Below The Surface, Chapter One

“Sky, could you help me reach the top shelf?” Hunter asked, and I chuckled, placing down the knife to run my fingers through my bangs, moving them away from my left eye as I looked up from the vegetables I was cutting on the kitchen counter.

“Of course, dad. What do you need?” I asked, taking a couple of steps to the left and opening the cupboard I assumed he needed something from, my silvery grey, spotted tail swaying slightly from side to side behind me. I turned one of my ears in the direction of the small skeleton, who was cooking the meat of a rabbit he had caught a few hours prior, to hear what he said without having to turn my head.

“Salt, please.” he answered, and I grabbed the small container, walking over and placing it down next to him. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw the worn wristband around his left wrist made out of hardened sap that I had made for him when I’d been little. There hadn’t been a day since then where he hadn’t worn it, and it always made me smile to see how much he appreciated any act of kindness. “Thanks, honey.” he said,  looking up, his hunter green eyelights meeting my gaze as he gave me a gentle smile. I smiled back, letting out a warm chuckle.

“No worries.” I said, returning my original spot at the counter. I flicked a long, curly lock of hair over my shoulder before returning to my task of cutting the vegetables.

“After you're done with those, would you mind telling your siblings that dinner will be ready in ten minutes?” Hunter then asked, just as I finished cutting the last carrot.

“Yeah, sure.” I said, taking a large wooden bowl and moving the salad I had prepared into it. I placed it on the counter, walking over to the open wooden door and stepping out on the small terrace at the front of our cabin.

I looked around the small opening of trees in front  of me, trying to get a glimpse of any of my younger siblings. My eyes stopped at a smaller figure close to the drying rack, and I took a step out on the smooth wood of the terrace, speaking in a slightly raised voice.

“Moss?”

The small skeleton interrupted whatever he was doing, lifting his head in my direction. His moss green eyelights landed on me, and I moved my bangs away from my left eye again.

“Uh-huh?” he answered, and I smiled.

“Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. Where are Sea and Indigo?” I asked, looking around the surroundings again. Moss eagerly got to his feet at the mention of food, running over in my direction.

“They're playing hide and seek.”

“Do you know where they went?” I asked, and he stopped in front of me, looking up to meet my gaze. He shook his head and I sighed in slight annoyance. “Right… Go inside and help dad finish up and I'll look for them, okay?”

He nodded again with an excited smile, running past me through the door leading into the cabin.

We had been forced to expand the little hut we had first built when we had first settled our home here in the forest, as our family had grown bigger. Teal and I had worked together with the construction of the current medium sized house about three and a half years after Indigo and Sea had been born, when Hunter had been soulheavy with Moss. That was when space had started getting more cramped as the twins and myself had been growing bigger, and we had been in need of some more space, as well as the new addition to the family that had been on the way.

Hunter hadn't been able to help us with the construction since he hadn’t been allowed to use magic because of the baby, so he had taken care of the twins while Teal and I had worked on the renovations. I had been around 12 years old at the time, but being a member of a cat race had meant that I grew very fast so I had already reached over 5 feet in height. My body had also been in quite good shape with all of the physical work that had to be done around the house. It had only taken us about a month of consistent work to finish the cabin. We had also cleared some trees to make a small opening in front of the house where the kids could play.

I walked down from the terrace, looking around the small opening once more, before kneeling down to look for tracks left by my two younger siblings. I saw many small footprints in the wet moss, and lined my paw up with one of them, moving it along a few others to compare sizes. I could soon clearly make out which ones belonged to Moss and which ones belonged to Sea and Indigo, considering that Moss was 3 years of age, and the twins were both 7, leading to their footprints being slightly bigger. The distance between each footprint was also longer for the ones belonging to the two missing skeleton's since their legs were longer than Moss’.

I stood up, following the trail of footprints with my gaze before closing my eyes and taking a slow, deep breath, catching the different scents of the forest. I could definitely smell their distinct scent in the same direction of the footprints, and I smirked, and started walking that way.

