The Adventure of the Young Visitor

Part 1

by Black Wolf (blacklab2000_2000 at yahoo.com)
"These are absolutely the coolest!" said Rebecca Wolffe.
Rebecca Wolffe was not your ordinary kid. 11 years of age, wearing a a red velvet vest over a crisp white shirt with cuffs and a Inverness draped over her arm. Around her neck she wore a silver falcon's talon on a black string. Piercing blue eyes, fairly long dark brown hair, and fair skin that showed she had been cooped up inside a lot recently. She looked a bit like a tomboy from the Victorian age of London.
"I can't believe they have to sell these antique books." Rebecca was at an old antique bookstore where she spent many a day. Not many people could make friends with her. She talked and acted like she was English. But unfortunately this kind of freaked out many of the other kids. Always ready for adventure, this was not the place for her.
Living in Illinois in the year 2001 is not exactly THAT exciting, she thought to herself. I wish I could've lived in London. I bet I'd be twice as bored if I had parents.
Three years before, both her parents were killed in a plane crash. The government, unable to find her a suitable home, had placed her under the care of the school. She had her own place where a teacher would come down every other day to make sure she was okay. They were reluctant but agreed to let her keep a black Labrador retriever named Chance and a peregrine falcon she had tamed and called Frightful. Life was good, but very boring.
"Hey now, this is weird," she said as she pulled out a black leather-bound volume out of the shelf. On its cover were no words. "Huh? Guess it's been around for a while, considering it has no title," she said as she looked at the book.
She turned a few of the yellowed pages and stopped at a page titled THE ONE WHO HAS THE POWER. She eagerly read the sentence below the title which read: "Caress thy own fate and the power shall be yours."
"What in the world?" she said aloud. Then the picture below the sentence caught her eye. It was a picture of a silver wolf's paw print.
Gently she touched the picture. Suddenly silver light blazed around her and the book in her hands. The book gave off a black glow and the silver light blazed, Rebecca felt herself being lifted to ... somewhere. As suddenly as it had started, the light stopped and the book stopped glowing. She felt herself being lowered to the ground. When she looked around, Rebecca did not see anything familiar. Everything looked...different.
She was no longer in the bookstore. She was on a street next to a strange lamppost. All around her everything looked like it was out of a futuristic movie. She read the sign next to the lamppost. "Brook Street, New London," it read.
"Where the blazes am I?" she said aloud. She started to walk. Nothing looked like it should. a kind of hovercar passed her on the road. This was strange. Onward she walked till she noticed a scuffle ahead. There a a young lady and a robot were battling three red-colored robots, and a thin man was being attacked. The thin man was thumped on the head with what looked like a car bumper by his attacker.
This upset Rebecca. She dropped the book. This was not a fair fight. Her emotions began to rise. Anger overtook her as she ran toward the thin man, who was still on the ground though trying to get up, and his attacker. The assailant aimed for another blow, but she leaped in order to knock the weapon out of his hands.
But it was not Rebecca that leaped; instead a wolf did!
She successfully knocked the weapon down but noticed she was a lot shorter on the ground. What in the world has happened! she thought as she looked down on her black furry paws. This is very strange.
The thin man had now gotten up and was trying to take the weapon from his attacker when she leaped again. The thin man's attacker now turned the weapon upon the wolf/girl and successfully knocked her into unconsciousness. The attacker laughed and threw a grenade at the thin man as he ran away. The attacker tripped as he ran and picked up the thing that had tripped him, the book! The thin man's attacker took the book and ran to a hovercar, and away he flew.
The thin man, meanwhile, kicked the grenade towards the robots which were still battling away at the young woman and the compudroid. Who in turn ran and ducked.
"Thanks, Holmes" said the young woman, as the thin man -- presumably Holmes -- turned towards the wolf. "What are you doing?"
The man named Holmes walked over and looked at the wolf that was Rebecca. "Do you not find it strange for a wolf to come leaping to the aid of humans?" he said, rather puzzled.
"Come now, Holmes; it's just a common dog. Nothing more, nothing less," replied the compudroid.
"Ah, but you are missing several links, Watson," said Holmes. "First off, it is not a 'dog', it is a wolf -- North American, to be precise. And wolves tend to live in densely vegetated areas, usually as far away from people as possible. Why would a North American wolf try to save a human's life when they are much afraid of humans? Especially in New London of all places?"
The young woman sighed and replied, "It's just a dog -- sorry, wolf! Who cares? Besides, we have to find out why and what that idiot Martin Fenwick wanted from this warehouse!"
"Lestrade, would you think, perhaps, that the coincidence of the wolf and Martin Fenwick's raid on this warehouse could be tied together somehow?" retorted Holmes. Though Holmes knew there was no connection, he was very interested in this animal's behavior, nonetheless
The man named Holmes picked up the wolf that was Rebecca and placed her in a hovercar. The compudroid, Watson, gave the lady named Lestrade a quizzical look. She in turn just shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to the hovercar.

On to Part 2!
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