Dess squeals her car into the drive, the smell of burning rubber tires following, and shuts the ignition off. She forgets her backpack and dirty work clothes in the trunk. She races into the house realizing that the door was left unlocked. Fearing it was the hobgoblin that slipped away last week, Dess snatches her backup bow and quiver from behind the closet door and checks the living room before making her way to her mothers bedroom on the left. She clears the room and continues down the very small hallway, clearing her room, her sons room, and even the bathroom. Exiting the hallway she walks into the kitchen and checks the utilities room, only to find every corner and closet throughout the home vacant.

   "Ma?" she calls out into the quiet house.

   Refusing to lower the bow, she stands back in the kitchen trying to think of what happened. She retraces her steps and scans every window and door, finally coming to the conclusion that there wasn't any sign of a struggle. No table nor chair was knocked over and all locks remained intact. Back by the fridge, her peripherals catch something out of the window that looks into the back of the property. 

   Opening up the back screen door, she walks out into her garden and puts her bow on her back and the arrow (that's currently laced with poison) into its' quiver. Walking through the small open valley that leads to the forest, she notices her mom kneeling in the grass, gazing at the treeline that lies ahead of them. 

"Mom? What's going on?"

   Because something is off. A woman with severe depression who hasn't left the house in at least six months (and that's only because Dess and Baekhyun dragged her out to a family dinner) doesn't just step out into the world on a whim. 

"Don't you feel it Iridessa? Something's wrong." she says softly, her stare never leaving the forest. 

   It wasn't until then that she took a step back and just let her senses...feel.

   And her mother was right.

   Something is definitely wrong.

   Weirdly enough, she didn't feel it as an emergency. It felt more like a foreboding threat than a natural illness or disaster. Her skin tingled as she took another step in. She begins to worry and turns her head to her mother.

"Go inside." Dess whispers.

"What?"

"Go. In. Side." she says a little bit louder, taking the bow off her back.

   Surprisingly enough, she listens and carefully rises up from the grass. She looks back at her daughter once more before slowly walking back into their home. Dess pulls out her poison-laced arrow once more and arches the bow. Taking in a very deep breath, she walks into the forest.

   At first everything seemed normal, a little dry, but normal. Grass was still healthy, trees were still standing tall, and she could sense hummingbirds in the distance. She continues walking in a straight path, well-hidden from any humans, and she could feel that same eerie sensation growing stronger. To her it feels like the haunting music that builds up in a horror movie when a jump scare is about to happen. However she comes to a stop once she notices something, or a lack thereof really.

   There are no ground animals.

   Dess lowers her bow out of confusion and glances around herself. She can't feel any squirrels, deer, rabbits, toads, or even bugs who bury in trees and soil. Fearing that it's another creature terrorizing her land, she puts her arrow back in her quiver and pulls out her phone. Quickly dialing, she presses the cell to her ear. It answers on the first ring.

"What the hell do you want?" the alpha snarls into the phone.

"Kris I need you here. Now."

"Why." he practically barks, and it's a wonder how he can ask a question and have it sound like a command.

"I'm in my forest and I don't think I'm alone. Something's wrong."

". Don't move."

"Bring the pack with you. Don't call Suho, he still has my boys." Dess says quickly before he hangs up.

   Dess puts the phone back into her pocket and pulls out her arrow again. Looking back of where she came, she contemplated whether she should wait for them or keep going ahead. Frightened that if it is some out-of-the-ordinary creature, she rather track it down herself than let it get out into the town.

   She marches on for maybe two more minutes before she comes to a full stop. She crouches behind a thicket of bushes and trees, trying to peer through the plants. Maybe thirty feet or so in front of her is a young doe laying on its' side. Dess tries to reach out with her senses but nothing catches her attention back. Strangely enough, an animal that is that close to her should have heard and ran away. Standing up slowly with curiosity getting the best of her, she walks over to the backside of the deer. Still, she senses nothing. Doubting herself, she opens her mind and senses again to try and get a reading of any kind.

"Am I losing it? Am I just not experienced enough?" she speaks out into the calm stagnant air.

   Iridessa has had her abilities for years. Yet, she is aware that her mother's senses are stronger and more defined. Iridessa's mom was trained by the elders before they passed, and after going through her pregnancy with Dessa she nearly gave up all uses of her gifts. She never trained her daughter, but was open to discussing the supernatural with her. Quite often when they are dealing with an extraordinary issue that shouldn't be brought to the public, Iridessa can be found asking for her advice and knowledge. She feels frustration sometimes when her gifts aren't precise and has always blamed her mother for it. Her physical abilities and strength is what makes up for the lack. She would never put her mother in the front lines of a battle, instead she would rather have her mother as an advisor. Dessa knows she is capable of battle and that's how the mother and daughter balance each other out. Conclusively, she has to come to the unbiased decision that the issue could be related to her absence of expertise. 