After a few minutes, the scent started getting stronger, and I started slowing down to be able to notice if they had changed direction. Indigo’s scent suddenly disappeared and I stopped, looking down. His footprints darted off to the left, Sea's continued straight forward, and I decided to follow Indigo’s as his scent was stronger, meaning that he had to be closer. The tracks led straight to a tree few yards away, where high grass was thriving, making it hard to see where I was putting my feet. I stepped up closer to the tree, looking up at the top.

“Indigo?” I called, and immediately heard a shush coming from the tree, seeing his rounded head peek out from the leaves of the tree.

“I'm hiding! You're gonna give away my position!” he hissed, disappearing into the green maze, making him impossible to see. I sighed deeply, running my fingers through my bangs again, moving them away from my left eye to see him better.

“Come down from there, dinner is ready.” I said, my voice neutral.

Indigo was the most annoying one of my siblings by far, being quite grumpy as well as teasing the hell out of his sister and me, as well as his younger brother at times.

Seafoam was his complete opposite, quite ironic considering that they were twins, being sweet and shy. He liked to tease her for her shyness, something she most definitely had inherited from Hunter and they were very alike in the way their faces would heat up as soon as they were a little bit embarrassed.

Indigo and Sea were impossible to tell apart if you saw them from the back, the only difference between them being the color of their eyelights and souls. Sea's soul had a pale, seafoam green shine, her eyelights having the same color, and Indigo’s had a dark, indigo blue shine, his eyelights also having that color.

I groaned in annoyance as he stayed quiet, ignoring me, and I spoke again.

“I’ll drag you down if I have to.”

“You can't reach me from down there.” he said, his head sticking out from the branch he was hiding on again, his indigo blue tongue poking out from between his teeth. I raised an eyebrow, smirking, deciding to have a little fun with my annoying little brother.

“You wanna bet?” I challenged him, and he smirked back.

“Yeah.”

I lifted my hand, which was enveloped in a bright blue light, and his body was soon covered in the same light. His eye sockets widened and he grabbed a fast hold of the branch as I made a fast linear motion downwards with my hand. His body spun around the branch so that he was hanging from it with his arms and legs, and he let out a somewhat scared yelp.

“Hey! Not fair! You can't use magic!” he said with a betrayed tone in his voice. I chuckled, making the same motion once more, causing his grip to slip, making him fall.

He let out a scream as he fell in mid air for about half a second before I lifted him with my magic, making him float towards me. He struggled in the air, trying to get out of the grasp without any success whatsoever. I chuckled at his tries and he whined, soon accepting defeat.

“You can't use magic… it's cheating…” he muttered, glaring at me while crossing his arms.

“You should have said so at the start, dumbass.” I said, amusement evident in my voice, putting him down. “Sea?” I then said in a raised voice, lifting my head to try and get a whiff of her scent again. There was no need however, since I heard her faint voice coming from my left.

“O-over here.”

I turned my head in the direction her voice had come from but saw no trace of her. I took a few steps towards where the sound had originated from, before her scent suddenly got very strong, making me stop. I looked around in every direction I could think of without seeing any trace of the young skeleton.

“Where are you?” I asked, and she answered right away, her voice shivering, coming from right under my back paws.

“H-here…”

I jumped, looking down to see her small frame lying in the tall grass right before my feet. I would have tripped over her if I hadn't stopped when I did.

She was curled into a ball, clutching one of her arms against her chest as if in pain, and I felt worry rise in my chest. I kneeled down, putting a hand on her back.

“What are you doing in the grass, little sis?” I asked, and she was hugging her body around her right arm in a protective manner, and small beads of sweat were covering the top of her skull.

“I-I tripped and fell…” she said in a strained voice, and I started getting more concerned. Indigo moved up behind me, a worried look on his face.

“Let me see your arm.” I said, yet she only hugged it closer to herself. I brushed my hand over her back in a gentle gesture, trying to reassure her. “Shh, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you.”

She hesitated for a few more seconds, before slowly straightening her body, sitting up and holding the arm she had hurt out to me.

My body went tense as I looked at it. Her ulna was broken right in half, the bones having moved slightly out of place, making it look incredibly painful. The bone around the crack was reddened and inflamed, and it looked like it was throbbing, some marrow having smeared against the edges. I was about to start panicking, but swallowed it down, having to appear calm as to not alarm her more.

