“Everybody,” Paul yelled. “Into the pool. Now!”
CRASH!
A werewolf paw punched through the rec building door and the howling outside built to a frenzy. People whimpered and clutched at one another.
“Come on!” Paul shouted urgently, his voice cracking with strain. “The monsters can’t get us in the water. Hurry!”
He started pushing people into the pool with Kim’s help. I stayed behind him, waving my long furry arms and growling. A few people got the message and jumped into the pool. Others, trying to escape me, fell in.
“Werewolves hate water!” Paul cried, shoving more people ahead of him. “It burns them. We’ll be safe in the water.”
Hurrying to get everybody into the water, I stumbled over the thick fire hose that was filling the pool and fell in a slick puddle of water. I skidded toward the pool on my back. Piercing screams hurt my ears as people rushed deeper into the water, thinking I was going to slide right in on top of them.
But I managed to stop myself, just short of the edge. I scrambled to my feet, surprised the water hadn’t burned me. But I’d been in water before without being hurt. It must be that my human half protected me.
The door splintered into pieces. Werewolves came pouring in. The air filled with the sound of screams and splashes as the last of the townspeople rushed toward the pool, diving, jumping, and falling into the water.
A window shattered as more werewolves forced their way inside, howling for blood. Then the noise of the monsters changed.
“ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!”
They bellowed in fury, catching sight of all the people huddled in the big swimming pool. Raging, they stomped around the pool, snarling and hissing in frustration.
All at once they fell silent and turned in a mass to face me. The silence was scarier than their horrible screams. They bared their fangs and fixed their glowing red eyes on me as if their glare would burn right through me.
“Come on,” I screamed at them inside my head, too shaky to think straight. “Come and get me you miserable monsters!”
Chapter 46
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGG!”
With an ear-splitting howl, the monsters rushed to attack, claws slashing the air.
Rooted to the spot, I dug my toe claws into the floor.
“Run, Gruff,” I heard Paul cry.
But I couldn’t. The red eyes crackled with fire as the whole pack crouched to spring. I forced myself to wait, not moving a muscle.
And the instant Ripper gave the signal to pounce, I snatched the fire hose out of the pool and reached behind me to turn it up full blast. Then I pointed it at the airborne werewolves.
Steam hissed and sizzled as the heavy stream of water crashed into the monsters. They shrieked and howled in pain and fear, falling on each other in their rush to get away.
The ones farthest away from me threw themselves through the windows and dived out the door, racing to escape. Clouds of steam billowed into the air, filling the rec building with fog so thick I could hardly see to aim my hose.
“AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!,” screamed the monsters. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIII!”
They slipped in the puddles of water and fought each other in their scramble to escape the hose.
“Let us go!” they cried into my head. “We won’t come back!”
“You bet you won’t,” I snarled and moved toward them with the hose.
Werewolves gibbered and whimpered, climbing on top of their fallen friends to reach high windows and leap out. They jammed the narrow doorway lashing at each other to make space for themselves.
The ones that got out quickly leaped the fence and melted away into the woods.
Then I heard a noise that made my heart swell with wonder.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Not a werewolf howl but Wolfmother! I heard an answering howl. Thornclaw, my wolffather! And then another came from my wolfbrother Sharpfang! My wolf family, the pack that had raised me lovingly from a baby, had come to help me again!
My wolf family’s attack howls were quickly joined by a hundred more wolves. They’d all come back to chase off the escaping werewolves.
I was so thrilled I forgot the hose. In a mad dash, the last of the werewolves in the rec building scrambled for the door. As they pushed each other aside in their hurry to get out, I recognized Mr. Parker.
My heart skipped. I couldn’t let him run off with the other werewolves. Quickly I brought the hose up again and aimed it at him. The stream of water fell short. I was too far away.
I ran forward and almost fell as the hose snagged on something. Another werewolf leaped over one of its injured friends and out the door. Mr. Parker was almost there. I tugged hard on the hose, grunting. It wouldn’t budge. Another few seconds and Mr. Parker would be gone—he’d be a monster forever and never come back to his family.
I looked to see what was tangling the hose. It was stuck on a pipe next to the pool. I grunted in frustration. Mr. Parker had his paw on the doorjamb. There was no time to free the hose.
“I’ve got it Gruff!” I looked back. It was Paul, pulling the hose free.
I stumbled as the water suddenly gushed out, harder than ever. Mr. Parker was half out the door. I hit him with the full force of the hose.
The water lifted him right into the air and slammed him headfirst into the wall.
The Parker werewolf went limp and slumped to the floor.
I dropped the hose. Mr. Parker didn’t move. The last of the werewolves leaped out the door and ran off into the woods. The howls of the real wolves grew fainter as they chased the monsters deeper into the boggy swamp.
I ran to Mr. Parker. His red eyes were closed.
Had I killed him instead of saving him?
Chapter 47
Moaning miserably, I leaned over the unconscious werewolf and bent my ear to his chest to listen for a heartbeat. I closed my eyes to concentrate.
A weight came down on my shoulder. I flinched and jumped three feet in the
