by B. A. Frade
I hoped that a bunch of small changes put together would add up to us all living through the night.
At the park, Sam set up the telescope in the exact same grassy spot the Scaremaster had described. I couldn’t even get Sam to move it three feet left. She was so stubborn!
I needed something else.
“We’ll look at the moon for a while,” she told us all. “Then start walking around at exactly midnight.” Sam waved a printed map. “I have the best viewing sites marked according to longitude and latitude, and maximized to avoid big trees that might block our view.”
I wondered if I could convince her to start the walk at 11:52. I didn’t know. That one thing might make all the difference in the world.
Sam wasn’t cooperating. She had a short lecture scheduled, which was timed to end around midnight. “There are thirty thousand visible craters, and the largest on the visible side is called Bailly,” she began.
By the way that Cassie yawned and Riley rolled her eyes, I knew they were not interested in any of this at all. Sam was oblivious. She was in her groove, going on about the dimensions of the Bailly crater.
After the lecture, we ate the celebratory moon pies and sat for a little while in the light of the moon while Sam explained how the ocean tides were linked to the moon’s phases.
I could barely hear her. I kept staring at Cassie, waiting for her to grow fuzz on her face. Or start howling. So far, it was nearly midnight, and the Scaremaster’s story was still on track.
Unsure what I was going to do when Cassie finally transformed, I eyed the park for escape routes. Any direction except through the dense trees would be a change. Maybe if we hid from the werewolf under the playground slide, it would be enough to shift the Scaremaster’s ending.
Suddenly, Cassie said, “It’s practically midnight. We have to go back to the house.”
Here we go again. What was going on? Cassie wanted to leave?! Nothing made sense.
“It’s not midnight yet,” Sam countered. “We are starting the moonlit walk exactly at midnight.” She tapped the face of her watch.
“Can’t do it.” Cassie rubbed her eyes. “Long day. I’m beat.” She put her arm around Riley, in an aggressive way, as if holding Riley in place. “Riley shouldn’t stay up so late, Sam. She’s too young.” There was another of those strange glances I’d seen between them.
Sam began her counterarguments. “We don’t get to see each other very often, and the full moon only rises every 29.53 days. We don’t have very long to wait, and I planned to talk about a few more craters.” She gave begging eyes to Cassie. “Come on, Cassie. Let’s stay out. Just this once.”
Riley imitated Sam’s eyes and echoed, “Come on, Cassie. Just this once? It’s a celebration. It’ll be okay.”
“No.” Cassie was firm. Her grip on Riley tightened. “I already told you the moonlit walk was a bad idea.” She turned to Sam. “We need to go to the house.”
“You can’t cancel the walk.” That was probably the strangest thing I’d ever said. I was the one who had wanted to cancel the whole night! But now that we were here, the park seemed safer than the house. It was bigger with more places to run and hide. I figured that if we fled left instead of right, like in the story, it might be enough to save us all. And if Cassie wanted to be in the house, it was definitely a place I didn’t want us to be!
“I’m in charge. We’re leaving,” Cassie said firmly.
In my head, I could hear the Scaremaster laughing at this unexpected development. It would benefit him if we went to Sam’s house. It was much easier to fulfill the nightmare in the story, if we were in the house with no way to escape. At the house, the werewolf could have three victims instead of just one.
This was not the change the story needed.
“Come on, Riley,” Cassie said. Then to my horror, she added softly, “We’re going to Sam’s basement.”
Whoa! What? The basement?!
I had no doubt that the Scaremaster was behind Cassie’s decisions. He somehow knew what I was doing and was bending the story to go his way.
It was a battle to “The End.”
If I wanted a new ending, it was time for me to create one. Now or never!
I rushed forward. My adrenaline was pumping. I felt like a superhero flying in to the rescue. I snatched Riley out from under Cassie’s arm and shouted to Sam, “Run!”
