Here we are, I managed to get enough time to write Chapter 4. It's a long one, but worth the read; things just keep getting more mysterious here. I used a lot more section breaks and POV shifts than I usually do, so I hope that it doesn't get too confusing. Enjoy and keep up the great reviews.


Gasps all around as the other wolves looked on in horror. Kate slowly pulled her paw back. Even she seemed stunned by this strange happening. Then she turned to Lilly and noticed for the first time that she had been talking to her sister.

"Lilly, you shouldn't be here," Kate said quietly. She led Lilly away.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" Lilly said. "It's my fault he's dead!"

"Well, yeah, it looks that way," Humphrey said.

Eve growled at him.

Humphrey realized he was in trouble. "Um, no, no, it's not your fault at all. I mean why would… why would it be your fault, am I right?"

Humphrey looked at Eve out of the corner of his eyes. He relaxed as it seemed that this had calmed her.

"Yes it is!" Lilly cried. She walked away in shame from the den and the rest of the wolves. She lowered her head and began to cry. "I just want to go home! I don't want anybody else to die because of me!"

Garth began to follow her. But then he turned back toward her parents, as though waiting for their advice. "Take care of her," Winston said. Garth nodded and followed Lilly to their den.

Now that those two were gone, Kate turned to Humphrey. She was angry. "What was that about my sister being responsible for killing another wolf?"

"Well, it looks that way, doesn't it?" Humphrey answered. "I mean, I'm just saying what everybody's thinking here. This is all tied to Lilly, so maybe it really is… her fault, he he."

"Kate dear," Eve said, "would you mind if I brutally dissected your mate?"

"Go right ahead," Kate said.

Eve began to approach Humphrey, who jumped behind Kate. "Come on, Kate," he said. "This is a joke, right? I mean, you're not really going to let your mom attack me?"

"Say you're sorry for accusing Lilly and maybe I'll think about it," Kate responded.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Humphrey said. "Now, please, don't let her kill me!"

"Okay, mom, let him keep his organs for a little while longer," Kate said. "I promise you can tear him apart next time he makes a mistake."

"Won't be that long, then," Eve grumbled.

"But this isn't Lilly's fault," Kate said, turning to Zack and Nick. "It's your fault! If you would have just gone back home like dad said, your friend would not have been killed. It's your ghost hunting that caused all this!"

"Hey, lady," Zack said, "you can't talk to us like that. Ghost hunters provide a valuable public service, just like cops, doctors."

"And magicians," Nick added.

"And magicians," Zack agreed. "So you can't say that we're to blame!"

"Maybe not," Kate replied, "but my mom can!" Eve growled behind her.

Zack and Nick jumped back. "Okay," Zack said, "but we'll fix it! We'll go back there tomorrow and then we'll get all the data we need to stop the ghost!"

Kate was unimpressed. "But what if the ghost kills one of you again?"

Zack laughed. "Everybody knows that ghosts don't appear during the daytime! It's scientifically proven that the sun's rays interfere with the functioning of ghost-atoms and cause them to explode."

Kate shook her head. "I cannot believe I am having this conversation right now. But we are not giving you permission to go down there."

"Like we need your permission!" Zack said, pushing past her. "Come on, Nick! We'll show them how real ghost hunters catch a ghost!"

Kate began to follow them but Winston stopped her. "Let them go," he said. "We might as well let them try again. If they fail, your mother can tear them apart."

Eve smiled. "Oh, honey, you're always so good to me!"


Zack and Nick wandered around the Haunted Caves. It was a bright, sunny morning without a cloud in the sky. But this place was still eerie, still very frightening. The place still gave the intrepid ghost hunters chills.

"Hey, look at this!" Nick said as he pointed his nose toward the ground. Zack came running.

"It's paw-prints, Aaron's paw-prints!" Zack said. "But what are those?"

He had seen another set of paw-prints following Aaron's. Zack ran one of his paws over them.

"Ooh!" he said as he pulled his paw back. "Those prints are burning hot! I think I've lost feeling in my paw!"

"Do you think they could have something to do with the ghost?" Nick said.

"No, Nick," Zack answered sarcastically, "I think it was a normal animal that leaves burning paw-prints!"

"Too bad, it looked like such a promising lead," Nick said, taking Zack seriously.

Zack hit him with his injured paw, causing both to yelp in pain.

When Zack had recovered, he studied the paw-prints again. "The problem is that these prints don't go anywhere. They just kind of stop with Aaron's. I don't know what we should do to find this ghost."

"We could look for another squirrel," Nick said.

"Another squirrel? Really?" But then Zack began to think. "Hold on… that just might work! Let's do it!"

Zack began to walk away. But then Nick noticed something.

"Hey," he said, "these tracks may not go anywhere. But they come from somewhere. If we just follow them to the place they came from, we might find the ghost!"

Zack rolled his eyes. "if you want to waste your time on that, go ahead. I'm going to follow up a real lead – the squirrel!"

Nick shrugged as Zack walked off. He decided to trace the paw-prints to their origin. They led him to the large old cave, where they just seemed to stop. Nick looked all around but could not see any more paw-prints in the cave or outside it.

"Hmm, maybe it was a dead-end after all," Nick said. He didn't notice the black mist forming around his legs.


Winston and Eve were just waking up, ready for another day. They both felt refreshed. Sleep had given them strength and made the horrors of the previous few days seem far away. This was not to last.

Garth burst into the den, Lilly passed out on his back. "It's happening again!" he shouted.


