My heart thumped with anticipation as Kim started moving slowly toward the window, her eyes sparkling with laughter. I remembered how she made jokes while she taught me to read and speak the human tongue. She never taunted me or made me feel stupid like some of the other kids did.
As she came closer to the window I stepped out of the trees, into a bright patch of moonlight. I could feel how the moon gleamed on my coat and how it made my eyes shine. Any second Kim would see me.
I took a deep breath to swell my great chest.
“Aaaargh!”
What I smelled at that moment brought me to my senses. I leaped back into the shelter of the trees and crouched, sniffing.
The foul stench burned my sensitive nose. It was a monster I smelled—a hideous, revolting werewolf.
And it was lurking in the trees, watching Kim and Paul!
Chapter 3
Anger boiled up inside me as I crept soundlessly to where the werewolf was hiding. The monster’s revolting odor was growing stronger with every careful step. Why was it spying on my friends?
Most likely it wanted to infect them with a bite, turning them into foul creatures like itself. Or maybe it hungered for their young blood.
Not if I got to it first! My claws itched to sink into the monster’s leathery back. Why was it here alone? Were the other werewolves planning something horrible? Maybe this one had been sent to make sure I stayed out of their way.
Baring my fangs, I was determined to get answers to all my questions. I crept closer. I could see the werewolf hiding behind a tree and staring up at the lighted window, its evil eyes glowing brilliant red. Strings of slobber dripped from its jaws and burned like acid when they hit the ground. The monster was staring so intently at my friends it wasn’t aware of me.
I knew I would only get one chance. The full-blooded werewolves were bigger and stronger than me. And I suspected they were more powerful in other ways, too—magical ways I knew nothing about. If I didn’t knock the monster down the first time, it would get me for sure.
I took a deep breath and leaped.
WHAM!
I landed on nothing but hard ground and dead leaves. The monster had been too quick for me. It was gone.
Disgusted with myself I started to brush the leaves and dirt off my paws. But some bits of it were stuck. I’d landed on something sticky. I brought my paw up to my face and sniffed.
Blood! My ears shot up and the hair along my back stood on end. I dropped to the ground and sniffed carefully all around. I found a few more drops, still sticky, as if the werewolf had bitten something not too long ago.
My blood ran cold. Was I too late? Had the werewolves already taken over Fox Hollow? Had they been busy in town while I was roaming the woods?
Tomorrow, I’d know the truth. Exhausted, I crept behind a tree and slept.
Buy The Wereing Now!
About the Authors
Rodman Philbrick grew up on the coast of New Hampshire and has been writing since the age of sixteen. For a number of years he published mystery and suspense fiction for adults. Brothers & Sinners won the Shamus Award in 1994, and two of his other detective novels were nominees. In 1993 his debut young adult novel, Freak the Mighty, won numerous honors, and in 1998 was made into the feature film The Mighty, starring Sharon Stone and James Gandolfini. Freak the Mighty has become a standard reading selection in thousands of classrooms worldwide, and there are more than three million copies in print. In 2010 Philbrick won a Newbery Honor for The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.
Lynn Harnett, who was married to Rodman Philbrick, passed away in 2012. She was a talented journalist, editor, and book reviewer, and she had a real knack for concocting scary stories that make the reader want to laugh, shriek with fear, and then turn the page to find out what happens next.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1996 by Rodman Philbrick and Lynn Harnett
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-4976-8539-0
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
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