Tao let put a sigh as he poured the cold water over his head and finished his training. The cold water running down his body and the droplets dripping from his hair made his head cool down and body relax.

He had been making his training more intense lately. He had to maintain focus if he wasn’t going to disappoint his teacher, who would visit him the next week to see how he was doing, and besides that; it helped him to take his mind of things that bothered him.

Tao headed towards the house again. He had gotten up early this morning, and now he was hungry. He knew it was foolish of him to start training without eating anything first, and his mother would probably scold him for it, but he had simply just lost his appetite without any specific reason.

He placed his hand on the door handle and twisted it around when he heard voices calling for him. They weren’t familiar voices, but strangers calling for him to stop.

He looked up and looked for the source of the calls. It was three strangers coming towards him from the road. They looked like they were in a hurry, but he couldn’t see or hear anyone chasing them.

That’s odd…” He mumbled for himself and turned around, waiting for them to reach him. It wasn’t common for strangers to just pop up out of the blue at this time of the day when most people were still in their bed and the sun and barely risen.

“Who are you?” He asked as he let go of the door and took a few steps towards them. “And what are you doing here?”

“We’re travelers.” The tallest one of them said with a deep voice. “And we need help.”

“Why? Is someone chasing you or something?”” Tao asked and slightly raised on of his eyebrows in a question. He weren’t too fond of strangers. They either brought peace with them and left soon after they arrived, or ended up causing trouble until they just suddenly disappeared.

“No, nothing like that.” The one with the deep voice said. “It’s about a friend of ours that we’re traveling with. She’s been bitten by an Atrax-spider, and we need an antidote before she dies from the venom.”

“There should be some in the village. A friend of mine got bitten last summer, there should be some left of it.” Tao said and looked at the three persons in front of him. They all seemed really worried and stressed, not to mention exhausted, but at the mentioning of the antidote, they seemed to be by a little relief.

“I can take you to the healer if you want to.” Tao said and looked at all of them.

They all nodded and gave him a little smile, except for one who looked at him with a blank face and slightly narrowed eyes. Tao was about to ask if there was something wrong, but the black-haired boys turned his eyes to his friend instead and Tao decided to let it slide.

“Just give me one minute and I’ll lead you there.” He said before he turned around and entered the house after receiving a short nod from the strangers.

“Kai, is anything wrong?” Sehun asked, he had noticed the way Kai had looked at the boy.

“I know him.” Kai said as he looked towards the door.

“You know him? How?” Sehun asked confused and that made Chanyeol interested in the conversation too. The two boys looked at Kai and waited for an answer. Kai looked at the door and just before Chanyeol were going to ask him again, Kai turned his eye to them and spoke.

“I’ve seen him before.” He said and looked at them. The two boys looked at each other to see if the other understood anything more, then they looked back at Kai and gestured for him to continue. “He is Avrys brother.”

“What? How did you- He doesn’t know you right?” Sehun exclaimed in shock.

“No.” Kai shook his head. “He’s only seen me as a wolf.”

“That’s good.” Chanyeol said and got the boys’ attention. “Bu just to be on the safe side; no more talking about Avry from now on. No mentioning of her name, whereabouts or anything. You get it? We get the antidote and leave before anyone suspects anything. There might still be someone left who knows about us, and you know we can’t let them recognize us.”

The boys nodded, just in time as Tao opened the door and walked out. He gave them a short nod and started to walk towards the main road.

They walked to the village in silence. Tao walked a few steps ahead of them, while the boys tried not to attract too much attention, something that proved to be difficult enough.

The villagers had started to wake up. Some of them were outside and had started their daily chores, while others were meeting up with friends or looking out the window with a sleepy face. What they all had in common was that they turned their heads to look at the three strangers as they walked by; giving them just the attention, they didn’t want.

“We’re here.” Tao said as he stopped in front of the wooden door to a large house. There was smoke coming out of the chimney and the dull light from the windows indicated that someone was inside.

“Thank you for helping us.” Chanyeol said and gave Tao a weak smile as he knocked on the door.

“Don’t mention it. If you want to, I can wait here for you and then I can show you a place where you could get a drink and something to eat, maybe a bit rest too. Don’t take it the wrong way, but it looks like you all need it.” Tao said as the door opened.

“Thanks.” Sehun quickly said. “I feel like I could eat a horse.”

Tao nodded and the three of them entered. Tao sat down on the stairs outside and waited patiently. He couldn't understand why he were helping them so much. Just taking them to the doctor was fine, but now he had offered to wait for them and to show them around a little. It just wasn’t like him. Usually he was cold towards strangers. You had scolded him for it many times, but he would just laugh and ruffle your hair and tell you not to worry.

