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“Tape?”
    “It keeps the leaves on my shoes, and the
leaves keep the dust off me. I use my Rezend—which is our form of
magic—and as long as the leaves are fresh, they do what I ask them
to do.”
    “But . . . where did you get tape?”
    Akeno shrugged. “From the humans. They gave
me a lot of it last time they were here.”
    “Humans? What humans?” For some reason, Jacob
had assumed he was the first human to step foot on this world. The
fact that there had been others caught him off guard. Were they
like him? Did they have special abilities?
    “Oh, they didn't tell you? Humans used to
live in the tree. It's why it's human-sized.”
    “What? Where'd they go?”
    “They moved. They used to visit, but it's
been a long time—several years, in fact. We still keep in contact
with them through the Minyas.”
    “Oh, yeah, Minyas. You guys sent them to tell
Matt where I was, right?”
    Akeno taped the last leaf to his shoe, put
the tape dispenser back in his bag, and got to his feet. “Yeah. It
took them a while to convince Matt they were real, living things.
And then a while longer that you were safe.”
    Jacob turned, but Akeno grabbed his arm.
    “What?” Jacob said in irritation, facing
Akeno again.
    “The wolves.” Akeno gestured with his other
hand. “I should've made sure they weren't here before we entered
the forest.”
    Jacob looked ahead and froze. The two huge,
black wolves sat on their haunches about twenty feet in front of
them. A movement to either side of the animals startled Jacob, and
at least ten more wolves—the smaller, gray kind—stepped forward,
forming a semi-circle around the boys.
    “What's going on?” Jacob asked.
    “I don't know.” Akeno's low voice had taken
on a high pitch.
    Jacob didn't blame him. He was so scared he
could barely breathe. “What do we do?”
    Akeno shook his head—his whole body shook,
actually.
    Jacob stared at the wolves, not flinching,
waiting to see what they would do. Nothing happened for several
moments. Why weren't they attacking?
    “Should I knock them out?” Akeno asked.
    “No—don't. They're not doing anything.”
    “Maybe we could go around?”
    Jacob shook his head. The last thing he
wanted was to step any closer. “You think we should?”
    “No . . . but what else is there?”
    Conflicting emotions raced through Jacob.
Fear—that was the strongest. Last night was horrendous. He hadn't
been that afraid in a long time—if ever. But he also wanted to go
home—desperately needed to go home. He wanted to play basketball,
yes, but more than that, he just wanted the comfort of his house
and family. He wanted the last twenty-four hours to be
erased—rewound, if possible. He wanted to be normal. He wanted to
forget all about this other world.
    Jacob took a deep breath. Go around. That's
what they should do. He took a step to the right. Nothing
happened.
    He willed his heart to calm down. What were
the animals doing? It seemed unnatural for them to sit so quietly.
Then he remembered Kenji saying that the Lorkon had sent the wolves
to get Jacob. Was it possible that's what they were trying to do?
And they wouldn't let him pass? That didn't work for him—he had to
get home, and no “otherworldly” creature was going to stop him.
    He gingerly stepped to the right again,
trying to make a wide arc around the farthest wolf on that side.
Akeno stayed close, only moving when Jacob did. One of the animals
growled, but still, they didn't do anything.
    “Maybe they'll let us pass.” Jacob doubted
it, but hoped saying so would make the Makalo feel better.
    A step again. This time, one of the black
wolves growled and jumped to its feet. Jacob nearly fell back in
fear, clutching his chest, and Akeno jumped. It took a moment for
Jacob to realize what was going on. The wolf pointed its snout
toward Taga, successfully conveying the message: go back .
Jacob's heart beat so quickly he felt he would have a heart
attack.
    “What are they doing?” Akeno