the playground, Ben, throws sand at Vicky. His mother, standing beside me, bellows, “BENJAMIN! Get your tail over here THIS! INSTANT!”
I appreciate that she immediately corrected him.
Her shout though has the effect of a cattle prod. I burst into a wolf.
CHAPTER 11
LUCAN
The startled screams of women and the continuous cry of the baby don’t do anything to bring me back to a calm state. I kick free of my track pants and boxers, snarling when the house key goes flying from my pocket.
The only easy thing about my Change is my sneakers; they’re not a problem since they don’t hold onto rear paws.
The women, understandably, are scared. So I rush for the playground equipment to get Maggie.
The women start screaming.
Maggie and Vicky look around in alarm. When Maggie sees me coming for her though, her face clears and she points to me and says, “I told you he was a werewolf.”
Vicky’s eyes are huge. “That is the coolest babysitter ever!”
“I know,” Maggie declares with admirable humbleness. “Maybe your mom will let you have one. He gets to stay in our house. He slept in my mom’s room.”
I nose Maggie and back away a step. When she doesn’t immediately follow me, I bow, resting my weight on my elbows, staying bent, staring at her. Follow me!
Laughing, she takes a step in my direction. So does a giggling Vicky and an amazed Ben.
I can’t really bark, but I make a noise that’s a close cousin to a woof as I tear off for where the key lies on the ground.
The women have converged on us though, and although they let me run past them, they catch Vicky and Ben and detain Maggie, cell phones out, some of them filming me, some of them talking excitedly on them.
“—a real werewolf!”
“I know, right?! I’ve never seen one before today! He’s HUGE!”
“He hasn’t bitten anybody and I know they say they’re kid-friendly, but honest to God, I heard him growl before he ran for the kids. It was the scariest moment of my life—”
I rush at the one blocking Maggie.
She shrieks, drops her phone, and jumps out of the way.
Maggie, looking nonplussed at the commotion, tries to advise, “Stay calm—he’s just a werewolf.”
But either nobody is listening to her, or that doesn’t soothe their concerns. Either way, I bound up to her until I have her attention again, and then I race over to the key and my clothes.
She’s not barred from following me this time, and she sees the problem immediately. “This is the key to our house! Oh, Deek, you can’t Change if you’re going to carry our key. If we get locked out, my mom will have to call my dad.” She shakes her head. “Then he’ll yell at her and call her names.”
Growling, I trot a circle around my things. I snatch my track pants and boxers in my teeth, but from experience, I know that carrying a cotton shirt in your mouth makes you feel like you’re going to die of thirst. I’m already panting from stress and the climbing heat of the day.
“I’ll get it,” Maggie offers helpfully—and I drop my pants in favor of reaching out and nuzzling her cheek in thanks.
But I take them back. I appreciate her help immensely—but no six-year-old is carrying my underwear and pants around. Just no.
She giggles, squirming until she can drag her cheek on her shoulder, wiping my nose-smear away, and as she easily gathers my shirt and moves for my shoes, I realize that having such a sensible person follow you around after you Change is really handy.
We turn—and immediately, we’re met with the Mom Brigade.
“I’m going to take Deek home,” Maggie informs them. She waves to Vicky. “Bye!” She waves to Ben, who’s in the middle of begging his mom to let her pet me. “Bye, Ben!”
And with that, Maggie tosses my shirt over her shoulder, lets my sneakers dangle from her fingers, clutches the key in her other hand, and throws her arm around my neck. “Come on, Deek. I’ll take you home.”
CHAPTER 12
LUCAN
I hid for hours in Maggie’s room under her activity table as she played with blocks, colored in her coloring books, and read to me.
She reads good. I can now recite Steven Kellogg’s Is Your Mama A Llama by heart.
Maggie apologized to me that there was no wolf featured in the lineup of animal characters in the book. To make up for this gross injustice, she drew two pictures, both depicting me in my wolf