Chapter 38

I slipped through the woods, my feet flying over the ground. I felt my body glowing in the moonlight. My skin tingled deliciously as if silver light ran in my veins instead of ordinary blood.

But I was so hungry. Hunger gnawed at my stomach. A pheasant, too terrified to stay hidden, burst from the bushes, flapping wildly. I could snatch it from the air with one swipe of my claws. My fangs dripped as I pictured how sweet the bird would taste.

But no. I remembered what Ripper had told me during the last full moon, when I became a monster for the first time. “After your first kill, little one, you will be one of us.” I shuddered. No matter how hungry I was, I didn’t dare kill anything, not even a mouse or a pheasant.

I would never be one of the werewolves. Never.

I swallowed my hunger and raced on, circling around behind my school friends. If I was going to scare them, I wanted them running back toward the bus, not deeper into the swamp where the werewolves were waiting.

Reaching the trail, I headed toward them, baring my fangs in the moonlight. I could hear the kids’ voices, frightened and confused.

“Hey, where’s Mr. Clawson?” cried Paul. “He was here a minute ago.”

My heart skipped and thudded in my chest. If Mr. Clawson had slipped away then it might already be too late. The werewolves would attack at any second!

I leaped into a bright patch of moonlight and howled, beating my breast with hairy fists.