Midnight Howl (10 page)

The white curtains at Hailey’s window billowed in with the breeze. I felt frozen. I had more than half expected to find her still in her room. I walked over to the window and looked out.

The branches of a big tree reached almost to the window, and the sloping roof would provide some support if someone wanted to climb across the branch and into the tree. Is that what Hailey had done? I looked down and shivered. In the dark, I couldn’t even see the ground beneath the window.

No way.
I wasn’t even going to try going out that way. I left Hailey’s room and stealthily tiptoed downstairs, pausing at the bottom of the stairs to listen. I could hear the TV in the den, so Jack was still in there, and then I heard Mike’s voice and knew he
had joined Jack. My mother and Molly were talking in the kitchen.

I slid through the hall, holding my breath as I passed the entry to the kitchen, and quickly and quietly undid the lock on the front door. I slipped outside and closed the door softly behind me.

Outside, I started shivering immediately. I should have brought my jacket. I wrapped my arms around myself and ducked my head against the wind. It was dark and the air smelled like frost. The wind kicked up, rustling dry leaves against the house. The full moon shone above me, lighting up the woods around the house. I could hear the horses whinnying restlessly in their stable.

This was stupid. If Hailey was even out here, how was I going to find her? She could have gone anywhere after she climbed out her window. I started working my way around the house, heading away from the stables, skirting flower beds and bushes.

When I reached the back of the house, I looked up at Hailey’s open window. It glowed golden in the darkness, throwing a long rectangle of light on the ground. I bent over to inspect the earth around the bottom of the tree. I was hoping to find
footprints — or paw prints — but the ground was hard and, if there was anything to see, I couldn’t find it. I should have brought a jacket
and
a flashlight.

I gazed out into the dark of the forest. If there was anything out there, how was I going to be able to see it? I realized that I should have stayed closer to Hailey, so that I could have followed her when she left the house.

I was just wondering if I should give up and go back inside when I saw the light. It looked like the thin beam of a flashlight in the woods.

I hurried toward it.

The full moon was overhead, and twigs cracked under my feet. I was cold and scared and suddenly reminded of my dreams. Was I about to meet a werewolf in the wild? What would I do? I was getting close to the beam of light, and I slowed down. Was I in danger? What would a werewolf be doing with a flashlight anyway?

I blundered toward the light, branches catching at my clothes. Suddenly, the light was in my eyes.

“Marisol?” I heard Hailey ask in a confused, and definitely human, voice. She turned the light aside so it wasn’t shining right in my eyes. “What are you doing out here?”

“What am
I
doing out here?” I said. “What are
you
doing out here? I came to find you!”

“Oh no!” Hailey said. “Did my parents realize I went out? Is everybody looking for me? I’m in so much trouble!”

“No,” I reassured her. “I’m the only one who knows you’re out here. Unless they’ve realized since I left that we’re gone, and then we’re both in trouble.”

I reached out and took the flashlight and turned it on her. Hailey looked bright-eyed and excited, but completely normal. I noticed
she
had been smart enough to put on a coat and hat, so she looked a lot warmer than I was. Her blond hair was springing out from under the hat, but it wasn’t turning into fur. The full moon was high in the sky above her, and it was definitely, absolutely, clear that Hailey was not a werewolf.

That was a relief.

I suddenly felt really stupid.

“Hailey,” I asked again, “why are you out here? Did you come out here last month? I noticed you were missing then.”

“Yeah,” Hailey said. She sighed. “I really want to see a wolf in the wild. You know they’re spotted
around here a lot more during full moons, right? And there are all kinds of stories about them: that they have special powers, or even that they’re werewolves. But I haven’t had any luck. Last full moon, I climbed a tree and stayed in it almost all night, waiting for the wolves. I fell asleep and nearly fell out of the tree. I barely woke up in time to catch my balance.”

Just then a wolf howl shattered the quiet of the night.

Hailey grabbed my hand. “Did you hear that?” she asked. She was shaking with excitement.

I was shaking with fear. “Hailey,” I said, “we need to go back to the house.”

“Are you kidding?” she said. “It sounded so close!”

“Exactly,” I said. I turned off the flashlight. Maybe the wolf wouldn’t be able to find us in the dark.

No, that was ridiculous. And didn’t wolves avoid people when they could, anyway? I turned the flashlight back on. “Hailey, wolves might not attack people all the time, but that doesn’t mean they won’t if they feel threatened, like if two kids jump out at them in the middle of the night.”

Hailey stood still for a minute. “I guess you’re right,” she said finally. “But I really … I’ve always wanted to see a wolf for real.” She sounded close to tears.

“We’ll go to the zoo,” I told her. “It won’t be the same, but it’ll be pretty good, and a lot safer. And we’ll make a donation to a save-the-wolves charity. Just
come on
.” I was listening for another wolf howl. That one had sounded awfully close, but which direction had it come from? Were we safe to head back the way I’d come? If not, maybe we’d have time to climb a tree, like Hailey had last month. I yanked Hailey’s arm. Slowly, she started to move after me.

Then we froze.

There was a wolf blocking the path out of the clearing.

“Oh my gosh,” whispered Hailey. She sounded half-thrilled and half-terrified.

It was thin and gray with touches of brown on its ears and legs. It looked young, small, and skinny. Its ears tipped forward, and it looked from Hailey to me and whined sharply. Its golden eyes were fixed on us almost as if it was trying to tell us something, and it slowly moved closer to us.

Another howl rang out in the distance.

I held on to Hailey’s arm tightly and backed slowly away from the wolf, pulling her with me. The flashlight shook in my hand, and the beam skittered around the clearing.

The wolf stopped and stared at me again, whining softly. I steadied the flashlight. It panted, tongue out, and, as the flashlight beam settled on it, I noticed a dark, golden, crescent moon–shaped mark on one of its front legs.

That moon …

I stared into the wolf’s eyes. Was there something familiar there?

“Lily?” I breathed.

“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?

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 days 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!