Jessica slumped against the cafeteria wall, her meat-only sandwich untouched on the plastic tray beside her. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead like angry wasps, casting harsh shadows across her face as she watched Kevin and Salina settle into their usual spots at their corner table. The familiar scents of hundreds of students, cafeteria food, and industrial cleaners assaulted her enhanced werewolf senses, but she forced herself to focus past the overwhelming input.

"So get this," Jessica said, leaning forward until her long dark hair nearly dragged through her untouched lunch. "Have you heard of the news about the dead guards found last night at the museum?”

Kevin nodded, already invested, his turkey sandwich forgotten by mid-bite. Salina paused with her apple halfway to her black-painted lips, dark-lined eyes narrowing with interest beneath her perfectly styled bangs.

"Dad was at the scene," Jessica continued, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper. Her father's haunted expression from that morning flashed through her mind. "Said they looked like human raisins—completely dried up. And that's not even the weirdest part. The sarcophagus? Wide open, totally empty."

"Someone stole a mummy?" Kevin's brow furrowed as he pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up his nose, a nervous habit he'd had since middle school. "Who breaks into a museum just to steal a crusty old corpse?"

"That's just it." Jessica glanced around the crowded cafeteria, her heightened hearing picking up fragments of a dozen mundane conversations about homework and dating drama. None of them had any idea what was happening in their small town. She leaned even closer, forcing her friends to huddle in. "I don't think anyone stole it. I think it woke up."

Salina took a deliberate bite of her apple. “How can you tell?”

"Think about it. The guards were totally drained of life. The sarcophagus was opened from the inside—Dad said the locks were busted outward. And there were these weird marks all over the floor..." Jessica shuddered, remembering the photos she'd glimpsed on her father's desk that morning.

"Did you check the whole museum?" Salina asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Jessica shook her head, blonde strands of hair swaying with the motion. "Couldn't risk getting caught. Dad would flip if he knew I was snooping around a crime scene. He's already paranoid enough about keeping me safe from... The town's weirdness.”

"Well, we can't just sit here if there's a killer mummy on the loose," Kevin said, his voice dropping to match Jessica's hushed tone. His fingers drummed nervously against the cafeteria table. "We need to investigate before it attacks again."

"And how exactly do you propose we do that?" Salina arched an eyebrow, her silver septum ring catching the fluorescent light. "The place is probably crawling with cops."

A slow smile spread across Jessica's face, the kind that always made her friends both nervous. "Not at night it isn't."

Kevin groaned, slumping forward until his forehead hit the table. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret this?"

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*****

The museum loomed before them, a hulking shadow against the star-studded sky. The century-old stone edifice had always seemed impressive during school field trips, but at night it transformed into something almost threatening. Jessica's enhanced werewolf vision picked out every detail of the ornate stonework, the gargoyles perched on each corner looking particularly menacing in the darkness. The air was thick with the scents of stone, aged metal, and something else—something ancient and wrong that made her wolf instincts bristle.

"This is definitely going to get us arrested," Kevin muttered, fumbling with his UV flashlight. The device slipped through his trembling fingers, and Jessica caught it before it could clatter against the ground. "Thanks. Guess those reflexes come in handy."

Salina rolled her eyes, but there was fondness in the gesture. "Please. Give me some credit." She pulled a small cloth bag from her jacket pocket and began sprinkling a fine powder in a circle around them. The powder glittered like crushed starlight where it fell. "A simple concealment spell will keep us off the security cameras."

"Since when do you carry magical supplies to school?" Jessica asked, watching the powder fall with fascination. The scent tickled her nose—sage, lavender, and something metallic she couldn't identify.

"Since we started hunting monsters since you became one." Salina finished the circle and muttered something under her breath, the words carrying power that made Jessica's fur want to stand on end beneath her skin. A faint shimmer rippled through the air around them like heat waves off summer asphalt. "There. Now we just need to get inside."

Jessica led them to a side entrance, her enhanced hearing picking up the soft whir of the security cameras as they pivoted uselessly above. The lock was child's play for her werewolf strength—one quick twist and the door swung open with barely a creak. The metal groaned in protest but gave way like paper beneath her grip.

The museum's interior was eerily silent, their footsteps echoing off the marble floors despite their attempts at stealth. Moonlight filtered through the high windows, casting long shadows across the exhibits. Display cases loomed around them like silent sentinels, their contents barely visible in the dim light.

"The Egyptian wing is this way," Kevin whispered, pointing down a corridor lined with glass cases. Ancient artifacts watched their passage—ushabti figures, canopic jars, and ornate jewelry that had once adorned the noble dead.

They found the crime scene easily enough—yellow police tape crisscrossed the entrance to the exhibit hall, and the faint smell of chalk dust hung in the air from where the forensics team had worked. Jessica could still detect traces of death beneath it all, along with something else that made her hackles rise.

Jessica's nose wrinkled as they approached the sarcophagus, its lid askew and inner wrappings disturbingly empty. "Ugh. Smells like something died in there."

"You mean besides the mummy?" Kevin quipped, but his attempt at humor fell flat in the oppressive atmosphere.

"No, this is different. More... feline?" Jessica leaned closer, inhaling deeply despite her instincts screaming at her to back away. "Like a cat, but bigger. Way bigger. There's something else too—like old spices and dried blood."

Kevin switched on his UV light, sweeping it across the floor. Glowing footprints appeared in the beam—massive, padded prints with distinct claw marks at the tips. Each print was easily twice the size of Jessica's hand.

"Holy shit," Salina breathed. Her usual composure cracked as she gripped Jessica's arm. "Those aren't human tracks."

"Whatever came out of that sarcophagus," Jessica said, following the trail with her eyes, "it definitely wasn't your typical mummy. This is something else entirely."

They tracked the prints through the museum, Kevin's UV light revealing the creature's path. It had moved with purpose, heading straight for the exit without stopping to examine any other exhibits. The tracks spoke of power and grace—a predator that knew exactly where it was going.

"Look at how fresh these are," Kevin noted, crouching to survey one print more. His glasses reflected the purple glow of the UV light. "The phosphorescent residue is still active. This couldn't have happened over twelve hours ago."

"Which means whatever it is, it's still out there," Jessica said, a chill running down her spine despite her usually elevated body temperature. Her wolf senses were on high alert now, picking up minute changes in the air currents, catching traces of that strange feline scent growing stronger.

A scream split the night air, high and terrified, coming from the direction of town. All three of them froze, the sound echoing off the museum's marble walls like a death knell.

"I think we just found it," Salina whispered, her fingers already dipping into her pocket for more magical powder.

Jessica felt her nails lengthening into claws, her wolf rising closer to the surface in response to the threat. Whatever they were hunting—or whatever was hunting them—was no longer content to stay hidden in the shadows of history.