Bed n' Breakfast

Bare moments away from nightfall, the group of friends found themselves stranded on the shore of the lake scared, beaten, and hungry.

Let's not forget worried,

and, scared again.

The three of them were NOT outside people, and this endeavor certainly reinforced their desire to not become such.

Since meeting Ailrees they discovered a whole new world existed beyond what they could see, but deep inside, they feared the probability of actually getting to discover said world and getting to know the fairy was not promising... like mentioned, it was a fricking whole new world and they didn't know how to deal with it. Would you?!

Of course, the fox's rhyme "wolves cruel, gremlins, goblins and ghouls" echoing in their heads was not helpful.

Wolves were bad enough, but GHOULS?!

"Are we fooking gonna die tonight?"

Nikla wondered behind an expression of indifference, but I ascertain you, they all wondered the same thing. The difference was that they cared to see another dawning of day, and the punk, well, he did not.

Don't get him wrong, though, 'twas not like he was sad or suicidal... actually, 'twas quite the opposite. Nikla was one happy motherfucker, and I mean truly happy. Nothing could ruin his mood, not even seeing someone die. Not even his own death. He was content with his life, and if it were to end, what can I say, he had a hell of a good run - that is, in his opinion, of course, other people looking in would say his life was a shit show... -.

- You guys stay here. I'll go first and check if the lodge really is safe. – Caleb volunteered, breaking the silence amongst them.

The twins liked the idea, and as scared as they were of the forest, still, they weren't exactly thrilled to get in the cold, unknown water - specially Valory, who was afraid of bodies of water that weren't a bathtub -. So, the young man carefully put Ailrees down and went for it. There wasn't time to overthink it, anyhow.

Halfway there, distant howls traveled through the air, and he heard the blonde shout to him an anxious

"Hurry up!",

as if he wasn't going as fast as he could already, swimming through ludicrous cold water in thick, heavy, and very absorbent clothing!

Have you ever worn biker protective gear? Let's say it's NOT thought for one to swim in!

The blonde got no sassy reply from the biker boy though, his breath was better spent stroking. But I can't say it didn't cross his mind...

Once near, suddenly, Caleb hit something face first.

He stopped to rub his head and when the young man looked up, he was astonished

– and a bit stunned, too, heads aren't meant to be banged against stone, you know... –

because he had just hit his head on a freaking rock-hard, stone foundation of an actual lodge that appeared out of nowhere.

"What the hell?" he voiced,

"This thing's bigger than my flat!"

Surprise, surprise!

The beaver lodge was an illusion, likely to deter humans, and the reason it broke off so he could see and touch it at all was due to the fairy's imprint on him. His friends, however, were too far away for it to happen, so as far they knew, Caleb halt still for no good reason.

- What are you doing, man?!

Hurry the fook up! – the twins shouted wondering why the heck was he staring at the sky.

- ... I'm trying to. - Caleb muttered to himself.

He swam around the building searching for a way in but didn't find any.

There were many windows, yet oddly, no doors, porch nor dock, and all the windows were shut from the inside. He attempted to climb to the balcony on the second floor where there was a door he could try to force, however, the walls were too covered in moss, especially at his arm's reach, for him to get a decent grip.

He failed and fell a couple of times until he remembered, that on a proper beaver lodge, the entrance would cleverly be underwater.

So, he dived, and lo and behold,

he found a way in.

Caleb entered the wide cave into what appeared to be the basement and was met by two tall elf-looking men who unhesitatingly sprung on him.

They brought him to the ground and after some struggle, bruises, and black eyes, they managed to overpower him. If you thought Caleb was going to go down without a fight, you clearly don't know him...

- Who are you? Why are you here? – the black-haired one inquired.

- You could have taken me to dinner first... –

Caleb replied with wittiness

– ...especially if you wanted to get so handsy. –

he continued.

- What? – both asked in confusion, then demanded while pressing him harder

– Answer us, human! –

- Alright, alright! Jeez! No need to get mad. – he abided –

So, I'm Caleb.

A pleasure meeting you, guys.

Truly Dee-lightful. –

he answered, sarcastically – And, ehm...

I'm here because a freaking fox said it'd be safe. To be fair, I don't really know what its definition of safe is, so... either you two are the lesser evil, or it just wanted me dead. –

- You talked to a fox? A human? – the brown-haired one asked in disbelief.

- Yeah, it was wild, man. You should have been there! – Caleb mocked, kind of bitter from being held down by them.

- 'Tis not possible. How? –

- Apparently, I've been spending some time with this fairy and her magic rubbed off on me. Crazy, right? – Caleb told, but still in a cynical tone.

When they heard what he said, they immediately let loose of him and stood up.

- A fairy?

But they are all gone! – surprised, they asked in unison.

- All but one, it seems. – Caleb said getting up from the floor,

then brushing his knees and cracking his joints, he asked

– What?

You elves fond of fairies or something? –

- We're not elves. – the black-haired one hastily corrected him

– We're shapeshifters! – the brown-haired one stated.

- Look like elves to me... - Caleb murmured unimpressed.

Meanwhile, on the shore, the group started to worry, Caleb had been gone too long since he dived. Nick was about to go after him when came out of the water two talking beavers offering to take them to the lodge. Valory was quite skeptical of the unexpected goodwill of the critters until they mentioned Caleb and she figured beavers couldn't be as bad as wolves, so they went along. The duo carried the girls, however, Nick had to swim on his own and honestly, he was glad he didn't have to carry his sister, given she tended to be a bit bossy, when afraid all the more.

Once at the lodge, the shapeshifters introduced themselves and were very welcoming to the group, providing them with dry clothes, a warm meal, and a place to rest. As the night went on, Connor and Jack loaded the little fairy with questions about what happened to her that led to that moment. They were also very curious about how she had become friends with humans but didn't mean to pry.

One question answered the other in the end.

Not long after, Ailrees already felt slightly better. Before the night was gone, she was able to stand on her own and walk a few steps, although Caleb made sure she wouldn't strain herself, nagging her to rest fully and shamelessly being protective to the brink of annoyance.

He cared and she appreciated it - without telling -,

even if he was a stranger, having someone so zealous and caring around sure helped ease the pain.

There, safe, fed, and surrounded by friendly faces,

it wasn't home

but was a start.