Maria moved to the left to get a better view of Tora and her brothers. If she held the camera just above eye level and framed the shot using the tiny screen on the back of the camera, she could get an unobstructed shot of the house through the branches.

But the Brocks weren’t cooperating. Yesterday when they’d left the house they’d all been naked, and they had gone through their transformations as they ran across the yard toward the forest. Today, they were all clothed. They weren’t dressed for winter weather—they were barefoot and wearing only T-shirts and jeans—but they weren’t naked, either. Pictures of them like that would just make the Brocks look weird—which everyone already knew and they would make Maria seem downright creepy for taking the pictures in the first place.

The Brocks walked across the yard toward the forest, taking their shirts off as they went. That was more like it, thought Maria. Pictures of the Brocks naked might be fun to circulate around the school, but she needed to catch them in the middle of their change in order to prove her point. Maria ran around the edge of the treeline to where Tora, Harlan, and Argus would be taking off the rest of their clothes and making the change into wolves. She’d moved just a few feet before stepping on a branch and snapping it in two.

The Brocks froze where they were.

Maria froze too, not daring to make a move.

“What was that?” asked Tora.

“Animal probably,” answered Argus.

“Do you smell anything, Harlan?”

Harlan raised his head and seemed to sniff at the air like a…well, like a dog. Fortunately for Maria there was a slight breeze; it was hitting her in the face, and that meant she was downwind of them.

“Not with this cold,” said Harlan.

“Let’s go, then,” said Tora. “I don’t want to be late for supper.”

“You and me both,” agreed Argus.

They continued on into the forest, but they were going to enter the woods at a spot farther away than Maria had anticipated. She hurried along the line of trees, worried now that she might not make it in time to get pictures of the pack in action.

When she arrived, the pack had already shed the rest of their clothes and were halfway through their transformations. Quickly, Maria raised her camera and mashed her finger down on the shoot button.