Full Moon Halloween

  “You fooled me, too,” Bella said. “I mean, I know you’re not werewolves. But when you started moaning and groaning like that…”

  “It didn’t work,” Tristan said sadly. “Rosa and I thought he would keep us here and set you free. But it didn’t work.”

  “Now what?” Rosa asked. “He’s totally crazy. They both are. What are they going to do when the clock strikes twelve?”

  “Maybe it will be okay,” Ray said. “Maybe when they see that we aren’t werewolves, they’ll just let us go home.”

  Bella stared at Ray. “We’re not werewolves, right? I mean, no one here is a werewolf?”

  “Of course not,” Ray replied.

  Bella tugged tensely at her hair. “He…he’s got me so mixed up. I don’t know what to think.”

  Tristan let out a cry when the grandfather clock in the corner began to strike.

  BONG…BONG…BONG…“It’s midnight,” he gasped.

  25

  The four kids huddled close together, listening to the chimes of the clock.

  BONG…BONG…

  Tristan gazed out the front window. Like a big silver balloon, the full moon floated high in the night sky.

  BONG…BONG…BONG…Twelve chimes.

  Twelve o’clock.

  Midnight on Halloween night. A full-moon Halloween.

  The hour of the wolf.

  Now what? Tristan wondered, his eyes on the shimmering moon.

  Now what?

  The first scream from the kitchen made all four of them jump.

  Tristan recognized Mr. Moon’s terrified voice. “Stop! Go away!”

  Angela’s scream rang through the house. “Don’t touch me! Let go!”

  And then both of them were shrieking. Screaming at the top of their lungs.

  “Help!”

  “Help us!”

  “Stop! Please! Don’t!”

  “Oh, help! Somebody—help us!”

  26

  “Stop! Please! Stop!”

  “Ohhh—no!”

  The cries of horror echoed from the kitchen. Frozen in fear, Tristan heard a loud crash. The sound of breaking glass.

  He heard a hard thud.

  Mr. Moon uttered a sharp cry of pain.

  “No! No! No!” Angela was screaming shrilly.

  Another thud.

  Then silence. A terrifying, still silence.

  Tristan’s whole body shuddered. Rosa grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly without realizing it.

  Ray and Bella had their mouths wide open in fear. No one wanted to move.

  “Wh-what is happening in there?” Ray stammered.

  “Why are the Moons screaming like that?” Bella whispered.

  It didn’t take long to find out.

  Tristan heard a high animal howl.

  The rapid thud of footsteps.

  Another howl.

  And two snarling wolf creatures trotted into the room.

  Their gray fur bristled on their backs. Their teeth were bared.

  Glowing, dark eyes searched the room. Moving together, their paws pounded the floor heavily. Their long tails waved furiously behind them.

  The wolves howled again.

  “Werewolves!” Tristan cried.

  “No! It can’t be!” Bella shrieked.

  Werewolves! Howling for us—howling in triumph, Tristan thought.

  And as the raging creatures moved closer, trotting side by side, Tristan saw the blood on their claws.

  And the chunks of skin clinging to their long, curled fangs.

  Human skin?

  What have they done to the Moons? Tristan wondered.

  Did they eat them?

  How did they get into the kitchen? Where did they come from?

  “We—we’re trapped!” Rosa gasped.

  The wolf creatures lowered their heads as they moved toward the kids. They arched their backs, growling with each breath.

  Preparing to attack.

  Tristan and his friends backed to the wall.

  The wolf creatures rose. Slashed the air with their blood-soaked claws.

  And leaped.

  27

  Tristan dodged to the right.

  The snarling wolf creature hit the wall.

  Dazed, it let out a grunt and backed away, shaking its bristle-furred head.

  The other werewolf sprang onto Ray. Ray dropped to the floor and spun away as the creature snapped its jaw inches from his head.

  The first wolf creature leaped at Tristan again.

  Tristan had no room to dodge. With a frightened cry, he threw his arms around the creature and tried to wrestle it to the floor.

