**Aly!** Garnet shouted as I turned tail and began running back down the path. **Aly! Where the hell are you going!?**

**Can't talk! Gotta call my folks!**

The park would close in a few hours. That wouldn't leave us much time to find the elven woman and question her as to Jimmy's whereabouts.

Ignoring the growls and snarls from other shifters and shouts from regular humans, I raced into the changing room and shifted. The shreds of my harness fluttered to the ground behind me as I slammed my thumb into the biomechanical lock.

Garnet thudded into the room behind me and took time releasing the straps of her harness before she shifted back. "What the fuck, girl?" she demanded, hands on hips, red hair in violent disarray around her face. "Where's the fire?"

The real answer surged to my lips, but cognizant of potential ramifications, I swallowed it back down. Turning away from Garnet, I yanked the bin open and started tearing through the pile of clothes for my phone.

"Alina Michaels!"

I jerked around and stared up into Garnet's fiery purple eyes. In the face of her disapproving glare, I relented. "Elves may have taken Jimmy Grabowski," I spluttered. "I gotta call my folks."

"No shit," Garnet hissed, eyes widening. She glanced hurriedly over her shoulder to check if anyone was listening in. Her voice dropped to a conspiratory whisper. "Shouldn't you call the police?"

Yeah, that would be the smart thing to do, right? "Their dogs can't and won't follow the trail," I told her, snatching my phone up from the bottom of the basket. "Their smell scares them shitless." Without waiting for a response, I pulled up my mother in the contact list. She picked up on the second ring.

"Done all ready?" she asked, sounding slightly confused.

"Mom, you need to get everyone down here," I said, twisting so that I could see if anyone was coming into the changing station.

"What—"

I didn't give her a chance to finish the question. "Garnet and I spotted an elf—a real, live elf, Mom. I think she's still in the park."

"Oh, okay—okay." She turned away from the mouthpiece and I could hear her shouting for my father. "We'll be there shortly. Don't move."

"Will do. Oh—can you bring my extra harness?"

"Sure thing. See you soon."

I thumbed the call closed and turned to look at Garnet.

"Mind letting me in on the whole story?" she asked, folding her arms and cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah," I replied. Placing the phone back into the basket, I slid it into the hold and keyed the lock shut. Now, all I had to do was wait for my family to arrive.

Well, that ... and clean up the remnants of my harness. Shit, those things were expensive. With a sigh, I bent to scrape Velcro and double-stitched nylon off the floor and recounted the events of the last few days.

Mom, Dad, Lucas, Wyatt and Rachael arrived a tense thirty minutes later. I leaned against the inner door of the changing room, tapping my foot. We had approximately two and a half hours before the park gates were shut in order to find the elf.

If we could find her at all.

As she entered the changing room, Mom said nothing but raised one eyebrow as she passed me the new harness. Blushing, I went to the rack and hung it on the hooks. After shifting, I went to join Garnet outside.

Mom emerged shortly thereafter in all of her Siberian tiger glory. She stalked out of the wide open door, muscles ripping with grace and power beneath her striped coat. It was hard not to admire my mother's animal form—mine was the grey ghost of snowy mountains, hers was a symbol for kings and emperors. I don't know why the magic chose the snow leopard for me, but there was always a reason for everything. Perhaps these events would answer that question.

Rachael popped out a few minutes later and we went to join the others. Dad, Lucas and Wyatt were waiting for us in a line, three massive male wolves with glowing purple eyes. Lucas's wolf had a red-brown pelt, while Wyatt's was chocolate with a white star on his forehead.

**Ready?** asked Dad.

Quickly, I relayed the question to Garnet as murmurs of assent passed between members of my family. We struck out at a trot, aiming for the stream where Garnet and I had first spotted the elven woman. If anyone remained in the park, I'm sure we presented a curious, if perhaps, alarming group. Outside of the military and gangs, it was rare to see so many of us together in public.

After showing my cousins where the elven woman had been, the siblings put their noses to the ground and began tracking. Between the three of them, I didn't doubt we'd find her today. Sighing, I hung back. Now, what could I do ...?

**What's wrong, kiddo?** Dad asked, tail swaying low at his heels.

My nose twitched, whiskers bristling outwards. I didn't often experience bouts of insecurity, but I had been the one to call them all in—and here I was, unable to help track. I said as much to my father.

**Mom said she was going to look for a big tree to watch from,** Dad told me, cocking his head. **Why don't you do that?**

Well, shit.

