He spun around and shoved me. “Get away from me, dog breath, or I’ll flatten you good!”
This time I didn’t go after him. I’d seen that arm he was hiding. It was bandaged. There was blood seeping through the bandage.
He’d been bitten.
Chapter 26
Rick had been bitten by a werewolf! He was one of them. I hurried home, my spine tingling with fear.
Mrs. Bookbinder was right—the werewolves were everywhere. They were getting to the kids now.
Rick must have been sent to the library by an adult werewolf. Sent to see what I was up to!
Beside me in the street a car slowed. I glanced over and two men were looking at me. They must be werewolves! They were going to drag me into the car and get rid of me! I took off running and was halfway down the street before I realized the car had just stopped at a stop sign and then gone on its way, paying no attention to me.
My poor brain was overreacting, seeing monsters everywhere.
I was so shaken I didn’t notice the knot of kids on the next corner until one of them called to me.
“Hey, Gruff, where’s Paul?” he asked, waving at me. “He was supposed to meet us.”
There were six of them, all boys from our class who got together after school to play baseball. They came up to me and stopped, all of them staring at me.
“Hi, guys,” I said. “Paul’s gone home. He was tired.”
A tall boy, Jim, whispered to his friend Bobby, who grinned. “That’s too bad,” said Jim. “Now we don’t have enough kids to play ball.”
“Why don’t you play, Gruff?” asked a third kid, Greg. “You get the rules mixed up sometimes but at least you have a good arm.”
“Yeah, come on,” chimed in the others.
I felt flattered. I’d never been invited without Paul. It gave me a kind of warm feeling inside. Then they started edging around me, hemming me in. Jim looked at Bobby, Bobby glanced at Greg, Greg nodded at Billy and Stewart. They stepped in closer—close enough to grab me.
My pulse started to race. I noticed Jim had a big Band-Aid on his elbow and Greg and Bobby were wearing long sleeves even though it was warm. Could they be werewolves? Secret glances passed between them again. “Come on, Gruff,” urged Stewart. “What do you say? Let’s go.”
“No. I—I have a lot of homework,” I said. I spun around but they had me completely surrounded. There was no way out. Could they be werewolves, sent to lure me away from town? Paul and I had seen too much last night. Now the adult werewolves wanted to get rid of us, me especially!
“Come on, Gruff, don’t be such a grind,” growled Jim.
“You can do your homework later,” said Bobby. “We need you here.”
I felt a clawlike hand grab my arm. “No!” I screamed, tearing my arm free. I dove between two of the boys and belted down the street, hearing their startled laughter ring out behind me.
I didn’t stop running until I reached home. But already I was wondering if I’d been wrong. Maybe they were just being friendly. I cringed to think how silly I looked running away like that. Unless they really were werewolves. Then it wasn’t silly at all.
Feeling totally mixed up, I headed upstairs. I was going to bolt my door and lock the window and take a nap. But when I passed Kim’s room I heard a sound that put all thoughts of sleep right out of my head.
A noise that chilled me to the bone.
Chapter 27
I hesitated outside Kim’s room. The sounds of sobbing wrenched my heart. “Kim?” I called out quietly and knocked on the door.
There was a pause in the sobbing, then a loud sniffle. “Come in, Gruff,” Kim said in a teary voice.
She was sitting on the edge of her bed, on her frilly pink bedspread, her face wet. The sparkles in her eyes were dim.
“What’s happened?” I asked, rushing over to her. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s Dad,” she said, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Something’s wrong with him!”
Anger and fear surged up inside me. “What did he do this time?” I demanded.
Kim shook her head, making her smooth hair spill over her face. I handed her a tissue from the box beside her. “Some of us kids are trying to get up a soccer league for this summer,” she said, hiccupping. “I went to ask him about being a coach. He growled at me to go away. Growled! He was almost snarling like an animal. It was horrible.”
“Maybe it’s just that he’s been so busy at work,” I said hesitantly. “He’s probably just tired and irritable.”
Kim looked at me wide-eyed, like I’d just failed her, too. “No,” she said forcefully. “That’s not it. He doesn’t listen anymore and he never wants us around. It’s like he’s someone else, not my dad at all.”
Kim burst into tears again. I sat beside her and comforted her as best I could. Kim was so happy and full of energy all the time. I’d never seen her like this. I thought about all the afternoons she’d given up playing with her friends to help me learn reading and arithmetic for school, how she always stood up for me when other kids made fun of the wolf-boy who’d grown up in the woods.
I looked around at the ruffled curtains and the hockey stick propped in the corner, the dolls arranged on a shelf and the baseball mitt under her desk. I had to find a way to help.
But could anyone make her dad the way he used to be? Could anyone defeat the werewolves?
I’d thought of a way to find out, but it was dangerous. So dangerous that thinking of it made my mouth go dry and my palms sweat. If I wanted to stop the werewolves I couldn’t wait much longer, no matter how scared I was. The moon was already showing in the afternoon
