“What do you think happened?” Argus said under his breath as the pack studied the trail.

“I don’t know,” Noble answered. “People walk through here all the time—”

“—with their dogs,” Harlan chimed in.

“That’s right,” Tora said. “They walk through here with their dogs all the time.”

Noble nodded. Obviously, each of them was thinking the same thing, but none of them wanted to say it.

“Over here!” someone shouted from farther down the trail.

Principal Terashita turned to face the crowd. “Stay back!” he said. “I don’t want everyone walking on the trail.”

Noble leaned toward Argus. “Make sure people don’t disturb the tracks. Sergeant Martin and Ranger Brock might want to have a look at them.”

Argus turned and placed himself between the crowd and the trail. People were curious, but no one was so curious that they wanted to push past Argus to find out what was going on.

Noble turned his attention to Harlan now. “You’re our best tracker. See if you can sniff out what made these tracks.”

“But I still have a cold,” Harlan reminded his brother.

“I know. But see what you can do.”

Harlan nodded and moved to the edge of the trail, away from the others, so he could more closely inspect the tracks. He just looked at first, but then he slowly got down on all fours. To anyone watching, it would seem that he was taking a good close look; only the pack knew that he was sniffing for clues.

Noble followed Principal Terashita, careful not to disturb the tracks already set down in the snow.

“Oh my,” whispered Principal Terashita.

“Uh-oh,” said Noble.

About fifteen yards down the trail the snow was ground up and dirty, as if there’d been a struggle. Even worse were the streaks of red.

Noble took a deep breath, suddenly feeling the icy chill of December against his skin, and in his bones. His stomach turned, and not just because he was feeling ill. Things didn’t look good for Maria’s sister, and nightfall was less than a couple of hours away.

“What the heck happened here?” someone said.

The principal shrugged. “I don’t know. There was a struggle, maybe. Maybe it was wolves, maybe it was nothing.” He clasped his hands together to warm them, then shook his head. “I don’t know…I’m an educator, not a detective.”

“It’s not wolves,” Noble said under his breath. “It can’t be.”

“Look at this!” said another voice.

Noble looked up and saw a student coming toward them with a red scarf in her hand.

“Where did you get that?” Principal Terashita asked.

The student gave the scarf to the principal. “It was caught on a bush just a little farther ahead.”

“Oh my God,” cried Maria Abruzzo. “That’s my sister’s!”

Principal Terashita turned and headed for the school. “Everyone get back inside,” he said. “I’m calling Sergeant Martin.”