R. Stine: Werewolf Skin

There wasn’t any poison ivy.

“You guys are about as funny as dog puke,” Hannah sneered.

“You ought to know. You eat it for breakfast!” Sean replied.

He and Arjun laughed and slapped each other a high five.

Hannah sighed. “Remind me to laugh later,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

For some reason, that started the two boys howling again.

When they stopped, Sean reached for my camera. “Can I see it?”

“Well…” I pulled back. “It’s a very expensive camera,” I told him. “I really don’t like anyone else touching it.”

“Ooooh. Expensive!” he teased. “Is it cardboard? Let me see it!” He grabbed for it again.

“Take my picture,” Arjun demanded. He pulled his lips apart with two fingers and stuck out his tongue.

“That’s an improvement!” Hannah told him.

“Take my picture!” Arjun repeated.

“Give Alex a break,” Hannah snapped. “Get out of his face, you two.”

Arjun pretended to be hurt. “Why won’t he take my picture?”

“Because he doesn’t take animal photos!” Hannah sneered.

Sean laughed-and snatched the camera from my hands.

“Hey-come on!” I pleaded. I made a grab for it and missed.

Sean tossed the camera to Arjun. Arjun raised it and pretended to snap Hannah’s photo. “Your face cracked the lens!” he exclaimed.

“I’m going to crack your face!” Hannah threatened.

“It’s a really expensive camera,” I repeated. “If anything happens to it-”

Hannah swiped the camera out of Arjun’s hands and handed it back to me.

I cradled it in my arms. “Thanks.”

The two boys moved toward me menacingly. Their dark eyes gleamed. Again, watching them approach, their faces so hard, their eyes so cold, I thought of wild animals.

“Leave him alone,” Hannah scolded.

“We’re just goofing,” Arjun replied. “We weren’t going to hurt the camera.”

“Yeah. We’re just kidding around,” Sean added. “What’s your problem?”

“No problem,” I replied, still cradling the camera.

Arjun raised his eyes to the darkening sky. Through the trees I could see only gray. “It’s getting kind of late,” Arjun murmured.

Sean’s smile faded. “Let’s get out of here.” His eyes darted around the woods. Shadows deepened, and the air grew colder.

“They say some kind of wild creatures are loose in the woods,” Arjun said softly.

“Arjun-give us a break,” Hannah groaned, rolling her eyes.

“No. Really,” Arjun insisted. “Some kind of creature tore off a deer’s head. Tore it clean off.”

“We saw it,” Sean reported. His dark eyes glowed excitedly in the dimming light. “It was so gross!”

“The deer’s eyes stared up at us,” Arjun added. “And bugs crawled out of its open neck.”

“Yuck!” Hannah exclaimed, covering her mouth with one hand. “You’re making this up-right?”

“No. I’m not.” Sean glanced up at the moon.

“It’s almost a full moon. The full moon makes all the strange creatures come out of hiding,” he continued, speaking so softly, his voice just above a whisper. “Especially at Halloween. And the moon will be completely full that night.”

I shivered. The back of my neck tingled. I suddenly felt cold all over.

Was it the wind? Or Sean’s frightening words?

I pictured the deer head lying on the ground.

Pictured the shiny black eyes staring up blankly, lifelessly.

“What are you going to be for Halloween?” Arjun asked Hannah.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”

He turned to me. “Do you know what you want to be, Alex?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I want to be a werewolf.”

Arjun uttered a near-silent gasp. The two boys exchanged glances.

Their smiles faded. Their faces turned solemn.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

No reply.

“Hey-what’s wrong?” I repeated.

Arjun lowered his gaze to the ground. “We have enough werewolves in Wolf Creek,” he murmured.

“What do you mean?” I cried. “Come on, guys-what do you mean by that?”

But they didn’t answer.

Instead, they turned and vanished into the woods.

Aunt Marta invited Hannah to stay for dinner. The four of us squeezed around the small kitchen table and spooned up big bowls of steaming chicken soup.

“You make the best soup!” Hannah told my aunt.

Aunt Marta smiled. A little broth dripped down her chin. She reached for her napkin. “Thank you, Hannah. I just throw everything in it I can find.”

“Sorry we were late for dinner,” I said. “I lost track of time. I didn’t want to leave the woods. It was so interesting.”

Uncle Colin’s eyes moved to the kitchen window. He stared up at the rising moon. Then he lowered his gaze to the Marlings’ house next door.

“I photographed an awesome-looking tree,” I told him. “It was wrinkled and bent over like an old man.”

Uncle Colin didn’t reply. His eyes were still focused out the window.

“Colin-Alex is talking to you,” Aunt Marta scolded.

“Huh? Oh.” He turned back to the table, shaking his head as if shaking away his thoughts. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

I told him again about the old tree.

“I’ll help you develop those shots,” he offered. “Maybe tomorrow. I set up a darkroom in the little bathroom in the attic. We really need a bigger house. Especially with all the work we’ve been doing lately.”

“What are you photographing now?” I asked.

“Creatures of the night,” he replied. His eyes wandered to the window again. I followed his gaze to the Marlings’ back window. Totally dark.

“We’re photographing nocturnal animals,” Aunt Marta explained. “Animals that come out only at night.”

“You mean like owls?” Hannah asked.

Aunt Marta nodded. “We’ve found some wonderful owls in the woods-haven’t we, Colin?”

Uncle Colin turned back from the window. Silvery light from the full moon washed over the windowpane. “The night creatures don’t like to be photographed,” he said, spooning up a carrot and chewing it slowly. “They are very private.”

“Sometimes we wait in one spot for hours,” my aunt added. “Waiting for a creature to poke its head up from its hole in the ground.”

“Can I come with you one night?” I asked eagerly. “I can be real quiet. Really.”

Uncle Colin swallowed a chunk of chicken. “That’s a fine idea,” he said. But then his expression grew solemn. And he added, “Maybe after Halloween.”

I turned and saw Aunt Marta staring out at the Marlings’ house. “The moon is still low,” she said thoughtfully. “But it’s so bright tonight.”

“Almost like daylight out there,” Uncle Colin said. What was that expression that quickly passed over his face? Was it fear?

My aunt and uncle are both acting so weird tonight, I decided. So nervous.

Why do they keep staring out the window? What do they expect to see at the Marlings’ house?

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Is everything okay?” I asked them.

“Okay?” Uncle Colin narrowed his eyes at me. “I guess…”

“Are you two thinking about your Halloween costumes?” Aunt Marta demanded, changing the subject.

“I think I’m going to be a pirate again this year,” Hannah replied. She finished her chocolate milk and licked the chocolate syrup on the edge of the glass. “You know. I’ll wrap a bandanna around my head and wear a patch over one eye.”

“Colin and I might have some funny old clothes you can wear,” Aunt Marta offered. She turned to me. “How about you, Alex?”

I still wanted to be a werewolf. But I remembered the last time I’d told that to my aunt and uncle. Uncle Colin had nearly cracked up the car!