Chapter 1: Pups

((Author's Note: With thanks and credit to RachelClaire and Catchandelier for being amazing beta readers. Thank you to both of you; the story wouldn't have reached this point without your critique, and I'm forever grateful for your insight and advice. And thanks to Kaley for your amazing patience in listening to me babble on chat about this story during all hours of the night.

I do not own Young Justice or its characters, and am simply borrowing them for an oddball AU about werewolves. I'm excited to share this story with everyone, and hope you all enjoy it. Thank you for reading!))


There was very little about her arrival that suggested the year would end with Megan staring at the surface of the moon.

A low hum of a changing engine coaxed her eyes open, along with sunlight hitting her eyelids. The engine rumbled in her ears a second time, with a turn that pushed her stomach up against her side. Megan twitched up from a seat that had served as a lumpy, upright bed, feeling her skin stick to the leather bits. Her heart speed up for a few beats as she jerked up, her stomach choosing then to get unstuck and send a jolt of bile into her throat.

'Where-!?' The thought jolted her mind, and her breath rushed into her lungs in a sharp gasp. She tried kicking out with her feet, but only got as far as a muscle twitch before pins and needles plunged into her legs. Her hands left off trying to ball into fists in order to rub the pain out, giving her thoughts time to catch up.

'Not in trouble. You're safe.' She told herself, forcing in deep breaths. The smells from the bus were dulled and familiar at this point. Old leather, sweat from the few other passengers on the bus masked with chalky deodorant...And a cracked window pushing summer air into her face. Megan glanced out, squinting against the glare.

The sun was close to hitting midday, and she had to wonder at how long she'd been dozing in that dreamless sleep. It apparently had been enough for the scenery to change dramatically, shifting from level farmlands to craggy mountains, and the beginnings of a town nestled in them. The first buildings to roll past the windows were basic gas stations, rest over stops and even a visitor's center. All of them were fitted out with long sloped roofs, and with a surprising amount of rectangular windows. The bus barreled past all of them, intent on some other stop, as a wall of greenery slowly grew up along the streets. There was no such thing as a bare tree, and Megan gazed longingly as flowers and trees both zipped by; just blurs of color that she wanted to linger on.

A disk of white above the fingers of rock caught her eye, in the form of a day moon. Unease settled back into her stomach in a tight knot as she kept her eyes on the object. It looked too close to full for her liking, and pushed a shiver into her body. She ran a hand over the exposed skin on her arms. Her fingers found normal flesh, only interrupted by a few goose bumps thanks to the bus AC already on full blast. She let her breath out slow as she sank back into the seat, her skin going back to sticking against the leather sides. Her body curled into the dents formed by a twenty hour ride, and she pressed her feet back into the hiking boots she'd shoved on during that initial scramble for the bus. With her shoes back in place, Megan rolled her shoulders and shrugged into her pink cardigan. Her old clothing was feeling worn around the edges, but still fit over her like a second skin. Her hands gave a tug at the edges of her skirt to smooth it out as well. It was an ensemble she felt comfortable and could rest easy in...Save for those clunky, out of place boots on her feet.

Even with all those motions, her body still felt shaky and at whim to every motion the bus made. A squeal of brakes put her teeth on edge and pulled her head back to looking at the ground.

She picked out an empty parking lot, and a lonely Greyhound Station standing in the middle of it. The station took the form of an old building that was all rounded corners and looked more like it belonged in a Metropolis news broadcast instead of a sleepy mountain town. An awning stood out in the parking lot for the bus to pull up next to, capped with a springing metal greyhound polished bright and reflecting the afternoon sun.

There were a few more hisses and squeaks as the bus rocked back and forth before coming to a standstill. Her stomach didn't take any note that they'd stopped, still determined on twisting itself into knots as she looked up. She found herself parked underneath the sign, the metal hound looking almost like a watch dog. Megan swallowed around a throat doing its best to go dry as she looked over the sculpture and sign.

A stillness blanketed the bus, almost waiting to see if she passed an invisible test. If she actually could take the first steps into this new territory with silver dogs and bright white letters in colored circles, along with a cheery 'Welcome to Middleton, the gateway town!' written underneath.

