Paul sighed. “Take off those animal skins,” he said, acting out the words. He went behind me and shut the door while I stripped off my skins.
As soon as the door was closed the steam swarmed in on me, filling my nose and throat. I couldn’t breathe.
“Good,” said Paul. “Now get into the tub.”
I stood there, panic rising in me. This was no sun-warmed pond. These Legwalkers didn’t want to help me, they wanted to boil me! They wanted me dead!
“It’s not that bad,” said Paul. “I do it every day. Almost every day.”
When I still didn’t move, he frowned. I could see the menace in his face now. He was out to get me!
Paul grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the steaming water. Desperately I glanced at the window. It was closed and it was too small for me to fit through, anyway.
I had no choice.
I’d have to push Paul into the hot water. It would just be a quick push. I just needed to stop him long enough to run to his room and escape through his window.
I waited until we were right beside the tub. He gave me a push. I reached up and grabbed him by the back of the neck.
I was strong and he wasn’t expecting it. I twisted my hip and threw him off balance.
“Whoa!” yelled Paul. But in a flash he had grabbed my long hair and yanked me after him.
Chapter 44
Aaah! I was scalded. Paul’s hand thrashed up out of the water and—WOMP!—he pushed my head under.
I struggled up and grabbed hold of him to push him away. He slipped and went under the surface, dragging me with him. I heaved myself up and took a breath.
But Paul was making strange sputtering noises. Was he drowning? I tried to lift him, but my feet went out from under me. The tub was slippery. I reached for him again, but he twisted away.
Then, with a great splash, he burst out of the water.
“Wow,” said Paul, still sputtering. “You’re strong.” He was laughing!
Then he lunged for me and we were both thrashing and splashing in the water and I was laughing, too. It was just like the times Sharpfang and I wrestled each other in the pond until we were both exhausted.
Finally Paul stood, shaking his head and sending drops of water flying everywhere. “Look at this mess,” he said in an awed tone. “Mom’s going to kill us.”
Mom? Kill? I felt a leap of panic. Would the Mom Legwalker think I had tried to drown her cub? Was that why she would kill me?
But Paul didn’t seem worried. He got some things he called towels and sopped up the puddles of water on the floor. “There,” he said. “That ought to do it.” His wet clothes stuck to him and I realized he was almost as thin as me.
“Well as long as I’m in here I might as well show you what to do,” said Paul, who didn’t sound worried anymore.
After he’d acted out the bath he showed me how to empty the tub and turn on the shower, which was like a rainstorm for one person. Actually, it wasn’t until he showed me the shower that I really understood. Lots of times, in the summer at least, I’d use the rain to get clean.
Once I had the tub to myself, I discovered I kind of liked it. The water was warmer than any pond, almost the same temperature as my skin, and the sudsy soap felt slick and smelled nice.
Paul left me there, splashing in the tub, and the next thing I knew someone was pounding on the door.
“Gruff! You still in there?”
I’d fallen asleep!
It took me a minute to remember what Paul had showed me about emptying the tub and turning on the shower. And it took me a lot longer to figure out how to put on the strange-feeling skins Paul called clothes.
When finally I came back into his room, Paul was looking at pictures of monsters, just like he had been last night.
“I was beginning to think you’d drowned,” he said, tossing down the monster pictures.
Why was Paul so interested in monsters? Did he know about the werewolves? I picked up the thing with the pictures, made a puzzled face, and raised my eyebrows.
“That? That’s a comic book,” explained Paul. “Cool, isn’t it? I’ve got lots more, but right now it’s lunchtime and afterward Kim wants to give you an English lesson.”
Lunch turned out to mean food.
“Ham sandwich and milk,” said Kim.
I tried to eat it like she and Paul did, but around the meat there was all this doughy stuff that stuck to the roof of my mouth. When I took that off it was fine, although the meat didn’t taste like any animal I was familiar with.
Afterward Kim and Paul spent the whole day pointing at things and saying the names and making me say them.
They laughed at my voice, which I didn’t like much, but Kim said they couldn’t help it because I sounded like a rusty hinge. I didn’t know what that was and they couldn’t show me because, said Paul, Fox Hollow was a new town and didn’t have any rust yet.
“We’ve only lived here a month,” said Kim. “So we’re getting used to things, too, just like you.”
Just like me. If only she knew what “just like me” meant, she’d run screaming from the room.
Chapter 45
Later we had something called supper.
Mrs. Parker had everybody sit down and then she put something called plates in front of us.
On the plates were steaming piles of long white worms covered in slimy blood. Was this what humans ate?
“Yum, spaghetti and meatballs,” said Kim. “My favorite.”
Kim showed me how to use a fork. I watched her and Paul and Mr. and Mrs. Parker twirl the things on their forks
