Natalia’s P. O. V

I pointed towards one of the ruins closer to the border. She nodded then handed me a makeshift necklace and motioned for me to put it on.

As soon as I did, my body faded out of focus, making me invisible. She grabbed my hand and put an identical necklace on, turning invisible herself. Then we were moving, jogging to our first mark.

With the ruins before us, she kept a hold of my hand. In a few seconds, I felt the energy trickle out of me as time seemed to rewind itself for the debris. The burn marks on the wood faded and some pieces of wood flew to join the structure from the direction of the forest. In about forty-five minutes, a quaint little home stood before us in place of the ruins.

“Which one’s next?” Kaesha’s voice whispered.

I led her to the next one and she got to work, repeating the process till another little home stood before us. At the rate we were going, we’d be able to just finish four houses before the moon set.

By the time we were moving to the third house, I was feeling the effects of Kaesha’s channelling.

‘If we’re starting to feel tired, what about her? Knowing Kaesha, she’s probably not using as much of our energy as she should.’ Candy theorised.

She was right. If I was a bit tired, I could only imagine how drained Kaesha was feeling.

“I’m fine, Ava.” She offered in a hushed tone before I could open my mouth to ask.

‘You heard Candy, we don’t think you’re using enough from us.’

“I am.” Her breathing said otherwise.

‘You’re lying, Kaesha. I’m only a little tired, use more from me.’

She huffed, “Fine.”

Taking a deep breath, she started on the next house. This time, it started as the normal trickle, then quickly turned into a steady stream, the energy haemorrhaging away. And it kept pouring out of me and, I assumed, flowing through her and into the construction of the house. As the last pieces of wood melded and snapped into place, I was notably tired.

To avoid letting it slip how drained I felt, I moved my thoughts to how the house looked. It wasn’t entirely dissimilar from the design of the house we were staying at in Pine Ridge, however, I had yet to find out what the interior looked like.

I didn’t dwell too long, ‘One more to go, before I can go get Timothy.’

She nodded and we were on our way to the last one for now. In the last quarter of her work, I felt the flow of energy decrease. At this point, I was tired enough to not admonish her.

Once she finished, she let go of my hand and sat near my feet. I could see her imprint on the ground but stayed standing. After a few minutes of rest, I felt her hand touch my leg.

‘You’ve done so much Kaesha, really. Is there a way you can transmit what the houses are supposed to look like to Timothy?’

A hushed, “Yes.”

‘I’ll go get him from the forest. Once I return, send transmission to him. We’ll take it from there while you teleport back to get some rest.’

“Okay.” Her hand left my leg for some seconds. I heard some rustling and it returned with another necklace.

I took my bracelet off and handed it to her, retrieving the necklace. ‘Stay safe, okay? I’ll knock on the door of this house when we return so, I guess you can wait inside. If anyone else enters the house, teleport back. We’ll be fine but you need the rest.’

“Okay.”

I watched our surroundings as she let go and got up, making her way to the door. Softly, the door opened and shut.

There were some slivers of daylight now.

‘Some wolves might return to to check on their pups. You need to get that necklace to Timothy quickly.’ Candy reminded.

I nodded.

It took some effort to locate his scent, but once I did, it didn’t take much to find him. Thankfully, he wasn’t with Hailey this time.

“Timothy!” I called softly.

He turned in my direction, hostility rising. Several branches turned to my general direction.

I took my necklace off and raised my hands up, “It’s nice to meet you too, Timothy’s wolf. You mind releasing him?” I placed his necklace on the ground, “We’ve got work to do.”

He looked at the necklace then back at me.

“Kaesha made it. You’ll be invisible and undetectable when you wear it. Go change then meet me back here.”

He huffed, stalking towards me to retrieve the necklace then disappeared into the bushes. Some minutes passed and he returned, fully clothed.

“His name is Bones, by the way.”

“Good to know. My wolf’s name is Candy.”

He raised a brow.

“It’s short for Candice. Hey, I didn’t ask about Bones.”

“Fair enough. Come on, let’s go.”

Once we were at the border, I put my necklace on and took his hand. Rolling his eyes, he did the same and we crossed into their territory.