If I had been in human form, I would have smacked myself for not considering the possibility. My feline nose might be inferior in comparison to a wolf's, but my eyesight was not. Feeling better about my contributions to the group, I called out, **Thanks, Dad!** and went to do just that. Dad's soft mental chuckle drifted on the metaphysical wind.

Several yards downstream was a thick, sturdy maple tree; strips of shredded bark hung off its trunk like stiff ribbons. A blue flag stuck between two fat roots marked this old, scarred soul as being climbable. I wandered over and cocked my head, judging the distance between the ground and a thick bough. Muscles tensed and I leapt upwards and into the massive, outstretched limbs. There I lounged in a screen of fragrant leaves overlooking a good chunk of the stream, tail draped over the limb.

**You guys might want to get over here,** Rachael suddenly called out, sounding slightly panicky and excited at the same time.

Startled, I lifted my head. Geez, that didn't take long. I'd only just got up here.

**What is it?**

*What did you find?**

*Where are you?**

The multiple telepathic sendings tumbled over each other like clothes in a dryer, creating a tangled mess in my mind. Grimacing against the onslaught, I backed my rump up against the trunk of the tree and executed a tight turn. Sinking all four sets of black claws into the maple's eviscerated bark, I half ran, half slid down the tree and landed on the ground with barely a thud.

**Where are you?** my mother repeated, lifting her mental tone above that of my father and cousins.

**Down by the covered bridge.**

Garnet, seated by the bank of the stream, turned towards me quizzically. **What's going on?** she asked as three wolves and a Siberian tiger suddenly emerged from different points in the trees and converged.

Quickly, I filled her in, joining the knot of shifters. **Has anyone thought about what we're going to do if we end up finding her?** Garnet asked as we swung left.

That was a good question. A really good question. **Er, no?** We'd have to cross that bridge when we came to it—literally, as it were.

Garnet made a little sound of disbelief in her vixen throat. What else could I tell her? No one in my family had tracked someone with the intent on capturing them for questioning before. This was new territory for all of us.

We followed the stream all the way to where park officials had built a small wooden bridge to cross from one side to the other. From there, the path bent and twisted to the right, leading up to a second, covered, bridge. The roof was painted red, with the sides and floor boards left natural. The bridge stretched over the width of a deep ravine that cut through the thick cluster of trees for a hundred yards on both sides. A handful of thin trails cut through this area of the park, which was used by people on nature walks.

Our nails clicked on the old wooden floor boards as we jogged across, light streaming down from several windows cut into the sides to allow hikers a chance to look down into the ravine. Rachael waited for us on the other side, eyes bright, ears pricked. Her tail thumped on the hard-packed dirt.

**It picks up here,** she said, pawing at the ground with a forepaw. **I followed it for a bit before coming back.**

Dad nodded and looked over at my mother. Mom tilted her head to the side slightly, which was about as much of a shrug as she could achieve as a tiger.

**Well, what are we waiting for?** Wyatt said, shouldering forward. **Let's get on with it and find the elf.** He glanced at Lucas for confirmation.

As I relayed this to Garnet, my big red-brown cousin nodded.

**Now hold up,** my father said, planting his tan haunches on the dirt path. **We can't go in there guns blazing. We don't know what this elf is capable of.**

Wyatt's and Lucas's eyes met and they slowly sat down.

**What do we do, then, Dad?** I asked.

Dad turned his head and stared down the path. Lifting one hindleg, he idly scratched at his cheek. **We have to approach this as wolves,** he said at last, speaking slowly. Was it my imagination or did my father sound uncertain?

**How're we going to do that?** Wyatt demanded.

**Not all of us are wolves, Terry,** Mom adroitly reminded my father.

Dad snorted, ears flapping. **I know that,** he growled, then settled. **What I mean is, we have to fan out, circle the prey. We've all seen the documentaries,** he added, slightly exasperated.

We were definitely not in touch with our animal sides.

When I relayed Dad's words to Garnet, her ears pricked up. **I'm the smallest,** she said. **I can scout ahead.**

**Good idea,** Dad said.

With a wink of one bright purple eye, Garnet turned and dove muzzle-first into the brush. Although not true-fox small, she still managed to disappear from sight.

**Rachael,** Dad said, turning to my cousin. Rachael's creamy head lifted and her tail began to beat a tattoo on the ground. **You take lead. You covered this ground before. The rest of us ... we'll fan out, but keep each other in sight—if not telepathically.**

Nodding, we rose. I drifted to the left, my mother to the right, with the wolves in the middle.

God, I hope this goes well, I thought as we began to advance.