introduction

My name is Cynthia Crugga, people here just call me Thia, I'm eight years old, and I'm not an ordinary girl. If truth be told, I'm not really a girl at all. I'm not really a human. Neither is my father, or most of my friends. We are from a different place, a different planet that we lost, years ago. We only came here because we were forced to flee from there. I guess the actual name for us is 'cannas-sapien'. Half-hound, half-human. Though because me and my friends grew up with humans, we're more one quarter hound. But that's not all that makes us different. It's certainly not all that makes me different.

After we fled, we were all split up, scattered around the world. I don't remember exactly what happened. I was only a baby, one or two years old. But I was raised alongside my sister by a woman who once knew my mother as a child and a man who always seemed angry and bitter. (I didn't learn until later that he had very good reason to be bitter.) I never fitted in there, I knew I would never truly belong. Call me a stubborn fool, call me a stupid little girl, but I couldn't stay there forever. I ran away, when I was three years old. Thinking back on it now, it actually seems a good thing that I did. I went to live in London on the streets, where I had my bench to sleep on, a school to go to and people who would sometimes care for me. And, after a year, fate seemed to bring us back together.

First, I met Jay, or rather he found me. He was five, I was four.

A few months older than me and knew a lot more about living on the streets than I did. He was my closest friend. He taught me everything, looked after me as best he could. Then there was Noaba. Strong and wilful and a little hot-headed. Last there was Sam. his was the most complicated and pitiful story, so I'll just say he once had an older sister who died, so Jay had promised to look after him in her stead, for which he was extremely grateful and possibly the most loyal to Jay. There was one thing we did learn from Sam's story and his older sister, we learned who we were, what we were, where we came from and what had happened there. One thing she saw almost at once about Jay, she recognised him as a prince. He'd only just turned two when he was forced to flee, but she recognised him as the second son and youngest child of the king.

A little later I learned that this king was the bitter man who'd helped to raise me and the reason he was bitter was because he'd lost his wife and thought he'd lost his youngest boy. Jay. I guess that's why Sam is so loyal to him.

This is where it gets a little more complex. I shan't go into too much detail but basically thing's went bad and we had to flee the city, hiding out with Jays family—his three older sisters and brother—but the night before my sixth birthday, I asked to be taken back there. Back to the city, back to my bench, just for the day. When I did, I learned something incredible. I learned about my father. I learned he was still alive and I learned who he was. He was an important person. The commander of a great military S.P base in America.

He too had thought his child dead. Whether he joined Space Patrol because he was also bitter about it, or because he wanted to stop it from happing to anyone else, I don't know. For all I know he could've joined before it all happened. It doesn't really matter. He joined, he trained, he fought, and he became a great commander. He was respected widely, not because of fear, but love as well. Which is why, when one of his closest companions saw me alone in the streets of London, she ran to tell him as soon as she could. After that, they also learned that he was a loving father. He flew all the way from America to come see me and wouldn't go back there without me with him.

At first, I didn't want to leave my friends, then Jay came up with the idea that he took them with him as well. Jay had always loved America,

so I couldn't really fault him for wanting to seize the chance to go back there, with me, his closest friend. And if he went, Sam and Noaba would have to go too. We were a pack and he was our leader.

It took a bit of time and a few discussions but in the end, we all decided it was best for all my friends to go. The only thing Jay wasn't so sure about was leaving his family behind. His father who he'd grown to love, his only brother, his sisters and little nephew, Jordy. They gave him a choice and he chose America, and me.

For a few months, all seemed perfect: I had a father for the first time, we lived in an apartment of a huge base, with people who cared for me. it felt like royalty to me.

Jays family called him regularly. He had two nephews, one from his eldest sister, one form his brother and he was back in the country he loved, with the people he loved; Sam and Noaba finally had a place they could call a true and proper home, which from the way they told things, they'd never had before; and daddy had his child back, had me back. It just all seemed so perfect, but people should know by now, people like us especially; good things usually don't last long.

