Robin looked a little surprised to see Jube, but shrugged.
"She said same to me when she came past," he said, stopping his work to talk. "She probably just got distracted."
Jube looked distressed, with made Robin feel uneasy. There were a lot of things Kes would do which he thought were silly, but nothing that would upset Jube. She was sometimes like a protective mother hen with a baby chick.
He put down the tool into the water and stepped outside. As he did, he saw his father emerge from the house. That meant she'd been a gone a while.
"Come on," he said to Jube, calling to his father that he was taking his break and walking toward the feilds. "She needs a collar with a bell."
They reached the feilds, but there was no sign of her. Robin spotted Lavender too, so it wasn't as if she would need to go anywhere else.
As if on some cue, 2 boys emerged from the woods in a run. Robin recognized them and moved so that they would either need to collide with or stop.
"What's going on?" he said, seeing the alarm on their faces.
They were panting too hard to be coherent, but one managed to say Kestral's name after several attempts.
Robin would have lifted him by his collar, but he was more concerned with Kes than he was with whatever had spooked the two boys.
Breaking into a run, he headed into the woods, following the path that brought him to the sight that made his blood run cold.
Kestral was on the floor, her back to him so he couldn't see her face. Pepper was still being held back by 2 boys whilst a third was standing looking white faced.