“But then yesterday when I went to look, the fairy was GONE!” He said, spreading his little arms wide as he finished telling his story. 

His big green eyes were wide with excitement as the twins squealed and asked him what he did next. Before he could continue his ears perked up as he sensed Kyle and Anastasia approaching.

Benny jumped up screaming, “They're here!” nearly losing his balance. 

He quickly regained his footing and grinned widely down at the twins, boots squeaking. The little wolf wore a hoodie much too big for him, that seemed to swallow him whole, reaching his knees. Definitely not clothes meant for running wild in the woods, but the pup loved the hoodie gifted to him by the pack leader and hardly took it off as winter drew close. 

Not that they really needed it. Werewolves had blood that naturally ran much warmer than other non-humans. Even a blizzard could be survived with a t-shirt and some shorts.

Kyle joined Benny on the lip of the cave, despite his fears it was about the size of a small room and was filled with moss and dirt. Easy enough to rescue them from. He smiled down at the twins before carefully climbing down into the cave. Josie moved aside and pointed worriedly at her sister. Both of the little girls wore grey tracksuits that made their red hair seem even brighter. Their flushed cheeks accentuated the freckles that decorated their faces as their eyes followed Kyle.

“Her leg broke,” Josie said, her grey eyes wide with fear, “Look, the bone is sticking out!”

Kyle patted her head and let out a low whistle as he looked at Annie. Sure enough her leg was broken, the bone sticking out a few centimetres as it jutted angrily from her flesh. Kyle once again felt thankful for Anastasia. If it weren't for her magic the twins would have been in excruciating pain. 

Kyle bent down and opened the first aid kit, grabbing water and disinfectant. He deftly cleaned the wound and lightly covered it with gauze and a bandage, not daring to try and set her bone in place himself. 

“Robyn will fix you up when she returns from fishing,” Kyle said, as he fastened the end of the bandage. 

Robyn was probably already on her way back home right now, he thought, hopefully Annie wouldn't need to wait too long to get her bone set in place. 

If her healing started with the bone at the wrong angle she would be left with a permanent limp and it was all Kyle could do to not try and set it himself. 

It's better to wait for Robyn, he told himself, you don't want to ruin her leg in your haste.

“It's all my fault,” Josie broke down sobbing, “I said we should see who could catch the biggest rabbit and Annie slipped as she was chasing after one.” 

The nine year old girl held onto her dislocated shoulder as she sobbed, wild red hair sticking to her tears. Kyle stood up, wiping her tears away as he calmed down now that the twins were within his sight.

“It's not your fault, Josie.” Kyle said, as he knelt before her and put her arm into a sling. 

He wouldn't dare to try and place her arm back in the socket himself either, resolved to let Robyn and her trained eye do it. 

“No one would have thought something like this would happen.” Kyle told her truthfully.

“But still, we—” Josie started, before getting cut off by Annie.

“I told you it's fine!” Annie looked at Kyle nervously.

“What?” He said, fear creeping back in as he picked up on the pounding of the twins' hearts. Something wasn't right.

“Tell me right now.” His voice stern as a strange scent in the air stuck out.

It was herbaceous and wild, a bell pinging in the back of his mind that it wasn't the smell of the woods or moss surrounding them. The smell clung heavily to the twins and it made his stomach turn with the strangeness of it.

Josie and Annie both looked down at the ground and refused to answer him, he sensed their fear and could tell it was not just due to falling into the cave and getting injured. The twins cried softly as they kept quiet, their fear overpowering his senses until he felt lightheaded.

“Someone better say something right now—” He warned.

“Kyle!” Benny yelled from above. His little voice shook as he tried to get the words out, “Wolfsbane.” He said.

“What..?” Kyle said as he felt his heart drop.

His fear doubled, tripled, quadrupled as the word Benny said finally put a name to the strange herbaceous smell he had sensed.

“They ate it.” Benny said, his little voice barely above a whisper, “They ate wolfsbane.”