Tired as I was, I couldn’t help thinking how the werewolf book had saved our lives last night. Maybe there was another book that held the secret of what the werewolves were plotting—and how to stop them.
The librarian greeted me from her desk as I entered. “Hello, Gruff,” she said cheerily. “Can I help you find something?”
“Uh, no, Mrs. Bookbinder,” I said, shifting my feet. “I thought I’d just look around a bit.”
She nodded, peering at me suspiciously over her glasses. I edged away and disappeared into the stacks as quick as I could. But I felt like her pebbly little eyes were following me, looking right through the shelves of books.
I started scanning the shelves, looking for titles that had “werewolf” or “monster” in them. But I could feel Mrs. Bookbinder watching me. I kept shrugging my shoulders, as if that would shake off the eery feeling of eyes boring holes in my back.
Was she one of them?
She’s only a little gray-haired lady, I told myself. She has a nice smile and twinkling brown eyes and she likes to see kids read. What would a sweet lady like Mrs. Bookbinder have to do with werewolves?
I slipped a book on mountain climbing off the shelf and hummed to myself, looking casually over my shoulder to see if Mrs. Bookbinder was watching me.
I got a surprise—the librarian had left her desk. The door to the library was shut. She was gone!
Maybe I could find another werewolf book and get out of there before she returned. I stuck the mountain climbing book back in its place and zipped around to the next stack.
“Yaack!” I squawked, startled.
The gray-haired librarian was standing there in the aisle, waiting for me. “I know what you’re afraid of,” she said, her eyes glittering strangely.
“You do?” My voice cracked. I almost stumbled backing away from her.
“The moon,” she whispered, searching my face. “You’re afraid of the full moon.”
Her clawlike hand reached out for me.
Chapter 24
My breath stuck in my chest as if a fist had choked off my windpipe.
Mrs. Bookbinder’s hand touched my shoulder. There were no claws. Her fingers were just fingers. “That’s when the werewolves come out in force,” she said, staring into my eyes. “That’s when they do their worst.”
“Werewolves?” I squeaked. “You know about them?”
Mrs. Bookbinder shuddered. “Fox Hollow is crawling with werewolves,” she confided. “I’ve seen them. Late at night they sneak through the streets to meet in the moonlight and undergo the wereing together. You must have seen them, too, or why would you be looking for books on the monsters?”
Her piercing eyes challenged me to answer her. “I—I’m not sure what you mean,” I stammered.
Mrs. Bookbinder frowned and sighed. “Unfortunately we don’t have any more books on werewolves in the library. They saw to that. They got rid of them all—except one. The best one. I hid that. And when they were gone, I put it back on the shelf, hoping someone would come along and find it. Somebody young and brave. Somebody who can find a way to save Fox Hollow.” She paused, her eyes gleaming behind the thick glasses. “Somebody like you.”
Me? I wasn’t brave. The only reason I knew about the werewolves was because I was one of them. Did she know my secret? I wanted to run right out of the room but my feet seemed frozen in place.
“Everything you need to know is in that book you found here,” she whispered, coming so close that strands of gray hair tickled my nose. “Read it carefully. Especially the ‘Rules of The Wereing.’”
I nodded vigorously, unable to speak.
“And remember, the werewolves are everywhere” she hissed, her breath hot on my face. “Turn around and they’re watching you from behind a human face.”
My heart pounded.
Suddenly there was a noise in the front of the room. Mrs. Bookbinder jumped back from me as if she’d been jerked away like a puppet on a string.
The library door cracked slowly open.
Chapter 25
“Hello?” It was a kid’s voice. “Anybody here?”
Mrs. Bookbinder stepped crisply out of the stacks. “Rick, how nice to see you,” she said. “And what a surprise. It’s not often you visit the library. Especially when school has been out for an hour. What brings you here so late?”
Rick! The school bully. Not that he looked like much of a bully right then. He looked kind of sheepish and embarrassed. He caught sight of me and stepped backward, toward the door. “I remembered I had this book,” he said. “I thought I better return it.”
Mrs. Bookbinder took the book from his outstretched hand. His other arm was hidden behind his back. “My, my,” said Mrs. Bookbinder. “This book isn’t due for another week. Now, that really is unlike you, Rick. But maybe you’re turning over a new leaf?”
“Uh, yeah, that’s right,” said Rick. His eyes flicked at me then he ducked his head and edged for the door.
Just then I had an idea. “Hey, Rick,” I called. “Wait up.”
Big Rick wouldn’t have come to the library just to return a book that wasn’t even due. Maybe he’d come for the same reason I had—to find out more about werewolves. Rick knew what it was like to be in the clutches of those monsters. He had good reason to want to stop them—and Paul and I could use all the help we could get.
I caught up with him in the hall. He still kept one arm behind his back. “Rick,” I whispered, looking around to make sure we were alone. “Have you seen any more werewolves?”
“Werewolves?” He jerked away from me, narrowing his eyes in that mean way he had. “Are you jabbering about monsters again? Grow up, pig face, there’s no such thing as monsters!”
For a second I just stood there, shocked, watching him stalking away from me. Then I knew what happened. Rick must think I was making fun of him, joking about monsters. I had to convince him I was for real. I ran after him
