It sounded like four feet racing toward the ditch, quickly. I couldn’t tell what kind, but I could totally hear them coming.

I glanced at my friends and placed my finger on my lips. “Sssh! Something is coming.”

The girls shivered as they hugged together. If I have to transform in front of my squad to protect them, I would totally risk it.

I peeked above the ditch edge, glaring at the bushes. They rattled as two figures rose behind them.

I sniffed, catching a lavender scent mixed with a wood-like pine smell. Instantly, I recognized those smells and waved in the air. “Kevin! Salina! Over here!”

Both of them sprinted from the bushes, reaching the ditch. Their faces looked pale, except Salina’s face was paler. I wasn’t sure if she wore white makeup, or the makeup was her real skin color.

I couldn’t believe I forgot about them. Running with my other friends totally messed with my head.

“Jessica!” Kevin leaped into the ditch and hugged me. “I tried to call you while Salina and I hid inside a closet. Where were you?”

“I was running with my squad.” I stepped aside, revealing my other friends.

Kevin waved to them. “Hi!”

Holly waved to him with a little cute grin. Malaya comforted Tiffany with her arms around her. I guessed they were too scared to speak.

“I thought you were running behind us!” I exclaimed.

“We couldn’t,” said Salina, hopping down into the ditch. “The werewolves are everywhere. We didn’t want to become their munchies.”

“Those things are werewolves?” Malaya asked in shock.

“Yes. Don’t you watch horror movies?”

Malaya shrugged.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Kevin asked.

“Because our cell phones didn’t work,” Holly stated, lending her back against the dirt wall within the ditch.

“Really?” Kevin pulled out his phone and clicked on it. His eyes widened after he listened to the operator’s voice. “It said your number is unreachable.”

“Mine said that too!” I said, shaking my phone in the air. “But it was fine before the sun went down.”

“Can you nerds explain why we are not getting a signal here?” Malaya asked, rubbing Tiffany’s shaking shoulders.

Salina glared at her. “Hello, I’m not a nerd. I am a witch.”

Malaya narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”

I growled at Salina and smiled at my squad. “She’s just totally into the supernatural stuff. But she knows what we are dealing with.”

“Are you sure those are werewolves?” Holly asked, letting her breath out. “Real werewolves?”

“Like the one that attacked downtown two months ago?” Tiffany asked, sitting up on her knees.

I raised my lips with my teeth clenching. “Kind of…..”

Everybody knew about the incident although the police tried to cover it up. They said it was a bear rampaging across the streets. It vanished when the cops arrived.

My dad said he knew what he saw, and he wanted to prove it was a werewolf. But the mayor didn’t want the entire town to fall into a long panic. So my dad had to play along with the bogus story while hunting the creature in secret.

Not everyone believed the false story, including my friends. Most of us preferred it was a real monster whether than a dumb bear. 

Tiffany rubbed her fingers through her long red hair. “I can’t believe this!”

Kevin sighed and rubbed the fog off his glasses. “I don’t know what is blocking our phones. It could be some type of abnormality.”

“Or a magic spell,” Salina suggested.

A dozen howls echoed behind the trees, and their feet charged through the bushes. 

My back shivered, hearing their running feet. “I think we got company!”