Red Rider's Hood

Marvin caught Marissa in his jaws, his huge mouth grabbing her by the waist, and he raced away with her. He ran down the street, carrying his sister, with Cedric right behind.

I chased them as far as I could, for about three blocks, but they were much too fast for me. I lost them.

Then I heard a gunning motorcycle directly behind me.

I turned around as Grandma caught up to me, looking at me with disbelief and fury.

'You tried to get me killed, Red. You're not even a Wolf yet, and you're serving me up to them!'

'That's not what happened, Grandma!'

'You're a traitor to your family!' She spat out the words. 'I don't know you anymore. And I don't want to.'

Grandma gunned her motorcycle and took off down the street, leaving me alone.

As soon as she was gone, I heard the sound of heavy paws running toward me down the street. I turned to face the were­wolf. I had nothing to protect myself with, but I wasn't going to die without seeing my attacker.

The wolf ran at full speed in my direction. I looked around for anything to defend myself with, but had nothing. Then I remembered the arrow I had fired, the one that had narrowly missed Marissa. It was behind me in the street.

I turned and ran for it, sliding into the gutter as I grabbed the arrow.

I turned to face the wolf, holding up the crossbow and fum­bling with the arrow as the wolf was nearly upon me, but I wasn't fast enough.

It leaped toward me?I braced for impact?but the wolf never came down.

Of all the crazy things I had seen that night, this was by far the craziest. . .

... because in midleap the werewolf began to change shape. It seemed to shrink in size, its wolf body collapsing to the size of a fox. Its front legs stretched, becoming flaps of skin, which turned into wings. Its rear legs and tail shrank to next to nothing.

The furry thing flapped its wings and sailed over my head. I craned my neck back to see where it was going. It flew crazily, as if it were just getting used to the feeling of flight, and then veered and took off to the north. I watched it until it flew out of sight behind a building.

I put my head back on the pavement and breathed out. I didn't even realize I had been holding my breath. I didn't want to think about what I had just seen, or what it meant. I just wanted to breathe in, and breathe out, assuring myself that I had made it through the battle, and that somehow I was still alive.

17 Chupacabra

I holed up that night in an empty Dumpster?maybe the same one Marvin had tossed me into weeks before, I don't know. I didn't sleep. I couldn't. Marvin had Marissa, and who knew what he had done with her; Grandma had lost her faith in me, and I had betrayed the Wolves. Playing both sides left me with no sides. I was now everyone's enemy.

I didn't know what the morning would bring . . . but when the sun rose, birds took to the skies, the sounds of morning filled the air, and it was as if the insanity of the night before never happened. I crawled out of my Dumpster to a disgust­ingly normal day. Buses came and went, full of people on their way to work. Tina Soames was playing out in front of her apart­ment building with her friends.

I decided I'd go home, if just for a few minutes, to clean up and unscramble my brain. The surviving Wolves would all be sleeping off the night somewhere, which meant I had a little bit of time before they came after me.

When I got home, the phone was ringing. I let the machine pick it up.

'Red? Where are you?' It was my dad. He and Mom were the lucky ones, off on their carefree Mediterranean vacation. 'We've been trying you for days. We've been trying your grandma. Is something wrong? Where are you?'

I had to pick up. 'Hi, Dad,' I said, trying to sound as nor­mal as possible.

'Where have you been? We've been calling and calling!'

I gave them lots of one-word answers, which I had become pretty skilled at. 'Fine . . . Good . . . Yeah . . . Fine . . . Okay...'

They were coming back in a week. How could I tell them that a week was as long as a lifetime now? 'Great. . . Fine . . . Yeah . . . Miss you, too. Bye.'

I took a shower, pretending that I could wash away the memory of last night along with the dirt. Then I made myself a bowl of canned soup, because it was the closest thing to 'com­fort food' I could find in the place. But before I could take a single spoonful, someone started pounding on the front door.

'Open up, Red! I know you're in there.' It was Cedric.

Boom, Boom, Boom. The whole apartment shook with his pounding. I thought werewolves couldn't resist the urge to sleep after changing back to human! That's what Grandma had said. I had to think fast. I grabbed my mom's shower cap from the bathroom, and a pair of pink fuzzy slippers.

Boom, Boom, Boom.

I raced into my parents' room and pulled down the shades.

Boom, Boom, Boom.

I dove under the covers, pulling them tight around me.

Boom, Boom, CRASH! The front door tore loose and smashed to the ground. I heard Cedric stomping around, until he appeared, a large silhouette in the doorway.

'Red?'

'How dare you break into our home!' I said in a high- pitched voice. 'Red's not here. Now go away, you hoodlum, before I call the police!'

Cedric slowly strode in. 'So, you're Red's mother?'

'I said leave!'

Still Cedric strode closer. 'My, my, ma'am. What big feet you have,' he said. 'You barely fit in those slippers of yours.'

'I'm warning you?I have nine-one-one on auto-dial.'

'My, my, ma'am,' said Cedric. 'What broad shoulders you have.'

'Runs in the family I'm picking up the phone.'

I reached for the phone, but Cedric grabbed it first. 'My, my, ma'am, what nail-bitten fingers you have.'

'From worrying about my Little Red.'

Cedric hurled the phone across the room. It shattered against the wall in a hundred pieces. Then he grabbed the cov­ers, tore them off, and pulled off my shower cap.

'I knew it!' he said. 'You're busted!'

I braced for the last and most painful moment of my life.

'After what you did last night you think you can just go back home, like nothing happened?'

I said nothing.

'You saved my life, man!' Cedric said. 'That changes every­thing.'

Saved his life? I was still speechless, but now for a whole dif­ferent reason.

'The way you stopped Marvin's sister when she was about to silverize me. The way you knocked down your own grandma when she was about to get A/C. You showed true loyalty, man. True loyalty.'

He thought I was shooting at Marissa! He had no idea I had been aiming at him. I couldn't believe it! I didn't know whether to laugh, or barf.

'You were right?there were dozens of hunters, coming after us from all directions. Little red laser spots everywhere! We should have been more careful.'

I tried to speak, but my voice came out squeaky, like I was still imitating my mother. I cleared my throat and tried again. 'How many Wolves did they get?'

'Too many.' Cedric shook his head angrily, his hands balled into fists. He smashed a hole in the wall, then