   Dess hears movement and she tenses up and draws back the string of her bow. She widens her senses over a greater distance and realizes it's the pack who just reached her house. She sighs and puts the arrow away and the bow on her back. She walks toward the front of the deer and her head to the side.

   She can usually sense sudden death in a plant or animal, unfortunately to her it feels like a cold fog of depression that slowly wafts and drifts away, however she couldn't feel anything at all. No life, no death. Just that threatning bone shivering feeling that still hasn't escaped her since she has stood next to the treeline of her forest, and she has deduced that it is not coming from this animal.

   This animal is neither alive nor dead.

   Most people and their cultures believe that death is the end of the road. It's portrayed as such in literature, history, and even media. Every dryad knows that it's false. You 'die', you decompose, you feed the earth, and then you regrow. Each species of dryad can sense all of those phases, and that's what death just is, a phase. It's the only thing about death that feels nurturing and beautifully bittersweet to her.

   It's bizarre to come across something like this, something she has never even heard of. She kneels down in front of the animal and gasps when she gets a better look of the poor creatures face. Dess still feels nothing as she notices the eyes of the deer are way more diluted than they should be. A blackish purple substance coats the harshly swollen tongue and she knows better than to touch it. 

"I need a vial." she says into the open crisp air, knowing that her sentence was heard.

   Less than a second later, her wolf senses are on overload (which she will never get over the feeling) and she looks back to see eleven beautiful wolves before her. Each of them are on alert with their ears perked and their snouts up and it almost represents a hidden expression of pride and duty. Her alpha steps forward and she shoots her hand up, almost in a gesture of surrender.

"Don't touch anything. It's poisonous. I don't know what has all been infected." Dess says quickly.

"You're the tree hugger, what type of poison is it?" one of them said and she's pretty sure it was Baekhyun.

"Why would I ask for a vial if I knew what kind it was?" Dess retorted.

"I'll go grab one, I'm guessing it's in that hazardous shed you have back by the garden." Luhan adds before he disappears at the speed of light. 

"I called Suho, he said to let him know if everything is okay and that to inform you that the boys are fine and it wouldn't be a burden if they need to stay the night." Kris says slowly.

"It's not that I don't trust Joon," she says while kneeling back in front of the deer, "I do, but if something is here I'm going to keep my sons at my side during the night. It's a mother's instinct."

"I understand." he answers, and for once in the past week, the both of them agree on something.

"But what if something happens? Whatever it is might be looking for us, you don't want your kids in danger, do you?" Chen interrupts.

   The rest of the wolf pack stares at him as if he committed a sin in front of a pastor. Dess raises her eyebrows at him and he immediately shuts up. For five seconds nobody says anything, expecting Dess to freak out since her and Kris have been arguing for the past week and she's been in a sulky mood.

"Dude, don't ever tell a mother what to do when it comes to their parenting." Kyungsoo adds softly.

"He's right. Jongdae, I wouldn't have made the decision to bring children of mine into this world if I didn't think I was capable of protecting them." Dess answered evenly, trying to express that she wasn't angry. 

   At the same time Luhan came back and handed her the crystal vial. She noticed that he snatched one of the medium sized ones and that he also brought out a q-tip.

"Your mother was wanting to know what's going on. I told her everything's okay." he says.

   Dess crouches down closer to the doe and swabs the sticky substance that was found on it's tongue. Weirdly, all of the inky liquid latched itself to the q-tip like it was alive. She swears that Sehun jumped three feet back when it happened.

"I don't think everything's okay." Dess mutters.

   Even after the substance is off the animal she notices that the tongue is still harshly swollen. While she's placing the swab and the rest of the contents into the vial she fears that there is most likely some sort of being causing this. Dess slips the crystal tube into her back pocket and decides to head on deeper into the forest. She arches her bow and Kris joins at her side with the rest of the pack behind them. She slips glances towards her alpha but only sees a focused expression. Looking back in front of her, Dess tries to catch any sign of animals that burrow in the forrest floor as she hears snouts sniffing around her.

   That horrible feeling gets closer to the point where it gives her anxiety. Everyone in the pack hears her pattering heart as she tries to remain alert. Dess doesn't like to feel vulnerable or weaker than anyone in the pack but she knows that a pack works as one and communication with vitals is essential with the kind of trouble that finds them. Most of the wolves stare from behind her and she can feeling the burning holes in the back of her head. She shoves the anxiety down and tightens her grip on her poison laced bow and arrow. 