“Huh?” Riley was confused, but I gripped her hand tight in mine. “We have to get away. Before it’s too late!” I shrieked at Sam to follow us left toward the park’s playground. My voice echoed in the dark, cool air. “We have to stick together!”
Cassie leapt forward. In the dark, it looked more like a dog’s leap than a human one. She tackled me to the ground. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Emma!”
“Yes I do!” I countered. I cast my eyes toward Sam. “Take Riley away. Far away.”
Cassie was sitting on me now, teeth bared. “Go ahead, bite me! I’ll sacrifice myself if you leave Sam and Riley alone,” I offered.
Sam and Riley backed away, but they didn’t run. It was most likely because I was thrashing around and they didn’t want to get hurt. Cassie was strong, but I was determined to save my friends.
I kneed her in the chest and made a wild karate chop to the side of her arm. It was pathetic, but enough to shock her. I managed to push her off me and struggled to stand.
Once I was on my feet, I took off toward Riley, snagging her hand once more. “Come on!” I tugged. “We gotta get away!”
“Riley, you need to come with me!” Cassie told her sister. She didn’t try to fight me again, instead keeping safely away from my weapon-like hands. “Hurry. There’s no time left,” she pleaded.
“I’ll protect you,” I told Riley. She must have been really nervous because her hand was warm and slippery in mine.
“It’s happening, Cassie,” Riley called over her shoulder as I dragged her away, not realizing that I was turned around, going the wrong way. I was in such a frantic state, I didn’t realize which way I was heading until it was too late. We’d entered the wooded part of the park, putting the Scaremaster’s story back on track.
I heard Cassie shout, “I’ll get help!”
I ran and ran and ran, dragging Riley along behind me. When we came to the deepest, wooded part of the park, I finally stopped to rest. We were both out of breath and panting hard.
We were alone.
Noting that the full moon was directly overhead, I felt a rush of defeat.
It was midnight.
I had failed at my one goal. I’d left Sam with her cousin. Now Sam was with Cassie, primed to be bitten and transformed into a werewolf.
I was devastated.
If I couldn’t save Sam, I was determined to keep Riley nearby. No matter the tricks the Scaremaster played, this little girl would not “disappear” on my watch.
Under a shady tree where the moonlight didn’t shine, I tightened my fingers around her palm.
“Ouch!” I screamed, and pulled away as the hand I held scratched me with razor-sharp nails. I looked over just in time to see Riley sink down onto all fours on the leaf-covered forest floor.
“Get out of the way, Emma!” Cassie appeared just then. She shoved me to the side. The moon had moved slightly, and now, I could see red specks of blood forming across my palm where Riley had scratched me.
Cassie shouted, “I knew from the minute I saw you on the driveway that you’d cause problems!” She frantically looked over her shoulder at Sam, who was very much still human. “We have to get Riley to your basement! Don’t ask questions. Just help!”
Sam was so stunned, she was frozen as if paralyzed. Everything she knew to be true about science and biology and human nature had just been thrown out the window. Her brain was slowly processing it all. Too slowly.
She and Riley were face-to-face.
Riley, or the werewolf that used to be Riley, was staring at Sam through hungry wolf eyes. She was panting and gnashing
her jaw.
The outfit Riley had spent so much time picking for the moon celebration was in tatters on the ground. Matted fur covered her skin. It wasn’t her fingernails that had scratched me—it was her sharp claws. Her jaw was wet, and her sharp fangs glistened in the moonlight.
Riley howled at the moon.
If Sam didn’t move, I knew what was coming next. I’d read the story.
We stood there for a heartbeat.
This was all wrong. I couldn’t let the Scaremaster win, but what else could we do?
“I tried to get Riley to the basement,” Cassie said. There was an edge to her tone that seemed to imply this was all my fault. “The cage belongs to her.”
Yeah, I got that now. There was no time to apologize or talk about how we’d reached this point. I still knew in my heart that we had to change the story, but how? Was it too late?
The wolf snarled at Sam and moved in closer.
