Chapter 17

Adair was not happy with this outcome and in a fit of rage threw the books onto the ground before she stomped away into the snow tunnel. By the time she calmed down she had already reached George the tree where Adair sat down and contemplated on why she had become so frustrated.

Even if the books turned out to be useless, it wasn't not like she had ever dreamt about learning to use spells in any way, shape, or form when she reincarnated into this life. In fact she had very much expected to be reincarnated back into the Galactic Empire or one of its colonies, which clearly did not have magic-like qualities such as the one her new mom used.

She had been hoping for one thing, but got another. It was like expecting to take a sip of your carbonated soda, but your friend switched the cups while you were in the bathroom, so you suddenly tasted water instead. Of course, water was objectively much healthier than the carbonated drink, yet having your expectations betrayed felt very annoying and would lead to anger. In other words, she had basically thrown a temper tantrum.

'Oh no. Just when I thought that I gained some control over my body, now my thinking is also getting affected. … shit, doesn't that mean I will have to suffer through puberty once again eventually? I need to ask Hank how bad puberty is on this planet!' Adair reached a worrying conclusion. Even more worrying was that her furry friend might be unable to answer her question if her mother's race had a different sort of puberty. Unless her wings came out earlier, it was very possible that they might be during that period of her life.

Once again the little girl contemplated the idea of just letting some blood fall on the books that had refused to budge. For all she knew some things might not not need a circle to operate and blood alone would suffice. Continuing that line of thought, she rejected this idea. If that had been the case, there would have been no reason to include those children's books as part of the package. She chose to look for clues in the children's books after she returned.

While it seemed ludicrous that someone would hide their secrets in a children's book from a scientific perspective, this entire planet did not make a lot of sense if you only looked at it through the scientific perspective that Adair had been shaped by in her last life.

Nevertheless, she was very reluctant to completely disregard everything from her past life, although Adair could feel that she was starting to forget things that used to come very naturally to her. Such as complicated math equations or her friends and associates from her past life.While she could recall their names and equations she had noticed that it started to take time for her and she would have to think about those specifically.

Of course, it didn't help that the knowledge of both those listed things was irrelevant to her while Adair was in the middle of a forest that seemingly went on forever. However, now that the girl learned that there were people on this side of the planet it might become useful again in the future. Granted she could actually find them, because as of right now she had no idea how far away those inhabitants were or even if it would be a good idea to meet them.

Neither Adair, nor Hank or George had any idea what type of people lived on this side of the planet. Maybe they were cannibals who would eat outsiders like her. Or maybe they were animal hunters, and as soon as they saw her friend the bear, they would kill him from long range, which she did not want for obvious reasons.

For right now Adair would be content staying in their makeshift house with the bear indefinitely. Should they ever solve their potential food shortage problem, she and the bear could theoretically live there forever.

While she was on this tangent, she looked around and noticed the glistening white snow that did not show any signs of melting. It led into a beautiful green canopy that covered the entire sky. Adair felt a slight regret that she did not have a camera to take a picture of this beautiful scene.

After enjoying the scenery for a while longer, eventually she decided to go back and test her theory about the children's books hiding some sort of secret.

Back home the little girl found the bear adding more wood to the fire. She was grateful for his actions as it meant the fire continued to be cozy, a welcomed change compared to the cool outside temperatures. Adair was slightly surprised that the books were no longer out. It appeared that Hank must have put them away.

Adair had assumed he would have continued to relax by the fire, but clearly her furry friend had not appreciated her messing up their home. The toddler went towards the bag, but once again was unable to find any books. She also tried reaching inside the bag, but she was unable to actually open them. 'Just how did he do that? It looked so easy, but it seems like there is some trick involved in it as well. Why can't things just be simple for once?!'

Frustrated, Adair went over to the bear and started pointing to where the books used to be. Unfortunately, her guardian did not seem to understand what she was talking about, so she went over to the bag to check if there were any writing utensils and something like paper which she could use to explain what she was thinking without having to write it in the snow each time.

Nothing came out. Not even when she wished for a chalkboard, paper, or pens and pencils which made Adair question how the bear knew how to write? Clearly, there had to be some kind of writing utensils or materials to be written upon to teach others. 'Maybe it is something reserved for high-class people? Or maybe it's just in another hidden compartment that I can't reach.'

