Mini Series

TRAVIS - Chapter 3

~ Travis – Chapter Three ~

     Pushing the thick branches out of my way and tilting my head just enough to catch their scent, I kept moving forward through the darkness. With Emily, Teagan and Eva deciding to have a girl’s night watching movies and talking about whatever it is they will talk about tonight, I had the perfect opportunity to leave without Emily being onto me.

A twig snapped to my right and I sniffed the air again, shaking my head a little with disbelief, “Chris,” I muttered softly, so as not to disturb the sleeping animals around us.

We all knew he was a fighter wolf, born and raised as one, but even still, his abilities surprise me. I did not even hear him sneak around and come up to the side of me until that twig snapped. I did not even smell him approaching me, if I had been his enemy, it would have been too late by the time I had noticed.

He chuckled softly, the deep sound echoing gently through the still of the night and then he emerged forward from the darker shadows of the tall trees around him, “Took you long enough.”

Giving him a flat look, I shook my head again and motioned towards Grant. Chris nodded and we walked the last few minutes in relative silence, all that was heard were the sounds of our feet crushing dead leaves on the bush floor and snapping small twigs.

Grant turned and looked our way as we stepped into his line of sight, he smiled widely, “Hey big brother.”

“Hi Grant,” I mumbled and grinned back at him. Leaning against the smooth trunk of a Gum tree, I looked from Chris to my brother, “Anything?” I raised an eyebrow, waiting for the news.

Grant looked to Chris, his face serious and my gut dropped. You know that look people have when they are about to deliver some bad news? Yeah, that’s the look on both their faces right now.

“You tell him,” Grant mumbled and looked off into the distance.

My head snapped to Chris’s direction and I watched as he sighed heavily, making the sinking feeling in my stomach even heavier, “Just tell me,” I urged, just wanting him to spit it out already.

“Travis,” Chris sighed, his eyes on the ground and I frowned slightly, “Tala is actually a mutant alien,” he raised his head, staring at me seriously as he spoke in that grave voice.

Off to the side of me, Grant bit into his clenched fist, holding back sobs and I glared at the pair of them, “You’re both freaking idiots!” I snapped, causing a few nearby nesting birds to flap off into the darkness. Chris broke out into a massive grin, chuckling quietly as Grant bent over, holding his stomach from his laughing fit.

“You should have seen your face though,” Chris snickered loudly and I pushed him roughly in the shoulder, causing him to stumble back a few steps, all the while with that stupid smug grin on his face still.

“I hate you both,” I grunted, kicking dirt, small rocks and leaves in Grant’s direction who was wiping tears away from his eyes, “It wasn’t even that funny, stop it now,” I huffed.

Grant leaned on his knees as he looked at me, his entire body shaking from laughter, “Dude, it was his idea. I would never say something so horrible about my favourite niece.”

“Pigs butt it was, you’re such a filthy liar,” Chris protested, shoving Grant roughly and almost knocking him over.

Grant laughed harder, “Alright, alright, it was my idea.”

Growling lowly at him, “I wasn’t stupid enough to believe it was Chris’s in the first place.”

Chris sobered up and clapped his hands once together loudly, “Okay, so down to business. Vance is right – as much as I hate to admit that fact, but he is. There are scents all around our borders, even cutting through the lands, scents we don’t know.”