If Sam got bitten, the Scaremaster’s horrible story would unfold.
“Hey, little wolf.” A voice came from behind us. “I have a treat for you.”
Wait. That wasn’t in the story. For a heartbeat, I turned away from Riley and Sam to see who was there.
“Duke.” It was Sam who breathed his name.
“I heard Cassie calling for me to help,” he said. “Even though she explained, I didn’t expect to find this.” His crutches glinted in the moonlight.
“I knew from his gift to Emma that Duke had read a lot about werewolves,” Cassie said, giving me a sideways glance. “Plus, he’s the only other person in town I know.”
I remembered he said he’d seen the movie Riley loved. “Fan of the supernatural?” I asked.
“You know it.” He grinned in the moonlight. “Did I tell you my new house is haunted? I’m a lucky guy.” Duke sounded more confident and assured than I’d ever heard. He didn’t seem surprised to find out that werewolves actually existed or that there was one standing in the local park. “Sorry for not believing you before, Emma. After the orange thing… well, I thought you were just trying to trick me. Now let’s get this puppy to the basement.”
I was so relieved he was there, even though part of me doubted how a guy with a broken leg could really help.
In a flash, something really important dawned on me. In the story, there was no one else besides us in the park. Now Duke was here. That meant the story was changing.
And: Cassie had gone for help, and unlike in the story, she hadn’t disappeared. She had come back!
Another thing: I realized, there was a cage in the basement.
The Scaremaster had warned me that it wasn’t part of his story, but I didn’t understand what he meant. Now I did.
Cassie had begun to change the story before I even understood it needed to be changed.
It was suddenly obvious: The Scaremaster hadn’t written a cage in the original gruesome tale because he knew, if Riley was behind bars, we’d all be safe from her AND she’d be safe from hurting herself or anyone else. The cage was for everyone’s protection. But the Scaremaster didn’t want me to think of it.
I smacked my forehead. I wished I had figured it all out earlier.
Little things were happening. But if we were going to survive the night, we still needed more little things.
“Bring a weapon?” I asked Duke.
“Emma!” Cassie snapped at me. “No weapons. We don’t want to hurt her. She’s just a little girl.”
I looked at Riley, who had begun circling around Sam, eyes flashing, stalking her prey.
“She’s a werewolf,” I said.
“We aren’t hurting my cousin,” Sam called to us. The werewolf was inches away and a heartbeat from pouncing on her neck. “Come up with something else.”
“Did you bring a dog leash?” I asked Duke.
“No.” He threw something at me. “Here. Try this.”
I reached out to catch whatever he had tossed, but missed. It sailed over my head, falling just behind me. I turned to get it, but the wolf lunged past me and got there first. She devoured the thing in a single bite, wrapper and all, before crawling back toward Sam.
“Whew. That’s good news. She likes granola bars,” he said with a half shrug. “I was rushing out so fast, I tried to grab something ten-year-old girls like. Werewolves might be scary, but she’s still human underneath all that fur.”
I wished I had caught the granola bar. Maybe we could have broken it into pieces and used it as a lure.
Lure…
Okay, so I didn’t have any food to bring her along, but I had something that was supposed to keep werewolves away. I lifted the chain Duke had given me as a joke from my neck and quickly peeled off the small silver ball.
I had about a second to make the throw of my lifetime.
“Sam, catch!” I tossed it in the air.
My throw was wobbly, but in the same instant that Riley leapt toward her, Sam caught the silver orb. She held it out in front of Riley.
The wolf, seeing the shining glint of the silver, recognized it as something she had to stay away from. She sank to the earth and immediately backed away.
Sam was safe, for the time being, but the werewolf’s craving was still strong. She turned her attention to Duke. It wasn’t slow stalking anymore. She was on the prowl, hungry and determined. It was only a matter of minutes before she struck, transforming our classmate and neighbor into a monster.
“Duke, watch out,” I warned.
I could hear the low, hungry growl in Riley’s throat as she crept forward.