  “Help! Oh, help!” Bella was screaming at the top of her lungs, hands pressed to her cheeks.

  Rosa stood stiffly, body tensed, ready to help Tristan if he needed it.

  Tristan struggled with the wolf creature. He dragged it to the floor and tried to roll on top of it.

  But the creature was too strong. It quickly rolled over Tristan, opening its jagged-toothed jaw in a roar of victory. Then it lowered its head to attack.

  Gasping for breath, Tristan raised his arms. Wrapped his hands around the creature’s head.

  He twisted the head one way, then the other. And tugged.

  “Oh!” To Tristan’s shock, the wolf head came off in his hands.

  “Mr. Moon!” Tristan gasped.

  The wolf head was a mask of rubber and fur. Mr. Moon grinned down at Tristan from inside the werewolf skin.

  “Happy Halloween, everyone!” the teacher cried. He climbed to his feet and helped pull Tristan up. Beside him, Angela pulled off her wolf mask. Her face was pink and sweaty. Her blond hair was matted to her forehead.

  “Surprise!” she cried breathlessly.

  Mr. Moon tossed back his head and laughed. “You all look so terrified!” he exclaimed gleefully.

  “You can relax now,” Angela said. “Really.”

  Mr. Moon began to tug off the wolf skin. “This is a joke Angela and I play every Halloween,” he said. “I picked you four kids to come to my party this year because you are my favorite students.”

  Tristan was still trembling from his wrestling match with Mr. Moon. He turned to Rosa.

  She had her hands balled into fists. Her face was tight with anger. “You…you mean it’s all a big joke?” she cried. “All of It?”

  Mr. Moon and his wife nodded.

  “It’s all a big joke, except for one little thing,” the teacher said. “Angela and I really are werewolves!”

  28

  Tristan’s breath caught in his throat. He stared hard at the smiling teacher and his wife.

  Mr. Moon and Angela burst out laughing.

  “Only kidding,” Mr. Moon said. “It’s all a big joke. Really.”

  “We like to give kids a Halloween they won’t forget,” Angela said.

  “And you won’t forget this Halloween—will you, everyone?” Mr. Moon asked.

  No one answered.

  Tristan still felt too shocked to speak.

  Finally, Ray broke the silence. “So…there are no werewolves? You don’t really think that one of us is a werewolf?”

  “No, we don’t,” Angela replied.

  “It was all a joke,” Mr. Moon said. “You don’t really believe in werewolves—do you?”

  “Does this mean we can leave?” Rosa asked.

  Mr. Moon nodded. “Yes. Our party is over. You can all leave now.”

  “And don’t worry. It isn’t as late as we said it was,” Angela said, straightening her hair with both hands. “It isn’t midnight yet.”

  “I set all the clocks forward a bit,” Mr. Moon explained. “So you could get home earlier. See?” He held up his watch. “It isn’t midnight for another couple of minutes.”

  He walked over to the grandfather clock and reset it to the correct time.

  “Oh, wow,” Rosa sighed. “I don’t believe it. I was so scared, but it was all a joke.”

  “I’ve never been so ter
rified in my life,” Bella said, shaking her head.

  “I hope you’ll all forgive me,” Mr. Moon said. “Angela and I throw these parties every year for my very special students. We just wanted to give you a few Halloween thrills.”

  Tristan started to the door. His legs still felt shaky, and his heart raced in his chest.

  “So we can go now?” he asked.

  Mr. Moon nodded. “Yes. Our party is over.”

  Angela hurried to block their way. “Stay and have a glass of apple cider before you go,” she said.

  “No thanks,” Rosa replied. “It’s really late.”

  “My parents are going to be so angry that I wasn’t home by eleven o’clock,” Tristan said.

  “Please tell them it was all my fault,” Mr. Moon said.

  They walked past the wolf skins piled on the floor as they made their way to the front door. Mr. Moon stepped up to the door and began to tug at the metal bolt.

