Full Moon Halloween (7 page)

The liquid felt warm and thick in Tristan’s mouth. He tried to swallow it quickly. But it had big lumps in it that stuck to his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

He turned and gazed at his friends. Bella had the silver cup to her lips. She was taking short sips, her face twisted in disgust.

Ray tilted his goblet and tried to swallow the wolfbane in one gulp. But he started to choke and spit out a thick red glob.

“It tastes like garbage!” Ray cried. The red liquid oozed down his chin.

“Drink up,” Mr. Moon said sharply. “If you waste it, I’ll just pour another cup for you. Come on, down the hatch. Drink up, everyone!”

“There Is plenty for everyone l” Angela exclaimed. “All four of you must drink at least one cup,” Mr. Moon ordered.

Rosa had the goblet pressed to her mouth. She swallowed noisily. When she pulled the cup away, she had a dripping red mustache above her lip.

“It tastes so
bad,”
she said to Tristan.

Tristan struggled to swallow a thick lump.

“Yuck. Totally gross.”

It caught in his throat, and he choked it down.

“Is this enough? How much more do I have to drink?” he asked Mr. Moon.

“All of it,” the teacher replied sternly. “Pretend you are drinking a milk shake.”

“It doesn’t taste like a milk shake,” Ray groaned. “It tastes like spoiled tomato juice mixed with lumpy, sour buttermilk.”

“The wolfbane herb is bitter,” Mr. Moon said, watching them intently. “But the liquid is poison only to werewolves. The rest of you will be okay.”

“Drink fast and It will be over,” Angela chimed in.

“We’ll never get the taste out of our mouths,” Bella moaned.

Ray swallowed hard. “It felt like an eyeball!” he gasped. “Like I just swallowed an eyeball!”

Tristan choked down the last thick drops of liquid. Even after the cup was empty, he kept swallowing. Trying to swallow the sour taste away.

He turned and saw Rosa set her cup down. She wiped the red goo off her face with her hand.

Bella’s whole body shook. She burped loudly. She grabbed her stomach. “I’m going to puke. Really.”

Mr. Moon stepped toward her quickly. “You don’t feel well? The wolfbane is starting to work on you?” His eyes flashed with excitement.

“That stuff would make
anyone
sick,” Bella groaned. “Not just werewolves.” Then she burped again.

Tristan took a deep breath. Then another.

Mr. Moon had his eyes on the clock. “Let’s all count to twenty-five,” he said. “By that time we will see who gets sick. And we will know if Tristan and Rosa are telling the truth.”

“One…two…three…” Angela began to count.

Tristan stared hard at Rosa. She gripped the edge of the table with both hands. Her chin was trembling. Her eyes were wide with fright.

“Eighteen…nineteen…”

Angela didn’t get to finish her count.

Rosa opened her mouth in a terrifying scream. She grabbed her stomach with both hands.

“It hurts! Ohh…it hurts!” she cried.

Tristan staggered back. He let out a sharp cry and grabbed his stomach.

He saw Bella and Ray staring at him in shock.

“Can’t breathe…” he whispered. “Help me! Please help!”

He doubled over. “Ohhh, it hurts. It hurts! I can’t breathe. Sick…I feel so sick.”

Tristan and Rosa held their stomachs, groaning in pain.

“It’s poison,” Tristan whispered. “It really is poison.” “I…I don’t believe it!” Ray cried. “Tristan and Rosa were telling the truth!” Bella exclaimed. “They really are werewolves!”

Tristan dropped to his knees. He let out a whim per and hugged himself tightly.

Rosa’s eyes rolled wildly in her head. “Poison…” she murmured weakly.

“Are you going to capture them?” Ray asked Mr. Moon. “Are you going to lock them in the cage?”

Mr. Moon shook his head. A thin smile crossed his face. “They’re faking,” he said.

Ray and Bella both uttered cries of surprise.

“Tristan and Rosa are faking,” the teacher repeated. “They are not our werewolves.”

Tristan dropped facedown on the floor. “Help me,” he whispered. “Someone…help. I can’t stand the…pain.”

Rosa collapsed to the floor and rolled onto her back. “It hurts…It hurts so much!”

“Get up. Both of you,” Mr. Moon snapped.

“But they are in pain,” Bella said. “Why do you say they are faking?”

“The wolfbane is a fake,” Mr. Moon explained. “Angela made It last night.”

“It’s tomato juice and chocolate pudding and raisins and olives,” Angela said.

“We don’t have any wolfbane herb,” Mr. Moon said. “I don’t even know if wolfbane exists.”

He reached down and tugged Tristan to his feet. “The drink tastes bad, but It Isn’t poison,” he said. “Tristan and Rosa are faking.”

Rosa angrily climbed to her feet. She glared at Mr. Moon.

“I knew what you and Tristan were trying to do,” the teacher told her. “It was a lame idea. Did you really think I would let your friends go running for help?”

“We knew it wasn’t real,” Rosa said. “But we want to get out of here. Let us out!”

“No one can leave before midnight,” Angela said. “No one can leave before we know who the
real
werewolf is.”

She started to gather the goblets and place them back on the tray. “Almost midnight,” she told her husband. “We will know the truth in a few minutes.”

“Let me help you with the tray,” Mr. Moon said. “I’d better prepare the cage for tonight’s victim.”

He picked up the tray and began to follow her to the kitchen.

“You’d better let us go—right now. We promised our parents we’d be home by eleven,” Tristan called.

“They’ll be worried,” Rosa added. “They’ll be over here any minute.”

“Fine. Let them come,” Mr. Moon replied. “It will be a total thrill for your parents to see us capture a real werewolf.”

He and Angela disappeared into the kitchen.

Ray walked over and slapped Tristan on the back. “Nice try,” he said. “I really believed you were poisoned. I really believed you and Rosa were werewolves.”

“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.

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!
”

“
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.

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!”

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 terrified 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!”