Tora continued to sniff at the ground, and the strong scent she’d identified before was still there, but now there was another scent added into the mix…foreign but somehow familiar. She felt like she knew what it was, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what.

As she came to a clearing, she noticed Harlan in the woods to her right. Angelina had been there, still walking in circles, but it was obvious to Tora now that she wasn’t alone in the woods.

Somebody, or something, was with her.

But what?

Tora entered the clearing and saw a flat spot in the snow in front of a log. There were footsteps leading up to the flat spot and footsteps leading away.

She’s been here, Tora thought. And she sat down for a rest. Tora inspected the ground more closely and saw that another, larger patch of snow had been disturbed as well. Judging by the size and shape of the compressed snow, it looked as though Angelina had lain down in the snow, or perhaps even fallen. But no matter what had happened here, it was obvious that the little girl was struggling.

Harlan appeared at the edge of the clearing, then darted across the open space toward Tora. As he came up beside his sister he changed his form halfway to human, presumably because he had something to say.

“What is it?” Tora asked.

Argus arrived in the clearing then too, joining his brother and sister.

“I came across more tracks,” Harlan said.

“So did I,” Argus said.

“She must be really lost,” Tora said. “She’s walking around in a daze.”

“No.” Harlan shook his head. “They’re not her tracks.”

“Then whose are they?” Tora asked.

“Not who. What.”

“All right, then. What?”

“Wolves,” Harlan said, gravely. “As far as I can tell, they’re the same ones that were near the school the last time Angelina went missing.”

“Coincidence?” Argus asked.

Again, Harlan shook his head. “I don’t think so. They look like they’re following her. Keeping pace with her. Tracking her.”

“Why would they be doing that?” Tora wondered aloud.

Harlan smiled. “Maybe they’re helping us look for her.”

This time it was Argus who shook his head. “Or…maybe they’re hungry.”

No one said another word for a long, long time.

Chapter 17

By the time the sun came up, the search parties had been organized and were ready to head into the forest.

The volunteer searchers were split up into five teams of ten people, one each assigned to Sergeant Martin and Ranger Brock, and the other three supervised by the sergeant’s constables. All the team leaders were in contact with each other by radio, and extra radios were given to a few people on each team.