by P. J. Night
But it was when Emily caught sight of the wolf’s jaws that her heart rose into her throat. Was that blood on the animal’s long snout? The wolf opened its mouth wide and howled again, revealing long white fangs flecked with specks of red.
A little yelp escaped from Emily’s throat as porch lights up and down the block flicked on. Seeming to sense her watching it, the wolf glanced over its shoulder, then quickly turned back toward the Strigs’ front door. Crouching low, as if it were stalking prey, the wolf slowly climbed the stairs onto the front porch.
“Drew and Vicky,” Emily muttered in horror. “It’s gonna hurt Drew and Vicky!”
She turned and dashed from her room. Practically flying down the stairs, she exploded out the front door. Running across the street, she felt her heart pound as she watched the wolf lunge toward the door.
“Get away from there!” Emily shouted.
At the sound of her voice, the wolf turned and stared right at her, baring its razorlike teeth and growling. Then the snarling beast turned back, pushed the door open with its snout, and walked right into the house.
“No!” Emily cried, running faster now. Reaching the porch, she took the stairs two at a time, then stopped short at the front door. She pushed the door open slowly, straining to see inside without actually sticking her head through the doorway. Pushing back against the terror shooting through her body, and shoving aside all thoughts of her own safety, Emily burst into the Strigs’ house.
CHAPTER 2
“Drew, Vicky? Is that you?” Mrs. Strig called out from upstairs as Emily stepped through the doorway.
“We’re upstairs!” Mr. Strig shouted.
“Mr. Strig! Mrs. Strig! You’ve got to get out of here!” Emily cried. “There’s a wolf in your house!”
She got no reply.
Oh no! Emily thought in horror. I hope the wolf hasn’t gone upstairs and cornered them! Where are Drew and Vicky?
Emily crept slowly toward the rec room. As she walked, she strained to hear any sound coming from the end of the hall.
She heard nothing.
She also felt the rush of courage she had experienced wearing off—quickly.
What am I doing? she wondered, inching closer to the rec room. What can I possibly do against a wolf anyway? I must be crazy.
She reached the room, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Gripping the doorknob, Emily wondered why she heard no sounds in the house. No growling, no howling, no screaming in terror—nothing.
She took a deep breath, then another. She steadied herself, then she twisted the doorknob, thrust the door open, and burst into the room.
The door swung open faster than she thought it would. She lost her balance and tumbled to the floor, landing facedown. She rolled over, looked up, and found herself face-to-face with—Drew and Vicky.
The Strig kids both had puzzled looks on their faces as they glanced down at their friend completely sprawled out on the thick rec room rug.
Drew extended a hand and helped Emily up to her feet.
“Nice of you to come over,” Vicky said. “I find that knocking on a door usually works better than somersaulting into a room. But that’s just me.”
Emily looked around the room in a panic. There was no sign of the wolf and no evidence of a struggle or fight of any kind.
“Where did it go?” Emily asked, her heart still pounding.
“Where did what go?” Drew asked, looking at Emily as if she had three heads.
“The wolf!” Emily cried. “I saw it from my bedroom window. It came right through the front door!”
“You were spying on us from your bedroom window?” Vicky asked.
“No!” Emily protested, growing frustrated and more than a little confused. “I heard a howl coming from outside. When I looked out the window, I saw a big wolf. And it had blood on its fangs. It looked right at me and growled. Then it just walked into the house. I thought you guys were in trouble, so I ran over.”
Drew and Vicky stared at Emily. Vicky raised her pencil-thin eyebrows and opened her eyes wide.
“Guys!” Emily moaned, hearing for the first time just how crazy her own words sounded.
Then she remembered Mr. and Mrs. Strig.
“Your parents!” she cried frantically. “They said hello when I came in, but then didn’t answer when I warned them about the wolf. Maybe it went upstairs. Maybe it got them.”
“Whoa, calm down,” Drew said, extending his hands, palms out. “I’ll go up and check to see if Mom and Dad have become wolf chow. Wait here.”