I guided him to the house I’d left Kaesha in. I knocked three times before entering and closing the door behind us.

Soft footprints padded towards us then Kaesha appeared, having removed her necklace. We did the same.

Silently, she took my hand.

‘Have you ever tried a three way connection?’

She hook her head, “No, but let me try something.”

She took Timothy’s hand then got us to sit on the floor. After a minute or so, I heard both their voices in my head.

‘Can you both hear me?’ She asked.

Timothy nodded, ‘Nice trick you got there.’

‘Yeah, we can hear you Kaesha. How did you get it to work?’

She smiled, ‘Just a bit of magic. I used it to augment my psychic power.’

I scowled.

‘Don’t worry, Ava. I’ll switch to your energy now.’

‘Alright. Timothy?’

He stopped glancing around and looked at me, ‘Hm?’

‘Can you make a house like this with your dendrokinesis?’

He nodded, ‘Sure, but, as you pointed out, I can’t continuously use my gift for bigger actions. I’ll need to take a break every few minutes so it could take over an hour for just one house.’

‘It’s okay. Slow and steady. We’ll get it.’

‘What about the pack members. I get that we’re invisible and undetectable, but what if they look in our direction and see the houses repairing themselves?’

Kaesha nodded in agreement, ‘That’s if they haven’t already seen the houses we’ve already finished.’

I shrugged, ‘At the end of the day, if they don’t see or smell us, we can keep working. We just have to stay our of their way. There are eleven small houses and four larger structures. Kaesha already finished four of them so we have seven left. Timothy, how many do you think you can complete?’

‘More wolves might return later in the day. By then, if they see the finished houses, they’ll shift back and stick around till the next moon. Before that happens, I can probably get another four done.’

I nodded, ‘Okay. Kaesha will stay here and rest. I’ll be around on the lookout. Kaesha, can you make this connection remote?’

‘Give me a second.’

She closed her eyes. Several times, she took her hands away then placed them back on us.

Finally, she opened her eyes and took her hands off for the last time, ‘How’s this?’

‘Took you long enough.’ Timothy quipped.

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She stuck her tongue out at him, ‘That’s what I’ll be saying when you finally get back from fixing those houses. Here, this is what they’re supposed to look like.’

As she said… or thought that, he winced, blinking rapidly.

‘Seems simple enough.’ He finally responded.

‘Good, so don’t screw it up.’ She turned to me, ‘Once I’ve rested enough, should I join him or start on a separate house?’

‘Work on separate ones if you feel strong enough. If not, you can join him. Call for me if you need any help.’

Timothy and I donned our necklaces. Feeling around, I found his hand and led him to the ruins he was to work on.

‘Do you need me to help you lift or move anything?’

‘Nah, I’m good. Talk to you in about an hour.’

I hung around for a few minutes, making sure he was doing okay. Where Kaesha’s magic had made the repairs seem more instantaneous and simplified, like fitting ready-made parts of a puzzle together, Timothy’s gift made things more detailed and fluid, each step was clearly followed. He actually started by creating a framework for the house.

Satisfied that things were going well, I made my way to the main house and climbed up to the roof. From there, I spotted about five wolves within a three mile radius of our vicinity. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry to return, each of them simply strolling around, with long and frequent pauses. And not all of them were moving in our direction, or even at all.

Satisfied that we had at least an hour from the shifted wolves, I turned my attention to the pups in the house. There were no longer two alert breathing patterns, but just one. And a drowsy one at that. They’d probably switched to taking shifts.

An hour passed, and Timothy was done with his first house.

‘Where to next, oh great one?’ He quipped, trying to hide his fatigue behind a dose of snark.

I directed him to one closer to Kaesha, ‘And take your time, Timothy.’

He scoffed, but when he started working, he’d taken my advice.

About half an hour into his work, one of the wolves decided to move into the compound.

‘Kaesha, Timothy. Incoming wolf, opposite your locations.’

‘Okay.’

‘I’ll keep working. Tell me how to stay out of their way.’ Timothy stated, undeterred.

