Iona nodded. “The professor’s cousin, Ophelia Tate, agreed to hide him for a short while. Unfortunately, the professor disappeared before he could make any proper arrangements, so they had to keep him far longer than they had intended. Woody grew up fast and became more difficult to hide. Then the money dried up, and Alec Tate was terrified someone from the Halt would come looking. He was scared of Woody, too. He never did understand that he wasn’t dangerous.”

“Why didn’t you go to the police about Proteus?” asked Nat incredulously.

“I tried,” said Iona. “Don’t forget this was a top secret project. No living person outside of the government had any idea that shape-shifting beings really existed. Lucas Scale made it very clear that if I took evidence to the newspapers, the professor would be fed to the werewolves, piece by piece.”

“Holy mackerel,” murmured Nat.

Iona flicked through the Wolven files and the film footage of crazed wolf-men pacing manically in their tiny cells. Worst of all were the mysterious pods hanging in subterranean caves, containing the failed end products of Gruber’s hideous experiments. When at last it was over, the boys sat in stunned silence, shaken and horrified by Gruber’s cruelty.

“That is why you need to leave,” said Iona gently.

“But I don’t know where to go,” protested Woody.

“You remember Crescent’s offer?” asked Iona. “You must leave with the Howlers at the start of their Eastern European tour.”

“But Crescent is a werewolf,” said Nat uncomfortably. “Isn’t she … er … dangerous?”

“She can be,” agreed Iona, “but like most werewolves she’s a creature who just likes to run with the moon. Usually they hunt and eat wild animals like rabbits and deer. Unless they get a taste for human blood, like the poor creatures at the Halt.”

“What ha … happens then?” asked Woody, trembling.

“Then they are cursed, and no cure can save them,” said Iona gravely. “But don’t worry, Crescent isn’t like them; she is clever when it comes to fading into the background, and she’s happy for you to join her.”

Woody shook his head. “Don’t want to, not on my own.”

Nat remained silent. He knew Iona was right, yet he didn’t want to say good-bye to Woody.

“Nat comes, too?” said Woody.

Nat shook his head regretfully. “I can’t. I can’t leave my mum.”

“Then I’m not going,” said Woody firmly.

“If you stay with Nat, you are both in danger,” said Iona. “Any unexpected change, like today’s little adventure at the carnival, will definitely attract unwanted attention.”

“Will I ever be able to control my change?” asked Woody.

Iona nodded. “It won’t be long before you will have complete control; it gets easier the more you change.”

“I don’t want to go with Crescent,” repeated Woody gloomily, “but I don’t want to put Nat or his family in danger.”