Fortunately, it appeared that the bear finally understood what Adair wanted from him. He came over and somehow opened the flap that she had been unable to find, making all of the books appear once again. Just to make sure she hadn't gone crazy, the little girl attempted to open the books once again, yet with the same amount of success as last.

Defeated, she just picked up the three small books which luckily did not require another drop of blood this time. Adair got up, climbed on top of the bear who did not mind the little bit of extra weight and started reading.

She chose to start with the book titled "The Little Horned Wolf that Could." because it sounded familiar. The Adair couldn't recall ever reading such a book, but somehow it just felt like she had read this book before.

The first few pages of the book described a small horned wolf tribe. This tribe was at war with another wolf tribe, and after the last fight, they had lost contact with their pack leader on top of Snowy Mountain.

The pack leader's wife wanted to go save her husband but she was pregnant with their children. Instead, she ordered the pack leader's personal guards to go out and save their leader since they were the strongest wolves of their tribe. Alas, they refused because the chief had instructed them to protect everyone else in case he didn't come back.

The pack leader's wife then tried talking to the hunter horned wolves, yet they also refused because it was their job to collect food for the tribe. And so the poor wife continued asking others for help until she had asked nearly every horned wolf of the tribe, but they all either had reasons to stay or made excuses not to go out and find their pack leader.

Surprisingly, it was a small malnourished horned wolf who himself approached the pack leader's wife. He had watched her ask for help and had seen everyone decline her request, so he volunteered to go out and find him. Under normal circumstances she would have never agreed to send out such a young wolf, who was barely no longer a child, yet with all hope seemingly lost the pack leader's wife agreed and sent him off right away.

The first obstacle he came across was a pack of fire-breathing hyenas. He knew that he couldn't take them in a fight, so he decided to sneak around them. During this time, he kept on thinking to himself, 'I think I can pass them, I think I can pass them.'

And indeed, he was able to pass them with the hyenas never becoming aware of his presence. After he did this, he praised himself and muttered, "I knew I could, I knew I could."

The next thing he passed was a patrol of wolves that his tribe was fighting. At first, he thought that he should fight them but realized that was not his mission right now and that his mission was to save the pack leader. So he sneakily passed the patrol as well. After he did this, he muttered to himself, "I knew I could, I knew I could."

His next challenge was climbing up the Snowy Mountains. While there was a path heading right to where the pack leader should be, he couldn't take it because he would have to go through the other tribe who would kill him on sight.

The only way for him to do it was to climb the mountain the hard way. At first, he believed that he couldn't do it. But he had already gotten this far, so he at least wanted to try it. He continued going up and up until he reached the top and realized that maybe he could do it if he only tries.

He quickly found the pack leader, who had landed himself in a dire situation. The young wolf found the pack leader surrounded on all sides with no room to escape, so after a bit of hesitation he dove towards the enemy pack and attacked them. The other horned wolves had no idea what hit them.

After a short confrontation they all fled, leaving the little horned wolf and the pack leader alone. The latter followed the former and they successfully made it back to their camp. The whole way back, the little horned wolf kept on muttering, "I knew I could, I knew I could."

When they arrived back at the camp, they held a huge celebration and the pack leader made the little horned wolf now an honorary member of the pack leader's personal guards. From that point onwards he was regarded as a hero by everyone.

Once Adair was done reading the book, she recognized why this book had felt so familiar. One of the children's books that her nanny had read to her back in the Galactic Empire had been titled "The Little Engine that Could". The overall plot was quite similar, with the exception that it had been about an anthropomorphic train, yet the message about 'believing in yourself' was the same in both cases.

This brought up a lot of questions on why the same type of book existed in this world and in the Galactic Empire, but she put those thoughts aside because there was a bigger problem to tackle. Based on her theory, there should have been a passcode, a phrase or better yet some instructions on how she could access the other books, but all she got from this book was basically a pep talk, telling her that as long as she dedicated herself to one thing she would be able to accomplish it.

'Does this mean I need to dedicate my life to opening the books… if that is the case, I may never open the books because I want a relaxing life, not some stress-filled one, not one that forces me to dedicate my life to some specific thing. No, let's just hope that this was meant as a reminder to never give up and believe in myself when trying to learn the "magic" my mom was using!'

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Author's Note:

Just wanting to let everyone know that this is the last chapter that the editor I had has done. So if you see any errors that I missed in the editing process please comment it. I read all the comments and I want to make this book as easy to read as possible.