Drew slipped out the door Emily had come through.
“So what were you doing when you heard this big bad wolf?” Vicky asked.
Great. She’s making fun of me, Emily thought. “I was lying on my bed, listening to music. I got sleepy and decided to call it a night when I suddenly heard the wolf howl.”
“You were lying on your bed and you got sleepy?” Vicky repeated.
“Yeah.”
“And what did you tell me you had been doing earlier in the evening?” Vicky asked, as if she was a lawyer cross-examining a witness.
“Watching a scary movie,” Emily replied, realizing where Vicky was going with this line of questioning. Emily started to blush.
“And is it possible that there was a wolf howling in said movie?” Vicky asked, crossing her arms in front of her, really getting into the whole lawyer-interrogating-a-witness thing.
“Yes,” Emily admitted, sighing.
Vicky spun quickly and began speaking emphatically to an imaginary judge. “And so, Your Honor, I suggest that the witness did not see a wolf, but had, in fact, simply dozed off and had a dream about the wolf she had seen in that movie! No further questions. I rest my case.”
“All right, all right,” Emily conceded. “When you put it that way, I suppose I could have dreamed it all.”
Drew rushed into the room, red faced and panting.
“It’s terrible! It’s horrible!” he cried.
“What happened?” Emily shrieked, rushing to his side.
“The wolf ate Mom, but—but—it didn’t like the way Dad tasted, so it spit him out,” Drew said, dropping his chin to his chest. “Dad feels so rejected.”
Then he lifted his head and smiled at Emily.
“I get it, guys,” Emily said, shaking her head. “I fell asleep. I had a dream. There was no wolf.”
“Oh, Mom and Dad say hi, by the way,” Drew added.
Emily nodded.
“Tell them I say hi back. And now that I’ve totally embarrassed myself, I’m gonna head home and see if I can get to work on a better dream.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Vicky said sweetly, her usual edge softening a bit. “It happens to the best of us.”
“Thanks,” Emily said, thinking how great it was that Drew and Vicky accepted her even when she made a fool out of herself.
“Watch out for the wolf,” Drew said as Emily headed for the door.
“Cute, real cute,” Emily said.
She stepped from the house, closing the front door behind her. As she walked away she heard the muffled sounds of Mr. and Mrs. Strig talking to Drew and Vicky. A few seconds later, she was quietly opening the door to her own house, breathing a sigh of relief that her parents hadn’t noticed her being gone.
Back in bed, Emily tossed and turned a bit before finally drifting off. Her dreams, while not scary, were fitful, filled with a sense of unease. She kept finding herself in unfamiliar rooms, trying to figure the way out, but running into one locked door after another. A feeling of dread pulsed through the dreams like a faint heartbeat. The last thing she remembered before the dreams finally stopped was the distant, lonely cry of an animal.
CHAPTER 3
BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!
A terrible noise filled Emily’s ears. Her eyes shot open wide and she bolted upright in bed. Then she glanced at the alarm clock on the night table next to her bed, saw that it was seven a.m., and realized that this was the sour
ce of the hideous noise. She slapped the snooze button so hard that the clock tumbled onto the floor. Dragging herself from the bed, the horrible reality of the situation dawned on her. It was Monday morning and she had to get up for school.
Emily had tried all different ways of getting herself to wake up for school. At first she set her iPod to wake her up with music. But when the wake-up music started blaring, she would just drift back to sleep, falling into a new dream based on the tune she had selected to awaken her. Then she had her mother call up to her room, but that just resulted in a grumble, a moan, and another plunge into slumber. So, in time, Emily realized that it had to be this loud, incredibly annoying clock that forced her up and out to start her day.
The weekend had flown by so fast. After she’d played beach volleyball with her dad all day Saturday and eaten way too much saltwater taffy yesterday, Friday night’s wolf incident had pretty much faded from her mind. When it did circle back into her thoughts, she alternated between recalling just how real it had seemed and just how dumb she’d felt when she realized that it had only been a dream.
