[Kale Allerion]

"I can't believe it," I sighed, sinking slowly too the floor, back against the cold marble pillar where Malek Malsum had stood just moments earlier. "After all that hard work, we just barely missed him."

The treacherous were-wolf's scent had led us to the porch of a large, stone building--a private schoolhouse. He and another were-beast had met here a few minutes before Gaius and I discovered their meeting place. The were-wolf's pungent smell still lingered in the air, mixed with that of another, smaller creature.

Up to this point, my brother and I detected, Malsum had been walking, so we had no trouble picking up his smell. But after he lingered by the schoolhouse for a moment, he ran. Thus, his scent became less and less obvious the more we followed it, until it completely disappeared altogether.

We were stuck.

Instead of finding answers as I'd hoped to, I was only left with more questions.

What is Malsum's mission here?
Where is he now?
Who is this mystery were-beast he met with?
And the most daunting question of all, Is he still as bent on vengence as he was the last time we met?

I closed my eyes, remembering that last, terrifying encounter. Before Malsum retreated, barely defeated by Gaius and myself, he swore that he would repay us for the suffering that we brought upon him. I could still see his firey eyes and gleaming white fangs as he growled, "Next time I see you...I'll kill you."

"Iola!" my brother's voice said sharply and suddenly, awaking me from my nightmarish thoughts. "Did you hear that?"

I jumped up, remembering the mysterious scent that filled the area.

"Hear what?" I asked.

Scritch...scritch...scritch...

"Hear that! Can you tell where it's coming from?"

Scritch...scritch...scritch...

My eyes scanned every nook and cranny of the entrance to the schoolhouse. I listened hard and finally discovered the source.

Scritch...scritch...scritch...

"On the roof," I answered. "In that left corner, I think...there."

I pointed, although there was nothing to be seen in the darkness. Gaius and I stared overhead, scarcely even breathing, but listening hard as the scratching noise slowly faded.

"It's stopped," Gaius whispered.

"Oh, really? Thank you, Gaius," I said, hoping my sarcastic tone would mask the fear I felt. "Maybe it was a mouse or something."

"I don't think so," my brother said, suspicious and still looking up at the roof. "I think that was Malsum's friend."

Maybe...a were-mouse?

For what seemed like hours, Gaius and I stood stiller than the pillars that surrounded us, searching for any sign of life. Nothing stirred. The sound had ceased. But somehow we knew that we were being watched.

All of a sudden, I felt someone's tiny finger jab me in the back. Chills ran up and down my spine and I screamed, whirling around to face the villain who haunted me and my brother--a small were-child with spiky hair, doubled over in laughter.