It was around the time that we'd just started school in this country that things started to get bad. There was a new threat emerging. At first it was just talk, a few rumours here and there. But there were rumours of a large force – an empire they called it – roaming through space, conquering this galaxy and that. (It was also soon after this that the teachers discovered I had mild autism. 'high functioning' I think they called it. That's what makes me more different than everyone else.) The worst of it was that this was the same 'empire' that took our planet and forced us to flee.

Any other man might have jumped at this opportunity for revenge. Any other man might have lashed out and challenged them to come to him, to try and conquer this one. Any other man might have declared war as soon as they were close enough. Not my father, not my dad. He wouldn't be the first to start an act of war. If they wanted war, they'd have to make it themselves.

For the first few weeks, they chose not to. They just lingered, out there, as if they were waiting for something. My friends and me went back to England for a while, to celebrate a couple of weddings.

I begged father to come with us but deep down I knew he wouldn't. He would not abandon his position.

When we got back, things were much the same, except for the few minor fact's that I had gotten addicted to this old T.V program that I wanted to continue catching up on

but since it was so old it was hard to find a lot of the episodes and hardly any of them were in order.

Jay also had a nice new pet in the form a golden hypergriff that once belonged to his father, called Buddy. Once he got it, he was eager for the chance to use it. The thought of flying around on the back of a living beast. (he may have preferred a dragon, but this was the next best thing.) He wasn't afraid to go flying into space as a spy. He wasn't afraid when they fitted him with a child's space suit and oxygen back pack, even though he did look rather funny. But when he finally did go out, got to their ship and overheard what they were saying, he may have been a little afraid then.

I don't know exactly what happened up there but somehow, they saw him. On the way back the chased him. Just before he could land, they shot him.

It wasn't a lethal shot, but it was enough to make him fall. It hurt enough to send a message and It was enough to leave him with a scar on his back, in the middle of his shoulder blades.

Still, father did nothing, or at least seemed to be doing nothing. Really, he was planning. He didn't tell anyone this because he didn't want it to get out, but knew the war would be soon. He may have hoped but he knew there was no way to avoid it now. Still, he would not have it said that he was the one who declared war. So, he waited and he planned, and finally the time came.

It came when his closest companion was taken. They took her and sent him two messages. One was a warning that if he did not come for her, she would be killed. The other was a tune. An old symphony you might call it. 'Mar's, the Bringer of War' and we all knew it had begun.

Of course, dad couldn't just let one of his team be captured and killed but at the same time, he had a whole city to protect. Sending a whole party to rescue one woman would put the rest of the city at risk. So, he went after her himself. I saw him. We were on a school sports trip, playing tennis, and they just turned up. Whether they chose that place because we were there, I don't know but they were there—and we were there. They told us all to get back inside the coach when it started but I couldn't. I had to watch. I had to know. All three of my friends were with me, plus a new friend I'd made at school, called Mora.

He was almost killed. I was almost killed. It would've been much worse for me if Jay hadn't tried to protect me and he was almost killed. That was the second time he was shot because of this stupid war. As it turned out, it was only a graze.

They were trying to shoot me but he stood in front of me and shouted 'no!' just before they could shoot. I'll never forget the way he shouted then.

Now, the first battle is done and the war has begun. Jay has a new little niece, his sisters first daughter they called Elizabeth after one of Dads team, with another one on the way—his brothers second child— and we've even given our resident robot dog Rick a new upgrade. since then, there's only really been little battles.

We've won every one but there hasn't been one for some time. Perhaps they've realised we're stronger than they think and are re-evaluating their plans. Or perhaps they think we'll forget about them and start to slack off before coming back and surprising us. Whatever the reason, I'm glad of it.

The longer they stay away, the better chance I'll have of a normal childhood. I spend most of my free time studying in my room. It may never be as normal as other children but it can be more normal than it has been. Normal enough.