Thesummerbeforeshewillstarthighschool,

Gretal moves with her mother and brother

BatfromMilwaukee,Wisconsin,toEverett,

Washington,wheretheyliveinthenearbytown

ofGraniteFalls.GretalandBatareaghastthat

theirmother,anaerospaceengineer,hastorelo-

catethefamilyforherjob,especiallybecausethey

leavebehindthegraveoftheirfather,whodied

twoyearsearlierinaboatingaccidentonLake

Michigan.

Afteraweekofunpacking,Gretaltakesa

bicycleridetoexplorehernew,heavilywooded

neighborhood.Ananimaldashesacrossherpath,

causinghertocrashherbike.Aboy,Magnus,

comesuptohelpandtellsherthattheanimal

wasabobcat.

Gretal’s mother really likes her new job, and

Bathasquicklymadesomegoodfriends.But

GretalhasmetonlyMagnus.Afewweekslater

IllustratedbyAnnaBron

text © 2018 by Sara Rajan, art © 2018 by Anna Bron

Gretal is confronted by a huge catlike animal

while she is walking alone on a remote hiking

path. Suddenly, an enormous wolf rushes past

and pounces on the weird cat. The wolf has the

same piercing gray eyes Gretel has seen before—

on Magnus.

Magnus confesses that he’s a werewolf. He

also tells Gretal that the animal that stalked

her was a werecat, which probably returned

to its human form after being chased off by

Magnus.

That night Gretal wakes up in her bed,

thinking an animal may have gotten into the

garbage canisters outside. When she looks out her

window, she sees two gleaming yellow eyes and

the fangs of a diabolic face against the glass. She

shuts her eyes tight, and in the morning awak-

ens in a cold sweat, still rattled from what she

thinks was a nightmare.

Part 3

by Sara Rajan

G

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