"Morse?" Came a voice from the front that spurred her to stand. She managed to latch a hand around her bag and pull it free of the overhead bin, grabbing her purse with the other. She stumbled to the front of the bus, still getting her balance back after who knew how many hours of sitting. Even with heavy shoes wrapped around her feet, her ankles didn't hurt as much as she expected and shrugged off any cramps or swelling. That was one of the few things she'd been lucky with so far, as they let her walk to the front of the bus with minimal tripping. The only wobble in her steps came from her nerves, and Megan tightened her grip around the handle of her bag for a little more stability.

"Y-yes?" Megan held out what was left of her ticket, wondering if she was supposed to do something with it. From the way the bus driver's eyes glazed over it, she guessed not.

"This'll be your stop, then." He said, in a low drawl reserved for the middle states. Megan found herself wondering when she might hear it again, before desperately trying to quash the thought. That wasn't what she should be dwelling on right now.

When she had first boarded, the driver had given her ticket a cautious look, but it was as valid as her money. Since she didn't cause any trouble over the trip, he acted as an odd sort of chaperone once he had decided she wasn't running away from home. Strictly speaking, that was true; home wasn't the exact thing she was running from. And she hoped that anything following her wouldn't be going by bus.

"You have any other bags to collect?" Megan shook her head, glancing towards the stairs before taking them one at a time.

Her first steps into Middleton were anti-climactic. No sudden flash of what she should be doing, where she should go. The only thing that hit her was the bone dry quality to the air, a sharp contrast to the muggy-drown-in-the-air quality of Iowa.

The contrast didn't help with giving her any idea of where to go. The bus left her behind and rumbled off on its way with a cloud of smoke that stung her eyes and cut at her nose, belching out of growling pipes. Megan held one hand over her mouth, while the other fumbled for the purse hanging off her shoulder, and the wallet stored within.

A glance inside it, and she counted a handful of dollars she had left. Her heart sank as she tallied them up. Fifty in total, out of a year of savings. Just a pair of twenties and fives looking threadbare and sparse. She gave the bills a forlorn look, but that didn't convince them to multiply.

She'd never expected to spend her summer savings on a bus ticket, along with a few fast food meals and a change of clothes. She'd always imagined a box set of DVDs, maybe, or something new to wear. Even a family trip-

'Keep it together, Megan. Focus on what you have to do.'

Her feet moved, before the thought could grow any bigger. Megan let her steps take her away from the bus stop, as the wallet fell back into her purse. With any luck, she could find her uncle before her funds ran out. And before she got lost in the worry of what would happen when they did.

-o-o-o-

Wally loved summer. Kaldur tolerated it, but waited for the change in seasons to something colder. Dick just took each season as it came, with no preference. But neither of them turned Wally down when his plan was to forget the heat, and spend a day of summer break in the middle of the downtown district.

With the windows rolled down to catch a few traces of cool air, the radio was reduced to a muffled drone. The announcer redundantly supplied that it was hot and only going to get hotter as the day went on, along with the usual warning of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Kaldur could have stuck his hand out the window to prove the first forecast, and set his watch to the second. The Middleton storms worked like clockwork, thundering in regularly each day in waves and belts of rain soaked clouds. They kept the heat and dry from stretching into unbearable, and Kaldur breathed a little easier, knowing there was another on the way.

His pickup truck was a tough machine, but even it seemed hard pressed to keep its tires in a solid, un-melted state when Kaldur parked. Shade was in short supply that afternoon, as was cool air. There was only a hint of dark clouds starting to boil up on top of the mountains bordering the city, bruising against the sky.

Wally didn't worry about any of that. He flung himself straight out into the sun with a whoop as heat and light hit his face and picked out his freckles. He ducked under the truck roof as he leapt, already looking twitchy from having to wait during the ride. He swung his arms out as his sneakers smacked against the asphalt, rolling his shoulders to stretch them out and looking ready to take off…But he still paused and looked back at the others, waiting for Kaldur to give the go ahead, hooking a thumb into the pockets of some old worn shorts as he waited.

Kaldur guessed they had about a minute before Wally got really restless, and so he and Dick took their time easing their way out of the air conditioned cab, one foot at a time. As he left the car Kaldur shrugged on his jacket, frowning over the extra weight and heat the dark blue material put on his skin. Maybe in a few more hours he'd be grateful for it, but for now the fabric looked for places to cling to his skin, as he drew the zipper up and closed the collar around his throat.