I grabbed my bangs, starting to braid them to make them stay away from my eyes, turning back to Indigo before he had the time to look over my shoulder, not wanting him to see the frightening look of the wound. I caught his gaze, my expression serious, and my voice had a commanding tone as I spoke.

“Go back home. Tell dad we’ll be back in a minute.”

His eye sockets widened, recognizing the gravity of the situation, and he turned around in a heartbeat, running in the direction of our cabin. I shoved my hand in my jean pocket, fishing out a hair clip and fastening my hair with it as I turned back to Sea, who seemed to be in every kind of pain imaginable. I reached my hands out carefully, and she flinched as they came close to her arm.

“Shh Sea, it's alright, listen to me.” I said, making her look up at me, her pale eyelights slightly shrunken in fear, the pupils dilated from fatigue because of the pain. “I am going to heal your arm, okay? I’ve done it a million times before, it’s going to be okay.”

I had naturally strong healing abilities, something I had probably inherited from my father. Teal had told me, when I had started learning the ability of healing, that the snow leopard race had been some of the most talented healers in history. It had soon been proven true since I had been able to heal almost anything with ease. It came naturally to me.

I had taken it upon me to try and repay the damage my mother had done to Hunter’s body. I had never asked what she had done, not wanting to bring back any unwanted memories. I had recreated all of his previously broken ribs, as well as mended every crack that had riddled his damaged body. He had said that it wasn’t needed, of course, like he always did when you tried to do anything for him, or give him something. That was just the way he was, unwilling to ‘burden’ anyone with his problems, his kind, shy nature getting in the way. I had ignored him, of course, and healed him anyway, not taking no for an answer.

Because of that fact, I was very familiar with the healing of bone so this shouldn’t have been the least bit of a problem. However; the fact that this was the bone of my terrified little sister, knowing that moving the bones back into place would be very, very painful, especially with such tiny, sensitive bones like hers, made my skin crawl with nerves. I pushed that feeling away, however, as the terrified look on Sea's face forced me to steel myself and stay strong, for her sake.

Her breathing slowed down to a small extent at the reassurance that my words brought, and she managed to give a quick nod. I continued.

“However.” I said, making her look up again. “I will need to move the bones back in place, which will hurt. It will pass quickly, I promise. I need you to trust me, okay?”

She looked awfully scared, seafoam green tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she looked at me, trying to process what I had said. I waited patiently, not wanting to force her unless I had to, and she eventually gave in, nodding once again. I caught the glimpse of a medium sized stick from the corner of my eye, picking it up and handing it to her with an apologetic smile.

“Bite onto this.” I said, and she looked at it in confusion, but did as she was told. I very carefully took her arm in my hands, and she winced in pain at the smallest touch. I met her gaze, trying to look as calm as I possibly could. “I’ll make it as quick as I can.” I reassured her, and she looked down, nodding again before squeezing her eye sockets shut in preparation.

I gathered my magic, focusing it around the broken bone, and quickly pushed it back into place. Sea whined loudly in pain, her teeth clenching around the stick until her sharp canines dug deeply into it. She whimpered at the lingering soreness, but started relaxing after a few moments as I quickly healed the two parts of her ulna together. Another minute passed as I healed the bone from the centre out, and the cracks soon started to fade, vanishing completely. I brushed one of my padded fingertips along the once again smooth surface, no trace of it being broken in the first place. She cracked her eye sockets open, looking down at the arm, then up at me. I gave her a warm smile, taking the stick back and throwing it far away, before putting a hand atop her head, petting it gently with my soft paw.

“See? All better.” I said, and I watched her face scrunch up, she sobbed and threw her arms around my chest, burying her face in my soft, furry neck. I gently embraced her, whispering words of comfort, trying to assure her that everything was alright.

“I-I was... s-so s-scared…” she stuttered between sobs, and I sat down, moving her onto my lap and hugging her close to me.

“Shhh, I know, Sea. I know. It's okay.” I said, my voice soft, and I lightly brushed one of my hands along her back.  

