Free The Menagerie #2 by Tui T. Sutherland

lit up his watch. “It’s almost midnight. If they haven’t changed already, that’s when it happens whether they want to or not.”
    â€œMost of the ones out here have changed already,” Keiko said, closing her eyes and reaching her arms out to either side. In the moonlit shadows, she looked like a horror-movie scarecrow.
    â€œHow many do you smell?” Logan asked.
    Keiko shook her head. “I think there are . . . eight.”
    Zoe inhaled sharply. “Eight unregistered werecreatures? That could be a pack—a whole pack of werewolves in Xanadu! Hunting sheep and sneaking into our Menagerie!”
    â€œThey’re not all werewolves,” Keiko went on. She glanced up at the trees. “As far as I can smell, perhaps only one werewolf, and then a whole variety of other things. Like, there’s a weresquirrel about ten minutes that way.”
    A weresquirrel? How does that even happen? “We’re looking for something a bit bigger than that,” Logan said.
    â€œAlthough maybe if we catch one of the werecreatures, he or she can lead us to the others,” Zoe suggested.
    â€œOne is still in human form, not far from here,” Keiko said, sniffing the air. “So he’ll be slower and easier to catch, if we hurry.”
    â€œLet’s go,” Logan said, jumping off the boulder.
    They followed Keiko, diving off the trail into the snapping arms of the trees, fallen leaves crunching under their shoes, wind tugging at their clothes. Logan ducked under a branch and tried not to think about who—or what—they might find out here in the dark.
    â€œHere!” Keiko held up her hand and stopped suddenly. Logan tripped over a tree root and sprawled into a pile of leaves. The ground was still wet from the previous night’s rainstorm, and his knees slid through mud. Damp leaves stuck to his hands as he climbed to his feet, trying to brush them off.
    He had never been out in the woods at night like this. Late-night activities in Chicago usually involved a lot more streetlights and taxicabs. And Dad. Dad had taken Logan to a couple of jazz club shows that went until midnight, but that was nothing like this. This was millions of stars. This was eerie whispering trees. This was oh, we might get eaten by a werewolf at any moment.
    A twig cracked not far away, and they all whirled toward the sound. Logan peered into the dark. Was that—someone moving?
    At the same moment, Keiko flung up her arm and pointed. A shape broke from the shadows and bolted into the forest.
    â€œHe’s seen us,” Blue said, but Logan and Zoe were already running after the mystery figure.
    And what do we do now? Logan had a moment to think. Catch the werewolf right before he turns into a wolf? No flaws in that plan . . .
    A bramble bush clawed painfully at his arm as he ran by. And then, up ahead, the fleeing stranger ran smack into a tree branch and keeled over like a cartoon character.
    â€œOWWW,” moaned a vaguely familiar-sounding voice.
    Logan slowed down and scrambled his flashlight out of his jacket pocket. Flicking it on, he approached cautiously. He could sense Zoe at his elbow, and he was pretty sure Blue and Keiko were close behind.
    â€œWho are you?” Logan called.
    â€œOh, no ,” the person groaned. The flashlight beam played across the back of a red sweater as he sat up and glanced at the sky. “No, no, no. Please go away. Don’t come near me right now. Please, I’m really serious.”
    â€œWhy?” said Logan. “What do you turn into?”
    The stranger froze, then whipped around abruptly to stare into the light.
    Logan and Zoe both gasped, and Logan dropped the flashlight.
    â€œ Marco? ” Zoe said as Logan scrambled for the flashlight through the leaves.
    Marco Jimenez , Logan thought. From our class at school. He suddenly remembered seeing Marco and his family in the reserve on Saturday, climbing into