Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Cry Wolf

Published as an ebook in 2022 by Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.

Originally published in 2007 by Tundra Books in Canada and Tundra Books of Northern New York in the United States.

ISBN 978-1-625675-65-1

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Dedication

To my in-laws, Michele and Regina DiMaio, an honor long overdue, but no less heartfelt.

Chapter 1

Red and green streamers hung from the gym ceiling like wrapping-paper ribbons, and the words “Happy Holidays” were stretched across each of the gym’s four walls. At one end of the room, just below the stage, Principal Terashita was acting as DJ, doing his best to play something his students might like—maybe even dance to—but without much luck.

The girls were standing on one side of the gym, talking amongst themselves with their hands folded awkwardly over their stomachs. Every once in a while a couple of girls would dance to a song, but after a few minutes they would be back standing with their backs against the wall. On the other side of the gym the boys were doing almost the same thing, talking sports, moving their heads up and down to the rhythms of each song, and daring each other to walk across the room and ask one of the girls to dance.

“Go ahead,” Argus told Harlan. “Unless you’re too chicken to do it.”

“I’m not chicken,” Harlan said with a sniff, still struggling with a stuffed-up nose and cold that he hadn’t been able to shake for days. “I just don’t like any of those girls.”

Argus turned to Harlan with a look of disbelief on his face. “But that’s all of the girls in the school.”

“I know that,” said Harlan. “I don’t like any of them, that’s all.”

Argus laughed. “You are chicken, aren’t you?”

Harlan said nothing in response. Instead, he pulled a wad of tissues from his pocket and blew his nose. When he was done, he looked his bigger brother in the eye and said, “If you’re so brave, why don’t you go over there and ask a girl to dance?”

Argus looked left and right. “I will,” he said. “It’s just that I have to go to the bathroom right now.”

“Sure you do,” Harlan said, as Argus hurried away. “Just don’t take too long, the dance will be over in an hour.”

Argus walked away, leaving Harlan standing alone with the other boys. He sniffed again, then turned to the left and saw that the boys in that direction all had their backs to him. He turned right and saw Jake MacKinnon glaring at him. Harlan gulped and found that his throat had suddenly gone dry.

Jake MacKinnon was the school bully. Or perhaps, had been the school bully was more accurate. He’d picked on Harlan and others in the school for months, until Noble had figured out a way for Jake and Harlan to settle their differences without the pack’s secret being discovered. Harlan had given the bully a beating in a darkened boys’ change room, embarrassing him in front of the school and putting an end to his constant teasing, hopefully for good. But looking at him now, Harlan just knew Jake was thinking about revenge.

Harlan swallowed again and decided to head over to the refreshment table and buy himself a soda to soothe his dry, sore throat. Water would be better for his thirst, but buying a drink would give him something to do while he stood with the other boys. As he walked past Jake, careful not to look the bully in the eye, one of Jake’s friends made a barking sound, an obvious reference to Jake’s favorite nickname for Harlan: “Dogface.”

Harlan did his best to ignore them all. If anyone had a dog face it was Jake MacKinnon, whose surly look reminded Harlan of an angry mutt. The thought of someone calling Jake MacKinnon “Muttface” made Harlan smile.

“What would you like?” asked the girl behind the table. Her name, if Harlan remembered right, was Kiera Kennedy. She was in his computer class, but she had never spoken to him before. She had long black hair, a kind and pretty face, and a smile that seemed warm and genuine.

“What do you have?”

“Ginger ale, diet cola, cream soda, and root beer,” Kiera said.

“Diet cola, please?” Harlan asked.

“That’ll be a dollar.”

Harlan handed her the money and watched Kiera empty a can of cola into a plastic cup. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” she said, smiling at him as if…well, as if she knew who he was and she sort of liked him.

Harlan couldn’t believe it. No girl at Redstone Secondary had ever smiled at him like that before, and this girl, Kiera, was way too pretty to waste her time on him. In fact, Harlan was sure none of the girls at the school even knew he was alive. Harlan gave Kiera a slight nod, then quickly turned around to see if anyone was dancing.

But before he got all the way around, Harlan bumped into someone and half his drink spilled onto the floor.

“Oops!” said a voice, followed by laughter.

Harlan looked up and saw Jake MacKinnon standing there with a drink cup in his hand and a scheming little grin on his face. His friends, including the two Del Zotto boys—Nicholas and Noah, the latter having recently transferred to Redstone from a closed custody youth facility in Prince George—stood behind Jake like a wall, laughing at the soda that was running down the front of Harlan’s pants.

