I jammed on my sneakers—I was dressed except for them—and quietly slipped out of my room. Before leaving I checked Kim’s room. She was sleeping peacefully.
Nobody woke as I tiptoed downstairs and let myself out. Locking the back door behind me I pocketed the key and set off. Out on the street I paused to gaze up at the house.
It was my home now. I felt safe there, even loved. Inside, life was peaceful.
But the Parker family was in great danger. I looked up at the golden moon and trembled at the thought of anything harming them.
They didn’t know a monster lived in their midst. Me.
But I wasn’t the worst of the nightmare. Oh, no. It would get worse.
Much worse.
Chapter 25
Keeping to the patchy shadows, I made my way to Mr. Clawson’s house. The moon was bright and I didn’t want anyone seeing me.
But as I sneaked along, scurrying from the shelter of a tree to the shadow of a bush, I wondered if what I was doing was foolish as well as dangerous.
Maybe there was nothing sinister about our school principal. It could be just like Mr. Clawson had said—that he thought I was a troublemaker and he didn’t want trouble at his school. He hadn’t said two words to me since that day at the gym when he told Mr. Grunter I might need to be locked up during the full moon.
And since then I’d been careful to do nothing that would attract attention. I’d stayed away from Rick and studied hard.
If Mr. Clawson was really concerned about protecting his students, maybe he’d had an instinct about me. Even normal humans could sense dangerous creatures. Mr. Clawson might have sensed the beast in me right from the start.
Sure, the werewolves prowled Fox Hollow in the darkness. But maybe I was the only monster who lived right in the midst of the unsuspecting people.
I turned down Mr. Clawson’s street, feeling sneaky and low. All the houses here were quiet and dark, just as they were all over town. Mr. Clawson’s house was the same as the others, no different.
And then I heard it. So close I almost jumped out of my skin and into the tree I was hiding under.
A howling!
“Aaaaaaooooooooooooo …”
Chapter 26
I peeled myself away from the tree as the mournful howl died away in a series of rough barks.
I sighed with relief. It was only a dog. A big powerful dog, from the sound of it, but still only a dog.
So Mr. Clawson had a dog after all, I thought. Miss Possum was wrong about him—Mr. Clawson did like animals. And I must be wrong about him, too.
I wanted to see the dog with my own eyes but I hesitated. It sounded mean and dangerous. What if it attacked me? What if Mr. Clawson found me here, messing with his dog?
I knew I should go home but I just couldn’t. Now that I was here I was determined to scope out that dog. There was an oak tree at the edge of Mr. Clawson’s yard and the animal’s howl came from that direction. Hunching low, I scurried along the front of the house to the shadow of the oak tree. If the dog ran at me I could always climb the tree to safety. Probably even Mr. Clawson wouldn’t think to look up into the branches of a tree.
I peered into the moonlit shadows behind Mr. Clawson’s house. A black shape moved. A chain rattled. I breathed a sigh of relief. The dog was chained. Boldly. I moved a little closer, out from under the safety of the tree.
Then I stopped, cold bumps raising on my arms and legs. The dog was chained in the yard of the house next door. It wasn’t Mr. Clawson’s dog after all!
Before I could dart away, back to the deep shadows under the oak tree, the big dog whined in fear. I froze. A large twisted shape crept out of the dark, toward the cowering dog. It snarled, softly and viciously.
The dog yelped and threw itself into the air, away from the menacing figure. The chain clanged as it stretched to its full length and yanked the dog backward. The dog fell heavily to the ground, yelping and whining madly.
The menacing shape threw back its head and laughed gleefully.
My blood ran icy in my veins. I felt paralyzed. I knew that sound. Then the creature turned its head and I saw the glow of its fiery red eyes. It was a werewolf!
I didn’t even dare breathe. Cold shivers ran down my back all the way to my toes. I felt moonlight pricking at the hair on my head. All the creature had to do was look my way and it would see me for sure.
The dog heaved itself up and ran again until again the chain jerked it back, almost choking it. The poor animal was crazed with fear.
Luckily for me the werewolf was so involved in teasing the dog it didn’t seem to know I was there. I forced myself to move, inching back into the shadows as the monster flicked its tongue and swiped its claws at the frenzied dog.
Slowly I moved, trying to make myself invisible as I crept back under the oak tree. When I felt its trunk against my back I grabbed hold of it and swung myself up into its lower branches.
Just in time. In the street another pair of red eyes glowed like wildfire. The second werewolf swiftly crossed the lawn toward the first. And then I saw another, its eyes burning holes in the night.
And then came another. And another.
They met in the moonlight, hissing and spitting at each other.
There were werewolves everywhere.
Then one of them lifted its snout and sniffed the air suspiciously. Its scraggly fur bristled. Baring its long yellow teeth in a snarl it began to turn toward the oak tree I was hiding in.
The werewolf had
