Children of the Wolf

Children of the Wolf
The Werewolf Chronicles, Book Two
Rodman Philbrick and Lynn Harnett


For Fin Hansen


RULES OF THE WEREING
1.
A werewolf is created by birth or bite.
2.
The wereying is the changes from human to beast and lasts for the three nights of the full moon.
3.
The first wereing of a werewolf child occurs in the twelfth year.
4.
If the werewolf child makes a kill in the three nights of the full moon, it shall have all the powers of a full-blooded werewolf and remain a monster forever.
5.
A full-blooded werewolf can change into human form at any time, but must become a werewolf when the moon is full.
6.
A werewolf cannot cross water.
7.
A werewolf cannot tolerate anything silver.


Chapter 1
I am a monster. The humans don’t know my secret, or they would never have saved me. They found me in the swamp as they hunted the wolves—my real family—and brought me to this strange place they call a town.
They say they want to raise me as a human. They say they want to save me. But these poor, weak humans don’t know the danger they’ve allowed into this wooden den they call a home.
The danger is me.
I can’t help it. On the first evening of the full moon the Change comes over me and I turn into a foul creature of the night. A werewolf. A monster so terrifying that even my brave Wolfmother fled in fear. A monster so ghastly, so powerful, that it can see in the dark, and hear the heartbeat of a frightened bird on the wing. A monster whose glistening fangs ache for blood.
The most terrifying thing of all is that I am not alone. The night is full of monsters like me. By day they look human, act human. But at night they raise their human faces to the moon and turn into werewolves. And then in the darkness they hunt their victims, preferably children.…
“Gruff! Are you okay in there?”
That was Paul, the boy whose parents had taken me into their home. He was outside this part of the den they call a bedroom, knocking on the wooden shield the humans call a door.
“Ohh-kayyy,” I managed to growl. It wasn’t easy getting the human words to work inside my throat, but I was trying. I wanted to please these humans. I especially liked Paul and his sister Kim.
“Take your time,” Paul called out. “You’ll get used to it.”
He meant that I would get used to living with humans. I wasn’t so sure. Maybe they’d never get used to me! After all, I’d never lived with humans before. Even though I was a human boy I had been raised by wolves since I was small, and lived and hunted as a wolf. I didn’t know the ways of humans—and they didn’t know me.
It had been a very long day. I was so tired it felt like the walls of this strange room were pressing in on me. So I went to the window to look out on my old home—the swamp.
As I looked out into the night from the second-floor window something caught my eye. A man. He was moving from shadow to shadow as if he was trying not to be seen.
Something about the way he moved made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I had to force myself not to growl or bark. I was with the humans now—all I could do was stand watch over them.
So I watched intently as the man moved from the shadows and headed for the woods. Before he got there he stopped in a silvery patch of moonlight. Like he was waiting for someone.
A minute or so later the shadows moved again, and four more men scurried out of the darkness and joined him. They all stood there in the moonlight, waiting.
I shivered as if a worm had crawled up my spine, but I couldn’t stop staring at them. I wanted to turn away from the window but I felt something was about to happen. Something I needed to know.
Suddenly my breath caught in my throat.
The men’s faces were changing! As I watched, their ears grew long and pointed. Their mouths and noses fused into long snouts. Suddenly they threw back their heads and howled.
Werewolves!


Chapter 2
I watched, frozen with horror, as their clothes burst at the seams and fell away from their bodies. They dropped to all fours, sprouting wiry gray fur. They twisted and writhed in the moonlight as muscles rippled under flesh.
When the Change was complete the werewolves crouched motionless for a moment, as if savoring the change.
Then, all together they swung around and looked at me.
Five pairs of glowing red eyes glared up at my window. The monsters grinned at me, showing sharp yellow fangs.
I ducked back out of sight but it was too late. The werewolves had seen me!
Pressed against the wall, I heard a low, vicious laugh from outside.
“Join us, little Gruff,” they called in a chorus of voices that dripped with evil. “Join us, or die!”
I whimpered in fear as the horrible voices echoed inside my head. I couldn’t move. It was like I was paralyzed.
I looked down at my own body but it stayed normal. Frozen with terror and dread I waited for the tingling in my arms and legs that meant I was changing into a werewolf, too, just like I had for the past three nights.
But nothing happened. I slumped in relief. The moon was no longer full. I would remain a boy until the next full moon. But it horrified me to realize that full werewolves—those who had made a kill—could change at any time!
When my own hammering heart stopped pounding in my ears I heard the creatures whispering among themselves. Then suddenly everything went quiet. Had they