Emily got dressed, gulped down a bowl of cereal, and hurried off to catch the school bus. As the bus pulled into the school parking lot, she spotted Ethan Healy and Hannah Young, her two best friends. The three of them had been in school together since kindergarten. Here in middle school, they were not in all the same classes, but they always ate lunch together.
“Hannah! Ethan!” Emily called out as she bounded from the bus. “Wait up!”
“Hey, Em!” Hannah shouted back as the three friends fell into step together, heading for the school’s main entrance. Hannah had short brown hair and a round face. When she smiled, her eyes twinkled mischievously, as if she was cooking up some kind of scheme. Hannah would do anything for Emily, and Emily felt the same way. Whoever came up with the abbreviation “BFFs” most definitely had Hannah and Emily in mind. “How was the beach?”
“Did your weird neighbors come with you?” Ethan jumped in, stepping in front of the two girls and walking backward.
Ethan was taller than Emily and Hannah. He had a mop of bright red hair that hung down into his face and shook when he walked. His hair was definitely the first thing anyone noticed about him, but it was his sense of humor that Emily and Hannah knew best.
“They didn’t, but I did hang out with them on Friday night, Mr. Smarty Pants,” Emily said. “They happen to be really awesome. But you wouldn’t know that since you’ve never met them.”
“Well, I met them, Em,” Hannah piped up, “when I went with you to their house a couple of weekends ago. I usually like anyone you like, but they were kind of cold to me. And that house—I was really creeped out by that place.”
“I know,” Emily said. “But Hannah, you get spooked by butterflies, remember?”
“How could anyone forget?” Ethan chimed in. “You were the best part of our class trip to Butterfly World. From your reactions, you would have thought that you were being attacked by flying zombies or something, not little butterflies with pretty wings.”
“All right, all right, are you guys done?” Hannah asked, shaking her head. “Am I ever going to live that down?”
“Nope,” Ethan said matter-of-factly.
“Butterflies disturb me,” Hannah continued. “All that fluttering around my face—ugh! Anyway, that doesn’t have anything to do with what we were talking about.”
“What were we talking about?” Ethan asked.
“Drew and Vicky,” Emily reminded him.
“Right,” Hannah said. “I was creeped out by their house. And I don’t see what’s so great about them anyway.”
“They’re nice and fun to hang out with, that’s all,” Emily explained. “You just have to give them a chance.”
Before Hannah could reply, the bell rang, signaling the time when all students had to be inside.
“See you guys at lunch,” Emily said, scooting into the building with her friends, who each went in a different direction.
Emily hurried down the hall. The last thing she needed was another tardy caused by standing outside the building, yakking away with Hannah and Ethan.
The rest of the morning dragged on, as Monday mornings always did. Emily made it through math, English, and gym. Lunchtime finally arrived.
As she headed to the cafeteria, she thought about what Hannah had said before school. So Hannah was a little creeped out by Drew and Vicky’s house. So what? She shouldn’t hold that against them. Emily wondered how she could get her friends to like one another. Invite everyone over all at once? Emily smiled to herself. A party wasn’t a bad idea.
By the time she reached the cafeteria, the usual lunchtime pandemonium was well underway. She filled her tray, then deftly navigated her way between tables of screaming and laughing kids, ducking under a few flying trays and stepping around the odd container of spilled milk or splattered glob of Jell-O.
Spotting Hannah and Ethan at their usual table in the corner near the window, Emily slid into a seat beside them.
“What’d you get?” Ethan asked, leaning forward, sticking his face right over her tray and scanning it, like a hungry hawk searching for prey on the ground below.
“Get your nose outta my food!” Emily said, gently shoving Ethan’s forehead away. “I got the lasagna. It’s the usual gloppy cheese, dried-out sauce, and some green things that perhaps were once vegetables.”
