Chapter 27
I clung to the trunk of the tree with all my might. My insides were quivering.
Sniffing, the werewolf took a step in my direction.
I looked up into the tree, wondering if I could escape by climbing higher. The branches were thick and close together and the leaves would hide me. The creature might scent me but it wouldn’t be able to see where I was.
Carefully inching my way up the trunk I reached for the next branch. But as I started to pull myself up there was a sudden outbreak of noise on the ground. My heart lurched sideways in my chest. Were they all after me now?
Flattening myself against the tree trunk, I peered through the leaves. The werewolves were prancing and jumping excitedly. The creature that had been sniffing around my tree had gone back to join the others. All of them were staring at something on the ground, their red eyes glowing so hot they seemed to spark in the cool air.
I gasped as a human head slowly appeared, coming up out of the ground. A man’s shoulders followed. The werewolves fell silent, except for an occasional hiss of excitement—or was it fear? The air around me crackled with electricity.
As the man rose out of the earth, he raised his head. Moonlight fell on his face, and I saw it was Mr. Clawson! I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out.
Then Mr. Clawson stepped up onto the lawn and I saw it was only his cellar he’d come out of, not the ground itself. So there was still a chance he was only human. I realized my fingers were numb and loosened my grip on the tree. My muscles ached from tension but I didn’t dare move.
The werewolves gathered around him, circling and murmuring. Mr. Clawson snapped his fingers at them and they spat and cringed away. Ignoring the werewolves, Mr. Clawson lifted his hands toward the moon.
His whole body shuddered. He seemed to swell with strength.
The monsters snarled and hissed as if they’d like to tear him to pieces—if they weren’t so scared of him.
But they were scared. Even the evil werewolves shrank in fear from him. Then Mr. Clawson threw back his head and a great roar issued from his thickening throat.
I stared in horror as I recognized what he had become!
Chapter 28
The grass burned where Mr. Clawson’s long yellow fangs dripped saliva onto the ground. He dropped to all fours as muscles rippled along his back and legs. Thick gray hairs sprouted all over his body as his clothing burst at the seams and fell away.
Mr. Clawson, our school principal, was the biggest, most dangerous of the monsters who had chased me through the swamp. He was Ripper, the leader of the werewolves, the one who had found me the night of my first wereing. It was Ripper who tried to make me kill. Once I tasted blood I would be like them—like him—forever. I had escaped him once but could I do it again?
Watching him change, I trembled with fright. He was so strong and I was so small and weak. How could I ever stop him?
Once the Change was complete Ripper sucked in a huge lungful of air and rose up on his hind legs. The other werewolves gathered around him, cringing from the reach of his long curved claws. They waited for his command.
Ripper’s burning eyes stared them down. When all the werewolves were still as death, Ripper opened his great jaw, showing rows of glistening razor-sharp teeth.
His words echoed inside my head.
“My brothers, the time is soon. On the first night of the full moon we will take the children of Fox Hollow. Our bite will free them. Their blood will be our blood. There can be no escape.”
As these terrible words burned into my brain, a silent cheer went up from the listening werewolves and pounded in my head.
“We must be ready,” thundered Ripper, although the sleeping people of Fox Hollow would hear no sound. “Each of you knows what to do.”
“YESSSS!” screamed the werewolves inside my head. They began dancing with glee around their leader but stopped the instant he raised one claw-tipped hand.
“Go!” Ripper commanded. He took a step forward. The werewolves scattered out of his path, leaped into the air, and disappeared into the night.
The great werewolf Ripper stood motionless, the moon spilling cold light over his shaggy head and muscled shoulders.
I held my breath. What was he doing?
Ripper raised his head and shot one burning glance into my tree. I pressed myself against the rough bark, faint with terror. He knew I was here! He took a step toward the tree.
His voice boomed in my head. “There will be no escape!”
He lifted his hand and slashed at the tree. Tiny bits of shredded leaves rained down onto the ground.
In another moment he would rip me out of the tree.
Chapter 29
Then Ripper suddenly turned on his heel and strode away from me and the tree. His evil laughter trailed out behind him, fouling the air.
He disappeared down into Mr. Clawson’s cellar and the night was still again.
My knees were knocking so hard I couldn’t immediately climb down from the tree. I don’t remember how I got home or up to my bed. But I know I didn’t sleep.
Tomorrow is the first night of the full moon, I kept thinking, numbly. Tomorrow. When the moon rose, I, too, would become a monster but I could no longer run off to the swamp and leave my new friends in Fox Hollow. There was too much danger.
“We will take the children of Fox Hollow,” Ripper had promised. But he hadn’t said how. And I was the only one who could try to stop it from happening.
The next morning, first thing when I got to school, I went to Miss Possum. She took one look at the dark swollen circles under my eyes and bent her head with concern.
“What is it,
