Prologue
Ottilie giggled as she ran through the woods towards the lake, ducking and diving the thorny bushes and enormous branches. She paused suddenly as she realised all had gone quiet around her and grinned. She knew she could outrun them, she always had.
Pushing her dark curls out of her green eyes, she ran faster, reaching the lake in no time. She didn't know why but she'd always felt an enormous pull to this place. It was one of the only spots in these woods where the sun shone through the tree canopy, making it seem as if diamonds danced from the splashes of water created by the waterfall. It was magical and calming at the same time, plus behind the waterfall was a cave that had recently become her perfect hiding place.
She pulled some ivy to one side and crawled into the damp dark space. She could still see out relatively well here, although nobody could see in and she sat, waiting patiently for them to find her.
Soon enough, three young boys appeared, looking incredibly annoyed.
"Where did she go?" Said Jamie, looking around and sniffing the air around him, "I can smell her, she's definitely here somewhere."
Suddenly Harry, at least she thought it was Harry, looked straight up at her through the water. Instantly she shrunk back, trying to stay out of sight. 'Ouch!' she said loudly as her head hit the wall of the cave.
Harry grinned, 'come on, I think I've got an idea." The last one, Noah, followed his eyeliner and grinned too, 'ah yes, not such a good hiding spot was it little one!'
The three of them ran around the side of the lake, spotting the opening that Ottilie had just two weeks before. Climbing through the ivy and crawling into the cave just as she had done, they stopped for a second, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness.
"Arrrrrghhh!!!!' shouted Noah suddenly as Ottilie leapt on him, pinning him down and baring her fangs, "Gerrroooff me!'
Ottilie climbed off him giggling, "I don't know why you're ever surprised, you know I'm stronger than you!"
Noah huffed a bit and sat up as his brothers laughed, "Not true, you just took me by surprise is all."
"I don't know dude, Ottilie is pretty strong, not as strong as us of course, but definitely stronger than you," drawled Harry. Noah was the youngest out of the three of them, something which Harry and Jamie never let him forget.
Noah said nothing, but sensing how upset he was Ottilie reached for his hand and said softly, "Sorry Noah, it was meant to be a joke but I didn't mean to upset you, you know I love you really." She pulled him to her and hugged him gently and he wrapped his arms around her. "S'ok, I don't mind when you do it just not them," he replied, looking at his brothers with annoyance.
Jamie pulled Ottilie away impatiently, "enough of this soppy stuff, where are we?! How come you didn't tell us about this before?!"
Ottilie smiled at them, she loved how enthusiastic they were about literally everything she ever had to show them. 'I found it a few weeks ago when I was trying to hide from Tanya," her smile faltered slightly as the triplets looked angry. Tanya was her biggest tormentor in the pack, constantly putting her down and making her life a misery when nobody was looking. "Anyway," she added hastily, "I found this place and isn't it great! I don't know how far this tunnel goes back but it must go pretty far, we should come back with torches and stuff and explore it."
The three boys looked at her eagerly as she knew they would, they all loved adventures and had done since they were tiny children.
'Let's do it!" said Noah, the first to speak. "Tomorrow? After school?"
'Great idea," said Harry, "I'll bring snacks, Jamie you bring the torches, I bet you can persuade Dad to give you some."
Jamie nodded in agreement, "Sounds good, come on, it's nearly dinner time and if we're late again your mum will lose it Tills."
They all scrambled to their feet, climbing carefully out of the cave before racing back towards the packhouse.
As they got to the edge of the woods, Ottilie stopped, a sense of foreboding coming over her. She'd felt like this before when something bad was about to happen, but the bad things that happened were usually her being told off or for falling down - fairly inevitable given what she'd been getting up to beforehand. This time was different, a darkness surrounded her, choking her and making it impossible to breathe. The last thing she saw as she fell to the ground were the worried silver eyes of the triplets as they tried to catch her.