   A few more steps along the way she soon becomes frustrated and decides to jog ahead in front of them. She knows that it was a cover to give off some adrenaline but it was just what she needed. Dess runs head on into fight or flight situations, similar to the tree that ties her spirit, it's drilled into her head to take roots and stay strong. Storms are just phases, just like problems.

"Oh my god." she says, stopping numerous feet ahead of the pack. 

   Dess feels a familiar tingly sensation on her scalp and her eyes burning. Her wolves catch up to her just in time to see her hair color change to black and her eyes to gray. Her skin gains a pallor tone and she feels extremely light headed. 

 There was just black. Black everywhere.

   Kris transforms back and holds her by her shoulders in less than three seconds. She lets her weight lean on him as she gapes at the environment around her. At least ten different species of animals were laying in a paused state across the forest floor. The same black inky tar covered just about everything in sight. The trees, the grass, the animals; it seemed as if an explosion went off and it started to endanger Iridessa's health.

"We need to get her out of here." Kris growls, staring down the treeline.

"I'm the fastest." volunteers Tao.

"I need more samples." she mumbles as her head lolls forward.

"I'll do that." Xiumin adds.

   By the time Dess could warn them about touching anything Kris slung her body across the back of Tao's wolf form. He gently remained still as she fixed herself upright, clinging onto the soft fur covering the back of his neck. The alpha lightly carresses her arm before the wolf takes her off, out of the hazardous woods.

