It wasn't long before a decent sized, wooden, room-like structure sat in between the thickest branches of the giant oak. The three friends stood, looking at their work with a sense of relief, and finally relishing the fact that they were getting somewhere with their mission. They had food, a hideout, and a rough idea of a plan. Now, all they had to do was carry it out.

"At night, we should post look-outs." Nymos suggested,"that way we can be ready at all times if an attack comes." Skolris nodded in agreement,"stay shifted, we can't risk being spotted. And as for the treehouse, I know it's easy to spot. But, it won't be all that suspicious cuz there are some small houses near here. It'll just appear as a family treehouse." She said. But then, a sudden thought came back from past experiences,"on second thought, don't stay shifted. If you do that, the animal inside of you will take over and you'll get a sudden instinct to kill." Skolris warned them. "Shift between being shifted and human."

Antariel took the first night lookout, sitting atop a tree branch in her blue-bird form. Skolris and Nymos sat below the tree, both as wolves. This time, Skolris's fur was a warm brown-red. Their heads were turned towards the sea as it's tides licked at the soft beach sand. The moon was halfway full tonight, making the sand and the trees a pale silver. There was a cold breeze coming from the ocean that rustled the leaves around them and made them flutter from the stiff tree branches above their heads.

Skolris could hear Nymos sigh beside her, and she turned her head to face him. His black fur was highlighted in silver, and his hauntingly dark blue eyes seemed to be fixed on something nobody else could see but him. She gazed at him, fondness glowing from every inch of her body. Nymos was by now, like a brother to her. They seemed so different yet so similar, and Skolris admired his cleverness yet secretive nature. He seemed to always have an idea when she didn't, and it was almost always correct. How far would we have made it on this journey without his help?

"We are so close. I mean.. to finding and defeating our enemy." Nymos said quietly. Skolris held her gaze as he continued to stare forward. "You think so?" She asked, her ears perking. Nymos nodded, his black fur swaying in the breeze. He turned towards Skolris, this time his eyes showing a bit more emotion then their usual guarded, glazed look.

Yet, he said nothing and turned his head away. His mouth halfway opened as if he wanted to say something, but then quickly closed it. Instead, he stood and shifted into his falcon form and flew into the tree house. Skolris was left staring longingly after him.

"Skolris!" Antariel whispered to her. Skolris turned towards Antariel, who's eyes were fixed to below her. She seemed to be unsure whether something was dangerous or not because she hopped from one foot to another and sometimes flapped her blue and black wings. Skolris turned her attentive gaze to where she was looking, her ears erect and posture rigid. What could it be?

She padded closer to Antariel and hid behind a bush while quickly turning into another blue bird and fluttering up onto the branch. Antariel pointed with her beak to where the quiet rustling of leaves could be heard. But when the source of the rattling stepped from behind a couple of large bushes and trees, Skolris was relieved to find out that they were just campers. The group carried tent supplies, a couple of lights, and other things like food.

Antariel turned towards Skolris with an amused smile,"I guess I was being a little too fearful." She whispered and turned towards the campers. They were now sitting on the beach, setting up food related things. After watching them for a few minutes, Skolris shrugged her shoulders and concluded, along with Antariel, that they were no threat.

Skolris left Antariel alone on the branch to watch the campers when she flew into the rugged tree house. Nymos was drawing a picture of something on a piece of scrap paper they had found. He looked up when she entered but then continued to draw on the paper.

The tree-house itself was very small. There was only enough room to fit the three of them when they sat down with maybe a foot's length in between. It was lit by a small lantern they had found at the foot of a tree in a campsite and the floor was very uncomfortable and rough. But, it would have to due for now.

After a while, Skolris decided that it would be a good time to get some sleep. So, she leaned against one small corner of the tree house and closed her eyes, but she snapped them open once she realized that she hadn't checked on Antariel yet. She stood with stiff legs and made her way to the door, but to her surprise, Antariel was nowhere in sight.

She looked around the areas where she could see from where she stood in the tree in human form without light, but could spot nothing. It was if Antariel was never there. She stuck her head back into the house and shook Nymos awake,"did Antariel go anywhere? She isn't outside." Nymos looked up at her with half open eyes,"Hhuuhh whhaa-" he muttered before burying his head back in his arms. Skolris dragged him onto his feet,"What?!" Nymos growled. Skolris glared at him,"Antariel is missing."

A/N: Ayyyyyyy! Sorry for the late Chapter! And I'm also sorry that this one isn't very exciting :p anyways, thanks for reading this book even though I haven't updated in so long!

-TheDragonShifter