It must be because of Suho... He thought. Yes. Definitely because of him.

Tao could still remember how terrible he felt when Suho was bitten the summer before. He laid in bed the entire day, boiling up on the inside and looking halfway dead on the outside. When he was conscious enough to talk to them, he had a weak voice and sounded like he had just ran a hundred miles. Sometimes he would just be looking like he was sleeping, before he started to pant, grunt and twist in pain. It was terrible, and he didn’t want to bestow a suffering like that upon anyone else.

Inside the house, the doctor was looking for the antidote. He knew it was a valuable medicine, so he had stored it away for next time someone would need it. It was a powerful antidote, and one of those that worked just as fine ten years after it was made as the day it was first ready for use. The only negative thing was that some of the ingredients’ where hard to find.

“This is all I have left.” The middle-aged man said as he turned towards the three awaiting boys. “It’s not much, but it should be enough for one person.”

“Thank you. That is exactly what we need.” Kai smiled gently as he accepted the bottle. Chanyeol, who was in charge of the money, paid the man and after thanking him multiple times, they opened the door to leave and almost stumbled over Tao when they found him sitting on the stairs.

“Do you have everything you need?” Tao asked and sent the doctor a polite smile before he closed the door.

“Yes. We have just enough to cure her.” Kai said with a relieved smile.

“Her? Is it a girlfriend or something? A sister?” Tao asked out of curiosity as they started to walk.

“She’s close to all of us.” Chanyeol said before the others could reply. He didn’t want to spill too many details, especially not to Tao. Who would like to know that their beloved sister, who everyone thinks is dead, turns out to be alive, but poisoned with a poison that causes huge pains and almost a living torture while killing you slowly?

Tao didn’t ask for further details, just nodded and opened the door to the building in front of them. They walked in and Tao led them to one of the unoccupied tables. Even though it was still early in the morning there were many people there.

“Just sit down and make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.” Tao said before he walked away from the table to look for one of his friends. Kai, Chanyeol and Sehun sat down and looked at some of the other people in the room while mumbling quietly amongst themselves.

“Luhan!” Tao called when he saw him.

“Tao?” A blond head popped up from behind the counter. “What are you doing here so early?”

“I’m helping some strangers.” Tao said as he leaned against the counter.

“You helping strangers? Well that’s new.” Luhan said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“They needed the leftovers of the antidote we gave Suho last summer. Remember the spider bite?”

Luhan shuddered a little at the mentioning of it and nodded his head while putting a plate of food and two glasses on the counter. “Bad memories.” He mumbled while walking around the counter. “Did they get it?”

“Yeah.” Tao said and looked at Luhan as he took the plate and glasses and walked over to a table with them. After placing them neatly on the table and flashing a smile at the two sleepy faces, he came back and walked around the counter again.

“I took them to the doctor, waited for them outside, and then took them here.” He continued. “Could you fix up something to eat and to drink for three persons?”

“Of course.” Luhan nodded and disappeared into the kitchen while calling, “I’ll have it ready in five minutes.”

Tao turned around and walked back to the table. He watched how they stopped mumbling when he approached. Something about the three of them just seemed off, and he could honestly say that it gave him the chills.

“The food will be ready in a few minutes. I hope it is okay with something simple.” Tao said as he sat down on the empty chair, leaned back and crossed his arms.

“Sounds perfect.” Chanyeol said with a nod as he looked at Tao.

“Where are you from?” Tao asked, he was curious, but also wanted to avoid an awkward silence like the one they had shared on the way from his home to the village.

“We’re travelers. We don’t really come from anywhere, but travel around all the time.” Sehun said the answer they had agreed to use if anyone asked.

“Interesting.” Tao said with a nod. “Are you traveling from destination to destination, or do you just wander around without any particular destination and just stop wherever you feel like?”

“I’d say we’re somewhere in-between.” Chanyeol answered. “Sometimes we pick out destinations, but mostly we just travel around without any specific plans.”

“Hey guys!” A happy voice sounded from a few feet away from them.

Their heads turned and caught sight of a blond boy coming towards them with three plates balanced on one arm and a small tray in his other hand with three glasses and a mug on it. He elegantly placed the plates, glasses and the mug on the table in front of the hungry boys before he stood beside Taos chair and looked at them.

“I’m Luhan. I can’t remember seeing your faces in here before.” He said and studied each of their faces after turn.

