“Come on slow poke.” Haylee turns around in her saddle to watch her cousin Arabella.

“Hey, I’m still recovering from being sick.” Arabella was bundled up in her warmest winter clothes.

Arabella knew her mother wasn’t sure about her going out in the cold. She just recovered from having bronchiolitis. She catches up to her cousin Haylee.

She was two years older than her cousin, Haylee. Haylee was ten years old and she was twelve years old. They were out horseback riding on the property that belonged to their family.

Arabella knew Haylee loved to go horseback riding whenever she could. It was her favorite past time. Where her favorite past time was playing video games and learning to use hacking software to hack people’s computers. She belonged to a group of hackers from several high schools and colleges in the state.

She had a few friends up in Canada that she wanted to visit this summer. She looks over towards Haylee.

“So, how are things at your new house?”

“I love it. I have my own bedroom and both my mothers let me decorate my bedroom as I want it. I do miss playing with the other wolves.”
Haylee loved all her grandfather’s wolves.

“Well, don’t you play with Roxy?” Arabella knew her aunt Julia and Christmas got Haylee a little border collie.

“I play with Roxy. I love her a lot, but sometimes its fun playing with the wolves.”

“I know what you mean. Trigger likes irritating Cadmus. She pulls on his ear when he is sleeping and nips on his tail.” Arabella couldn’t believe
the antics her little wolf pup did to Cadmus and how he didn’t get to upset with her.

“Roxy doesn’t do that to Sphinx. She does play with him, but its more like she tries to direct him to where she wants him to go.”

They ride for a while. Haylee takes them where their grandfather told them they should come too if there was an extreme emergency. After checking the site out for a while. The two of them head towards the tree house their grandfather built for them. Haylee ropes off a corral for the horses. Arabella takes the saddlebags off Haylee’s horse and carries it up into the tree house. Once she is inside. She pulls out a thermos filled with hot vegetable soup and a few sandwiches Selina made for them and sat them on the table they had up in the tree.

Their grandfather along with their great uncles and uncle built them the treehouse. This was their place and it had everything they needed to survive a blizzard. Once everything was set up. The trap door that leads into the place opens and Haylee emerges.

“It’s getting colder out there.” She rubs her hands together.

“Should we get the horse blankets and cover the horses?” Arabella was concerned about their horses.

“They should be alright. Its only 40℉ outside.” Haylee sits down at the table.

Arabella sits down and joins her cousin. She takes a bite of her sandwich and knew right away it was a turkey. It had Selina’s special seasoning on it.

“Did you hear that Silvia has a new boyfriend?” Haylee had a big ole smile on her face.

“No, who is he?” Arabella takes another bite out of her sandwich.

“His name is Greg Trout and he goes to Whitefish High School.”

“How did Silvia meet him?” Arabella was curious.

“She met him at the mall a few weeks ago. His older brother was hitting on Alyona.” Haylee thought it was funny.

“I remember that. He was standing near Silvia and accidentally bumped into her. So, when did they start dating?” Arabella was curious.

“A week after meeting him. She started hanging out at the mall more often and they started to get to know one another.”

“Has he met grandpa yet?” Arabella saw how Nicky, Alyona's boyfriend reacted when he saw grandpa and then her mother.

“Not yet, but Silva is supposed to be inviting him to grandpa’s house for dinner.” Haylee stayed at her grandparent’s house while both her mother’s were at work.

Haylee and Arabella hear the wind pick-up outside. They move the curtain aside to see how bad it was getting outside.

“We better go down and protect the horses.” Haylee grabs her gloves and open the trap door and climb down.

Arabella follows her cousin. She notices the wind was blowing hard. She helps Haylee pull and secures the hidden screens to enclose the area under the tree house to protect the horses. The hay was up in the tree house.

“There, the horses should be warmed throughout the night.” Haylee climbs back up towards the tree house.

“Won’t they be cold?” As Arabella follows behind her cousin.

“Nope, grandpa engineered a vent system so we can pump heat down to them.” Haylee heads over towards four pipes and hooks up four
propane heaters to blow hot air down to the horses.

The emergency satellite phone the tree house had, starts ringing. Haylee answers the satellite phone.

“Hello?”

“Haylee, where are you and Arabella?” Jack was worried about his grandchildren.

“We’re at the treehouse, grandpa. We just got finish putting the screens up to protect the horses and got the heaters going.”

