Wolf Trap (4 page)

Human faces twisted into the faces of savage wolves.

“Quick!” shouted Mr Blood. “We must escape! They are
all
werewolves!”

Edgar, Mary and Mr Blood ran through the door. Mr Blood locked it behind them and bolted it with a large piece of wood.

“Edgar,” snapped Mr Blood. “Take a horse, ride to the beach, and get us a boat. Mary, you ride with me. I'll need both my hands free.”

He put an arrow into the crossbow as they got on their horses. The barn door shook as a werewolf tried to break it down.

Mr Blood, Edgar and Mary sped away on horseback. Behind them, in the barn, forty werewolves howled with rage.

They had ridden for less than a minute when they heard the barn door smash open.

The horses galloped for their lives. The howling grew louder.

Edgar heard a howl behind him and turned to look. He saw Mr Blood reload his crossbow. He had just shot a werewolf.

Mary shouted at the horse to make it go faster.

As Edgar reached the beach, his horse reared up. Edgar fell off, and rolled on the sand.

A huge wolf stood between him and the boats. He waited for it to attack.

But the wolf just nodded its head towards the boats.

That werewolf is Anne!
thought Edgar.

The wolf nodded at the boat again. It was telling him where to go.

Of course
, Edgar thought.
Werewolves can't swim
.

He ran to the nearest boat and began to drag it into the water.

Looking back, he saw the horse carrying Mary and Mr Blood skidding down the hill to the beach.

A pack of howling werewolves came after them.

Mr Blood shot another of his silver-tipped arrows. Another werewolf fell to the ground.

But there were too many of them. He didn't have enough arrows to shoot them all.

Mr Blood and Mary had only seconds to reach the boat. They jumped off the horse and ran across the sand to the water's edge.

“You first, Mary!” yelled Mr Blood.

While Mary splashed into the water, Mr Blood loaded his crossbow and shot the nearest werewolf.

Then he turned and ran for the boat. But he tripped on a skull and fell.

A werewolf ran towards him and sprang up for the kill. But then another wolf flew through the air and attacked it. The two wolves began to fight.

“It's Anne,” cried Edgar. “She is helping us!”

Mr Blood limped through the water and got into the boat. Edgar and Mary pushed the oars against the sand and the boat moved away from land.

The pack of werewolves reached the edge of the water, but they would not go further.

As the boat sailed off, Edgar asked Mr Blood, “Why did they invite you to the island?”

“They know I hunt werewolves,” said Mr Blood. “That's why they wanted to kill me. They wanted to kill you and Mary because werewolves eat children.”

“So why did Anne save us?” said Mary. “She was a werewolf too!”

“She didn't want to hurt us,” said Edgar. “She wasn't a monster like the rest of them.”

“All werewolves are monsters,” said Mr Blood. “But some monsters are worse than others.”

The werewolves howled. The wild moon shone down on silver waves. Mr Blood, Edgar and Mary rowed out to the safety of the sea.

Copyright © 2013 A & C Black

This electronic edition published in April 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Text copyright © 2013 Benjamin Hulme-Cross
Illustrations copyright © 2013 Nelson Evergreen

First published 2013 by
A & C Black
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square,
London, WC1B 3DP
www.bloomsbury.com

The right of Benjamin Hulme-Cross and Nelson Evergreen to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

eISBN 978-1-4081-8059-4 (e-book)

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