We walked our latest newbies, Hibiscus and Stampede, back to their campsite.

I turned to face them. ‘You guys did really really well today. Make sure you rest up now, and we’ll meet you back here in the morning.’

‘Thanks Tiber’, said Stampede. ‘We had so much fun!’

‘Not sure if fun is the way I’d put it,’ said Hibiscus, ‘but yes, thank you Tiber for keeping us safe today.’

‘My pleasure.’ I replied, turning and walking with Cal away from the campsite. I thought about the pair of them. Stampede was a natural born adventurer – except for those hooves of his. Pink and yellow, they were almost luminous. Maybe I’d bring some black polish over in the morning and show him how to cover them so that monsters wouldn’t pick him out even in the darkest room. And Hibiscus? I was pretty sure she was just here for Stampede. She almost matched Cal for terror, and she can’t have had much fun today. I sighed and shook my head. An issue for tomorrow.

Cal looked over at me and smiled. ‘Shall we head straight back?’

‘Nope’ I said. ‘You know the drill. We’ll head to the decoy camp, check nobody followed us, then we’ll head over to our camp.’ I was beginning to love that camp. It was nestled in the canopy of a massive tree, and the leaves blocked the worst weather and formed a cozy little bubble where Cal and I could rest.

‘Fine.’ Cal whined.

I yawned, which was cut off as I heard the sounds of hoofbeats nearby.

‘Sorry Cal, think we have a visitor again. Want to stay here while I deal with him?’

‘No,’ said Cal. ‘This has gone on long enough.’

I looked over at him. His face was determined, and I nodded. This had been a long time coming. We walked together over to the camp.

‘Hey Wulfe, how’s it going?’ I said casually as I strode towards him. I smirked as I saw the faint shimmer to his coat – the remnants of a glitter bomb I’d left for him a few days ago.

He greeted me with his usual snarl, before he spotted Cal and straightened up. ‘Brother.’

‘Wulfe.’ Callisto’s reply was the coldest I’d ever heard his voice. I glanced at him and saw that he’d pulled himself up to his full height – I always forget just how tall Cal really is.

There was an awkward silence, as we all waited for one of the others to speak. I was about to open my mouth when Cal beat me to it. ‘Wulfe, what are you doing here?’

I expected Wulfe to snarl as he normally did when asked a question, but instead he sighed and lowered his head. ‘I need it, Cal. Genuinely, I need it.’

Cal’s eyes narrowed. ‘You need what, Wulfe?’

Wulfe looked at me and said ‘I don’t feel comfortable talking about this in front of non-family.’

I don’t think I’d ever seen Callisto look truly menacing before – he drew himself up even taller, and I realised I’d been wrong before – Cal was actually taller than Wulfe. His eyes seemed to fill with molten lava, and when he spoke, his voice was so soft and quiet that it sent a chill down my spine.

‘I will say this exactly once, little brother. We are not family.’

Wulfe gulped and looked away, despite himself. ‘I just – never mind. You know the item I’m talking about, and I need it. I mean it Cal, dad’s sent the three us of out to retrieve it.’

Cal outwardly showed no change in expression, but I was stood next to him and so could feel when he stopped breathing. ‘They’re here?’  

Wulfe shook his head. ‘No. Bizarrely, all three of us have entirely different memories of where it is. Mae seems to be convinced that it’s in the Moor of Sleep, god only knows where Sable thinks it is, and I distinctly remember you taking it. I need it, Listo.’

Cal thought for a second and relaxed marginally. ‘I will tell you the truth, Wulfe. I don’t have it, never did.’

Wulfe’s face darkened as a scowl spread across it, marring his elegant features. ‘Fine.’ He hissed. ‘Don’t help me.’

Cal sighed. ‘Someday you’ll realise that I’m the only one who ever told you the truth, little Wulfe.’ Cal turned to me, sorrow in his eyes. ‘Come on Ti, let’s go.’

I followed him out of there, and we didn’t say a word while we took the long, winding route back to our camp, our home. We didn’t say a word the entire night, we just curled up against each other and took comfort in each other’s warmth.