"You know you don't have to wear that?" Dick took a slower exit out of the car, but still landed light on his feet. He didn't call attention to the fact that he'd opted for jeans and a shirt that probably cost more than Kaldur's weekly stipend…And Kaldur himself didn't want to comment on it.

"Normally I would not, but our priority is spending time together. That becomes more difficult if I need to spend time deflecting interest in these." He drew his fingers along his neck, and felt the change in normal skin and scar tissue under his touch. "Aside from that…The material is not that dense. Orin likely gave it to me for that reason."

"If you say so-" Dick might have said more, until Wally dashed back to them. He was all teeth with how he grinned.

"Now THIS is what I'm talking about! Summer afternoon, not a cloud in the sky, and a little place at the town square next to John's Tacos, just waiting for us to fill it!" To back that up, his stomach gave an appreciative, anxious gurgle.

"Come on, you guys." When enthusiasm didn't work with hurrying is friends along, Wally settled for needling. "Daylight isn't going to wait forever-"

There was a clear pause in Wally's voice, and when he glanced at Wally, Kaldur caught him sneaking a glance at the sky.

"It's okay. We've got a few days to go, and I've already got some supplies ready for the evening." Dick chimed in, also catching that look.

"Yeah, guess Robin has a point." The nickname earned Wally a glance over the top of Dick's sunglasses. They reflected Wally's freckled face back at him, all expensive dark tinted glass. Wally ignored that look, and continued. "We'll manage, right? We always do."

Kaldur tightened his lips to keep a frown at bay; Wally's voice had an odd quality, like he was trying to force confidence. It matched how he tried to hold himself straight up as he spoke. And with it came that odd listless feeling, trying to soak into all of them the same way the heat was pushing itself in.

"Eventually! But right now-" Wally jerked his head and mood free of that, nodding to the nearby square, the twitch and flare of his nose showing he already smelled fried tacos close by.

-o-o-o-

The town square was an old cobblestone affair, stretched in a patchwork circle of stone floors, stairs, and enough lazy branched cottonwood and oak trees to swallow up the noise of traffic from the nearby streets. The afternoon sun put everything in a warm orange glow, and encouraged people to move at a slow, leisurely pace between shops and spaces under the trees.

Dick knew that there couldn't be every student or teen in Middleton crammed in this one spot, but between the shade, the shops, and a multitude of familiar faces milling around, he was sure that half of the school population wasn't a far off guess. He was surprised they'd been able to nab their usual bench, under a lime colored leaf canopy and with a stray breeze from the fountain to cool what was otherwise a furnace.

"Now this is what I'm talking about! Summer with my pals, and nothing to worry over. No school, no pressure...and plenty of tacos. That's mmph-" Wally bit into another shell as he spoke, rolling his eyes back in exaggerated pleasure from the crunch.

Dick just gave a snort, glancing around the square instead. How a guy could have amazing hearing and not be wary or on alert was beyond him, but Dick himself could pick up the slack.

Even if there wasn't much in the way of suspicious going on at the moment. The most that could count as disruptive was the low hum of TV static in the background, from a small television seated above the door of a nearby sports bar and patio. The television was trying valiantly to pick up a full signal, but only succeeded halfway with a few fuzzy images. There was something in the grainy scrolling text about 'suspicious activity' before flashing a few facial composites. All he could pick out was a blonde portrait, before something else grabbed his attention. It was just a slight movement, but it pulled his eyes. Mainly because the figure he spotted tugged on his memory. Dark hair, a preference for purple, all things that reminded him of a classmate. Which in turn pushed his lips up into a smile the more he looked over the new face.

"Heeeey, looks like we're not the only ones with the right idea!" Wally said between mouthfuls, in the sort of voice he only reserved for talking about someone who met two requirements: being a member of the opposite sex, and who had given at least one of their little group the time of day. Dick did his best to ignore Wally, as the person in question actually noticed him glancing over and gave him a wave.

"Hey, Zee," he spoke, even if he wasn't sure how well his voice would carry. He was proud that any squeak in his voice stayed low key. It even got her to turn around and give him a glance, and a smile. She motioned to a glass door behind her, with 'books' printed in careful white hand lettering. Her voice wasn't raised, but she managed to pitch it to carry it over to him.

"Sorry, got some errands to run. Maybe catch you in a little bit?" Errands and fun, given how many books he could pick out inside. He guessed that 'little bit' might be a lot longer. He still gave a nod and watched her vanish inside.