"This is going to be really bad, isn't it?" Kai worries.

~~~

"Thanks Tao."

"Hey you know it's not a big deal." he shrugs.

   As soon as he reached the outer perimeter of the Kwon's yard and Dess was strong enough to get off, she took out the vial and went straight to her little shed. Curiously, Tao transformed back into his regular self and followed.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"I need to figure out what this is and you need to put your clothes back on."

"You're a dryad and you don't know?"

   She quickly shakes her head and he gulps and steps away from the questionable substance.

"I admit there's something familiar about it, but no, most of this is not nature related. I couldn't even hear the tree spirits." she frowned.

   The boy puts a hand on her shoulder, realizing how scared she is. Tao knows that Dess is a mother through and through, therefore she doesn't like to show her fear or her pain, but his wolf lets him know. Even worse, Tao is also aware that Dess is a hamadryad.

   Hamadryads are entities that are bonded to a certain tree when born; if the tree dies then Dess dies. Iridessa has explained to the pack before that going to her tree is like going home, she could spend days sitting against it and letting her true natural form flow out.

   There are eight different kinds of hamadryads and they are all associated with a certain tree. Back in ancient times there were the original eight hamadryad sisters and since then the bloodline has been passed down. Tao surprisingly remembers all of the tribe names; the Moreas (The tribe Dess is in, mulberry trees), the Karyans (from Karya, walnut and hazelnut trees), the Balanes (from Balanos, the oak trees), the Krans (from Kraneia, the dogwood trees), the Aiges (from Aigeiros, black poplar trees), the Ptels (Ptelea, which means elm), the Ampes (Ampelos, meaning vines), and lastly Sykes (from Syke, fig tree). Each woman in each tribe is bonded entirely to their own tree. Dessa's mother also has her tree in this forest and when Iridessa was born in her mothers house her natural entity bonded with another mulberry deep in the woods that began to grow.

   The woods she can no longer hear or connect with. So yes, Tao understood. Cutting him out of his thoughts, he hears the vial being placed on the little table in the shed. He looks over at her.

"You couldn't hear your tree, could you?" he asks sadly.

   Dess looks up at him with teary eyes, he gets the message. 

   Tao sighs loudly as she opens the vial. She puts it up to her nose to try and scent something recognizable. Once she does she leans her head back and sticks out the little glass tube.

"No, it can't be." Dess mutters.

   Tao looks back to her as she steps to the other size of the shed and pulls out a trunk from seemingly no where. It had to be half her size and once she propped it up on a bench, she flipped the locks up and opened it.

"Uh, what's that?"

"This is my herb case. Whenever I need to heal animals or me and my mother, I use this. I also keep my poisons and other samples of things just in case." Dess says, reaching in and pulling out a ziploc bag that has a twig and a leaf in it.

   Tao walks closer to her and peers over her shoulder, noticing the a piece of tape on the bag labeled "Black Poplar". He recalls his memory about the Aiges tribe of hamadryads.

"What is that fuzzy stuff on it? Is it poisonous?"

"No, black poplars are cottonwood trees. This is cotton from a seed tuft, I can heal plants so these herbs are always perserved."

"You think that's what the tar stuff smells like?"

"Not entirely, there's a lot more strange things in that tar. I'm going to have to run tests, but there's one problem."

"What?"

"Dryads know every single plant in existence, and I particularly know black poplars aren't native to Terra."

"You're saying there's not one black poplar here...at all?"

   Dess turns to face Tao with her worry in her eyes.

"Positive."

   They share a concerned glance before her cell phone begins to ring. Seeing that it's Kris, she answers it immediately.

"Are you okay?" he asks(commands) gruffly.

"Yes I'm fine, but bring the pack back here."

"Why?"

"Hold on, Suho is beeping in."

   She pulls back her phone while hearing loud commands and presses the button that switches over the call. As she is pressing the phone back to her ear, Kris makes it back to the yard almost instantly (with phone in hand) and walks up to the shed.

"Suho, is everything okay?"

"Yes the boys are fine, but are you okay?"

"Well yeah kinda bu-"

"Kinda?"

"-t it's a long story. I need to explain it to you. Can you bring the boys home?"

"Dess it's not safe." Kris barges.

"Kris is right Dess. Come here for the night." Suho implies before she could protest.

"Suho I can protect mys-"

"Dess I'm trying to see what's best for Phoenix and River. I know you are more than capable of taking care of them, but we don't know what exactly is going on." he reasons impatiently.

   The dryad sighs loudly as the rest of the pack reaches the yard. She goes to speak back into the phone until she hears Phoenix ask "Uncle Joon, is it Mommy?" and she hopelessly gives in. She closes the case and drags it out of the shed. Xiumin gives her more vials filled with tar and q-tips to put in there.

"Okay fine, I'll be there in a little bit."

   Dess tells Suho to tell her boys that she loves them and she will be right over as she walks to her car to put the herb case in the passenger seat. Before she can do so, Kyungsoo whizzes by and snags it out of her hand like it was a feather. He takes her keys as well and opens her car trunk and places it in there.

"I'm staying the night with you guys."

"You don't have to do that 'Soo."

"How about we all stay the night at Suho's?" Chanyeol asks.

   Since she knows there is no way she can change their minds, she heads on into her house and packs a long flannel to sleep in, her backpack, her charger, and her clothes to wear for tomorrow, along with diapers and clothes for the boys.

"Iridessa?" her mother calls out from her bedroom.

   She places her packed bags on the couch and heads into the room. Once she opens the door she sees her mother sitting at the edge of the bed, looking out into the yard from the window.

"Mom, you need to pack an overnight bag. We need to go, it might be too dangerous here."

"Iridessa I have lived here since a child, I am not scared of my home."

"No you're just scared to leave it. C'mon lets get your medicine." Dess says harshly.

"I can take care of myself young lady, be-

"Momma you don't understand, there's something out there and I can't sense it."

"-sides if anything happens to me....then oh well." she says pitifully.

"No, not 'oh well', if something happens to you my sons will lose their grandmother. Don't you dare tell me that's nothing." she says walking around her mothers bed to face her.

"Iridessa.....just go with your pack."

   Enraged, because this certainly isn't the first time a situation like this has happened, Dess kicks the dresser next to her and leaves the room. Storming down the hallway, she enters the living room and snatches her packed bags.

"You don't even care about your own grandsons!" she shouts.

   Slamming the back door, she heads outside and jogs to her car. Noticing that in some way, all eleven boys were able to fit in her five-seater car, she places the rest of the stuff in the trunk and heads to the driver side. Getting in, Tao drapes his lanky legs across her lap as he sits on Kris who is in the passenger seat. Xiumin was somehow able to kneel on the counsel between the two of them where his body was covered in Tao's legs as well. Chanyeol is in the seat behind Dess (because his long legs can fit since the seat is pretty far pulled up) with Yixing in the middle and Sehun behind Kris. Baekhyun was on Chanyeol's lap, Kai was on Yixing's, and Luhan was on Sehun's. So Chen and Kyungsoo were somehow laying down across them and Dess has never seen it this crazy before. She noted that in the trunk earlier was her boys carseats and was thankful she didn't have to fit them in here too.

"Didn't any of ya'll bring a car here?" Dess says bitterly.

"No." a handful of them say at once.

   The drive to Suho's was quiet in the front, but loud in the back. They talked about having a movie night with some popcorn in Suho's basement but Dess tried refusing, saying she wants to be with her boys tonight.

"But Dess, they have their own bedroom now anyways, they'll be okay. " Yixing tried reasoning.

"Even if I don't sleep in their room I should try and find a quiet place to go to. I need to find out what that tar stuff is made out of."

"But how, wouldn't you need a research lab for that? What if you make a forest grow in the house again?" Sehun asked.

"That was one time! And I couldn't help it!" Dess insisted.

   The rest of the short car ride consisted of random conversation before they finally made it to Suho's house.