It Started

Almost everybody woke up to the sweet smell of freshly cooked pancakes. Jasmine had woken up early to collect blueberries and blackberries for breakfast. She made blueberry pancakes with blackberry jam to top them.

After eating their dad said, "Thanks sweetie it was delicious."

Jasmine nodded and said, "Okay if everyone's done eating we can go to the big tree now."

Cole nodded, "I want to get there soon to see you-know-who. And before you ask, I'm not telling you who that is until we get there."

They headed down the ladder and out the door. They started walking and it took another three hours to get to the big tree. Before they went inside the gate all three kids stopped and signalled for their parents to stop as well.

Jasmine smiled, "okay Boys on the count of three. Ready?"

They nodded, "1 . . . 2 . . . 3"

When they got to three they all whistled as loud as they could. They waited for a few minutes before something ran up and tackled their parents to the ground. Their mom started screaming. Jasmine and Cole started laughing while Nathan chuckled.

"Jeez mom I didn't know you would freak out when you saw our dogs." Cole said after regaining his breath.

"Those aren't dogs," their mom said from the ground, "Those are beasts!"

Their dad decided to speak up, "How did you even find wolves in this part of the state?"

Cole just sighed, "It's a long story that we don't have time for. But just look how cool they are!"

Jasmine's companion, Eclipse, was black with flecks of silver and electric blue eyes. Cole's buddy, Titan, was white with a silver stripe down his back, and forest green eyes. And last but not least Dawn, Nathan's partner, she had silver fur with a black stripe down her back, and chocolate brown eyes.

"They're all very pretty, aren't they," exclaimed their dad.

"I guess they're pretty cute." their mom responded.

Just as she said that a little howl was heard from their left. They all looked and saw two adorable wolf pups. The pups bounded toward us and howled happily.

Nathan squealed and hugged Dawn, "Dawn! You finally had the puppies!"

One of the puppies was a dark shade of gray and had flecks of black with light gray eyes. The other was white with silver flecks and brown eyes. Their mom's eyes lit up at the sight of the pups.

"They're so cute!" She squealed and scooped up the white one.

"Yeah they are," their dad said, picking up the gray one.

Jasmine smiled, "So do you guys want to name them?"

Nathan chimed up, "You can even take care of them if you want!"

Their mom decided first, "I'm gonna name her Cloud!"

Their dad responded more calmly, "I think I'm gonna call him Echo."

After everyone got acquainted with the dogs they went to the gate. Although this time Cole opened it. Once they walked in, they looked around. To their left was a medium sized building that Nathan said was the generator room. To their right was a slightly smaller room that Cole said was the pump house. Directly in front of them was a huge tree, with a door built into it.

"How tall do you think that tree is?" Their dad asked, looking up to the leaves of the ginormous tree.

Jasmine looked up at the gigantic tree in front of her, "I'd say about 350 feet." Then she added, "But that's just an estimation."

Their dad mumbled a quiet "dang," before they proceeded into the tree. They found a spiraling staircase leading up and a ladder going down. Jasmine started up the stairs with the twins following. At the top of the stairs was a living room type area, with two hallways coming off of it. There was a door in the back of the room.

"Okay so this is the main room. The hallway to the left leads to the bedrooms. The hallway to the right leads to the 'extracurricular activity' rooms. And the lone door in the back of the room is the kitchen," Jasmine explained, "Boys show them their room while I make lunch."

Jasmine made a quick stew out of deer jerky, potatoes, and chicken broth. When it was done she called to the rest of her family. They quickly arrived and ate most of the stew. Giving the leftovers to the dogs, Cole then left to make sure the dog's water dishes were full.

"Does this place have a bathroom," their dad asked.

Jasmine nodded and motioned for him to follow her. When she came back there was no one in the kitchen so she went to her room to clean the sheets on both her bed and Eclipse's. She pulled the sheets off of her bed and the blanket out of Eclipse's bed hole. In each room, excluding the room occupied by their parents, there was a medium sized hollow in the floor. That was where the dogs slept, they even had their own blankets. Jasmine collected the sheets and blankets from all the other rooms and headed for the laundry room. She stopped and knocked on her parent's door.

"Mom?" she called out, "Do you want to learn how to work the washing machine?"

The door opened and her mom walked out saying sure.