shaggy coat and ambled up to me, his long
tail swinging low and his eyes glowing with
recognition.
I threw my arms around his neck and
nuzzled my cheek close. He panted heavily,
and through his snout he huffed silvery puffs
of breath into the chilly night air. His heart
thumped rapidly in his massive chest.
“It’s all right, Magnus,” I soothed, my
voice muffled within the folds of his fur. “It’s
all over. There’s no chance that cat landed on
its feet from that height! It won’t be bothering
us anymore.”
Magnus gave a little whimpering yawn of
relief, and swinging his tail with more gladness
now, he led me out of the woods and watched
me until I was back inside the house.
For a moment longer he stood there, then
turned and trotted toward home, always keep-
ing under cover of the trees.TWO WEEKS LATER high school finally
started, and I was nervously drumming my
fingers over the top of a table as students I
had never met before filed into the classroom,
laughing and chatting familiarly among
themselves. The first class of the morning was
chemistry.
Too bad Magnus was a grade ahead
of me, I thought, wishing so much for the
comfort of one familiar face in a crowd of
strangers.
I sighed. At least I’d be seeing him after
school. Mom invited him over for dinner, and
despite my dire warning that meatloaf was on
the menu, he happily accepted.But then again, I told myself, high school
can’t be that weird, can it? And if I can over-
throw a murderous werecat without the aid
of any weapon other than my quick thinking,
then I can certainly overcome this silly fear of
making friends at a new school.
With this encouraging thought, I relaxed
in my seat.
“You must be new,” a cheerful voice said
in my ear. I glanced up just as a girl with long
brown hair scooted into the chair beside me.
“I’m Jana.”
“Gretal,” I returned with a grateful smile.
“I moved out hear from Wisconsin this
summer.”
“Hey, my aunt and uncle live in
Wisconsin!”
We then launched into a happy conversa-
tion about my former home state.
“My sister said we’ll like Ms. Davis,” Jana
told me, nodding to the desk at the front of the
room. And no sooner had she spoken the words
than Ms. Davis walked through the door.
“Good morning!” she sang in a cheery
voice. She was a tall, slender woman, with
cropped, inky black hair and dark eyes;
almost like coal, I thought. She put her bag
down on the chair and quickly arranged some
folders on the desk. “I hope everyone had a
wonderful summer break.”
Her dark eyes swept the classroom, and
when they fell on me, she flashed me a grin
and waved me to the front. “You must be the
new student I was told about,” she said. She
put her hand on my shoulder and urged me
to introduce myself to everyone.THANK
GOODNESS
THAT
WERECAT
IS GONE!
MEWY
WHEWY!