"Familiar faces." Dick observed, glancing at another dark haired figure moving through the crowds. Someone he'd seen around lately, but didn't know much about aside from being a transfer student for the new semester, and always seemed to have a permanent scowl attached to his face.

"And trouble." Kaldur spoke up. Following his gaze, Dick fought to keep his face blank and his posture relaxed. No sense in inviting trouble just yet...even if trouble looked determined to find them anyway, in the shape of three unwelcome newcomers. Unlike Black Hair And Shirt, (he needed to come up with a better moniker, Dick knew), the stormy attitude they carried was a lot more malignant. It also looked ready to get vented on them. Even Wally stopped bolting down his tacos, instead moving a little closer to where they sat. A slight display of solidarity.

That at least kept the heavy grunts of the approaching trio from plowing straight into them, much as they looked ready to do just that. The two of them were brother and sister, from the facial resemblance. They both pulled off that narrow eyed, smug contempt as near mirrors, and they were both built for scuffles. Yet it was the scrawnier, more pale of the trio that actually lead the way, though only just. Dick could see how he was only two steps ahead of the others, if that. It made him wonder how stable the teen's leadership really was. With all of their hair, he couldn't tell if it was naturally that pale blond color, and in a way it didn't matter, given that it was already full of enough of hair gel and mousse to be at least sixty percent synthetic.

"Hiya, kids." The leader still had that irritating, cocky smirk as when Dick had first seen him in the school halls. (And had narrowly avoided getting stuffed into a locker. Freshman or not, being small and acing gymnastics counted for something.)

"Cameron." Kaldur's answer was measured, with a cool force behind it. It was a sharp contrast to Wally's bristling and the glare Dick gave over the top of his sunglasses.

Holding that icy glare for a little longer, Dick could finally put names and features to Cameron's pair of blond and bad tempered shadows. It was the amount of metal they had stuck in their faces that jogged his memory, mainly because he had to wonder how much of it was steel, and how much of it was silver.

"And Tommy. And Tuppence." He didn't say 'and who names their kids that' out loud, since they both looked ready to take the slightest provocation as a cue to explode.

"Look, my associates and I need some place to sit and look this place over, and your spot works just fine. So, are you going to move nicely, since I asked nicely?" There was a flash of teeth as Cameron spoke.

"Taking over people's benches? Seriously?" Dick let an edge of sharp laughter into his voice. "How much more alpha male can you get, Cam? Are you going to start beating your chest, too?"

He barely had time to lean backwards and brace his hands on the back of the bench, before Cameron loomed over him.

"You think you can back up that smart mouth, shrimp?" Over Cameron's shoulder, Dick could see the twins bunching up as well, both their hands balling into fists.

"Do YOU really think you can win this fight?" Wally shot back, already standing. Dick's fingers twitched and his hair started to prickle up from the tension in the air, until Kaldur stepped between Cameron and him. Kaldur's steps and stance were both sure, and as he took up the space, he also forced Cameron to step back. The teen had to give up ground to the person he was challenging. If Kaldur was satisfied by that, though, he gave no outward sign of it.

"Enough. This is not the time to test anyone's claim or boundaries." Dick picked out authority ringing in his words, something that Cameron couldn't match. From the way his hands went to fists, Cameron also knew it. Overhead the wind started to pick up with a hiss through the leaves. And cool as it was, it did nothing to ease tempers.

-o-o-o-

If this was the best Middleton could produce when it came to broadcast television, Megan didn't think much of her chances for survival. The image of a blonde young girl couldn't stay solid on the screen without turning into a scramble of pixels. Those jittered in such a way that she wondered if the television was planning on simply exploding by working itself into enough of a static mess. Not the most important thing, she knew, but it still stuck in her mind as another difference from home.

It was mostly by luck and following the foot traffic that she'd reached the town square. It was surprisingly large, and with a dense amount of people coming and going, moving around pockets of settled teens and shoppers enjoying the afternoon. Even with the crowds, she felt self-conscious; the duffle bag she carried didn't look like normal tote and shopping bags. But since she was standing out of the main walking path, the looks she received were minimal so far and without any irritation.

Now if only she could convince herself that the spotty television reception wasn't a disastrous omen.

"You like watching static?" A voice in her ear almost made her shriek and leap a good foot into the air. Instead, Megan just produced a startled peep and a tiny hop as she spun around.