The wolf didn’t move much further, stopping at Robert’s place. It looked familiar and the scent wafting in the air, confirmed that it was him.

He slipped in through a doggy door that took up half the frame. Some minuted passed and he emerged, fully clothed and heading for the main building.

‘He’s moving to my location. Probably to check on the children. There’s a chance he may stay with them for the rest of the day.’

Timothy’s building was in view of their window. Not directly, but visible nonetheless.

‘Timothy, stay behind the house you’re fixing. Hopefully, they won’t be watching the window too keenly but there’s nothing we can do.’

At my request, he moved. Not long afterwards, I heard the cry of one of the children, followed by two more wailing voices. Soon enough, most of the soft breaths had morphed into chatter and whines. The sounds were grating but upset children meant occupied caretakers. And they’d be less likely to look out the window.

About thirty minutes later, two people had started moving around the building, probably to get food. I kept an ear to the building as I directed Timothy to his next house.

In the last quarter of his work, Kaesha spoke up, ‘Ava, I think I’m ready to start again.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’

I looked around. While a lot of the wolves had stopped to nap, two remained awake and were circling the territory.

‘I need to maintain my position so you won’t be able to channel me. Are you sure?’

‘I’m sure, Ava. But, you can get Hailey to help me, if it makes you feel better. I have an extra necklace for her.’

I sighed, ‘Alright. Timothy, I’ll be gone for about twenty minutes to find Hailey so you’ll have to watch your back. Will you be okay?’

He let out a short snort, ‘How do you think I’ve stayed alive?’

I took that as a yes and descended the main building. After retrieving the necklace from Kaesha, I made my way to the border.

Staying low, I watched for the patrolling wolves then took off in the direction of our place. Halfway there, I picked up Hailey’s scent and followed it to the clearing Timothy and I had been in earlier yesterday.

Her wolf, Opelene, laid there in the grass, asleep.

I took my necklace off and approached her. I was about a foot away when her ears swivelled upright and she jumped to her feet, growling. It took her a second to recognise me, but she relaxed as she did.

“Morning, Opelene. I hope your night went well.” I whispered.

She cocked her head then nodded.

“That’s good. But we have a mission and we need Hailey. Do you mind?” I asked, showing her her necklace, “Kaesha spelled it to keep us invisible and undetectable.”

She took the necklace from my hand and wandered off into the forest. Some minutes, a dressed Hailey emerged.

“Morning, Ari. What’s the mission?”

“Good morning, Hailey. We’re repairing the destroyed houses in their territory. Timothy is working but Kaesha will need someone to channel. I would do it but I’m keeping a lookout to keep them out of the pack members’ way. Can you help?”

She smiled, “Of course I’ll help, Ari. I only wish you’d asked me sooner.”

“It would have been suspicious if they didn’t sense at least one of us in the forest. Especially after we asked to use it.”

She nodded, “Makes sense. Alright, let’s go.”

We donned our necklaces and made our way to the territory, hand in hand. After slipping past the patrols, I took her to Kaesha.

After Hailey had greeted her with hugs, Kaesha connected her to the mental link.

‘Oh, this is so cool!’

‘Keep it down, Sunshine. Some of us are trying to get shit done.’ Came Timothy’s remark.

She scowled, but said nothing. Instead, she reached out to me, ‘Where to, Ari?’

Whatever their wolves had conversed about last night definitely hadn’t helped their relationship.

I didn’t comment and led her and Kaesha to their ruins. After making sure they were okay, I returned to my lookout post. A few minutes later, I directed Timothy to his fourth house.

Things were going smoothly. The three of them remained undisturbed as the children and their wards ruminated around the building and the patrolling wolves maintained their positions.

Timothy was done with his final house while Kaesha and Hailey were working on the last one so I sent him to wait and rest at the meeting house. Once they were done, I sent them back as well, before going to meet them.

With all of us inside, we took our necklaces off and our invisibility faded.

‘Great work, all of you. There’s no way I would be able to do any of this on my own. Thank you so much.’

‘Don’t mention it.’ Kaesha smiled.

‘Yeah, we’re happy to help, Ari.’ Hailey beamed, hugging me.

