Kristin stared at the newspaper blankly. She couldn't believe what she'd just read. "Kristin, sweetie, you need to pick out a costume. Halloween is only two weeks away." Kristin's mother called. "Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore. You know I don't do that kind of stuff anymore." Kristin said. She stood from her place at the table and went to the monthly calendar, which was on the fridge. Looking up the day of Halloween, she found that it was a new moon. The newspaper is wrong, Kristin thought. Halloween isn't a full moon. Returning to the table, she re-read the article.
"This Halloween, a full moon, will be a night that comes around
only once every hundred years. In the past, people have reported
sights of pumpkin-headed ghosts and floating pumpkins carved
with lollipops. And last, but not least, there have been claims of
seeing werewolf ghosts. Some say that the ghosts of dead were-
wolves come out on this night."
Kristin went back to her room and grabbed her book to start reading. She sat cross-legged on her bed and began to read. After about an hour, she thought it was about time to go to sleep, so she put the book on her nightstand and turned out the lights. That was when she heard the screaming. She immediately flicked the lights back on and ran out of her room, amazed that no one else had heard. She pulled on her boots and jacket and ran outside.
She froze with terror when she saw the creature on the roof. The creature had horrifying blood-red eyes, thick black fur, and was at least two meters tall. It froze, as if it could tell she was there. Even though it was pitch black outside and she was well concealed within the shadows, she swore the creature, even though its back was to her, turned and looked directly into her eyes. Kristin's instincts told her to run, run as fast as she could to get away from the beast, but she steeled herself and stood still as she could. Soon the animal, or whatever it was, satisfied that no one was there, turned back to what it had been doing.
Very slowly, Kristin crept quietly back to the house, but halfway into the yard, it turned around and saw Kristin. There was nowhere to hide now. She was yards away from any shelter now. It gave a deafening roar and leapt at her. She screamed, and everything seemed to be in slow motion now. Something leapt in front of her, and to her horror it was another one of these beasts, but as the first creature came at her, the second one attacked it and shouted, " Run!" Kristin needed no other persuading.
She sprinted to the woods, assuming it would take too long to reach the house. At the edge of the woods, she watched the creatures fight. The one that had saved her won easily. When the fight was over and the evil creature was gone, the second one transformed into a human girl with short blonde hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a hunting outfit. "Are you still there?" she called. Kristin walked slowly toward her and the girl smiled as Kristin came nearer. "Sorry about Masimus. He is an outlaw of our clan." The girl said. "Thanks for saving me," Kristin breathed. I must be going crazy. What's up with this stuff? Wolves can't talk or turn into humans, Kristin thought. "No problem." The girl smiled.
They walked to the woods together, Kristin learning about the life of the secret lives of forest wolves, of the different clans and customs, and how they tolerated each other. Kristin realized she might not want to go home. The life of the wolves seemed too exciting for her to return to the human world.