Chapter 34

Mr. Grunter’s strong hands grabbed hold of me. He held me up in front of Mr. Clawson as easily as he’d grasp a sack of potatoes.

Mr. Clawson clucked his tongue and shook his head sympathetically. “Poor boy,” he said. “Clearly unbalanced. Perhaps it was too soon to bring him back to the woods. But we can’t let one boy ruin the whole field trip, can we?”

How could it be that no one else saw the twitching claw at the end of the finger he pointed at me?

“This is really too bad,” said Mr. Grunter with a sigh, shaking his head at me. “What should I do with him?” he asked.

“Lock him in my car,” said the principal, his eyes flashing red again. “He’ll be safe there. Safe enough.”

Mr. Grunter nodded and led me off the bus. I looked back. Kim and Paul were glum and sad. But I could see they were just worried that I was crazy. They still didn’t believe a word I’d said about the werewolves!

Still holding my shoulder carefully, as if he thought I might bolt or turn around and hit him or something, Mr. Grunter brought me to the black car. He opened the back door and nudged me inside.

“Sorry about this, Gruff,” said the gym teacher. “But it’s not often Mr. Clawson takes the kids out of school. They’d all be pretty upset if we had to cancel the field trip on account of you. But you’ll be fine here. Maybe you can take a nap until we get back. It won’t be more than a few hours. ‘Bye, Gruff.”

Mr. Grunter locked the car carefully and pocketed the keys. All the kids had already filed off the bus and formed two lines at the head of the trail.

With Mr. Clawson leading, they began to head down the trail and into the swamp.

My chest tightened. I began to feel like I couldn’t breathe. I banged on the window with my fists and yelled for them to stop. But the car was so heavily built, no one could hear me.

A few kids looked back before they disappeared into the woods. Kim and Paul waved in my direction, looking sad. I pressed my face against the car window, begging them not to go.

But I knew they couldn’t hear me. The windows of the car were so darkly tinted, they couldn’t even see me.

A moment later all the kids were gone, as if the swamp had swallowed them up.

I stared after them in disbelief. The monsters were going to get them and I was locked up in a metal box. Frantically I began pulling at the door handle next to me but it wouldn’t budge.

I had to get out of here.

The clearing was deathly quiet. And the sun was going down.