Red Rider's Hood

stood up, taking a map out of his pocket, unfolding it on an air duct beside us. It was a map of the United States. More than twenty cities were marked off, claimed by each of the Wolves. I could sense a hint of the werewolf coming to the surface in Cedric. Whether it was a hunger for flesh, or a hunger for power, I didn't know.

'Pick yourself a city,' he said.

I looked at him, and at A/C and Klutz. I looked at Warhead and Marvin. I stood, and feeling lighter than air, I went over to the map. Klutz handed me a marker. The permanent kind.

'Go on,' Cedric said. 'Any city that's not already taken.'

I looked at the map, holding the marker in my hand. Any city I want. Grandma was right. This was a dangerous game.

'Denver,' I said. 'I want Denver.' And I marked the city with an X, claiming it in my name.

The next day I told Grandma that Cedric had big plans, but I didn't tell her what those plans were. I figured she didn't really need to know, since it really didn't change anything as far as she was concerned. Her goal. .. our goal... was to take out every single werewolf, and Cedric's plan didn't change that. 'He's smart,' I told Grandma. 'A lot smarter than you give him credit for.'

That was something Grandma did not want to hear. It upset her so bad, she burned the eggs she was cooking. That might not sound like much, but Grandma was the coolest customer I knew. Nothing ever seemed to rattle her. Even when the Wolves had locked us in her basement, she was calm.

'I was so sure he'd be like his grandfather,' she said. 'Xavier Soames was shortsighted and simpleminded. A werewolf with brains is a frightening foe.'

'Grandma,' I asked, 'you never did tell me how you got Xavier.'

Grandma cleaned out the burned pan.

'I didn't get him,' she said. 'Your grandfather did.' At first I thought she wasn't going to tell me any more, but she put the pan down and turned off the faucet. Her glasses were steamed up from the hot water, and when she took them off, I could see her eyes were a little moist, too. She sat down at the kitchen table, and I sat with her. 'We had gotten the rest of the gang, but we knew if we didn't get Xavier, he'd be able to gather a whole new pack, and so we couldn't wait. Your grandpa knew Xavier was going to be harder, more dangerous, than the rest. He was the strongest, the fastest, the most brutal of all of them. Your grandpa didn't want me to risk it, so on the next full moon, he snuck out alone, without telling me, to track Xavier down. Xavier had been hiding out for a month down by the docks. Your grandfather found him in an old, burned-out warehouse. He hoped to surprise him, catching him before the moon rose, but it didn't happen that way. By the time he found Xavier, he was already in wolf form, and hungry. Just before Xavier pounced, your grandfather raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

His aim was true, and the bullet sank deep in the werewolf's chest. It stunned him, but only for a moment?and even though your grandfather had filled up on wolfsbane tea, when a werewolf as powerful as Xavier is furious enough, it won't make a bit of difference.'

I was at the edge of my seat now. Grandma took a moment to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. This was hard on her, and I thought I knew what was coming next. I had always heard that Grandpa had died of blood poisoning. But was I about to find out he was really killed by a werewolf? Suddenly I didn't want to hear any more, but I couldn't stop listening.

'Your grandfather ran, Red. He had a plan, you see. He raced to his Harley, then took off, with Xavier right on his tail. Xavier must have known he had less than a minute to live before the silver of the bullet took effect, and he was deter­mined to take your grandfather with him. They were just at the edge of the river, and your grandfather blasted full-throttle down Pier Twenty-four, and soared off the end right into the ice-cold winter water. When he surfaced and looked back, he could see Xavier still there on the edge of the pier writhing in pain, his cells exploding from the inside out. From that icy water your grandfather watched Xavier die. It wasn't until he got home and told me the whole story that he noticed a small cut on his heel. Xavier had nipped at his heel just before he rode into the water. It was barely a scratch, but sometimes all it takes is a little bite.

'All the next day we sat together, waiting. If that tiny bite from Xavier had passed on the curse, we would know when the moon rose that night. At about four that afternoon, he went into the darkroom. 'I just want to make a few quick prints,' he said. 'To pass the time.' He was in there for more than an hour, and I began to get worried.' Grandma paused. I suppose she had never told this to anyone. 'I found him on the floor of the darkroom, with a small piece of paper in his mouth.'

Grandma didn't have to say another word. I knew exactly what had happened.

'Silver bromide!' I said. Grandma had taught me enough about photography over the years for me know about silver bromide?the stuff on photographic paper that makes it work. 'It was a piece of photographic paper in his mouth, wasn't it, Grandma?'

Grandma nodded, scrunching her face up to try to hold back the tears. 'To someone with the werewolf curse, the stuff's like cyanide. He left a note. He said this was a better test than waiting to see what happened when the moon rose. Because if he was a werewolf, he didn't want to live long enough to actually become one.'

Grandma cried, and I reached out to hold her hand. So in a way, it had been blood poisoning after all.

'I'm sorry,' I said.

Grandma quickly mopped up her tears. 'It was a long time ago. But if his sacrifice is going to mean anything, we have to finish the job. We have to get rid of Cedric Soames and his new gang, and make sure not a single one of them survives this full moon.' Then she took a good look at me. 'Is there anything else you found out about them? Anything that can help us?'

'Nothing else.'

'You sure?'

'Of course I'm sure.'

'All right, then.'

I didn't tell her that Cedric had offered me a city?or that part of me had liked the idea.

None of the Wolves questioned my loyalty anymore. They didn't look at me funny, didn't doubt my motives. Except, of course, for Marvin, who just got more and more bitter with every ounce of acceptance I got. I had respect down there in the Troll Bridge Hollow now, and it made me feel powerful. It was the kind of sneaky, addictive power that kept making you want more. I wasn't exactly sure why I had so much respect now. Maybe it was because I knew so much about 'the Con­federation of Werewolf Hunters,' which didn't even exist. I even made up names for some of them. I got them off the spines of books on my grandma's shelf and mixed them up. 'Herman King.' 'Stephen Melville.' Or maybe they respected me because I had ventured into the Canyons and had actually set foot in the Crypts' lair. Of course, the Wolves wouldn't admit that they were afraid of the Crypts.

'They're just a bunch of girls,' Klutz had said over a game of pool in the Cave one day. Some of the Wolves grunted in agreement.

'Just a bunch of girls, huh?' Cedric smacked him in the head. 'You're even dumber than you look. Girls can be just as tough as guys when they wanna be. Sometimes even tougher.' He took away Klutz's cue and made a shot for him, even though Cedric wasn't in the game. 'All I know is I wouldn't want another war with the Crypts?and I ain't ashamed to admit that either.' Then he gave Klutz a twisted grin. 'Of course, if you want to take them on by yourself, be my guest? and see if you don't end up like Bobby Tanaka.'

'Who's Bobby Tanaka?' I asked.

'You mean who . . . was Bobby Tanaka.'

A/C chuckled nervously. 'Yeah,' he explained, 'he was a Wolf, but the Crypts kinda put him in past tense.'

'Got him with silver?' I asked.

Cedric shook his head. 'No.'

'But I thought 'silverizing' was the only way to kill a were­wolf.'

'It is,' Cedric said. 'But some things are worse than death.'

It seemed to me the temperature in the room dropped, and the Wolves let out a collective shiver.

Klutz began to look a little pale, like all his macho was leak­ing out through the holes in his Nikes.

'We don't talk much about Bobby anymore,' Cedric said. 'Or the Crypts. They stay on their side of town; we stay on ours. Everybody's happy.'

'So why did I get sent over there?' I dared to ask. 'And who did she want you to send for three midnights in a row?'