“I got the meat loaf,” Ethan said proudly. “I like not knowing what’s in my lunch.”
“You are so strange,” Hannah chimed in, looking right at Ethan and picking up a forkful of salad.
“You’ve been saying that since we were six!” Ethan complained.
“Well, it doesn’t make it any less true,” Hannah shot back. Then she turned to Emily, as Ethan picked apart his meat loaf. “How was gym?”
“Rope again. Need I say more?”
“I know! If people were meant to climb ropes—”
“We’d have wings, right?” Ethan interrupted.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hannah asked.
“Well, you know, so we could fly up the rope instead of having to climb it?” Ethan explained. The girls started giggling at the thought of Ethan with a pair of wings.
“Well, at least you won’t have to climb the rope for too much longer,” Hannah began. “The school year’s over in just three more days, not counting today or our random day off on Thursday.”
“What are we going to do to celebrate the end of the school year this weekend?” Ethan asked. “We could go to Ride World again. That was great—especially seeing your face on the roller coaster, Em!”
“As I recall, Ethan, I was not the one who lost his lunch when the Ferris wheel got stuck with us at the top,” Emily replied.
“So I learned that I don’t like heights,” Ethan said defensively. “And that fried chicken sandwiches with peanut butter on top don’t like me. That’s a mistake I won’t make again.”
“I have a different idea for this year,” Emily said, trying to steer the conversation back to reality and away from the strange planet known as Ethan’s brain. “I was thinking we could have a big party. I’m sure I could talk my mom into letting us have it at my house.”
“Ooh, fun!” Hannah squealed. “We haven’t had a big party in forever. Wait a minute. How about making it a sleepover?”
“An end-of-the-school-year sleepover party!” Emily cried. “I love it! Hannah, you are a genius!”
“I’ve been telling you that for years,” Hannah said, hiding her face behind her hand, adding, “Please, no autographs.”
“And that will be a perfect chance for you both to get to know Drew and Vicky better,” Emily added. “You’ll see that they’re really cool.”
“Wait,” Hannah said, dropping her genius routine and staring at Emily. “You’re going to invite them to our sleepover?”
“Yes,” Emily replied quickly. “They are my friends.”
“But they don’t eve
n go to our school,” Ethan pointed out.
“They don’t even go to any school,” Hannah added.
“All the more reason to invite them, then, isn’t it?” Emily asked. “This will be a chance for them to meet all my other friends, to help them feel like part of the gang. It’s got to be hard when your parents homeschool you. It’ll be a great time for everyone to get to know each other.”
“Well, I don’t—,” Hannah started.
“Great, then it’s settled,” Emily continued, not allowing Hannah an opportunity to protest. “I’m glad we all agree.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Ethan said, inhaling the last crumbs of his meat loaf. “I’m a boy.”
“Really?” Emily replied in mock surprise. “I just thought you were a really weird-looking girl.”
“Seriously, Em,” said Ethan, rolling his eyes. “Hello! There’s no way your mom will allow a coed sleepover!”
“Good point,” Emily said, a bit surprised that she had completely overlooked this fact.
“How about the boys have to leave around ten or eleven?” Hannah suggested. “It can be a regular party, and then the boys can go home and the girls get to stay for the sleepover.”
“That’ll work!” Emily said, greatly relieved. “Hannah, you’re—”
“—a genius, yes, we’ve already established that.”
“Good idea, Hannah,” Ethan said. “I’ll bring the fried chicken with peanut butter sandwiches!”
BRIIING!
The bell rang ending lunch period, and the three friends got up, cleared their trays, and headed from the cafeteria with the stampede of the rest of the students.
“Call me tonight and we’ll start planning the party!” Emily said to Hannah as the three friends headed off to three different classes. “See ya, guys.”
Emily was bursting with excitement as she hurried off to history class. Hannah and Ethan are going to love Drew and Vicky, she thought. The five of us are going to have the best summer together—and it all starts at this party. I can’t wait!
CHAPTER 4
