My stomach twisted in knots at the thought of facing off against the wolves again. The adrenaline still pumping through our systems was more than likely clouding our judgement.

Nick had shifted back into a tiger before slinking off into the trees, following Avalon and Avira and leaving me to take up the rear.

I stooped to pick up a stick, nearly as tall as me and thick like my arm, before jogging to catch up behind Avalon.

“Nice choice,” she whispered, nodding towards my stick.

“Well I can’t just keep hitting them with my satchel,” I whispered back, adjusting my grip to pull the stick in closer to my body, out of the way of the trees and underbrush we passed.

I spotted a bit of blue in the trees off to the side, followed closely by a glowing shape. Nick and Avira.

“So, you have a plan?”

“Find them, whack them, and chase them off,” Avalon responded, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. “You got something better?”

“Find the alpha,” I told her. “If we can send him fleeing, the others should scatter.”

“Great, which one’s the alpha?”

“No idea,” I admitted. “Probably the first one Nick scared off last time, since the rest followed.”

“Right. You got that Nick?”

A low rumble from the trees confirmed that he had heard.

“How far do you think they went?” I asked, straining to see through the trees.

Nick suddenly roared as the trees opened in front of us for a forty foot space littered with the carcasses of small forest creatures and, bizarrely, chewed metal sun representations. Oh yeah, there were also the four monster wolves and they were not happy.

Avalon ran towards the nearest one, swinging her stick and yelling a battle cry. Avira screeched while Nick leapt at the largest one.

I paused for a moment, watching the wolves, trying to figure out where their cues were coming from. I didn’t have more than a few heartbeats before having to defend, smacking a wolf in the flank as hard as I could.

I kept sneaking glances elsewhere as I took shots alongside Avalon. I caught one of the wolves darting towards the one in front of me before Nick slammed into it.

I swung my make-shift staff at the wolf in front of me, hitting its neck as hard as I could, trying to wind it or stun it, before yelling to Nick.

“It’s this one!”

“Are you sure?” Avalon asked over the clamour that filled the air.

I swung again, this time hitting the head so hard it met the ground, revealing a patch of blood crusting on its neck where Nick had bitten it.

“Yes,” I confirmed, before muttering “Of course it’s the one we choose to fight.”

“Hit the weak points,” Avalon told me.

“Like where?” I demanded.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, whacking the nose again, making the beast howl with rage.

Avalon and I dove to the sides as it pounced, snapping at us. I swung at its hind legs as I got to my feet, preparing for the next attack. Avalon moved in, slamming the muzzle once more before stepping back.

How do you take down a wolf? I thought as I narrowly avoided a nasty bite to the arm. Eyes, belly – not a chance of hitting that . . .

The wolf swiped at me. Acting on impulse, I grabbed the end of my stick and swung downwards, hitting the paw as hard as I could. The wolf howled and snarled, yanking its paw up like a human who stubbed their toe. I swung again, harder, hitting the other front paw as it snapped.

Avalon caught on, whacking away at the hind legs while its head was turned on me. I smacked its nose as it dove for me, avoiding the teeth but still getting the full force of the head, knocking me on my side.

Avalon crashed into its neck as it lunged at me, managing to twist its head just far enough to the side so it missed me.

Nick roared, taking the opportunity to leap from his fight to ours. He landed on the wolf and knocked it down. The other wolves came towards us, one limping and none of them sure of their attack.

“Get!” Avalon yelled at them, Avira picking up the cry and screeching it again and again. Nick batted at the alpha as it got to its feet, yelping and snarling and turning on its heels to run.

The four of us, the humans, the ghost, and the tiger-shaped nokken, took up the chase, running them farther and farther away, until the terrain grew rough and our feet could no longer find certain ground.

We kept up the call, between ragged breaths, watching them retreat into the shadows. The sun was nearly down.

“We did it?” I panted. “We actually chased away four Fenrir wolves without being killed?”

“Heck yeah!” Avalon cheered with a series of whoops.

“You girls plan on spending the entire summer risking your lives?” Nick asked, his form and colours blurring before once more becoming that of a boy.

“We can’t just let this mysterious town go undiscovered when we have the whole summer,” Avalon told him. “And what’s a Sherlock without her Watson?”

“Dead,” I answered. “Without John, Sherlock will be dead.”

“Well, then I guess you’re stuck with me.” She winked, and started back the way we came, hesitating slightly. “Now, how do we get back to the house?”

Avira drifted ahead of her, her blue form already fading as she led our way through the dark. I tallied the score in my head. Teenage human girls 3, mysterious creatures 0.