“You should really watch where you’re going,” Jake said.

“But you bumped into me,” Harlan said.

“Are you saying I did it on purpose?”

Harlan wasn’t feeling up to a fight, but he wasn’t about to show someone like Jake MacKinnon any weakness. “You bet I am,” he said.

Jake turned his head sideways to share a laugh with one of the Del Zottos, then turned back around to look Harlan in the eye, his face serious and stern. “Sounds to me like you want to fight.”

Harlan let out a sigh. The last time they’d fought, the darkness had allowed Harlan to partially transform himself into a werewolf without being seen. There was no way he could fight Jake like that in a crowded gym with people all around them.

“C’mon, MacKinnon,” said a voice. “You don’t want to get your ass kicked again, do you?”

Harlan looked over his right shoulder and saw his brother Noble standing off to the side, close enough to say a few words, but far enough away so as not to interfere.

“I just want a fair fight,” Jake said. “No tricks.”

“Yeah, no tricks,” said the Del Zottos, as if they were a single person.

“What tricks? Harlan beat you fair and square!” said another voice.

Harlan turned and saw that Argus had returned from the washroom and had taken up a spot at his left side.

“It’s time you stopped crying about it,” Argus continued, “and faced the fact that you’re just not as tough as you think you are.”

Jake MacKinnon’s eyes narrowed and his face seemed flushed with anger. He took a step forward, cutting the distance between himself and Harlan by half.

Harlan could feel the hair bristling up on his skin and his muscles coiling like snakes in anticipation of a fight.

Just then, Principal Terashita pushed his way through the crowd and positioned himself between Harlan and Jake. “If someone doesn’t start dancing in the next ten seconds, this dance will be over and we’ll all finish out the day back in the classroom.”

There was a groan from the crowd, but people slowly began to make their way onto the dance floor. Most of the dancers were girls, but there were a few boys dancing now, including Michael Martin, who was doing his best to keep up with Harlan’s sister, Tora.

Despite all the commotion, Jake and the Del Zottos hadn’t moved. The bully was still staring Harlan down, and dancing seemed to be the farthest thing from his mind.

But then Harlan felt a hand on his arm and heard a voice whisper in his ear, “Let’s dance!”

It was Kiera Kennedy, the girl from behind the refreshment table, and she was pulling on Harlan’s arm.

“Go on,” said Noble, with a nudge of his shoulder. “I think she likes you.”

Harlan handed Noble his drink and followed Kiera onto the dance floor. Moments later he was dancing…badly. But no one seemed to care. The dance floor was full of people now, including a couple of teachers, and everyone was moving to the music as best they could.

Noble, with Argus by his side, looked over at Jake MacKinnon, who was staring at Noble as if he were still looking for a fight. “What’s your problem, MacKinnon?” Noble asked, when Argus was by his side.

Jake flashed a devilish grin, looked at Noble and Argus in turn, then shook his head and walked away.

Noble took a sip of Harlan’s soda…and cringed. “What’s wrong?” asked Argus. “This tastes funny.”

“Leave it,” Argus said, setting the cup onto the refreshment table next to the empties. “There’s a girl I want you to meet.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Argus said, leading Noble away. “I don’t know why, but for some reason she thinks you’re cute.”

Chapter 2

After introducing his brother to Maggie Baird, a girl from his science class who was always asking about Noble, Argus retreated to the edge of the dance floor and watched everyone else dance.

But less than a song later, Noble was back by Argus’s side, alone.

Argus put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, leaned in close, and asked, “Where’s Maggie?”

“She’s dancing…” Noble answered, lifting his head in the direction of the dance floor. “…with someone else.”

That didn’t make sense. Maggie Baird had seemed crazy about Noble, calling him “cute” and “dreamy” all the time.

“What happened?”

Noble shrugged. “I don’t feel much like dancing.”

“What are you, sick?”

“Yeah.” Noble nodded. “I think so.”

Argus pulled back and looked Noble over. “Now that you mention it, you don’t look so good.”

Noble’s skin was damp and his hair looked to be pasted with sweat. One hand was resting protectively on his stomach. “Well, I don’t feel so good, either.”

“Did you catch Harlan’s cold?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I just feel sort of…weird.”

“’Cause if you are sick, we should go home,” Argus said. “Do you want me to call Ranger Brock to come get us?”