She kept crying for a little while, clinging to me as I let her take her time to calm down. She eventually did, falling limp against me as her body gave into exhaustion, and she lost consciousness. I sighed with relief, lifting her into my arms and standing up. I then touched my nose to her forehead briefly before turning around and walking back towards the cabin.



It took some extra time to get back to the cabin since I was taking it slow to let Sea rest. It was way past dinner time, and I dreaded how Hunter was going to react, knowing that he would most likely be sick with worry. Teal wouldn’t come back home for another half an hour, and I was hoping that I’d get back and resolve everything before then so that he wouldn’t have to worry as well.

Sea eventually woke up anyway, flushing in embarrassment as she realized that I was carrying her back, saying that she could walk on her own. I chuckled, letting her down.

“Hey.” I said, kneeling down in front of her, and she met my eyes. “When we get back, let's not tell dad that you broke your arm okay? He will freak out with worry.”

Her eye sockets widened, probably remembering the few times one of us had gotten hurt in some way. Hunter had a phobia of his children getting hurt, and of losing any of us. He would do anything to protect us if we were ever in danger. I had always felt like there was some sort of reason behind that behaviour, but he had never said why, and I had never asked, afraid once again to bring up unwanted memories, so it was left a mystery.

Sea nodded, and I smiled warmly. ”Thanks. It's for his own good, and for ours.” I said, standing up. She took my paw in her hand, and we started walking back again.

As soon as we reached the opening in front of the cabin I heard Hunter's voice coming from the house.

“Oh thank the stars!”

I looked up, only to see him running at us, grabbing Sea, his entire body riddled with concern. “Sea, sweetheart. Are you okay? What happened? Did you hurt yourself? You had me worried sick. Indigo said you got hurt.”

He spoke fast, asking questions without even giving her time to answer, looking her over, trying to find possible wounds. Sea seemed frozen in place, unable to give a response, shocked at the sudden flow of questions.

“Dad.” I said, my voice firm, and his head twisting over in my direction, looking up at me. “She's alright.” I continued, smiling, trying to reassure him. “She bruised her arm when playing hide and seek with Indigo. I already healed it. Calm down.”

He seemed to let out a breath he'd been holding, snapping out of his panic, relaxing a little. He gently took Sea's face in his hands, looking into her eyelights briefly before placing a soft kiss to her forehead, leaning his against it. “I'm sorry, sweetie. I was just so worried.” he told her. “Are you okay?”

She let out a quiet whimper, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug, and he pulled her close, leaning his cheekbone against the top of her skull as she buried her face in his chest. “Shhh…” he shushed her, humming a calm tune to comfort her, and I smiled warmly, removing the hair clip from the side of my head, letting my bangs loose, running my fingers through them.

A few minutes passed, and Sea pulled back, wiping her eye sockets with the back of her hand. “Dinner is waiting for you inside, why don't you go eat with your brothers? I have to talk to Sky for a minute.” Hunter said, and I frowned. What does he need to talk to me about?, I wondered.

Sea nodded, walking up towards the cabin, and I followed her with my gaze. I heard Hunter clear his throat, and I looked down at him. He had crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking up at me with a sceptical look. “Bruised her arm, huh?” he said, and my eyes widened, slight warmth rising to my cheeks at the fact that I'd been caught in the lie. “Judging by her behaviour I have a feeling it was a little bit worse than that. I know my children, Sky, and that includes you. I know you're trying to make me less worried, but I would prefer if you told me the truth.” he said.

I sighed, scratching my neck nervously, looking at him with an apologetic look. “Sorry...”

“Tell me what happened.” he said, and I hung my head.

“I don't know exactly. She said she tripped and fell. Her right ulna was… broken when I found her.” I said, hoping he wouldn't freak out too much.

“Broken?” he said, his eye sockets wide. “How badly?”

I hesitated for a few moments, and he gave me a stern look, silently ordering me to tell the truth. “...Right through… it had moved apart…” I said, seeing the color drain from Hunters face. He was frozen, as if an unpleasant memory had resurfaced and it was playing before his eyes. I waited, letting him process, and I watched as his expression fell, and he buried his face in one of his hands.

