Stone Circle My siblings are my best friends

Merrit jumped at her sudden movement and stared back wide-eyed, but he settled quickly when Steph met him with a grin. He found himself returning her warmth with a thin smile of his own, but his attention quickly stole back to the frail creature pinned beneath her paws.

He had seen the creatures before, of course, scuttling about in the heights of the trees, and chattering away in a language he couldn't understand. Once or twice he had tried to sneak up on them with the wish to study them closer, but they always tore away, even before he could pose a threat.

But now - he could see the creature so clearly. The bold stripes along the length of its sides, the strange form of its skeletal paws, the glisten of light against its eyes. They stared out unblinking, transfixed, though its body drummed with the rapid pulse of breath.

He felt something stir inside him, a strange tremor pity as he hovered over the creature with the crane of his neck. He could still hear the whisp of breath, and he wasn't sure what to do with that. He turned to his sister, uncomfortable with the conflict. "How?" While the boy engaged in the occasional tussle when his sisters wanted to play, he more often found himself on the fringes, hidden by some shrub or fern, or scuffling in the dirt. Watching. Discovering. That didn't seem an option here - but he would do what Steph wanted, like he did what Keen and Arlette wanted, because at the end of things he simply wanted to hang out with his sister.