NEVER AGAIN, SABRE

Beta Gerald mindlinked that the Black Forest wolves were ready for us. I was quite excited. Alpha Solomon was going all out, I felt sure he had treasure that he was hoping to keep from us.

Mum and Sabre met us at the lobby. Sabre looked nervous.

"I told her that Sam wanted her help to pick some treasures." Mum said rubbing Sabre's shoulders gently.

"Sometimes... Sometimes I pick the wrong one." Sabre mumbled. I barely heard it. I patted her on her red springy curls, "It doesn't matter whatever you pick. Just pick the prettiest ones."

For some reason, that made Sabre look down at her feet and she stopped talking entirely after that.

She quietly held Mum's hand and walked, eyes to the ground, for the rest of our way down to the basement.

This bothered me, but I didn't know what to say about it. I mean, my accusations about Dad's dapperness had just fallen flat a moment ago. Like no one knew what I was talking about.

"Is alpha wearing a new shirt?" Beta Lucas had asked after the prolonged silence.

No! Wait, yes, actually. I hadn't noticed, but Dad's shirt was new... Except it looked almost exactly like his old one - the only difference was the new stuff collar.

See how my dad was so constant? Even his fashion style stayed so constant, you could take a photo of him everyday and it would look like pictures from the same day!

If his wardrobe didn't change, why did he?

I shook my head. Never mind, I didn't have the time to analyze my Dad's personality inconsistencies.

We headed down to the training hall where Alpha Solomon greeted us warmly. If I was looking for someone to cast as Willy Wonka to welcome the five golden ticket winners into his chocolate factory, this would be my man.

"Ah, you're all here. Excellent! Excellent!" Alpha Solomon had our training hall set up like some sort of make shift exhibition. There were tables here and there with items arranged artfully on each one and a warrior standing behind each table, almost like it were a science fair at school.

"We will all stand here." Alpha Solomon led us to the front of the hall were we had a good view of everything laid out in front of us, "Is this the human child?"

Sabre's response was to hold even tighter to Mum's hand, almost like she was afraid to be taken from Mum.

Mum tried to soothe her and push her gently forward to be introduced, but Sabre simply shook her head and refused to let go of Mum. Poor Sabre. Maybe this game wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be for her.

{Poor child.} Fluffy said, {She's terrified.}

Terrified? Normally, in scary movies, I'd expect "terrified" to be accompanied by some kind of screaming right?

"What's wrong baby?" Mum knelt down to ask, but Sabre shook her head and refused to speak.

"Maybe we should call this off." I worried. This was not how I imagined my game to go.

"What? No, no, the child is just naturally afraid. Very young humans instinctively fear strong wolves." Alpha Solomon brushed it off. He was WAY too keen for this game to happen.

He waved his hand expansively across the hall, "Before you, there are 20 different treasures. Three of these are our Black Forest's most magical treasures. They have been identified and valued, although to those who understand the real value of their magical effects, they are priceless."

{15% chance.} Ink concluded.

{This alpha is quite generous.} Wolfgang approved.

"Seven of these are other magical artifacts, some so old that they are treasures in themselves for their historical significance..."

{35% chance.} Ink said.

{We can count, dog.} Ben said.

No we can't. I mean, I can't. At least I couldn't convert the numbers in percentages so quickly. But of course I didn't say anything.

{He cannot possibly mean to pass off a few old antiques as treasure, can he?} Wolfgang frowned now.

{Probably not, Hotstuff.} Fluffy smiled, {I believe it would be in his best interest to put the best of the lower-tier treasures.}

{Ah, of course.} Wolfgang understood immediately.

{Why so?} Because I didn't understand.

{Anything picked from the 2nd tier would be a win for him, Sam.} Ben had to be the know it all, {And if we picked from the 3rd tier, it's a bonus.}

{Oh, I get it.} Barry realized, {Cos every time we don't pick the three top treasures, he wins.}

Oh. I get it too now.

{You mean he LOSES LESS.} Ben corrected with a smirk.

"The last 10 are all valuable items." Alpha Solomon finished, "Mind you, they are no less beautiful than the rest of the treasures."

{Of course they'd be flashy beautiful things, since he'd want us to pick them.} Ben crossed his arms and looked completely unimpressed.

Yeah, this was one of those tests where if you picked the brightest, shiniest item, you'd probably be picking the cheapest thing.

So we should look for something plain and old and boring and it would turn out to be the most amazing and magical treasure!

