Red Rider's Hood

Marvin's soul. She wanted to destroy all the Wolves before Marvin got bit and was turned into one.

'Come on,' I said. We had reached the tree, and I grabbed the shafts sticking out of the bark. 'We've got time for a few more rounds. You want to try?'

'No thanks,' she said. 'My taste in weapons is a little less . . . medieval. Your grandma's been taking me out to the firing range. We're not using silver bullets, of course, but the princi­ple's the same.'

I shot through the quiver of arrows three more times before I began to get paranoid that one of the Wolves might wander into the park and find us. Only about half my shots hit the tree. I knew with a few more weeks of practice I'd be much better. The problem was, I didn't have a few more weeks. I had only three more days.

'I don't know, Red, it's like your heart isn't really in it.'

'Of course it is,' I told her, and to prove it I fired three more shots. All three nailed the tree.

I went over to Grandma's house to report on my progress that night. She was proud of me, but I could tell she was worried about me, too?and in more ways than one.

She listened without saying a word as I told about my early-morning session with the crossbow. When I was done she stared at me for a long time, thinking. Finally, just as the silence was about to turn uncomfortable, she nodded her head.

'You're doing good, Red,' she said. 'You're proving yourself every day.'

There was a mold on the dining-room table, holding about fifteen silver bullets.

'That's the last of them,' Grandma said. 'I've melted down every bit of silver in the house, and a whole bunch I got from the neighbors.' She glanced up at me. 'Will you be seeing Marissa tomorrow?' she asked. 'She couldn't come by tonight.'

I nodded. 'She's meeting me at practice again in the morning.'

Grandma went over to the cabinet next to the dining-room table and pulled out a drawer.

'Here.' She reached in and lifted out a paper bag, handing it to me. It was heavy, and I could hear something rattling around inside.

'There are thirty silver bullets in there.'

All at once I felt queasy, but if I got pale, Grandma didn't notice.

'Give them to Marissa when you see her,' she said.

'All thirty?'

'She'll need as many bullets as she can get, come the night of the hunt.'

The night of the hunt. It was getting real. This last week had flown by way too fast, and I don't know about Grandma and Marissa, but I didn't feel prepared.

I was back in the park for more crossbow practice the next morning?a drizzly dawn where it was hard to spot the tree through the mist. Marissa met me there, and I held up the paper bag Grandma had given me.

She looked at the pile of silver bullets inside the bag and shivered.

'That's a lot of silver,' she said. 'But it's not just about the ammo. I'm hoping I have what it takes to use them.'

I nodded, trying not to show her how scared I was, too.

I set the bag on the grass, on top of my jacket, and picked up the crossbow.

I went through the quiver quickly. I was getting better. More arrows were hitting the tree, more were closer to the target. I even hit the bull's-eye once.

Marissa's curiosity got the better of her, and she finally tried the crossbow herself. She was just as bad as I had been when I first started.

I practiced long past when I should have stopped, but I was making real progress, and what were the chances that one of the Wolves would stumble upon us? The park was so over­grown, you could barely see us from the street.

It was midmorning when the arrow slipped.

It was careless. I had just locked the last arrow into the crossbow and hadn't aimed it yet when my finger accidentally hit the trigger. Marissa and I watched in shock as the arrow went flying out of the park. We heard a crash of glass, then the blaring car alarm.

Marissa bounded through the bushes, retrieved the arrow from the car's interior, and came running back. She laughed when she saw my stricken face.

'Don't worry,' she said. 'You didn't kill anybody. But you have to be more careful.'

'Well, I'm done for today anyway,' I said, walking with her to the tree to retrieve the rest of the arrows.

Then we heard the voices.

'Over here.' It was A/C. 'It's this one.'

'Hey, the window's broken, but the stereo's still inside.' It was Warhead.

'Grab it.'

Marissa and I glanced at each other. My hand was already closing on the arrows in the tree.

'Hey?someone's coming!' I heard Loogie shout.

'So what? We didn't do it,' said Marvin.

'Yeah, but they don't know that!'

And then I heard the worst sound I could possibly hear: The four of them were rustling through the bushes, coming into the park to hide, and headed straight for us.

14 Adviser to the godfather

I quickly yanked the arrows out of the bark and handed them to Marissa, along with the crossbow. I slipped the quiver off my shoulder and handed that to her as well.

'Get in the bushes!' I said softly. 'Deep.'

She nodded and ducked as far as she could under the shrubs, just as A/C, Warhead, Marvin, and Loogie came into view.

'Well, well, he's here after all!' said Marvin, almost snarling at me.

'I see him,' said A/C. 'Took long enough to track you down.'

Track me down?

'What's the matter?' I said. 'Can't a guy take a walk?'

We were all standing next to the tree I was using for target practice. A/C crossed his arms and leaned against it. 'That's it?' he asked me. 'Just taking a walk? Nothing else going on?'

A/C's shoulder was just a few inches from the bark that was riddled with holes from the arrows. He hadn't noticed them yet. How could he not notice them, they looked like giant black holes to me!

I moved away from the tree, but kept eye contact with him. 'What else would be going on? It's getting closer to the full moon, and I'm kind of antsy, like I can't sit still, so I figured I'd take a walk.'

'I hear you,' A/C said, nodding. 'Anyway, Cedric wants to see you. He thinks you're avoiding him.'

'Avoiding him? No way.'

Warhead was to my right, directly in front of the bush Marissa was hiding under. He sniffed the air suspiciously, and I suddenly had an awful thought.

'Uh . . . by the way, how'd you find me here?' I asked.

A/C pointed at his nose. 'A werewolf's nose is his best friend?especially this close to the full moon.'

Warhead was still sniffing. He knew someone else had been here. Marvin might not have been a werewolf yet, but if he got close enough, I'll bet he'd recognize his sister's perfume. If they found her with the crossbow and arrows, it would be all over for us. So thinking fast, I said, 'Hey, Marvin?you just missed your sister.'

Warhead stopped sniffing, and Marvin snapped his eyes to me, glaring. 'What was she doing here?'

I matched his glare. 'Like I said, we were taking a walk.'

Then a corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. 'Looks like she finally wised up and ditched you.'

I wanted to match insult for insult, but I had to hold back that urge. Getting Marissa out of mind, if not out of