“God. I should have been there for her.” he mumbled, and I felt slight annoyance rise in my chest. He always blamed himself whenever anything bad happened.

“It's not your fault.” I said, my voice serious, and he looked up from his hand, guilt evident in his eyelights. “This is exactly what papa says all the time. Stop blaming yourself whenever something happens to us.”

His gaze sharpened, returning the stern one he'd had a few moments prior. “You’re my children. What kind of father am I if I let you get hurt.”

“It’s a part of growing up, dad. We learn from our mistakes. You can’t protect us 24 hours a day.”

“I'm still responsible for anything that happens to you.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing at his stubbornness. “You're only partially responsible. Papa is just as responsible as you are.” I said, looking down at him again.

“Not when he's at work.” Hunter answered, still looking up at me with the same stubborn expression.

“Well no, but… there's still no point in… ugh, you know what? Just forget it.” I sighed, realizing that there was no point in arguing. He would never change his mind.

“How was class today?” he asked, changing the subject. “I forgot to ask you.”

“Boring as usual.” I said, rolling my eyes, and he chuckled.

“It couldn’t have been that bad.” he said, and I looked down at him with a distasteful expression.

“Seriously? At least try to relate, dad…” I said, and he shrugged with a playful smile.

“You know that I never went to school in my youth. How would I know what it's like?”

I couldn't help but laugh. “Right. I forgot. But you can at least try and understand my teenage troubles.” I said jokingly.

“Hey, I’m willing to listen. What more can you ask from me?” he said, mirroring my joking tone.

“Oh, I don’t know…” I started, catching a glimpse of Teal walking towards us a few yards away, Hunter’s back turned to him. Our gazes met and I was just about to greet him when he lifted his hand, placing his index finger in front of his teeth, signalling me to be quiet. My eyes widened as I saw him arch his back, moving silently, sneaking towards Hunter. I turned my eyes back to the smaller skeleton, before he noticed that something was off, pretending to continue our conversation. “Maybe you could… come to one of my classes. Then you might understand my struggles.” I continued. My tone still had a playful tone, trying to distract Hunter to the best of my ability.

“I wish I could, but I can’t leave Moss home by himself.” Hunter chuckled.

“He could uh… come too! It’ll be like ‘bring-your-kid-to-work-day’ in reverse.” I improvised, seeing Teal getting closer from the corner of my eye. Hunter brought his hand up to rub his mandible in thought.

Teal had almost reached him, and my eyes moved up to him, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth as I almost couldn’t contain my laughter. Teal lifted his arms in front of himself, ready to grab the small skeleton as he responded to what I had suggested.

“Well… I suppose I...” he trailed off, noticing that I was looking past him, and he raised an eyebrow. “What are you looking a-”

He was interrupted mid-sentence as Teal abruptly grabbed him from behind, throwing him straight up into the air. He let out a scream in surprise, and I had to cover my mouth with my paw to not laugh out loud as Teal caught him on the way down, holding him bridal style while Hunter stared up at him, frozen from shock.

“Miss me?” Teal asked, placing a kiss on Hunter’s nasal bone. His face turned a dark, hunter green color in less than a second, and I crossed my arms with a warm smile, observing the interaction between my goofy parents in amusement.

“Oh my god!” Hunter exclaimed, trying to push Teal away with his hands, making Teal laugh and nuzzle the side of his face, much to his annoyance. “You gave me a heart attack!” he went on, still trying to push the other away to no avail, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. Teal chuckled, trailing kisses along Hunter’s small neck and I could see his body tense in surprise.

“Well…” I started, and Hunter looked over at me, while Teal nibbled gently at his neck. “I’m gonna give you two some space… I’ll be inside if you need me…” I said in a slight suggestive tone, winking at Hunter, seeing his eye sockets widen, the color atop his cheekbones darkening at my words. I found teasing him to be one of the most entertaining things there was, and Teal seemed to think the same thing which often led to us teaming up, much to Hunter’s despair.

I looked over at Teal, and he met my gaze, giving me an appreciative smile, which I returned, before turning towards the cabin and walking away, leaving them to themselves.