Paw Prints (Book One in the Trails Series) *BEING EDITED-NEW VERSION WILL BE LONGER*

~Chapter One~ Welcome to Trails

Sparrow Mae Chole wasn't exactly your average thirteen-year-old girl. Besides the fact that her name was Sparrow, she was quite strange. She had large blue eyes that were so dark they were almost purple. Her hair was brown with streaks of red and orange. In her school, she belonged to the small group of four girls who were considered "freaks". Though, in truth, they preferred the words "the fun people".

There was Dot. She had light brown hair and yellow-green eyes. Then there was Miki, a girl with dark skin, long dark hair, brown eyes, and glasses. Finally, there was Marley. She had choppy orange hair, a freckled face, and two different colored eyes, one brown and one hazel.

Most girls would smirk at them. "They're not worth the trouble. All they do is take up space." They would say.

But each of the girls had their own problems. Dot's dad was an army veteran, while her mother was a Navy Seal. Miki had lost two brothers in a snow storm last year. Marley had lost her mother to a car crash.

As for Sparrow...well...she only had her mother. In her early life, she had had four sisters and a father. One day they had left and never returned. Sparrow had no idea what had happened, only that her mother couldn't even think about it without crying.

***

Every other story seems to stay with the same words. "It was an ordinary day at school..." or "Everything was normal until..."

Well not the story of Sparrow and her three friends. No, their story starts with one thing, and one thing only.

Paw prints.

Made by who, exactly? Yes, before you ask, who not what.

Well, the paw prints were made by Tiquail. Of course, it always comes back to Tiquail. The protector, the watcher, the...

Snow leopard.

Yes, Tiquail is a snow leopard.

Now, for a long time, Tiquail had been bothering Sparrow. Between shadows at the edge of her vision, glowing eyes in the darkness, and the sound of a swishing tail following her everywhere she went, Sparrow was sure she was being watched. By what (or shall we say, who) she didn't know.

And, believe it or not, Tiquail approved of Sparrow's knowledge. She actually liked that the girl was alert, and she enjoyed the fact that the girl's eyes would always flash dangerously whenever she caught sight of Tiquail's tail, eyes, or paw prints.

Ah, so we're back at the paw prints, yes?

Well, won't we always be?

***

"You've been saying this for years, Sparrow." Miki muttered once Sparrow had finished explaining her feeling of being watched. "I know, Miki." Sparrow snapped. "But it's getting worse. Louder. Like they want me to know they're there."

Miki smirked. "Maybe your hearing is just getting better."

"No it's not." Dot said, trotting up behind them and wearing a smirk to match Miki's. "Either way, you're just getting paranoid, Sparrow."

Sparrow sighed. "Listening in again, are you Dot?"

Dot grinned. "I wasn't the only one."

"Sorry guys." Marley said, appearing behind them as well. She grinned evilly at Sparrow, exposing the braces on her teeth. "Honestly though, Sparrow. You hear and see imaginary things, but you don't hear and see us?"

"It's not that I didn't hear you, it's just-" Sparrow began, scowling. Dot cut her off. "Excuses, excuses." She said, waving her hand delicately in the air. Sparrow slapped it. "You guys are seriously infuriating."

Miki huffed. "Rude!" She sniffed.
"True." Sparrow retorted bluntly.

The group of friends fell silent, listening to the sounds of birds singing in the trees, animals rustling through the undergrowth, and their own footsteps on the sidewalk.

Sparrow glanced into the trees. She could have sworn she heard something. Sure, the forest was full of sounds. Sparrow knew that, considering they passed it everyday on the way to and from school. She always liked looking at the trees and listening to the nature.

Sparrow shrugged when she didn't notice anything different. As she tore her gaze away from the magnificent trunks, she caught sight of something that wasn't supposed to be there.

Paw prints.

There were paw prints in the dirt. Feathers and small animal bones littered the ground around them. Some animal must have just had some dinner. That's probably what I heard. Sparrow thought, turning her eyes back to the trees.

Scanning the space between the large trunks, Sparrow noticed something else.

A pair of bright blue eyes.

Staring right at her.

Sparrow stopped in her tracks and stared back at the eyes. They blinked at her and disappeared, but still she didn't move. "Sparrow?" Miki called from farther up the sidewalk. "Are you alright?"

Sparrow continued to stare. "Now's my chance." She whispered, her heart pounding and the blood roaring in her ears.

"Sparrow, what are you doing!?" Dot screamed as Sparrow plunged into the trees, following the sound of a swishing tail.

She crashed loudly through the undergrowth and broke tree branches.

Looking down at the ground, Sparrow noticed something more.

Paw prints.

So she followed those.

Little did she know that she was following the paw prints that would lead her to a new world. A new life.

A new beginning.

Welcome to Trails.

There's no going back now.