Maybe that was why I didn’t hear him behind me.
The first I knew of any danger was when that big heavy paw came down on my shoulder.
I let out a yell. “Yiiiiiiiiieeeeee!”
A second huge paw clamped over my mouth, cutting off my scream.
And my air.
I had time for one last thought—there had been a werewolf hanging around and even the cat hadn’t sensed it.
Chapter 14
I twisted my neck and ducked my head, trying to get free.
“Sssshhhh!”
I froze and strained my eyes to see over my shoulder.
“Be quiet! Do you want to wake everybody up?”
It wasn’t a werewolf’s paws that had grabbed me, it was only Paul’s clammy hands.
“I heard you get up,” said Paul, letting me go. “I’m going with you.”
There was steel determination in his voice. But I wasn’t going to try and talk him out of it anyway. I was glad to have company. Already I felt less scared, although my heart was still pounding from having been grabbed. “You nearly gave me a heart attack,” I complained.
“Sorry,” said Paul. “But I didn’t know how to get your attention without making noise that might wake up my mom. She’d kill us if she caught us out here.” He looked up at the darkened windows as if afraid she might hear even his quietest whisper. “You’re going to check out Wolfe Industries, right?”
I nodded. We headed for the street and stuck close to the shadows, circling away from streetlights.
“I told Kim I thought she was imagining things,” said Paul in a quiet voice. “But I was only trying to stop her worrying. She’s right, Dad is acting weird. And it has something to do with his new job.”
“He’s a chemist, right?” I asked, my eyes probing the darkness for the slightest movement or a glint from glowing red eyes.
“Yes. But I don’t know what he’s working on,” said Paul. “We only moved to Fox Hollow because Wolfe Industries offered so much more money than his old job. But he was always kind of vague about what the company does. It seemed like he wasn’t really sure himself.”
We passed through the center of town without seeing anything or anyone and turned to the right, heading toward Fox Hollow Pond. It was so dark the surface of the pond looked like liquid metal, gray and shiny.
“I hope we’ll be able to go swimming here in the summer,” Paul said wistfully. “I hope all this is over by then.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I hope so, too.”
Circling the pond, we passed a small sandy beach. There was a dock built out a little way into the water and a rowboat was tied to the end of it. We could have a lot of fun here this summer—if we lived that long.
Leaving the pond behind, we started up a steep, thickly wooded hill. Along one whole side of the hill was a fenced-in area with some new half-finished buildings and a lot of construction equipment.
“That’s the new recreation area,” said Paul. “It looks like it’ll be done pretty soon. We’ll have fun there this summer.”
“Mmm,” I said, not really listening. My attention was drawn to the top of the hill where the trees had been cleared away to make room for the complex of buildings that made up Wolfe Industries. Glaring white lights blazed out from the roofs of the buildings like spikes jutting into the sky.
We trudged toward the lights, too tense to talk anymore. But we never made it that far.
Chapter 15
Suddenly a tall fence bristling with barbed wire rose up in front of us. The fence gave off a strange humming noise. It was clear we couldn’t get any closer to Wolfe Industries.
“I don’t remember this,” said Paul, sounding alarmed. “I came to work once with my dad when we first moved here. I’m sure there was no fence then.”
“What’s that noise?” I asked, noticing that the cotton fuzz on my sweatshirt was standing on end. My stomach started to get fluttery.
“It’s electrified,” said Paul. “They really don’t want anyone getting close. Come on. Let’s walk around it, see if there’s a way in.”
But there was no break in the fence. We came to a big double gate, wide enough for large trucks to pass through, but it was closed and locked with a huge padlock.
“I’ve never seen a lock that big,” breathed Paul.
We stood looking in through the gate. We could hear the dull thump of machinery rumbling from inside. After a while a small door opened in one of the buildings. Paul and I shrank quickly away from the fence, into the darkness.
A man came out. We couldn’t see what he was doing but he didn’t look sneaky or monsterlike or anything. He looked ordinary. After a minute he went back inside and closed the door again.
We stayed where we were a long time, watching. But nothing else happened. I began to think that maybe it was just an ordinary company, filled with ordinary working humans. Mr. Parker was probably just distracted by the exciting new product he was helping to develop, whatever it was.
I started to feel sleepy. “Paul, maybe we should go. I don’t think anything—”
A bloodcurdling howl suddenly drowned out my voice.
“AAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Chapter 16
Paul stiffened and grabbed my arm. “It’s coming from inside!”
As the awful sound died away, another howl started up.
“AAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!”
“It’s coming from the other side of the complex!” I exclaimed. My voice came out hoarse. All I wanted to do was get out of there. Fast.
“Come on,” urged Paul, pulling me toward the awful noise. “This way.”
We ran along the edge of the fence. The hum of the electric wires seemed to vibrate with my fright. It was darker at the back of the complex—so dark, anything might be hiding there.
Paul pointed to the one building that was lit up. “The howls must have come from there,” he suggested.
We crept closer. “I wish there was some way to get inside this fence,” said Paul.
I shuddered at the idea, but