  He slapped his forehead. “Oh, wait. I forgot,” he said. He turned to his wife. “Angela, push the button on the bookshelf. I forgot the doors are all bolted shut electronically.”

  Angela hurried to the bookshelf. She shoved aside some books.

  Tristan could see the black control panel with its three red buttons.

  Angela raised her hand and pressed the top button.

  “Oh—no!” She let out a cry. Then she turned to them with the red button in her hand. “It…came off!”

  Mr. Moon tugged at the heavy metal bolt. “Well, just put it back on,” he said. “Put it back on and push it so these kids can go home.”

  Angela turned and struggled with the button. “It won’t go,” she said finally. “It won’t go back on.”

  “Let me try it.” Mr. Moon lumbered heavily across the room. He took the button from Angela and raised it to the control panel.

  “There,” he said finally. “I got the button back on.”

  He pushed it.

  Once. Twice. Another time.

  “It…it isn’t working,” he stammered. “The control seems to be broken.”

  “What does that mean?” Tristan asked, feeling a stab of panic tighten his chest. “How do we get out?”

  “We can’t,” Mr. Moon replied. “We’re trapped in here!”

  29

  “No! We’ve got to get homel” Tristan cried.

  He grabbed the bolt handle with both hands and struggled to slide the bolt open.

  It wouldn’t budge.

  “You’ve got to let us out of here!” Bella shouted in a trembling voice. “It’s almost midnight and—”

  BONG…BONG…

  Tristan heard the big clock begin to chime again.

  “Can you raise the bars?” Rosa asked. “We can all climb out a window.”

  “I’m pushing that button,” Angela replied. “But it isn’t working, either. I’m really sorry. Something has broken, I’m afraid.”

  BONG…BONG…

  Tristan struggled with the front door. He tried twisting the knob and pulling the bolt at the same time.

  “It won’t work,” Mr. Moon said. “It’s all electronic, you see.”

  BONG…BONG…

  “We can phone for help,” Angela said. “I’m sure the phones are still working.”

  BONG…

  “Too late!” Tristan growled. “Too late for that now!”

  He could feel the change coming over him. The change he had felt on so many full-moon nights.

  He could feel the pull of his skin, tightening over his bones.

  His arms and legs began to itch as the stiff, dark fur poked up from his skin.

  A low growl started deep in his chest and worked its way up through his throat—and out of his snout.

  Changing…. Once again Tristan’s body was changing.

  The ears pointing up. The fur sprouting everywhere. The pointed teeth shooting out from his gums. Hot drool hitting the floor in front of him.

  His body stooped now…stretching…

  The skin stretching…the bones grinding as they changed his shape…

  The color seeping from his eyes…He stared at the black-and-white, world…. Stared as an animal…

  And felt the hunger.

  The gnawing hunger that rumbled his belly.

  The hunger that made him rage and roar.

  And raise his hands—wolf paws now!—with the long claws curling out of them.

  “OWOOOOOOOOO!”

  He turned and saw Rosa. Yes, Rosa, too.

  Rosa the wolf creature. Scraping the air with her claws.

  Thick gobs of white drool spilling over her fangs.

  Roaring with the hunger, the same hunger Tristan felt.

  Tristan turned and stared at Mr. Moon. The teacher had his arm around his wife. His eyes bulged, and he shook in terror and shock.

  If only he had listened to us, Tristan thought.

  Rosa and I confessed to him. We told him we were werewolves.

  But he didn’t believe us. Poor fool.

  BONG…BONG.

  The last two chimes of the clock.

  Tristan turned to the window. The full moon so high in the sky now. So high it couldn’t be seen from the window. From above the trees, its pale light washed in through the bars.

  He and Rosa pawed the carpet. Then moved toward Mr. Moon, Angela, Bella, and Ray.

  “No—please!” Angela screamed. “Please—!”

  “You…ignored the curfew!” Rosa growled.

  “Our parents…they wanted us home by eleven,” Tristan whispered. “They wanted us home so no one would see this!”

