During the three nights of the full moon I had been a hideous monster. But I had learned how powerful and superior it felt to be a werewolf. As a monster I could see in the dark clear as day. I could smell living creatures wherever they hid from me, whether it was deep in the ground or high in a tree.
A werewolf could find Kim in a second.
The thought made my skin crawl. And then I heard a sound that turned me to stone. Something rustling in the dead leaves on the ground. It was the furtive noise of a big creature prowling the woods.
My heart hammered against my ribs. It was coming closer. A whiff of something foul and dead filled my nostrils. Whatever was out there, it wasn’t human.
A twig cracked behind me. I jumped, my skin tingling all over, and whipped around. But all I could see was darkness everywhere.
I whipped around again as I heard a growl at my back. My eyes strained to see. A black shape moved. The growl came again, low and rumbling, sounding amused.
“Grrrrrrrrrrrr.”
I knew that sound. The werewolf growl! I felt its eyes on me, watching me. My neck prickled as I sensed it staring, coming almost silently closer.
It was coming to get me.
My muscles tensed.
“Hehehehegrrrrrrrr.”
It was growling and laughing and smacking its jaws together in a frenzy of anticipation.
I ran.
But not quick enough. Its grip was strong enough to pull my shoulder out of its socket. Claws raked my arm.
I was caught.
Chapter 19
I flailed around, struggling to free myself from the creature. My hand grabbed something hard and rough.
A tree branch!
It was only a tree branch that had snagged me. Quickly I wrenched my pajama top free and raced toward the Parkers’ backyard. Twigs whipped across my face as I fled blindly out of the trees.
I heard heavy breathing over my shoulder.
But where was Kim? If the creature didn’t catch me, it would take out its rage on Kim. I had to do something to save her, but what?
The only thing I could do was scream once I got close enough to the house. If I could wake the family, maybe they could save Kim. Maybe they could even save me.
Blindly I ran, my face stinging. I felt the creature gaining on me but I couldn’t hear it over the ragged sound of my own harsh breathing. Ahead of me, lawn swept up to the house and faint moonlight glinted off the windows.
I looked longingly at the house.
Suddenly, out of the shadows, a floating shape darted right in front of me. I tried to swerve but it was too close.
“Ooomph!”
I smacked into something smaller and slighter than me, knocking it to the ground.
“Kim!”
It was Kim I had smashed into. She sat up slowly, shaking her head as if to clear it.
“Where am I?” she asked dreamily, looking around the backyard with a puzzled look on her face. “How did I get here?”
“Outside. You sleepw-walk,” I said, glancing nervously over my shoulder. But I no longer sensed the werewolf behind me. It had moved off, not willing to attack both of us for some reason.
Kim nodded, getting slowly to her feet. “That’s right,” she said. “I remember now, I was sleeping.” She looked into my face and laughed, crinkling her eyes. “What a way to wake up! You spoiled a perfectly wonderful dream.”
As happy and peaceful as she looked, her words made me shiver. “What dream?” I asked.
“I was dreaming about the wolves. Your wolves I guess.” She looked at me again, her face filled with wonder. “They were silvery and beautiful. They were dancing around a clearing and calling me to come and play with them. That’s where I was going in my dream. I was going to play with the wolves and learn their ways.”
A bad chill settled over me as she described her dream. It wasn’t the real wolves who sent dreams like that. It was the evil werewolves. They had tried to lure Kim out of her room and into the swamp where they waited for her with dripping fangs.
And they had almost succeeded.
But I couldn’t explain all this to her. She wouldn’t believe me. Or, even worse, if I told her about the werewolves, she would guess that I was one of them. How else would I know about their evil ways?
I couldn’t let Kim find out I was a monster.
“Come, Kim,” I said miserably. “We go inside now.”
She nodded, already looking sleepy again. “Funny,” she said. “I never sleepwalked before.”
I shivered. Would I have to stay awake every night to make sure she didn’t sleepwalk into the werewolves’ trap?
We headed back to the house, Kim yawning and me worrying and feeling awful.
“Good night, Gruff,” she said once we were inside the kitchen. “Thank you for waking me. I might have gotten lost in the woods if you hadn’t.” She smiled at me again and started upstairs.
“Good night, Kim,” I said, turning back to lock the back door.
But as I clicked the lock I happened to look out the kitchen window. A black figure darted out of the shadows and slithered along the shrubbery toward the front of the house.
I gasped. The werewolf must have followed us! And I never even heard it or felt it.
Without thinking I yanked open the door again and ran out into the night.
Chapter 20
I ran to the front of the house, after the werewolf.
But it had disappeared. I paused uncertainly, wondering which way to go.
A breeze sprang up and I tensed fearfully as the bushes alongside the house rustled as if something was moving around under them. Could the monster be hiding in the shrubbery, waiting to jump out at me as I passed?
Moving slowly, I peered into the bushes. I couldn’t see anything but spreading patches of darkness. In