Nick continued to look into the cave, but couldn't see anything. He was starting to get nervous. It seemed especially frightening now that he was covered in darkness.

"Zack," he called out, "are you sure the ghosts aren't going to attack?"

"Yeah," Zack called back from far away, "I told you ghosts don't come out in the daytime!"

"Yeah, but it's night!" Nick called back, getting very nervous as the blackness seemed about to suffocate him.

"It's eighty-thirty in the morning!" Zack called back.

Nick looked up at the mist of darkness surrounding him. "Oh, so that isn't actually night. It's just a normal black mist swirling all around me. Nothing to worry about!"

Nick continued to investigate. But something occurred to him. "Hey, I wonder if that black mist could be a gh- Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Lilly screamed as she awoke. For the first few seconds, she had no idea where she was. Then she recognized her family standing around her.

"Hey, guys," she said. "Why's everybody looking at me. Unless… oh, no, it didn't happen again, did it?"

"It's alright, dear," Eve said, patting Lilly's shoulder and trying to be reassuring. But Lilly could tell that she was scared.

"So, he he, I guess we know what happened to the ghost hunters?" Humphrey said, using his cheerful demeanor to hide how terrified he was.

Kate began counting. "Three… two… one." When she finished, she pointed toward the den entrance.

Sure enough, Zack came running in, carrying Nick over his back.

"Now we do," Kate said.

Zack laid Nick down. Just like Aaron, he was babbling and laughing uncontrollably. He rolled around on the floor and let out a few shrieks. Everybody could only watch as he seemed to go even crazier than Aaron had.

"Isn't there anything we can do for him?" Lilly asked.

"No, dear," Winston responded. "We don't know how to fight this. We just have to wait. Unless our resident ghost expert has any ideas."

Zack seemed to be deep in thought. "You know, I'm starting to suspect that we could have a malevolent entity on our hands here."

"Really? You're just figuring out that something evil's at work?" Humphrey said.

"Hey, ghost hunting's a delicate process!" Zack said. "I just can't conclude something's evil because it goes around killing innocent people for no reason! I have do research first – as soon as I can find another television!"

"Some research," Humphrey and Kate muttered together.

"Garth, get Lilly out of here!" Winston ordered. "And don't bring her back under any circumstances! I don't want her here when–"

"I understand," Garth said. "Come on, Lilly." And he led his mate out of the den.


It was night. Garth and Lilly were about to go to sleep. Nothing had happened all day and they were starting to think that Lilly would not have another attack. It seemed as though the nightmare was finally coming to an end.

Garth smiled as Lilly cuddled up beside him. "It looks like we made it."

"Yeah," Lilly said with a smile. "I was so worried before. But now I think it's over."

"I'm just glad you're alright," Garth said. "I was afraid something really bad would happen to you."

Lilly nuzzled him. "I knew that nothing really bad could happen to me as long as you were th- Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Garth grabbed his ears in pain, as Lilly had screamed right into them. He closed his eyes until the screaming ended.

"I guess Nick's dead," he said.

He then looked over to Lilly. She was unconscious again. But this time, it seemed different. She seemed too still, almost as though the life was leaving her. Every few seconds, she would whimper a little, but otherwise she was completely silent.

Garth screamed. "No, Lilly! Lilly!"


In Eve and Winston's den, Nick let out an equally fearful scream and then was dead. While everybody had been expecting this, they were surprised that it had taken so long. But it was still unnerving when it happened.

"He's gone," Winston said after a few moments. "Examine his body and then throw it with the other one."

Kate examined the body. "The same mark, that same black mark is on his shoulder! What is that thing?"

"Tattoo?" Humphrey asked.

"But it was on Aaron and Lilly too. Something's definitely wrong. We have to do something. I'm going down to the Haunted Caves. I'm going to figure out what's happening here and put a stop to it once and for all!"

Zack laughed. "Ha! You can't go down there by yourself! You're not a highly-trained expert in ghost phenomena like I am!"

Kate smiled deviously. "That's why you're coming with me! I need someone who's at least been around when this thing attacked so that I know what to look for."

"What?" Zack yelled. "I'm not going back there! There a ghost down there and it could kill me!"

"Mom'll kill you if you don't," Kate said.

Zack glanced at Eve and nodded. "Good point!"

Winston and Eve were whispering to themselves. Once they had come to an agreement, Winston said, "Kate, we can't let you do this. We'll send someone else, Hutch or Can-do. It's too dangerous for you."

"But I'm the Head Alpha, it's my duty," Kate responded. "Besides, we don't have any time to lose. Who knows what will happen if we wait?"

Winston and Eve nodded hesitantly. They knew they had to let Kate go.

Kate walked out of the den and signaled Zack to follow her. But then she noticed Humphrey coming too.

"Humphrey, stay here," she said. "It's too dangerous for an Omega!"

But Humphrey was set on coming. "Kate, I'm not letting you go out there all by yourself with only this stooge for protection. I'm coming. I may not be as strong or as fast as you, but you know I've gotten us out of some pretty tough places before."

Kate sighed. "Okay, you can come. But if you get yourself killed, I'm going to kill you!"

Humphrey smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it, Kate."

Kate rolled her eyes as she began to lead them down the path. From there, they headed into the darkness of the valley. There was no going back now.


First it was the ghost hunters, but now Kate and Humphrey are putting themselves in danger. Will they survive? Also, what's happening to Lilly? Will she survive?

Read on.