"I-I'm sorry, what did you say?" She found herself addressing a black shirt. Megan raised her head a half inch, just enough to see who had startled her, and whose shirt she was talking to. A pair of blue eyes looked down at her from under a jagged short cut mess of black hair. The structure in the face, thick shoulders and neck, plus the flatness of the shirt quickly told Megan that she was talking to a boy. He might have been her own age as well; he certainly pulled off the same bewildered look as well as she did.

"You like watching static?" He tried again. For a second Megan was sure she was being teased, until she saw the honest curiosity in his eyes. He also kept one eye on the TV, actually looking interested in it.

"I, I guess so?" Truth be told, she preferred clear images, and she hastened to add on. "I like normal TV but I guess this isn't...horrible, at least?"

If nothing else, it had climbed down to just being unsettling for her. That must have satisfied the newcomer, as he gave a nod and glanced back at the screen, prompting Megan to ask. "...Do you like it?"

"Yeah. It's kind of interesting. Sort of like snow in July. And it reminds me of-" At that, his mouth clamped shut, and a dark look crossed over his face, like the promised storm clouds predicted on the TV news. The glare wiped that curious, open interest away. Before she could ask, he grumbled, "Had something like it where I'm from. TV reception wasn't the greatest."

"O-oh?" Megan offered, but her voice didn't clear away that sudden change in mood. Though he at least didn't seem angry at her, which was evident in how he rolled his shoulders in a shrug and fixed his eyes on the TV.

"So...You're not from around here?" She felt a twinge of pride that her voice held steady when she asked. A head shake was her response, followed by the boy glancing at her own bags.

A knot pushed itself into her shoulders, as Megan wondered what questions her baggage might prompt from him. But as she watched him (and noticed that for a plain black shirt, the clothing looked pretty good on him) it occurred to Megan that the attention from him didn't feel too bad. Even if it left her with an odd jitter in her stomach and nervous scratching inside her chest. It was still at a manageable level though, enough that she could manage a lift at the edges of her lips that she hoped would be seen as a smile.

When he looked at her, that dark look flickered out for a second; she thought she even saw an echo of her smile on his face. It suited him better than that frown, Megan caught herself thinking...And prayed there wasn't any pink showing on her face as she spoke.

"Yeah, neither am I." It was weird, how the conversation almost made her feel normal, even with her bag leaning against her. She wanted to ask where he was from, maybe even talk about how different this state was compared to Iowa. Or she could always try complimenting his shirt-

The TV gave another squeak, and pulled her eyes back to it.

Someone inside must have fixed the transmission, since the screen cleared up. And while that should have cheered her, Megan couldn't help but notice a slightly disappointed look in her acquaintance's face. The news switched over from the weather to a daily article, and the color drained straight out of her face as Megan watched. Speculated animal attacks. Her heart went from a nervous flutter to full on pounding in her chest.

"I need to go," she blurted out, turning fast from the building, the TV screen, and a confused looking teenager. "I need to find someone."

A stray breeze caught in her hair as she moved, fanning it out behind her in a long red wave before Megan caught it back up in her hands and pulled it down.

'I should have spent one of the twenties on a haircut too,' she scolded herself; it was just another thing to make her noticeable, which was the LAST thing she wanted. There was even a moment where Megan wondered if she'd caught someone else's eyes and felt a prickling along her skin, but she brushed it off as imagination. She was in Middleton now; she should have had at least a few days lead on her troubles.

'But just a few days,' the sharp note in her head provided. Megan tried not to listen to it, instead trying to think of some place she might be able to find her uncle.

-o-o-o-

Kaldur stood his ground, immovable even with three pairs of eyes trying to stare him down. Dick still kept himself braced against the bench, wondering if any acrobatics or back flips could really help in this situation, or if he'd be fast enough to pull them off.

'Come on. You were an old hand at this with Haly's. Facing three hormone poisoned teens is nothing compared to flying around in the big top.' It did little to convince him that they could handle this situation if it turned ugly-

At least, until something else caught Cameron's attention. It was a flicker that twisted his head around, breaking eye contact completely with Kaldur. He stepped back to his seconds, and Dick could just pick out, "Forget it. We've got something more important."

And just like that, they turned and left, pushing their way through the crowds. When he was sure they weren't turning back, Dick turned to Kaldur and Wally. "You guys heard that too?"