Noble shook his head. “No. If the ranger comes for us now we’ll all have to go home, and I don’t want everyone to have to go home early on my account.” He took a deep breath and stood up. “I’ll stick it out till the end.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m not going home until I see you out there dancing.”

Tora had been dancing with Michael Martin most of the night—especially the slow dances—and Harlan seemed to have found a new friend in the girl from the refreshment table.

Argus leaned forward and spoke directly into Noble’s ear. “I’m not a very good dancer.”

“I know,” Noble said as he looked out across the floor. “But don’t worry…nobody is.”

That much was true. The girls at least had a sense of rhythm and had learned a few dance moves from the videos they’d seen on MTV and MuchMusic. The boys, on the other hand, seemed lost out on the floor, struggling to keep time with the music without stepping on their partners’ toes. It was utter chaos, but somehow it seemed to work. Best of all was that no one cared. So what if nobody knew how to dance? Everyone was having fun, and that was all that mattered.

“It does look like fun,” Argus said.

“Trust me, it is,” replied Noble.

“And there are a few girls who actually said they wanted to dance with me.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

Argus hesitated a moment, then slowly began to move his head from side to side in time with the music.

“That’s it,” Noble said, slapping his brother on the back. “Now you’ve got it!”

Argus stepped forward and slipped into the crowd on the dance floor. In no time at all he was dancing with not one, but two girls.

Noble smiled at his brother, gave him the thumbs-up sign, then turned for the boys’ bathroom. His head was spinning and his stomach felt like he’d been punched in the gut. His legs had all the strength of rubber bands, and he struggled just to make it across the hall to the bathroom.

“Hey, Noble,” someone said as they came out the door. “You okay?”

“Too much dancing.” Noble smiled.

Then, when the boy was gone, Noble pushed his way into the bathroom and stumbled into a stall, where he fell to his knees…and threw up into the toilet.

“This can’t be good,” Noble muttered as he tried to catch his breath. He’d never really been sick before, nor had any of the pack, for that matter. Sure, they’d had the odd cold or flu, but the symptoms were never very severe, nor did they last for very long.

This was something different. Something very different.

Noble spat to clear his mouth and took a few more deep breaths. As much as he’d hated throwing up, he had to admit that it had helped him to feel better. The dizziness was gone, and his stomach, while still upset, wasn’t as painful any more. He stood up, flushed the toilet, and headed over to the sink to rinse out his mouth and splash some water onto his face.

The water felt cool and refreshing against his skin, and for the moment he was able to breathe more easily. After another deep, deep breath, Noble dried himself off with a paper towel and ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair. He’d be able to make it to the end of the dance now, and no one would have to cut their night short because of him. He dropped the paper towel into the trash and stepped out of the bathroom, expecting to find the lights flashing and the music pounding, but instead the gym was strangely silent.

“My sister,” a voice cried out from the other side of the room. “Has anyone seen my sister?”

Noble made his way through the crowd until he came upon Maria Abruzzo. She was standing in the center of the gym, crying hysterically with tears running down her cheeks.

“What’s going on here?” Principal Terashita said as he arrived at Maria’s side.

“She’s gone!” she screamed.

“Who?”

“My sister, Angelina.” Maria was frantic now. “She was supposed to be waiting for me in the library. They said she went outside to play, and now she’s gone…Something took her!”

“What took her?”

“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “But there are tracks in the snow all over the place.”

“Show me!” said Principal Terashita.

A crowd of people ran to the doors to take a look outside.

Noble remained where he stood. That doesn’t make sense, he thought. What kind of animal would snatch a young girl from outside a school building and take her into the forest? The only animal capable of doing something like that is…a man. A very bad man.

That thought was little comfort and certainly didn’t help Noble’s stomach any. It was churning again, and he had a bad, bad feeling that things were going to get worse—a lot worse—before they got better.

Chapter 3

“See!” said Maria Abruzzo, pointing to a narrow trail between the trees that led away from the school.

Noble and the members of the pack joined the others outside. Even in the rapidly fading sunlight of late afternoon, it was obvious there were several sets of tracks left in the snow not twenty yards from the gym doors. There were footprints leading off into the woods, and they were surrounded by animal tracks, most likely made by the paws of a four-legged animal—a large dog, or perhaps a small bear.

“What do you think happened?” Argus said under his breath as the pack studied the trail.

“I don’t know,” Noble answered. “People walk through here all the time—”

“—with their dogs,” Harlan chimed in.

“That’s right,” Tora said. “They walk through here with their dogs all the time.”

