Noble spat to clear his mouth and took a few more deep breaths. As much as he’d hated throwing up, he had to admit that it had helped him to feel better. The dizziness was gone, and his stomach, while still upset, wasn’t as painful any more. He stood up, flushed the toilet, and headed over to the sink to rinse out his mouth and splash some water onto his face.

The water felt cool and refreshing against his skin, and for the moment he was able to breathe more easily. After another deep, deep breath, Noble dried himself off with a paper towel and ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair. He’d be able to make it to the end of the dance now, and no one would have to cut their night short because of him. He dropped the paper towel into the trash and stepped out of the bathroom, expecting to find the lights flashing and the music pounding, but instead the gym was strangely silent.

“My sister,” a voice cried out from the other side of the room. “Has anyone seen my sister?”

Noble made his way through the crowd until he came upon Maria Abruzzo. She was standing in the center of the gym, crying hysterically with tears running down her cheeks.

“What’s going on here?” Principal Terashita said as he arrived at Maria’s side.

“She’s gone!” she screamed.

“Who?”

“My sister, Angelina.” Maria was frantic now. “She was supposed to be waiting for me in the library. They said she went outside to play, and now she’s gone…Something took her!”

“What took her?”

“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “But there are tracks in the snow all over the place.”

“Show me!” said Principal Terashita.

A crowd of people ran to the doors to take a look outside.

Noble remained where he stood. That doesn’t make sense, he thought. What kind of animal would snatch a young girl from outside a school building and take her into the forest? The only animal capable of doing something like that is…a man. A very bad man.

That thought was little comfort and certainly didn’t help Noble’s stomach any. It was churning again, and he had a bad, bad feeling that things were going to get worse—a lot worse—before they got better.

Chapter 3

“See!” said Maria Abruzzo, pointing to a narrow trail between the trees that led away from the school.

Noble and the members of the pack joined the others outside. Even in the rapidly fading sunlight of late afternoon, it was obvious there were several sets of tracks left in the snow not twenty yards from the gym doors. There were footprints leading off into the woods, and they were surrounded by animal tracks, most likely made by the paws of a four-legged animal—a large dog, or perhaps a small bear.