Previously: echo has to be in the forest every night at midnight.

echo woke up and groaned. how many times did she do that? she scrunched herself into a ball and tried to block out her nervous system. everything hurt! she was aching from head to toe, dull and throbbing. and her stomach felt so utterly awful.

"you ok?" she groaned again. she didn't want to talk to frost. 

"should i get galaxy?" echo rolled over, so her back was to frost, and then threw up. 

"i can get some water from the fountain if you're really sick but i might get caught." echo shook her head. she didn't want to owe frost more than she did.  after a few hours of frost trying to help and echo suffering, galaxy arrived with hair dye.

"whats wrong?"

"shes really sick."

"good."

"what?"

"that almost certainly means that she changes tonight."

"oh, ok." 

"echo, its ok, tonight you'll feel better." echo nodded shakily. frost reluctantly died her hair sloppily. 

the night came to slowly. galaxy had to leave to be with her pride and got back around 10 again. then she agonizingly got to the border and hid, glad that frosts hair didn't shine. she could have just recommended she wear a hat, but she hadn't really wanted to. she lay in the moonlight for a while.

was frost getting bigger? and everything else? she didn't really know. her vision drastically improved as well. she did feel better, but tingly. frosts ears perked. echo couldn't hear anything, but she did spot a rustling, and smell a mouse. it smelled delicious. and something else, like frost. wolves. frost glanced at her and her eyes widened. echos ears began to clear and she heard voices.

"i smell them. the marked girl and the traitor." frost stared and hissed.

"you're an owl! fly!" what? frost leaned back, and echo stared around, confused. she was an owl? she could kinda feel wings. she had no clue how to fly tho, so she akwardly waddled into the bushes. then some wolves entered. frost was dead. but she wasn't acting like herself. she had up her hackles and was leaning back, growling. trth and another wolf came in.

"who are you?" frost growled and slowly stepped back, not speaking. they didn't seem to recognize her.she was grey, and it was dark.

"it looks like a real wolf. i dont know how it got here. should we chase it off or tell secret?"

"lets just send it on its way. secret doesn't need to be bothered. it smells like frost and the sunlands."

"look, it has blood in its claws. i think it killed them."

"you think frost could be killed by some random normal wolf?"

"if it has a pack, yes."

"maybe they fought. lets send it to the sunlands." they growled at frost, whos eyes looked dull and animalistic. she was a good actress! she leapt between them and pelted toward galaxy.

"where do you think they are?"

"no clue. but I'm sure if there here they heard us, they'll be long gone." echo sighed as they left. now what? she had no idea how to fly, or change back into a human. she akwardly jumped and flapped towards the sunlands, when a strong breeze caught her wing and she took flight. she felt so free! and more importantly, silent. she gained altitude awkwardly, relying solely on wind. soon a red pelt came into view. galaxy! they were hearing back to the cave. how did she get down? but the breeze took an angle to help her descend. was this related to the windstone? she landed on glaaxys back.

"what on earth?"

"echo, you got out."

"uhhh yeah. i can talk?"

"of course. lets go."

"echo is that owl?"

"yes, but i dont know how to become human again."

"that's not a problem. wecan help. but tomorrow you should go speak to the wolves and explain. now that your officially moonhost i really shouldn't stay with you."

"oh... of course..." they arrived at the cave.

"so you know how to fly?"

"no, the wind was pushing my wings."

"makes sense. hosts have a weird connection to the wind. I'm sure it will help until you learn. so now you need to learn how to change. i cant teach you tho, so ill leave you and fast to it." ughhhh. galaxy looked at her for a last time, sorrow filling her eyes, and bounded away. echo wanted to grab the tip of her auburn tail, to have final memorys together, but could only watch as she left. every memory they had together flashed, and then dissapered like smoke. galaxy was a memory now. they were like 3 sisters once, albeit a lot of sibling rivalry between galaxy and frost. and now the final shadow of the past left with her.

"shes the enemy now." frost had a soft, comforting tone. what? was she really that nonhuman? how on earth was that helpful?

"you're a comfort."

"sorry. to change back-" she was just going to act like nothing happened?

"you have two concioss now. you just need to focus on your human awareness, and once you find it, reach in, and you'll start to turn human again. same with becoming an owl." echo nodded numbly and focused inward. sh did feel a human awareness. she focused on it, and then in it, and felt her body change and grow. it worked! she was human again!

"alright, good job. so, in the morning you'll have to convince the pack what happened and tell them everything, and if they accept me back then fetch me. then i guess you can do what you want. have as much stuff on you as possible, it will save you extra trips. and dont tell them about galaxy, it will get everyone in a lot of trouble." echo nodded and sighed.

"by the way, you were a dusky barn owl."

"great." she went to sleep. frost woke her up around seven, and gestured towards the entrance where they faintly heard breathing. then it left, tho the tip of a red tail came briefly into sight. echos heart smiled.

"alright, pack up. you shouldn't introduce yourself as echo, call yourself an agent of the moon. they'll listen to you if you do." echo nodded and packed as much on her as she could, then laborusly became an owl. the sun was so bright! but she took flight anyway, awkwardly leaning on the wind until she reached the camp, which she didn't actually know the location of. the wind just took her. she landed and everyone stared at her.

"er... i am a representative of the moon." secret walked over in human form, eyes garded and suspicious, but listening.

"yes?"

"where do i start... do you know why the moon is so weak?"

"no, are you here to tell us?"

"yes. every time you kill the moon host it weakens us. the sun host is always accepted, and so the suns power is never drained." were the wolves bigger than they had been?

"moon host?"

"yes. they moon host is marked, when they change they gain the capacity to aid the wolves, protect the magic, and some other stuff that has been lost to time."

"you mean echo?"

"yes. frost conversed with the moon and was ordered to save m- er, her. if you killed one more moon host, the moon would have fallen, the wolves and forest be destroyed, and utter catastroy would ensue."

"if you are a representative of the moon, prove it." uh how did she do that? suddenly everything got darker, and the moon was briefly in the sky, bringing with it darkness. it went down soon, leaving the sun alone.

"we are so sorry. can you please send echo back?"

"i am echo. i changed last night. it turns out i turned into an owl." she struggled to change back.

"so should i go fetch frost or is she banished?"

"you may. she should have told me."

"she said that the moon told her not to. I'm not her, you should hear the story from her. is there any way to talk to the lions about what exactly my purpose is?"

"no. they have a... sun host?" echo nodded, put everything she had on her in her corner, and changed back to an owl. it was kinda fun. she was a bit surprised secret admitted she was wrong, but then the moon had openly endorsed her. she flew and got frost, and the rest of the stuff. secret tried to ask her more questions but she left. she wanted to see if she could go back to the world. she flew to the edge of the forest and was stopped. no use. she tried changing to human form but still couldn't cross. so she took out her phone and got as close to the school as she could for signal, and called her parents. they answered in shooked tones.

"echo?"

"mom? dad?"

"we missed you! can you come home?"

"no, I'm trapped somewhere. i also dont have a way to charge my phone. i can ask someone if I'm allowed to meet you at the border."

"please! but if this is the last time we ever talk than we need to tell you something."

"what?" they sounded really tearful and nervous.

"youre adopted. we found you near the woods, you weren't in a basket or anything, we dont know where your from, but-" suddenly the phone beeped. it was dead.