"Yeah. Have to wonder what's so important to them that they'd give up this turf squabble they're so invested in..." Wally tilted his head, the angle making it look like he was trying to prick his ears forward.

"The smart move would probably be to stay out of trouble and just watch..." Wally's voice was unusually measured, almost calculating, but that only lasted until another grin split his face. "But the FUN move would be to see how much we can mess with their plans! Maybe it'll help pull you both out of the slump you're in, too. Little adrenaline never hurt, at least."

"Like you're never in the same mood." Dick retorted, remembering one too many evenings of having to listen to sigh after listless sigh as his friend sprawled on the couch and moaned about being bored. Dick stood up before Wally could protest, and kept his eyes trained on where Cam and the Terrors had vanished. Kaldur was moving as well, as he nodded to them both. His eyes focused on that space in the crowd, though Dick got the feeling that instead of looking for trouble, Kaldur was focused on whatever the rival group was searching for.

"There," Kaldur announced, eyes narrowed on something. What, Dick couldn't pick out, but he followed Kaldur as he moved into the crowd. Wally fell in one step ahead of him and one step behind Kaldur. They moved into the crowd as the murmur of voices and footsteps closed around them. Dick doubled his focus on following Kaldur, into whatever mess they were about to land themselves in.

'Well, at least Wally has a point. It's better than being bored.'

-o-o-o-

This was turning into a weird day. And Conner couldn't fully say that he minded that, because at least it meant he was feeling something other than restless and irritated. Those had been occasional visitors in Smallville, and had upgraded themselves to full time company since moving to Middleton.

Conner stared at the spot the stranger had left, as if he could get the girl and her duffle bag to materialize back if he watched it long enough. He'd already tried picking her out in the crowd, with no luck. Even with hair that was such a bright red, once it was lost behind several faces he wasn't able to pick it up.

He hadn't been lying when he said that he liked the static. The reception in Smallville wasn't all that stellar, even in the more urban part of town. Out on a farm with a rabbit eared television (which he was told was a relic of the times, even by his grandparent's standards), a little bit of snow static falling across the image was a constant feature with viewing television. Watching it clear up as the TV decided to stop fussing over the heat, he couldn't help but feel like he was losing another part of home. Even if he was getting a better view of what the actual image and subject of the current animal sightings was all about.

His first thought was that he was looking at a wolf. The second was that he was looking at the biggest wolf he'd ever seen, plus the distinct possibility that the news was running a special about a runaway animal from a steroids test facility. The thing on the screen looked like a mass of muscle, fangs, and claws, and someone had added fur on as an after-thought. Its color was dark brown; close to black with only a slight bit of coloring on the edges. But what really surprised him were the eyes; the photo was taken at an angle so that the face was just visible. It also might have just been another product of a blurred photo, but there seemed to be a spark of intelligence behind those brown irises.

All of that left him with a buzz of confusion lingering in his head, and the only answer for it was that Colorado had some really weird wolves moving in, as wildlife filtered down from the northern states. He'd heard something about more sightings, even in Smallville; that the wolves from Yellowstone and even Canada appeared to be slowly dispersing, down through the spine of the Rocky Mountains.

He'd just never imagined they looked like that. They were a far cry from any pictures in textbooks.

'Quit dwelling on that,' he scolded himself, looking back to where that girl had vanished into the crowd. A low ripple moving through all the people, making him pause. He even wondered if he glimpsed some red in the crowd, somewhere. On impulse, he pushed himself towards it and kept his eyes open for a familiar freckled face.

She'd smiled at him. That was something in short supply since leaving Smallville, and it wouldn't hurt to see it again. If he could find her in the crowd. And maybe figure out what spooked her in the first place.

A step, lunge, and a jump pushed Conner up and onto one of the giant concrete planters. He put a hand against a tree growing out of the soil and scanned the crowd from a higher point. A few passerby gave him some looks, but since they didn't match up with who he was looking for, Conner ignored them.

A stir in the crowd was harder to overlook. The shoppers parted around three figures pushing their way through, drawing Conner's attention. He picked out two boys and a girl, who moved in a way that they looked like they were cutting prey from a herd. And they were converging on a familiar flash of long red hair.

Conner jumped down and put on an extra burst of speed to where he'd seen them. There was a moment where he felt his shoulder blades itch, almost like the wolf on the screen had kept its eyes on him the whole time. His response was to grit his teeth, plunge after the others, and not look back.