Maria looked at her watch. She’d have to leave soon if she was going to pick up Angelina at her friend’s house, where she’d gone after school. If her parents got home from work and found no one home—especially when Maria was supposed to be looking after her—there would be hell to pay.

She was just about to head for home when a light came on over the back door to the house. Maria hid behind the trunk of a redwood tree, and waited.

The door opened up a minute later, and…

And…

Maria couldn’t believe her eyes.

Tora, Argus, and Harlan all exited the house without any clothes on.

I always knew they were crazy, Maria thought. But this is, well, insane.

Then they continued out into the yard as if they were all heading out jogging, but as they ran their bodies changed. There was really no other word for it. One moment they were all human and the next moment they were different.

Tora was first, her arms and legs shortening until her hands and feet were replaced by paws. Argus and Harlan followed their sister, their bodies changing form like modeling clay being shaped by unseen hands. And hair, their bodies were suddenly covered by thick tufts of gray-white fur.

Even though she was watching it happen, Maria couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was impossible, and it didn’t make any sense. She closed her eyes for a second and rubbed them with her knuckles. When she opened them again, things had gotten even more bizarre. All three of their heads were gone … replaced by three wolf heads. But even though they’d completely changed their bodies, Maria could still tell them apart. The wolf that had been Tora had the lighter-colored streak on the fur of its back that Tora had in her hair. The wolf that was Argus was huge and had oddly colored eyes. And Harlan, he was always the smallest, no matter what form he was in.

Maria kept her eyes open, not wanting to even blink in case she missed something.

But there was nothing more to see. The three wolves and they were fully formed wolves by the time they reached the forest—started running, and in seconds they were gone, vanishing between the trees like ghosts.

Maria fell to her knees and then sat on the snowy forest floor. She was breathing heavily and her clothes were damp with sweat. Again, she tried to make sense of what she had seen, but it defied all explanation.

Three teenagers had exited the house, but three wolves had entered the forest.

Tora, Argus, and Harlan had changed themselves into wolves.

It was incredible.

Unbelievable.

If they could do such a thing, change their form from human to wolf and then back again, that would make them…

Werewolves!