Jack was impressed with his grandchildren “alright. If you girls need anything or if something happens, call us.”

“Okay, grandpa.” Haylee ends the call.

Arabella looks outside and couldn’t believe a blizzard had moved in while they were having lunch. She looks towards her cousin, who was firing up the wood burning heater their uncles put in the treehouse.

“We’ll be okay. Grandpa and our uncles thought of everything we might need to survive.” Haylee takes her cold weather gear off and hangs it up.

Arabella follows suit. She could tell the wood burning heater was warming the treehouse up. She was starting to feel warm.

“Did they include food for the horses?” Arabella was looking around for it.

“Yep, it's back here.” Haylee walks over towards the door on the left-hand side of the tree house.

She opens it and there was a stack of hay and a sealed container of horse feed. She opens the trap door in there “can you give me a hand, please?” Haylee looks towards Arabella.

“Sure.” Between the two of them. They manage to drop two hay squares down for the horses.

Haylee grabs two buckets of feed and climbs down to feed the horses. Arabella climbs down after her and helps.

“How many entrances does the tree house have?” Arabella looked up and spotted three trap doors.

“Only one entrance. The other two are for lifting hay and wood up into the tree house.” Haylee knew because Jack showed her the place, while Arabella was in Florida with her parents.

“Oh!”

Haylee leads the way back into the treehouse and closes the trap door and lock it. She grabs some bottled water, a teapot and pours the water into the teapot to warm up. She knew they might be stuck in the treehouse till tomorrow morning.

Back at Jack’s House:
Julia, Gina, Christmas, and Arnold were concerned about their daughters. Gina didn’t like the fact that the girls got caught in the blizzard. She knew Arabella could take care of herself, but she was still concern.

“They will be okay, sis.” Alyona and Silva walk over towards Gina and Julia.

Christmas was concerned and so was Arnold. They were looking out into the blizzard hoping the girls will be okay. All the parents didn’t like that the girls were outside in this mess.

Jack saw how his children were feeling with his grandchildren stuck out at the treehouse. He knew the treehouse was well stocked and they had everything they needed to survive.

“They will be okay.” He walks up to Julia and Gina and put his arms around them.

“We know dad, it just we don’t like the fact that were not there to protect them and look after them. We promise that to them.” Gina was kicking herself for not going with them.

“Baby, those girls were taught how to survive by all of us. Also, Haylee is good with animals. They will be okay. They have the satellite phone
to contact us and if we need to go and get them, we will.” Jack was concern about the girl’s safety, but he knew they would be okay.

Treehouse:
Arabella and Haylee play a few games before it starts getting late. They could use the battery powered lights if they wanted too, but they preferred the candles they had to light the treehouse. They also had lanterns they could use as well.

“Boy, our grandfather and uncles thought of everything.” As Arabella finishes lighting the last candle.

“Grandpa is always prepared.” Haylee liked having a grandparents that loved her.

She has finally gotten over her step-father and what he did to her little sister. She had to go to court for shooting her step-father. The
prosecutor tried very hard to make the shooting her fault, but the evidence and the lawyer Julia had hired to protect her. He tore the prosecutor apart like he was nothing.

Arabella could tell that Haylee was thinking about something “what are you thinking about, Haylee?”

“What grandpa and my mothers did for me when I came to live with them.”

“I know what you mean. Gina had my father arrested for what he did to me and what his friend made me do.” Arabella still couldn’t get over the fact that Charlie and her father were in jail.

Gina wanted to cut Charlie’s testicles off when she found him. However, she restrained herself from doing it. Gina brought the guy in and all the tapes he made of Arabella and other young runaway girls and boys he tricked. One tape had a young boy, having sex with two older guys.

They later found that boy dead three days later. He had died from snorting tainted cocaine. He had been sold a bad batch of cocaine which had been laced with drain cleaner.

When the girls get hungry, they grab one of the MRE’s the tree house was stocked with. Gina showed Arabella how to prepare them. She in turns shows Haylee how to prepare them.

After eating, the girls talk for a while and then blow the candles out. They lay down near each other in their sleeping bags.

“Do you think our parents are going to come out here?” Haylee looks at Arabella.

“Knowing our parents, I wouldn’t put it past them.” Arabella smiles as she closes her eyes. They listen to the wind blowing outside the treehouse.

