Chapter 6
“Guys, don’t struggle,” Luna said from behind them. Kenny came out from behind the counter and grabbed Jack’s wrists.
“Jack, is that you?” Paul called out from somewhere in the store.
“Paul!” Jack replied. “Where are you?”
Jack elbowed Kenny in the stomach and broke free. “Let’s go,” he said to Nelson and Zeek. The three boys darted for a door toward the back of the store.
“It’s heavy,” Jack said. He tugged on the handle. “Help me!” Zeek and Nelson grabbed the handle too, but it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s locked,” Luna said. She stood next to the boys. “You really can’t escape.”
“If you don’t believe my granddaughter,” Grandma said, “take a peek through the window in the door.”
Jack glared at her. He got up on his tiptoes and looked in through the window. “It’s Paul!” he said. Inside, Paul was hunched in a corner, chained to the wall by his ankles.
“Jack!” Paul said when he spotted his brother at the window. “You have to get me out of here.”
Across from Paul was a big iron gate, dividing the dank-looking room in half.
On the other side of the gate, in the corner as far from Paul as possible, a dark figure was curled up.
“Is that . . . ,” Jack whispered.
Suddenly the figure sprang from the cement floor. It was huge and covered in hair. It, too, had a chain around its ankle. It saw Jack and tried to jump at the door, but the chain kept it far away. It growled and snarled, then let loose a wicked howl.
“It’s the werewolf,” Jack said. He spun to face Luna and Grandma. Then he said to Nelson over his shoulder, “They’ve got the werewolf in there with Paul.”
Grandma chuckled. “That isn’t the werewolf you saw,” she said. She pulled something from her pocket and rubbed it between her thumb and first finger.
“That’s the werewolf’s father in there,” Luna said. “Gary, the gas station owner.”
“Gary?” Jack repeated. “Then . . . you knew! You knew who had attacked Zeek all along. You knew my brother was walking into a death trap.”
Luna shrugged and smiled. “It’s what has to be done,” she said as she fiddled with the charm on her necklace. “When they’ve eaten, the beasts are calm. They don’t terrorize Ravens Pass, once they aren’t hungry anymore.”
“So you’re going to feed them my brother?” Jack snapped.
“And you three, as well,” Grandma said.
Just then, Kenny appeared behind the three boys. Grandma unlocked the door and swung it open.
Kenny and Luna shoved the three boys, sending them sprawling into the cold cement cell.
Jack got up quickly and went for the door, but it slammed shut in his face. He heard the bolt lock.
Past the gate, the werewolf father paced back and forth, eyeing the boys. His mouth hung open. His big, sharp teeth were shiny with drool and stained by old meat.
The boys were doomed.