Wolf looked around at everyone warily at dinner that day. No one wanted to eat and many simply stared at their plates. Poppy suddenly stood up and announced,

“I’m going to go read a book. The tension is killing me. See you.” She turned as if to leave, but Wolf spoke up.

“Wait! You can’t go off alone, you might get killed! Even if no-one here is going to kill, there may be other dangers around! And,” Wolf looked down, “I guess I just don’t want anyone to get killed.” Poppy smiled and gave a little dismissing wave.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’ll be fine.” And she walked away before anyone else could interrupt.

~~~

Dinner was over.

More like, “sitting around uncomfortably staring at your plates not attempting to move because you were afraid that you were going to get accused of a murder” was over.

Wolf shuffled to her room, the last one to get up from the table. She longed for nothing but a peaceful night’s sleep, but that didn’t seem to be in plan. Theca was hovering a couple inches above the ground, seemingly staring at a book which title she didn’t understand. Wolf took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Theca looked up and smiled.

“Oh! Hi! Finally done with dinner?” Her tone was happy, not at all like someone who’d just witnessed someone dying. Wolf glared at her in reply. “Well, I’m reading this wonderful book I got from the library. But I guess you need to sleep,” she sighed, book clapping shut and releasing a small puff of dust illuminated by the slice of sun left in the sky. “I’ll see you. But first,” a little fire flickered in her eyes, “I want to give you something.”

Theca pressed something small into Wolf’s hands. “Use it wisely.” With that, she disappeared. Wolf looked at the little object in her hand. It was a knife.

~~~

Knives come in all shapes and sizes. There are some that are large or small and used for cooking, those tiny pocket knives that flip open, and the Swiss Army blades that have an endless amount of uses. There are knives for throwing, knives for slicing, and knives designed especially for killing. Wolf’s new knife, however, was different.

It had a sheath, like a sword. The sheath was made of smooth black leather, decorated with shining silver and gold plating and gleaming jade and turquoise embedded in it. The hilt was made of smooth polished ebony, with a particularly shiny jade stone attached to the butt surrounded with more gold. A silver snake curled around the end of the hilt. Wolf reluctantly unsheathed the knife.

It was made of black ebony, pure and solid, brushed with resin to make it shiny. Around the blade curled a turquoise snake. This knife was obviously for decoration. It wasn’t like Wolf was going to use it anyway. Though it was pretty, Wolf walked into her room and placed the knife on her desk, never to be used.

Wolf snuggled under her covers, slipping into sleep.

~~~

She indeed had dreams that night. They crept up softly, some to surprise, some to scare.

Wolf dreamt of Time Travel, dimension hopping, fighting, a strange place where everything was pixellated, and most of all, lab testing. Labs. Scary, scary labs. Soon enough, it was morning and time for breakfast.

~~~

After everyone appeared at the breakfast table, Theca popped out of thin air and landed in the middle of the table. She seemed happy.

“Guys,” she said, “I have a surprise for you!”