Midnight Howl by Clare Hutton

waterfalls, but I also like hiking, so why not the longer trail? I was about to say so, when I noticed that the Running Eagle Falls trail crossed several winding blue lines. Water. Running water.
    I looked at Hailey. She would probably choosethe same hike I did. Silver hadn’t bothered her, but that wasn’t a real superstition about werewolves, except for silver bullets (and I wasn’t going to shoot her). If she could cross running water, would that prove anything?
    Not entirely.
Something as vague as — what had Anderson said? —
some cultures say a werewolf can’t cross running water
— wasn’t going to make me stop wondering about Hailey. But if she couldn’t cross the water, or if she made an excuse not to cross it, then that would be more evidence that she
was
a werewolf. The experiment was definitely worth a try.
    “I think I’ll go to Running Eagle Falls,” I said firmly, looking straight at Hailey.
    “Okay,” she said. “Me too.”
    Lily frowned. “Shoot,” she said. “I thought for sure you two would come on the harder trail with me. Bonnie?”
    “Are you kidding?” asked Bonnie. “It’s either the easy trail or staying at the campground and painting my nails.”
    “Fine, then,” said Lily. “I bet Amber and Becka will come with me.”
    Bonnie laughed. “Amber will want to jog it.”
    After breakfast, Amber and Becka did decide to hike to Scenic Point with Lily, along with a few other kids and one of the chaperones. Some of the kids chose to do part of a longer trail, and Jack, Anderson, a bunch of other kids, Mr. Samuels, and one of the other chaperones came with us on the trek to Running Eagle Falls.
Good,
I thought.
I can see if Jack can cross running water, too.
    It had warmed up during breakfast, and it was a beautiful day. The air was clear and fresh. The snow high on the mountain peaks and the scent of the pine trees around us reminded me of Christmas. I realized that when Christmas came in a couple of months, I’d be going back to Austin. For the first time, I felt sad about leaving my friends here and going home.
    “Look,” said Jack, pointing up at the sky. Overhead, a huge bird circled, looking for prey.
    “Is it a hawk?” I said uncertainly.
    “A golden eagle,” he said. “There are almost three hundred species of birds in the park, and October’s still a pretty good time to see them.”
    “And animals,” Hailey added. “Look, there are fox tracks on the side of the trail, and if you watch the mountains, you might see goats.”
    I scanned the peaks, hoping to see a mountain goat climbing, but didn’t see anything. Above us, I could hear squirrels scolding in the trees. Hailey touched my arm and pointed, and I saw a huge white hare hop lazily away from the trail, avoiding us, but not seeming particularly scared.
    I could hear rushing water ahead of us and, as we rounded a bend in the trail, saw a rustic wooden bridge crossing a river.
Running water!
    I hung back a little to watch Hailey cross it. Jack strode on ahead of us, but Hailey hesitated. “What’s up?” she said. “Did you want to take a picture?”
    “Oh … yeah,” I said. I had forgotten about my camera, but I fished it out of my jacket pocket and snapped a picture of the bridge and the mountain rising behind it.
    Hailey stayed standing next to me. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, trying to tell if she was steeling herself to cross the bridge. “Are you coming?” she asked, a little impatiently.
    “Sure,” I said, and started walking, trying to be subtle about watching her.
    As we walked over the bridge, nothing happened until we were almost across. Then Hailey’s foot skidded, and she fell backward.
    “Hailey!” I said. “Are you okay?” She was just sitting there. I looked up the path to see if anyone was coming back, but no one had noticed. “Hailey!” I said again.
    Hailey pulled herself up, laughing. “What a klutz!” she said. “The wood is wet here.”
    “You’re not