I scanned the tables before us. As far as I could tell, everything was bright and shiny and had some kind of sparkling bits. Alpha Solomon was really a wily old fox. Of course, he wasn't going to put anything that would obviously stick out. Everything on display sat in their own casings, like treasures at one of the Lorent jewelry exhibitions.

But luckily we had Sabre. Sabre had a special gift to see things like magic and ghosts. The only problem was that Sabre looked absolutely miserable.

"Hey, Sabre. We're going to play a game, okay?" I gave Sabre my wide smile hoping to draw her out from behind Mum's shadow.

It didn't work.

"Don't you want to play?" I asked.

Sabre didn't answer. She didn't even shake her head or anything.

My little sister was being unnaturally uncommunicative and unbossy right now.

And then Fluffy came over. Pushing up his sleeves and kneeling down in front of Sabre he held out his hand to her. The bangles he wore under his sleeves fell jangled at his movement, but Sabre was staring at the slave bands branded on his forearms.

"Come little princess, I believe you have a mission." Fluffy smiled.

Sabre held on tighter to Mum, but Fluffy's smile never faded, "One cannot choose his master, but one can serve well and earn his master's favor."

Wait, wth was Fluffy talking about?

Sabre looked up at Fluffy and then looked worried at Alpha Solomon.

I knew it! Alpha Solomon scared her!

And then Sabre let go of Mum's hand.

"Baby?" Mum worried.

"I can do this!" Sabre suddenly looked determined. She cast a glance to Mum, "If I get this right, Mama will be happy and keep me right?"

Mum's hand flew to her mouth, "Oh, baby!"

But Mum was speaking to the small child's back. Sabre took Fluffy's hand, "I can do this."

I think she was mostly talking to herself.

"Pick the prettiest things." Ben instructed her.

I punched Ben's shoulders, "Ben!"

"What?" Ben could be really dense sometimes.

I took the few steps to close the distance between me and Sabre. Then I took her hand from Fluffy who was now leading her towards the exhibits.

"Listen Sabre, you're my little sister." I told her sternly. Why hadn't she understood this yet?

"It doesn't matter what you pick. It won't change anything. Your home and family is here with us now." But for some reason, my words weren't getting through.

I'm realizing this too late, but I think Sabre's freaking out cos she's being used to pick treasure again. I mean, that was what Uncle Louis had bought and used her for right?

She was too far gone.

"Ah, only the child may go up to the treasure." Alpha Solomon called out.

Fluffy had to let go of Sabre's hand, "Good luck!"

Sabre nodded and bravely stepped out into the exhibition on her own.

I decided to yell, "Get 3 things. The prettiest thing you see for Bell. I want a pretty weapon. And then something for yourself!"

"Please do not shout instructions to her." Alpha Solomon said.

"But I'm not telling her which to choose, right?" I reasoned, "She needed to know to pick three things."

And then I shouted to Sabre because she needed to know this too, "I don't care what you pick, Sabre! Just have fun!"

"And pick the prettiest!" Ben yelled from next to me. I punched him in the shoulder again.

"Or you can pick the least pretty items and see if your Mama and Alpha still keep you." Fluffy felt it would be a good idea to advise.

Ben looked pointedly at me.

"What?" I glared back. I'd like to see HIM try to explain anything to Fluffy!

"You hit me, but you aren't going to hit the dog?" Ben asked.

I punched Ben a third time, "I don't hit dogs."

Ben rubbed his shoulder, but he was smirking, "I'm so honored."

Behind us, Mum and Dad wore graver expressions. They were definitely having a serious mindlink discussion. Mum was tugging on Dad's arm. She was upset. Dad was frowning deeply, his wolf observing the scene protectively. It would be wise not to antagonize my Dad further in anyway right now.

I was undeniably upset too. It wasn't like I didn't try to explain it to Sabre! This was supposed to be a game, but as I watched Sabre inspect each item, quietly going from table to table, it became undeniable that this wasn't the first time she had to pick treasures in such a setting.

She would look. And then she would point. The Black Forest wolf behind the table would pick up whatever she pointed at and show it to her. Sometimes she would ask a question and the wolf would answer. Then she would nod and move on to the look at the next item. She did not smile once. Neither did she reach out to touch anything with her own hands.

It felt unnatural to see Sabre in this mode. I was angry just watching. I wasn't even sure who or what I was angry about.

I regretted it. Strange men and treasures. From now on, I would never let these two things surround Sabre ever again.