Midnight Howl

by Clare Hutton

“Lily?” I breathed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “Lily?” Hailey echoed. “Marisol, you don’t think … Lily can’t be a wolf.”

  I was suddenly absolutely sure. There was a wolf in front of me, but I knew that it was my friend Lily. It wasn’t just the crescent moon mark on its leg that matched Lily’s birthmark, or the expression in its eyes that, now that I looked, seemed so familiar. The way the wolf stood, watching us, reminded me of Lily’s steady calm.

  “Wow,” I said. “No wonder she didn’t want me talking about werewolves.”

  The wolf pulled its lips back over its — her — pointed teeth as if she was smiling, agreeing with me. Or snarling, warning me.

  Another howl in the distance, closer this time.

  The wolf bounded toward me and I flinched. She grabbed the hem of my jeans gently in her teeth, without touching my skin, and began tugging me back toward the house.

  “Hailey!” I shouted, panicking. Lily tugged harder on my pant leg. A second wolf’s howl answered the first. They were coming closer.

  “I think we’d better go, Marisol,” Hailey said, her voice shaking. “I think we should do what she wants.”

  Lily dropped my pant leg and pushed her head against me hard. Then she shoved Hailey with her shoulder, pushing her back toward the house.

  “Come on!” Hailey said, and started to run.

  I glanced back into the woods. Were yellow eyes watching me from the darkness? Wolf-Lily, standing next to me, growled and pushed me again, then took off running, her long lope quickly taking her out of the clearing. I ran after her.

  Branches hit my arms and face, and I dropped the flashlight. I didn’t stop to pick it up. I stumbled and tripped over rocks and branches. Ahead of me, I could hear Hailey’s pounding feet as she ran. There was a thud as she fell, and I almost tripped over her.

  “Come on!” I said, pulling her up. “Come on!”

  We were both gasping for breath and staggering now. We held on to each other as we got close to the house. More howls erupted behind us. Were they on our trail?

  Suddenly, we were by the house again. The lights were still lit downstairs, and I fumbled for the doorknob, trying to be fast and quiet.

  “Marisol,” said Hailey softly beside me. She was staring out of the little circle of light cast by the house’s windows. I followed her eyes.

  In the shadows just outside the light stood the wolf. Lily? She growled softly and twitched her ears in an impatient way, as if saying, “What are you waiting for? Get inside now.”

  Instead, Hailey walked toward her.

  “Hailey,” I said warningly. I was sure it was Lily and that she was helping us, but still, I didn’t know how much of her was just Lily right now and how much was the wolf. I didn’t think it was a good idea to get too close to her if we could help it.

  Hailey kept going until she reached Lily, then knelt on the ground in front of her.

  “Lily?” Hailey said hesitantly, and held out her hand like she might to a dog. “Lily, thank you,” she said.

  The wolf sniffed her hand briefly, straight-legged and dignified, and then, very briefly, dipped her head before turning and disappearing, quickly and silently, back into the forest.

  “Wow,” said Hailey a few minutes later. “Just wow.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe this.”

  We had managed to slip back into the house and upstairs without anyone seeing us. I had half expected our parents to be either out searching for us or waiting by the door to ground us forever. But everything was quiet. Hailey and I were sitting on her bed, still totally shocked.

  “I never would have guessed,” said Hailey, shaking her head again. “And Lily. Wow, I mean, Lily is, like, the most normal person I know.”

  I thought for a long time before I said anything. “Listen, Hailey,” I said finally. “We can’t tell anyone about this.”

  She looked at me seriously. “I know,” she said. “We can’t. And who would believe us, anyway?”

  “Well …” I paused. “Anderson would. He’s staking out the gym teacher’s house right now to see if he turns into a monster.”

  Hailey giggled. “Anderson. Did I ever tell you about how in fourth grade he convinced me I had psychic powers? He had a bunch of us trying to start campfires with our minds. He’ll believe anything.”

  “I know.” I laughed.

  Hailey sat up straight. “Can you imagine how Lily must be feeling, though? We have to do something.”