‘Whatever, oh great one.’ Timothy smirked.

That got Hailey to send him a sharp look, but I placed a placating hand on her shoulder, ‘That’s just his way of saying ‘you’re welcome’.’

She settled back beside Kaesha, ignoring him.

I checked the time, ‘Okay, it’s almost quarter to eleven. There are four larger structures left to repair. The younger teens and Robert are occupied with taking care of the children in the main building and there are two werewolves patrolling the border. Once it’s afternoon, most of the werewolves will have woken from their naps and some of them may want to return to check on their pups. Because all of you are probably tired to varying degrees, I think you should work together on them.’

Hailey and Timothy glanced at each other. Timothy with a raised brow and Hailey with withering irritation. But they didn’t protest.

‘Geez,’ Candy murmured, ‘I know they didn’t exactly like each other, but what happened?’

‘I’m wondering the same thing.’

‘You may not finish all four, but that’s okay. Just go as far as you can till more members return. But don’t push yourselves too much.’

‘Okay, Ava.’ Kaesha responded on their behalf.

‘One more thing, Kaesha. Just in case more return before we finish, can you erase our scents from this house?’ I offered her my hand.

She nodded and took my hand. A few minutes later, she was done.

‘Thank you.’

We put our necklaces back on and I took them to the ruins they were to start from, then returned to my post. It was probably a good thing that we were invisible, otherwise Hailey and Timothy would probably spend the entire time shooting daggers at each other.

They finished in little over an hour and moved onto the next site. In that time, some of the pups had moved to a different room and seemed to be doing school related things, the older kids teaching some the alphabet and others basic math. There was always one crying child at any given time, but most of them had settled into simple conversations or babble. One pair of children had probably seen the houses because they were marvelling and commenting on them, but neither went to the older kids or Robert with their discovery.

A while later, the patrolling wolves were met by another pair. After some time, the original patrols made their way into the territory, replaced by the new pair.

‘Guys, incoming wolves. The patrols just changed so the first shift of them is probably returning to rest. Move to the back of the building you’re working on. I hope they’ll be too tired to notice the houses but they probably will. You can keep going but, Kaesha, be ready to teleport.’

‘To our place? Are you sure?’

‘Yes. I’ll catch up but they cannot find you guys here.’

‘No,’ Hailey protested, ‘you should come with us, Ari.’

‘I’ll try. But you guys have to go on without me if things get dire.’

Once the wolves were close enough to see the houses, they stopped dead in their tracks. The brown one of them started towards the nearest house, but the silver one stopped them, their hackles stiff.

It looked like the the wolf of the blonde woman that had accompanied Robert. She motioned to the main house and they made a break for it.

Once they reached it, I didn’t hear them move directly to the children, but hurriedly threw some clothes on. Once they had, they quickly moved to the children and counted them, even as the pups made a commotion with greeting them.

“What’s wrong?” I heard Robert ask.

“The houses that burned down, they’re fixed.” The blonde lady’s voice replied.

“Whoa! Really?” Robert yelled as he moved to the window, “But-but how?”

“I don’t know. We need our guards here, now.”

“I don’t understand. Isn’t this a good thing?” I could hear his confusion.

“No. It means someone has breached our territory, probably since this morning or longer, and we had no clue.”

“But they’re probably helping, right…?”

“Let’s catch the intruders and find out.”

Looking around, several, if not all, the wolves in the vicinity were racing back to the territory.

‘You guys need to go. Now.’

The last piece of wood for their second building melded into place.

‘What about you?’ Hailey asked

‘There’s no time! There are wolves coming in from all directions, including yours. The closest will reach you before I can. You need to leave.’

‘You’ll be on your own, Ava!’ Kaesha warned, ‘I can’t maintain the telepathy at that distance.’

‘I’ll be okay. They won’t find me. Now, go!’

‘But…’

‘Kaesha, Sunshine, we need to go! Ari, won’t turn this repair mission into a rescue one so don’t be the ones fuck it up.’

Some wolves were just a few feet away from their location.

‘Fine. You’d better come back.’

‘I will.’

And they were gone.