to take so maybe she picks up certain things.”

“Perhaps we need to calm her down?” tried Nicolette.

“Skylara,” Skulduggery said softly. “We’re all safe here. Nothing is going to harm us.”

At the word ‘harm’ Skylara suddenly snarled and leapt into a fighting stance.

“Get ready.” She said in a voice that sounded more wolf than human. “Things are about to get ugly.”

No sooner than she’d said it, a humongous beast at least 10 feet tall crashed out from behind a group of trees. It had a thick metal collar around its neck that beeped occasionally.

“It’s being controlled!” Pinicolette realised. “If it was wild, why would it have a collar?”

“Stupid dream!” Skylara growled. “Won’t let me shift!”

“Well, you did ask for something more exciting...” Lunar said as she eyed up the beast.

“Be careful what you wish for...” Skulduggery sighed as he loaded his gun and prepared himself.

“Hello,” Sabien said kindly, walking towards the creature slowly.

“Err, I wouldn’t Sabien...” Skylara warned him.

“We won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt us,” Sabien continued, ignoring Skylara’s cautious words.

The creature cocked its head to one side, as if it was weighing up its options. Then, its collar beeped frantically and the creature’s body shook violently as it roared and writhed with pain.

“Shock collar!” Skulduggery shouted to his companions.

Once the creature’s ordeal was over, it looked straight at the group and gnashed its teeth angrily, thinking that they were the source of its traumatic pain. Then it lunged forward, and the battle began.