  “Like what?” I said. “Make her an ‘it’s okay you’re a werewolf’ card? Take an oath of silence?”

  Hailey shrugged. “She probably is hoping we don’t really know.”

  A drawn-out howl rose outside in the distance. I shivered. “Do you think that’s her?”

  Hailey sighed. “Do you know what?” she asked. “I think it must be really lonely to have such a big secret.”

  I nodded and leaned back against the wall behind Hailey’s bed. Outside, the full moon sailed high in the sky. I thought about Lily: smart, capable, scientific Lily, and the huge secret she was keeping. I felt so sad for her. I had Tasha, and now Hailey, but how could Lily ever really be close to anyone? She had to keep so much of herself hidden. Could Hailey and I help her, now that we knew the truth?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The next day, even though it seemed like the world had changed forever, we still had to get up and go to school. Hailey looked as sleepy as I felt over breakfast, and we barely spoke at the bus stop or on the bus.

  “What’s the matter with you?” Jack finally asked, exasperated, as we headed for the front doors of the school. He’d been trying to talk to us about school, the TV show he’d watched the night before, cooking, and all sorts of stuff, and Hailey and I had hardly spoken a word.

  “Sorry,” I said, blushing. “I guess we’re both tired.” Hailey nodded in agreement.

  Jack looked at us suspiciously, then shrugged. “Okay,” he said. Jack wasn’t nosy, and I added that to my mental list of things I liked about him.

  All morning, I looked for Lily. I kept thinking I had seen her, but it would be just a flash of honey-colored hair as someone whipped around a corner, or a glimpse of a straight-backed figure walking quickly along in a crowd.

  “Have you seen Lily?” I asked Bonnie when I ran into her near my locker.

  “Uh-uh,” she said casually, fiddling with her bracelet. “What about her?”

  “Um,” I said, “I guess I’m just looking for her. I haven’t seen her today.”

  “Mmmm,” Bonnie said. “I’ll tell her if I see her.” She brightened. “Marisol, I had the most amazing time last night.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, interested despite everything else that was going on. “With Anderson?”

  Her eyes widened. “I only went with him because he’s cute when he gets all excited about something, but I think he might be right about Mr. Bonley,” she said. “Bonley’s house is dark and spooky, and he went out really early and didn’t come back before we had to go. We walked around the building, and there were these weird paw prints, like a big dog’s, in the backyard, and we think they might be a wolf’s.”

  I wanted to ask if she was sure Mr. Bonley didn’t just have a pet dog, and then I remembered the howling in the woods last night and changed my mind. I knew now that Lily was a werewolf, and it seemed pretty unlikely that she was the only one. Who was I to say Mr. Bonley wasn’t one, too? It was a scary thought, because Lily had definitely been afraid for us last night. And when a wolf is scared, there’s something to be seriously scared of. Maybe the other werewolves weren’t so gentle.

  “Just be careful,” I said to Bonnie. “If you guys are right, he might be dangerous, especially with a secret like that.”

  She nodded seriously. “Yeah. And even if he’s not a werewolf, he’s kind of a mean gym teacher,” she said. “I don’t want to get caught sneaking around his backyard. He’d probably make me do twice as many push-ups in gym class for the rest of my day
s in middle school!” She grinned. “Don’t worry — I can keep Anderson under control.”

  By noon, I was sure Lily was avoiding me. I wondered whether I’d see her at lunch. But when I entered the cafeteria, Lily was sitting at our regular table with Amber. She sat up straighter when she saw Hailey and me come into the cafeteria. She looked brave and wary, like a soldier in enemy territory.

  “Hi,” we all said, and there was a little pause.

  Then Amber tightened her ponytail and said, “I don’t know if you guys have been thinking about the student council bake sale at all, but we’re raising money for a winter dance. The student council is asking everyone to bake goodies for it and, of course, to buy stuff. Jack’s making brownies, but can you cook, Marisol? Or you, Hailey? The more the better.”

  “She knows I set fires trying to make toast,” said Lily, giving a strained-looking smile. “But I promise to buy at least three things.”

