Chapter 13

I crouched, cringing in terror.

But I felt the power flowing into my haunches. I jumped, and the force of my muscles lifted me up, over the heads of the shrieking beasts. Their questing claws just missed me.

When I landed, I found myself clinging to the swaying branches of a tall tree. Scrambling up higher, I perched at the top, my chest heaving.

“There he is! In the tree! Get him!”

Below me the pack of night creatures gathered around the tree, peering up. Their piercing red eyes found me easily.

They snuffled and whined below me. “Why do you run, little one?” they taunted, their uplifted faces grinning horribly. “What are you afraid of?”

I shuddered as their voices sifted up through the tree, making the leaves shiver.

They began to scrape their claws against the bark. “You are one of us!” they howled inside my head. “Come down and let us show you the way of the night!”

I shuddered, trying to shut out the snarling sounds—and that’s when I happened to notice my hands, grasping the branch in the cool moonlight.

My fingernails had become sharp yellow claws that dug into the tree branch. My feet, too, curled around the branch in a way no Leg-walker or wolf feet could. But my claws were long and graceful, not scabbed and thick like theirs. And my feet were smooth, not gnarled.

Long hair covered my powerful arms and legs and my wolflike chest. But even covered with mud it was silky looking, not wiry like the night creatures.

Maybe I was a monster, but I wasn’t like them! I wasn’t. I wasn’t!

I looked down at their burning eyes. Their long misshapen arms waved at me. They jumped from foot to foot on bowed, ugly legs.

They were horrible, evil! Nothing like me.

I shut my eyes, not wanting to see them. What did these twisted, red-eyed beasts want with me? I just wanted to run, find my wolf family, and show off my new power. I would never be like these disgusting creatures of the night. Never!

I kept my eyes screwed tightly shut, hoping they’d tire of taunting me and go away.

And after a while the low snickering laughter and sneering calls did stop. I started to breathe easier. Maybe it was all a dream. I was asleep, and when I woke up I’d be just Gruff again.

Then the air whooshed!

Something large landed right beside me on the branch.