"Now, let's see," Lila murmured to herself as she paced restlessly around her room. It was almost six-thirty at night. The full moon would be starting to rise in a few minutes.

"Window blinds." Lila pulled them down and then, for good measure, covered them with towels. That should keep the poisonous moonlight away from her.

I3ARK DREAMS * 191.

"Pill," she went on, tiptoeing nervously across the hall and into her mother's bathroom.

As she constantly liked to remind people, Mrs. Crawford had a hard time falling asleep. Six months before, she had finally badgered her doctor into prescribing sleeping pills for her, which then gave her the opportunity to complain about how hard it was to wake up in the morning after she'd taken a pill. This complaint must have had some basis in fact, though, since Mrs. Crawford had soon stopped taking the pills and gone back to complaining about not getting enough sleep. Ever since then, the pills had been sitting in the bathroom medicine cabinet.

I'm not stealing drugs, Lila reminded herself as she nervously opened the medicine cabinet. I'm just borrowing one sleeping pill so I can stay at home and not cause any trouble. If this isn't a true medicinal need, then I don't know what is. If Mom knew the truth-as if anyone could believe the truth-she 'd approve.

She carried the pill into her own room and put it next to her bed along with a gla.s.s of water. There was still one thing she needed to do before she took it.

192 * Children of the Night She opened the bottom drawer of her dresser and took out a heavy length of chain with a steel clip attached to each end. Holding one end of the chain under her chin, she twined the other end around her wrist and clipped it firmly closed. Then she climbed onto her bed and clipped the other end of the chain around her bedpost.

And now for the pill, which was on her bedside table with the cup of water. When she'd swallowed it, Lila lay back on her pillow and waited to fall asleep.

Let the moon rise. It wasn't going to touch her tonight.

Perhaps it was the sleeping pill that gave Lila such a strange dream. Strange, and yet familiar. Almost everything she dreamed had actually happened to her before.

This was the dream: She was lying on her bed, sleeping, when she suddenly heard the motorcycle pulling up outside her house. She lay there motionless, praying that he would leave. But he wouldn't. The motorcycle idled gently outside her window for what seemed like hours.

Finally Lila slipped free of the chain around her DARK DREAMS * 193.

arm-it was easy to do in a dream, of course-and went to the window.

The boy was gazing up at her, and for once his expression was unguarded. She could read every emotion on his face. Love, and longing, and impatience that she was taking so long, yet the patience to wait for her forever if he had to-and the certainty that in the end she wouldn't be able to resist him. Lila had never seen someone's countenance say so much.

She could have stood there forever, reading his expressions, but he finally spoke.

"I know you know who I am," he said, holding her gaze. "You can't deny me. And you can't deny yourself."

And with that, he transformed into . . .

"Of course," Lila whispered. "The wolf. My wolf. Why didn't I guess sooner?"

The boy on the motorcycle was the other werewolf.

It explained everything. Why he'd turned up when he had. Why she had recognized him in his wolf guise. Why Corey had become so meaningless so quickly.

194 * Children of the Night The two of us belong together.

Hearing her thought, the other wolf raised his head and stared into her eyes. Instantly Lila, too, transformed. Without hesitation she sprang through the window and landed next to him.

The two wolves touched noses and began to run. But after the first step Lila fell headlong. She had forgotten the chain on her foreleg.

I have to catch up! she thought in a panic. The chain was cutting cruelly into her skin. Frantically she tried to gnaw it off, but even her wolfs teeth were useless against the cold iron.

Wait for me! she tried to call, but the other wolf was already too far away for her ever to reach him.

She stood, whining a little, and watched him until he became a dot in the moonlight. Then, heartbroken, she pointed her nose at the moon and began to howl.

The dream ended there.

When she woke up in the morning, Lila saw that her arm was still chained. But somehow, during the night, she had managed to snap off the bedpost like a matchstick.