Noble nodded. Obviously, each of them was thinking the same thing, but none of them wanted to say it.

“Over here!” someone shouted from farther down the trail.

Principal Terashita turned to face the crowd. “Stay back!” he said. “I don’t want everyone walking on the trail.”

Noble leaned toward Argus. “Make sure people don’t disturb the tracks. Sergeant Martin and Ranger Brock might want to have a look at them.”

Argus turned and placed himself between the crowd and the trail. People were curious, but no one was so curious that they wanted to push past Argus to find out what was going on.

Noble turned his attention to Harlan now. “You’re our best tracker. See if you can sniff out what made these tracks.”

“But I still have a cold,” Harlan reminded his brother.

“I know. But see what you can do.”

Harlan nodded and moved to the edge of the trail, away from the others, so he could more closely inspect the tracks. He just looked at first, but then he slowly got down on all fours. To anyone watching, it would seem that he was taking a good close look; only the pack knew that he was sniffing for clues.

Noble followed Principal Terashita, careful not to disturb the tracks already set down in the snow.

“Oh my,” whispered Principal Terashita.

“Uh-oh,” said Noble.

About fifteen yards down the trail the snow was ground up and dirty, as if there’d been a struggle. Even worse were the streaks of red.

Noble took a deep breath, suddenly feeling the icy chill of December against his skin, and in his bones. His stomach turned, and not just because he was feeling ill. Things didn’t look good for Maria’s sister, and nightfall was less than a couple of hours away.

“What the heck happened here?” someone said.

The principal shrugged. “I don’t know. There was a struggle, maybe. Maybe it was wolves, maybe it was nothing.” He clasped his hands together to warm them, then shook his head. “I don’t know…I’m an educator, not a detective.”

“It’s not wolves,” Noble said under his breath. “It can’t be.”

“Look at this!” said another voice.

Noble looked up and saw a student coming toward them with a red scarf in her hand.

“Where did you get that?” Principal Terashita asked.

The student gave the scarf to the principal. “It was caught on a bush just a little farther ahead.”

“Oh my God,” cried Maria Abruzzo. “That’s my sister’s!”

Principal Terashita turned and headed for the school. “Everyone get back inside,” he said. “I’m calling Sergeant Martin.”

Most of the students slowly began filing back into the gym while a few stragglers stayed outside to speculate about what might have happened.

“Wolves got her!” someone said.

“Tore her to shreds and dragged her away!” said another.

Moments later people were already talking.

“Did you hear? It was wolves that got her.”

“Hunted her down…right outside the school.”

“It wasn’t wolves,” Noble said again, more loudly this time.

“How do you know it wasn’t?” shouted Maria Abruzzo.

“It couldn’t be wolves,” Tora chimed in.

“Why not?” she seethed.

“Because that’s ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Maria shouted, the tears welling up in her eyes. “Your whole family is ridiculous.” She pushed Tora roughly aside and marched into the gym, sobbing all the way.

“Noble,” said Harlan, grabbing his brother and turning him away from the students still lingering outside.

“What is it?” asked Noble.

“The tracks,” said Harlan, shaking his head. “You’re not going to like it.”

“No,” Noble said, his heart already heavy with the knowledge of what was about to come next. “No, don’t tell me…”

Harlan pulled Noble close. “Wolves,” he said. “A whole pack of them. At least four, maybe six…It’s hard to tell with my nose so stuffed up.”

“This could be bad for us,” Noble said softly. “Really bad.”

“Do you want me to find her?” Harlan asked.

Noble nodded. If the girl had been taken by a pack of wolves, the trail of blood would be like a line in the snow for Harlan to follow, even with his stuffed-up nose. “Take Argus with you,” he said. “But don’t let anyone see.”

Argus and Harlan were gone a moment later, heading back toward the school, then turning sharply before reaching it and disappearing into the forest.

“I hope they find her,” said Tora.

“If she’s out there,” said Noble, “they’ll find her.”

“I mean, in one piece.”

Noble looked at his sister, but said nothing.

Chapter 4

A half hour later, Sergeant Martin and two RCMP constables were organizing a search of the woods behind Redstone Secondary. There was little more than an hour of sunlight left so things had to move quickly. The search would be called off once darkness set in, and there was only a slim chance a young girl would be able to survive the night alone in the forest, especially in December.

There were about fifty students standing around waiting for the search to begin, with more arriving every minute. A few parents had shown up as well, returning to the school with their children, who had gone home to change into warmer winter clothes.

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