  The four trembling victims backed up against the living room wall.

  Tristan and Rosa moved closer, snapping their jaws, their long tongues licking their pointed fangs.

  “But now you know the truth about us!” Rosa snarled.

  “And now,” Tristan growled, “we can’t let any of you out alive!”

  30

  “Meat!” Rosa roared. “I’m soooo hungry!”

  Tristan staggered forward. He raised his clawed wolf paws and prepared to attack.

  His heart pounded so hard, he could hear the blood rushing through his veins. The excitement was always overwhelming on these nights.

  The hunger…the animal feelings…the gnawing need to attack, to devour!

  “Please!” Angela shrieked, covering her face with her hands. “Please—no!”

  Tristan bent his legs, prepared to spring.

  The loud chime of the front doorbell made him stop.

  Tristan and Rosa both froze, hearts pounding, jaws still snapping.

  Another chime of the doorbell.

  “Open up in there!” a stern voice shouted. “Police.”

  Tristan let out a gasp and sank back beside Rosa.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” Mr. Moon cried. He darted past the two werewolves and ran to the front door.

  “Thank goodness. Thank goodness you’re here!” he shouted through the door.

  “Open up,” the officer ordered.

  “I…I can’t,” Mr. Moon replied. “The bolt is stuck.”

  “We’ll break it down,” the officer replied.

  A hard crash. The door shook.

  Another hard crash. The bolt cracked off. The door swung open.

  Two blue-uniformed police officers burst into the room, followed by Michael Moon. The officers were both tall and powerful-looking. One had long, curly red hair hanging from the back of his uniform cap.

  “What’s the story here?” he asked, his eyes moving around the room.

  Michael ran over to his parents. “I escaped through the basement,” he told them. “I had to bring the police. I couldn’t let you do it again. I couldn’t let you torture these kids with your horrible Halloween games.”

  “You—you don’t understand!” Mr. Moon cried. He turned and pointed at Tristan and Rosa with a trembling finger. “They—they’re real!” he stammered.

  “Yes!” Angela spoke up. “Those two. They??
?re real werewolves!”

  Tristan felt a stab of fear. He clamped his jaw shut. Ignoring his heaving chest, he backed alongside Rosa into the shadows.

  “Capture them!” Mr. Moon screamed. “Hurry! Capture them! They’re real werewolves! Capture them!”

  The officers turned to look at Tristan and Rosa.

  Tristan felt his fur bristle. He tensed his legs—and prepared to attack.

  31

  “Nice costumes,” the red-haired officer said to Rosa and Tristan.

  The two policemen turned back to the Moons.

  “But they’re not costumes!” Angela screamed. “Those two are real werewolves!”

  “Mom—stop it,” Michael said sharply. “I’ve already told these two policemen about your little problem. How you and Dad like to scare kids to death.”

  “No! Listen!” Mr. Moon screamed. “It’s true this time! You’ve got to believe me!”

  Both officers pulled out handcuffs. “Are you two going to come quietly?” one of them asked.

  “No! Listen!” Mr. Moon shrieked.

  “You’re making a big mistake!” Angela cried. “We’re not making it up! Those two are werewolves!”

  “Yeah, sure. And I’m the son of Frankenstein!” the red-haired cop cracked. They slapped the cuffs onto the Moons.

  Michael shook his head sadly. “I’m really sorry,” he muttered to his parents. “But I had no choice. I couldn’t let you do this again.”

  The cops turned back to Tristan and his friends. “Are you okay?”

  All four of them nodded.

  Tristan’s heart pounded. The hunger gnawed at his belly. He wanted to toss back his head and howl. He wanted to sink his teeth into something soft and juicy.

  I need food, he thought. I need meat—now!

  His wolf body shook with the hunger. But he held himself back.

  Michael Moon walked over to the four kids. “I’m sorry about my parents,” he said. “But they’re not well. They have mental problems.”

  “You’re making a big mistake!” Mr. Moon shouted from across the room. “You are letting two werewolves get away!”