The Next day:
Christmas, Julia, Gina, and Arnold wake-up the next morning and put their cold weather gear on. They were concerned about the girls. Arnold and Julia prepared the horses they were going to take. Jack and Debbie watch their children and their spouses as they prepared the horses.

“I bet the girls are fine.” Debbie looks at her husband while holding one of the twins.

“I know they are alright.” As he watches as Christmas, Julia, Gina, and Arnold ride off towards the girls.

They had a lot of snowfall last night, so the four adults were being safe. Gina was leading the way because she knew the property better than Julia. Arnold was riding beside her. He enjoyed riding with his wife.

The wolves came with them. Roxy was riding with Julia and Trigger was riding with Arnold. The group arrives at the grove of trees where Jack and their uncles built the treehouse.

Julia and Gina couldn’t believe that their father and uncles design what they were seeing. There was a clear vinyl screen protecting the horses inside it. It used the trees as support for the vinyl wall.

“Well, that’s unique.” Gina gets down off her horse and wall inside the makeshift barn.

“This is, kind of neat.” Julia follows behind her sister and looks up. They could see three trap doors.

“Okay, how are we supposed to get up there?” Julia couldn’t see any ladders or anything.

“Haylee, Arabella it's us. Open the trap door.” as Gina looks up and yell towards them.

Arabella was laying near the trap door when she hears her mother’s voice.

“Haylee, wake-up.” Arabella shakes Haylee to wake her.

“What?” Haylee was still a little sleepy.

She looks toward Arabella and tries to figure out why she was waking her. She rubs her eyes to get some of the sleep out.

“Our parents are here.” Arabella moves out of the way and peeks down.

She saw hers and Haylee’s parents. She lifts the trapdoor up and drops down the rope ladder.

“Hi mom, hi dad.” Arabella was happy to see Gina and Arnold.

Haylee crawls over to the opening and sees her parents as well “hi moms.”

Gina goes up first, followed by Arnold, then Christmas and finally Julia. They look around the place and could see their father’s handy work.
They could also tell how warm it was up in the treehouse.

“Your father and uncles built this for the girls?” Arnold was looking around and couldn’t believe how well constructed and furnished it was.

“Yep, Jack built this, just in case anyone got caught in the blizzard away from the house,” Christmas remembered Jack and Julia’s uncles
coming back here to build this for the girls or any of them.

Gina looks towards her daughter and niece “why don’t you girls give us a tour of the place?”

“Okay, mom.” Arabella and Haylee show everyone around. Haylee knew how everything was arranged.

One closet contained prepared meals, water, medical supplies, hunting and fishing equipment, heaters, candles and so on. The next room was a bathroom that had a shower and sink. The next room had the feed and hay for any of the horses.

“Wow, pop really thought about everything.” Gina was impressed.

“You can say that again.” Arnold was impressed as well.

“I wonder why he never did anything like this for us when we were younger?”

“Because we aren’t like Arabella or Haylee.” Julia looks proudly at her daughter and her niece.

“You’re right sis. Let’s tidy the place up so you can use it again.” Gina and the other adults help clean the place up and reset everything.

“You know, I like this idea for the screens.” As Arnold puts the screens back.

They blended in so well with the tree, that you couldn’t tell they were there. He examines them to find out how Jack managed to blend them into the tree. He shakes his head because he couldn’t figure it out.

“Come on dad.” Arabella was up in the saddle of her horse and had Trigger with her.

“Coming.” He swings up into his saddle.

Haylee and Arabella take the lead back to the house. Haylee was leading the way back, following the tracks left by her parents and aunts.

“Be careful, Haylee.” Gina was watching her niece.

“I will Aunt Gina.” Haylee was watching the wolves that came with her parents and her uncle.

Arabella was riding next to her parents as they headed towards the house. Julia and Christmas were watching Haylee. Julia knew Haylee was a good horseback rider because of her mother and the rodeo camps she went to during the summer.

“You know something? I miss California and its warm weather.” Julia wanted to go back to California.

“I know what you mean, sis. I miss Florida.” Gina loved Georgia and Florida.

They make it back to the house and noticed Alyona, Silvia, Jack, Debbie and Selina standing outside waiting on them.

“They found us.” As Haylee swings down off her horse with Roxy in her jacket.

“We got hot chocolate and coffee for you guys. Also, Silvia made muffins.” Alyona knows everyone enjoyed Silvia cooking.

"I'll put the horses away." Arnold takes the horses and put them in the barn.