  Amber frowned. “Lily, that’s not funny. You could have burned down your house.” She got out her notebook and looked at me expectantly. “Is there some kind of Texas thing you could make?”

  As we talked about the bake sale, things felt easier. I had to promise to make cactus-shaped cookies, and I also had to convince Amber that Texas toast was just garlic bread and not a regional treat everyone would love to try.

  Just as I was relaxing, Amber zipped her notebook and pen back into her backpack.

  “Where are you going?” asked Lily anxiously.

  “I’ve got a field hockey meeting,” Amber said. “We’re going to watch the tapes from our last game and talk strategy. See you later.”

  After she left, we sat in silence for a while. Then Hailey cleared her throat. “So …” she said, “how was your night?”

  “Fine,” said Lily tightly.

  “Yeah,” said Hailey. “It was very quiet for us. I went to bed early and slept like a rock.” She looked at me meaningfully. “How about you, Marisol?”

  I caught on. “Me too,” I said. “I don’t even remember dreaming.”

  Lily looked down at her lap. “Uh-huh,” she said.

  “I do wonder, though,” Hailey said casually. “You know, Anderson’s been talking about werewolves a lot. He thinks Mr. Bonley is one. What do you think?”

  Lily hesitated. “There’s no such thing as werewolves,” she said determinedly, then her face softened a little. “If there were, though, I bet they’d be just a couple of families. Maybe people who have been here a long time and who want to be left alone.”

  “Oh,” I said. “So you don’t think people get to be werewolves by getting bitten, or by maybe drinking water out of a wolf’s paw print?”

  They both stared at me for a minute, then giggled. Lily shook her head. “Probably not.” She sighed. “I would think, though, that it would be a secret that people would do anything to protect. It might not be safe for other people to know about it.”

  Hailey and I nodded in agreement.

  “Right,” said Hailey. “You know, I used to go out at night looking for wolves, but I don’t want to anymore.” She looked seriously into Lily’s eyes. “Lily?” she said. “You know, my family’s lived here a long time.”

  Lily raised her eyebrows. “Mine too.”

  “Well, I’ve always been ashamed of some of the things my ancestors did. They, um … treated other people unfairly. The stories about that made me think people were a lot worse than animals.” Hailey hesitated. “I’ve always wanted to make it better somehow.”

  I thought of the townspeople who had driven out their neighbors. Molly had said her family had been part of that story, but she hadn’t said which part. I’d gotten it wrong — they hadn’t been the werewolves, but the frightened people who’d burned down their neighbors’ houses and chased them out of town.

  Lily and Hailey exchanged a long look. “Sometimes, having friends who support you is a big deal,” Lily said.

  “You know, on a totally unrelated note, I wanted to tell you both that, even though I haven’t been here that long, I feel like we’ve become really good friends,” I added. “And if one of my friends ever happened to have a secret, I would never, ever tell anyone.”

  “Me neither,” said Hailey. “That’s how friends are.”

  Lily looked up and gave us a weak smile. Her eyes were glistening, and she looked like she might start to cry.

  “On the other hand,” said Hailey casually, “if a friend wanted to talk about anything, I think it’s really important to listen. And not to repeat anything, ever.”

  “I think that’s so true,” I agreed.

  Lily’s mouth trembled. “Just generally speaking, it can be good to talk,” she said in a soft voice. “My family can be tough to talk to about some things.” She hesitated. “They have a particular point of view that’s maybe a little different than the point of view a friend might have. If you see what I mean.”

  Then she gave us a real smile, and Hailey and I smiled back. It was like we were in this warm little circle of friendship and secrets just between the three of us. I thought about each of them, and about Bonnie and Amber, and Jack, too, and horses and mountains and the big Montana sky overhead.

  Hailey sighed. “I’m going to miss you, Marisol,” she said. “Things have changed a lot for me since you’ve been here.”

  “Yeah,” said Lily. “I feel like we’ve just started really being friends.”

