Free The Legend of Safehaven by R. A. Comunale

books that you can use to read stories to us.”
    Nancy silently sighed in relief then began the first chapter:
     
    It was seven o ’ clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day ’ s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips.
     
    As they took turns reading the parts, Faisal created mental images of Mowgli and the Seeonee, the wolves who fed him and cared for him; of Father Wolf and Raksha, the Mother Wolf; as well as Bagheera, the black panther who vouched for him, and Baloo, the wise old bear. He marveled at Kaa, the great python, and cheered as Mowgli defeated Shere Khan, the tiger. He remembered his little dog, Fez, as Mowgli adventured with Akela and Grey Brother, the great wolves of the pack.
    Then, the written words ended and the voices stilled, he heard the wise old bear call out to him.
    “You are Mowgli.”
     
    Another weekend and the children released their energies as would any prisoners released from captivity. They jumped off the bus and ran up the mountain driveway, cutting across the field to the old blind and the den where their friends lived.
    “Athena! Zeus! Mercury!” Freddie called out then waited, as the pack leaders followed by the young ones slowly moved toward them.
    Tonio, busily petting the young ones, called to his brother and sister.
    “Why don’t we bring Fai down here?”
    Carmelita sternly reminded her brother that they had no way of knowing how the pack would respond to a stranger, no matter how friendly the animals had become to them.
    “I’ll ask Tio Galen tonight and see what he thinks,” he replied, and then the siblings headed home, as luminous-green, lupine eyes followed the uphill journey of the two-legged ones.
     
    He heard his roommate coming down the hall. Tio Edison and Tio Nancy had told him he would be attending the same school as his friends, as soon as he fully recuperated. The older folks kept him busy during the school week, but he missed the company of the other children, his new friends.
    He heard Tonio open the door, and then he smelled something. It was a dog! No, not quite, something doglike but outside, wild. He remembered the feral dogs outside his village and the warnings his elders would give him and all the other young ones.
    “Tonio, have you been with dogs at school today?”
    The boy laughed but said nothing.
     
    He heard Tonio’s quiet breathing punctuated by an occasional snore. He rose from his bed—he needed no light. His pajama-clad feet cast no sound, as he carefully opened the bedroom door and, led by his ears, slipped down the hallway to the living room. He felt his way to the large picture window overlooking the mountain vista. He pressed his right ear against the glass and listened. Faintly, from a distance, he heard the triple-toned cry of the Moonsingers.
     
    “Tio Galen, your piano, it is electric?”
    “Yes, Fai, and it can make many sounds, not just piano. Would you like to try it again?”
    “Oh, yes, Tio!”
    He sat at the console, as the old man guided his fingers over the buttons that would switch the digitally created sounds into different instruments. Faisal’s fingers pressed each key as he sampled the sounds of oboe, flute, horn, organ, bass, and more, and as the notal tones swirled in his brain, his fingers carried them forward to the keyboard.
    Galen listened in amazement, as the swirling sounds conjured up the boy’s native land: blowing sands, the five calls to prayer from the muezzin in the minarets, the movement of people in the bazaars, and the ever-shimmering heat.
    Nancy and Edison once again stood in the doorway. As the adults listened, the music shifted effortlessly to cool breezes, birds, mountain forests, water, and air, reaching a crescendo in the startling, elemental, harmonic howl of the wolves.
    Sightless glass eyes pierced them, as the boy turned and asked quietly, “Where are