“Sam,” he said, through tight lips. “Toss me the silver ball.”
She threw it. He caught it, and the werewolf backed away, setting her sights on Cassie.
“I have an idea,” Cassie said as her own sister moved in for a vicious bite. “I’ll start moving backward toward the house. When she gets close to me, throw me the pendant.”
“Whoever she is chasing can get her to follow.” I was on it. “Then we toss the pendant for protection.”
This was a slow way to get from the park to the house. But it was another change. There was no silver pendant in the Scaremaster’s book. Based on that fact alone, I knew it would work.
Cassie moved back pretty far, with her sister dangerously stalking her. Duke passed her the ball, and the danger shifted to me.
I’d thrown it once, and it worked out for Sam. But now I had to catch.
If I missed, I was going to become a werewolf. Or worse—a werewolf’s midnight snack.
I glanced up to the sky and sent a silent wish to the mythological Man in the Moon. If he existed, now would be a good time to prove it. “Please let me catch the ball.”
I took giant steps backward, letting Riley come very close. Her teeth were bared, and I could see the drool beneath her jaw. My hand ached where she’d clawed at me.
I made it to the end of Sam’s driveway, when Cassie threw me the protection amulet.
It soared toward me in slow motion. I saw it, shimmering as if it hung on a bright moonbeam. I reached out at the same time the werewolf pounced forward. Riley’s sharp claws stabbed me in the shoulder blades. I was pinned to the ground.
Her face lowered. I could see the fangs that were about to puncture my neck. I could smell her breath, a mixture of musty wolf scent with moon pie and granola bar.
I stared the werewolf in the eyes, and then I opened my hand.
The silver ball sparkled in her golden eyes. Sensing her own life in jeopardy, she backed away.
My blood was pumping so fast, I thought I was having a stroke. I couldn’t breathe. I eventually threw the pendant to Duke, then laid there on the driveway while Cassie and Duke worked together to move Riley into the house and toward the basement.
Sam came and stood over me. “You okay?” she asked.
It took me a minute to answer. I nodded and managed to gasp out, “Can you move a little? You’re blocking my view.” Sam stepped back. I stared up to the sky and silently thanked the Man in the
Moon. I swear I saw him wink.
When we caught up with the others, Werewolf Riley was at the bottom of the basement stairs. Duke had the silver pendant. I motioned for him to switch places with me and to give me the pendant.
“I have something else for you,” Duke said. He pulled another granola bar out of his coat pocket. He passed it over. “Let’s finish this.”
The last toss was up to me. I imagined where I wanted that bar to land. Taking off the wrapper this time, I took a deep breath, focused, and threw.
“Bull’s-eye!” I cheered as it fell exactly in the center of the cage floor.
For a long moment, Riley stood outside the bars, looking in.
We all started to back away into the dimly lit corner with the single lightbulb. If this didn’t work, we were back to the place where the Scaremaster wanted us.
The swinging lightbulb cast shadows on the narrow stairs to the living room. Four of us running at once, it was impossible that we’d all escape.
Riley looked at each of us in turn. Then she let out a mighty howl. Louder and stronger than any we’d heard before. Lowering her head, she walked into the cage.
Cassie closed the cage door behind her and chained it tight.
We all watched Riley devour the granola bar in a single gulp. She paced the cage, as if searching for more food but, realizing there was none, gave up and sat down. She turned around a few times, pawed at the ground, then sank to the floor. With a long last howl, Cousin Riley curled up in a ball and went to sleep.
We gathered and hugged one another.
Then there were the “sorry”s.
We all sat in the glow of that single swinging lightbulb and apologized to each other.
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” Sam told me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t handle this better,” I said. “And sorry I blamed you,” I told Cassie.
“I’m sorry I didn’t bring more granola bars,” Duke said.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all what was going on,” Cassie added. “And I’m sorry I tried to get Emma to go home.”
It went on like that for a while until we started to get too tired to be sorry anymore.