  I cleared my throat. My mom and I had been talking about whether we should extend our stay, and I’d been going back and forth: I missed home, but I really loved Wolf Valley, too. And I felt so close to Hailey and Lily after our adventure the previous night. “You know,” I said, “my mom would stay the rest of the school year if I wanted to.”

  “Really?” said Lily.

  “My parents are dying for you guys to stay,” Hailey said. “Me and Jack, too.”

  I grinned at my new friends. “It’s only October,” I said. “I can’t wait to see what happens in this town the rest of the year.”

  I would have to explain to Tasha and reassure her that she’d always be my best friend, even if she didn’t see me until summer. I knew she’d miss me, and I’d miss her, too.

  But I was just starting to understand life in Wolf Valley. As a scientist, I was sure there was a lot more to find out about this little town. My mom had been right: So far, my time in Montana had been a great adventure, and I had a feeling it wasn’t over just yet!

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  IF YOU DARE….

  HERE’S A

  SPINE-TINGLING SNEAK PEEK!

  Her Evil Twin by Mimi McCoy

  The room was dark. “Um, hello?” Anna said.

  “Come in,” said a voice from somewhere in the darkness. “Close the door.”

  Anna and Dory stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind them. Because there were no windows, the room was almost completely black. The only light came from a crack under the door.

  Anna gave a little yelp as a light came on, illuminating a frightening face. It took her a second to realize it was Jessamyn. She was standing against the far wall, holding a flashlight under her chin to light up her face in a spooky way. Anna could see two figures standing on either side of her. Kima and Lauren.

  “Welcome,” said Jessamyn. Suddenly, she swung the beam onto Dory’s face like a spotlight. “What’s she doing here?” she asked Anna sharply.

  “She — she’s my friend. I told her she could come,” Anna stuttered.

  One of the other girls — Lauren, Anna thought — stepped forward. “She’s not supposed to be here —”

  Jessamyn cut her off. “That’s all right. The more the merrier.” Anna thought she heard a smile in her voice. But at once, she became serious again. Swinging the flashlight beam onto Anna, she asked, “Do you know why you’re here?”

  The light was blinding. Anna held up a hand to shield her eyes. “The note. It said I was chosen….”

  “That
’s right,” said Jessamyn. “You have been specially chosen by me to be part of a secret club. Do you accept?”

  Anna was about to say yes, but before she could, Dory broke in. “What is the club, exactly?”

  There was a pause, as if Jessamyn was deciding how to answer. “I can’t tell you. All the members are sworn to secrecy. You have to join first. Are you in or are you out?”

  “In,” Anna said promptly. She nudged Dory, who, after a moment’s hesitation echoed, “In.”

  “Good.” Jessamyn nodded. “But first you must go through the initiation.”

  “Initiation?” Anna asked with a shiver. All the darkness and secrecy were starting to get to her. Why couldn’t they just turn on the lights?

  Kima spoke up. “To be in the club, you must pass a test. You must face the spirits.”

  “How do you do that?” Anna’s voice came out in a squeak.

  “You have to look into the mirror and call on them,” Lauren said. “If they say so, you can be in the club.” She paused then added dramatically, “But if they don’t like you, they could kill you.”

  Anna gulped so loudly she was sure everyone in the room had heard.

  “This is stupid!” Dory suddenly burst out.

  Anna turned to her friend with a gasp. Shut up, Dory! she thought in horror. She was going to ruin everything!

  Jessamyn swung the flashlight beam onto Dory, who blinked in the sudden light. “Are you afraid?” she asked coolly.

  “No,” Dory snapped. “I think you’re playing some dumb game, and I’m not interested. Come on, Anna.” She turned to leave.

  But Anna didn’t move. Hadn’t she been longing for something like this — something exciting, something to set her apart from the rest of the kids at Wilson? She wasn’t willing to give it up so quickly.

  Dory made a noise of disbelief or frustration, Anna couldn’t tell which. They heard her stumble as she groped for the door. Then it swung open and closed, and Dory was gone.

  “Sure you don’t want to follow your lame friend?” Jessamyn asked Anna.