“That’s probably because it’s the first time we’ve been here.” Sehun said with a little smile as he took a sip of his glass. “I’m Sehun. That’s Kai and that’s Chanyeol.” He introduced them and pointed at his friend as he said their names. Luhan nodded to what he said.

“Tao told me you’re here because you needed an antidote. Is it a friend of yours that need it?” Luhan asked while grabbing an empty chair. He sat down backwards on it and leaned his arms on the back of the chair while waiting for an answer.

“Yeah you could say that.” Kai said and took another hungry bite of his food.

“I see.” Luhan said and nodded slowly and quickly looked over at Tao who seemed to be more interested in what happened outside the window, than the conversation right in front of him. “A friend of us used the other half of it last summer. Nasty stuff. We thought he was going to die before the antidote started working three days after he took it. But he’s still alive and you can’t even see any traces of the near-death experience he had.”

“And thank God for that.” A new voice said from somewhere behind them. A black haired boy came towards them with a yawn. He grabbed a chair and sat down between Kai and Luhan. “Believe me, it’s a living nightmare. You don’t want to go through with it.”

“Morning Suho.” Luhan said happily while the newcomer gave him a nod.

“You should give that person the antidote as quickly as you can. Even though it can take up to one to three weeks before you’re cured it helps a lot on the pain.” Suho said as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “However, this person should survive as long as you just give him or her the antidote before it’s spread too much.”

“I just hope Avry is fine when we get back…” Sehun mumbled while stuffing the last piece of food in his mouth.

Taos head snapped towards them at the mentioning of his sisters name. Luhan too chocked on the water he was drinking and coughed a little before looking up at the confused faces in front of him.

“Avry?” Tao asked. “Is she the one who is poisoned?”

Chanyeol let out a sigh and nodded his head. There was no point in trying to hide her name any longer. Sehun mumbled too loudly and trying to confuse the name with a similar one would be too difficult to accomplish in a few seconds.

“Where is she? Is she far away from here?” Tao kept asking questions. The chances for that the Avry they were talking about was his younger sister were small, but they were still there.

“Tao, calm down.” Suho said calmly and placed an arm on his shoulder. “It’s probably not the same person.”

“How do you know that?” Tao asked with a hint of annoyance.

“He’s got a point. It could be her.” Luhan supported Tao.

“Is there anything going on here that we should know about?” Kai asked with a surprisingly good act of confusion.

“Taos younger sister disappeared in the forest after being confronted several times by an abnormally large black wolf. We didn’t believe it at first until it showed up after Taos older sisters’ wedding. We haven’t heard or seen anything from her since.” Suho explained while looking over at Tao and Luhan who both looked down at the floor. “Some of us have a harder time to get over it and accept the fact that she’s gone.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your sister.” Chanyeol said, as he looked at Tao, who raised his head just enough to meek the deep voiced man’s eyes. “But I’m afraid that we’re talking about different persons. The Avry we came to get the antidote for is not the Avry you’re searching for.”

“How can you be so sure about that?” Tao asked. His voice was sad, but he still carried some hope for finding his lost sister.

“Because she’s my friends sister.” Chanyeol answered calmly without hesitation. “He stayed to take care of her until we get back with the antidote.”

He hated lie about something like that and to see the hope fade from the boys’ eyes, but he had to. It was the only way to make them stop asking questions about you.

“I’m sorry to bother you with my silly questions then.” Tao said and stood up from the chair. All their eyes were on him. “I have to get back to the farm and help my father. I hope she gets better.”

With that, he turned around and walked out. Luhan opened his mouth to call after him when they heard a loud call from the kitchen and Luhan winced at the sound of his name before he stood up and pushed the chair back to the table it belonged to.

“Sorry, I’ve got a job to do. It was nice meeting you. Feel free to stop by any time you feel like it.” Luhan said as he gave them a smile and walked back towards the counter and his angry mother.

“I guess you guys better get going so you can deliver the antidote to your friend.” Suho said as he stood up as well and placed the chair back to its table next to the one Luhan had used. “So I won’t be holding you back. Good luck, and hopefully we’ll meet again.”

The three of them smiled back at Suho, walked out with him before they said goodbye, and headed for the road back. They walked fast, all of them feeling eager to change into their wolf form so that they could run faster and get back to the den.

* * * * *

And there it is. I planned to make their stay in the village longer, but then I had no ideas of what could happen. But don't worry; this isn't the last chapter about them. They will be coming back in not too long I think. And then there will probably be some drama, heheh.

Thanks for the lovely comments, subsribes and upotes! Keep them coming ~

Love you all ~