The Boy It is early evening, so early that the moon hasn 't put in its appearance yet. The boy has parked his motorcycle. He is lying on his back in the woods, his leather jacket spread over him like a coat. It's very cold out, but he doesn't want to build afire. Fires keep the animals away, and he likes their company. He stares up at the stars and tries to decide what to do next It is still too early to take her away, he thinks. She doesn't know enough about being a wolf yet. Besides, she's so young. A girl like that has always lived with a roof over her head and enough to eat. How will she cope in the wild? He thinks she can learn, but is it fair to take her when she's still so untested?

Still, this attack she made worries him. It suggests to him that she's more powerful than she realizes. If that's true, she won't be able to control herself. For her own safety, he should get her away where she can learn without all these human distractions.

The boy is used to sleeping on the ground, but he can't seem to get comfortable tonight. He tells himself that it's because he'll be transforming as soon as the moon rises 196 * Children of the Night high enough. But he suspects he's really worried about the girl. At last he makes up his mind. He'll do it tomorrow.

Far, far away, on a hilltop, a hooded figure is staring into a meager fire. Once, he was the boy's guardian, not that the boy remembers the horrors of those years.

The hooded figure smiles. The two wolves will be together soon. He can feel it.

CHAPTER 16.

When she looked back later, Lila was never able to remember how she had spent the days of her third full moon. Somehow she got herself up and dressed; locked the silent, empty house behind her; and managed to find her way to school. But what she said when her parents called home, how she got herself from cla.s.s to cla.s.s, whether she ate anything at all during that time, she never knew.

She did remember, though, that the boy on the motorcycle never showed up on the day after she had dreamed about him. When Lila awoke-the dream still burning in her mind, the snapped bedpost hanging strangely from her wrist-she raced to the window, sure he would actually be outside waiting for her.

He wasn't, and Lila burst into tears.

198 * Children of the Night He wasn't there when she walked home from school, and she had purposely chosen the longest route home, hoping he would manage to find her.

He hadn't even driven by the house when it began to get dark. Inside the living room, Lila lay dejectedly on the sofa. She glanced at the clock every so often, shocked at how slowly time was pa.s.sing. Every time a car went by, her heart lifted. Every time she realized it wasn't the motorcycle after all, she wished she were dead.

Even if Lila had remembered about locking herself in her room before the moon rose, she wouldn't have been able to get upstairs to do it. Depression had locked her to the sofa all by itself. This time she couldn't break free.

Until the doorbell rang. Lila jumped to her feet. He's here! He's come to get me! her heart caroled joyfully. She raced to the front door and hurled it open. Oh, all the waiting had been worth it now that he was finally- It was like getting kicked in the stomach to realize who was actually at the door.

"Corey," Lila said flatly. "I wasn't expecting you."

DARK DREAMS * 199.

Corey was standing out on the front porch with a curious expression of distaste on his face.

"That's fairly obvious," he said coldly. "Don't worry. I won't take up more of your time than I have to."

Before Lila could stop him, he had walked into the house. He knew the Crawfords' house very well, after all. He headed into the living room, plunked himself down in the wing chair by the fireplace, and turned to face Lila.

She was standing in the doorway, glaring at him. "Make yourself at home, why don't you?" she suggested icily.

"Don't start, Lila," Corey warned her. He had never spoken to her like that before. "Don't say anything until you hear what I've come for."

Wordless, Lila sank down onto the sofa and stared at him.

"Karin is begging to see you," Corey said.

She opened her mouth to object.

"Literally begging. I visit her every day. She'll never be any better, I don't think," Corey went on before she could speak. "And I want to know"-he took a deep breath-"I want to know what you did 200 * Children of the Night to her. Because Karin keeps going on and on with this horrible story, and it's all about you."

So it was here at last. Corey was on her trail. Still, she'd better deny everything. She didn't know how much he knew.

"Corey, I don't know what you're talking-"

"I taped her," Corey interrupted curtly. "I thought that hearing her voice might convince you to help her. Since nothing I've said will do it."

He pulled a tape out of his pocket, walked over to the tape deck, and inserted the tape. Then he turned to Lila.

"For the record," he said, "I still love you."

He punched the start b.u.t.ton. Karin's voice filled the living room.

Only it wasn't Karin's voice. At least, it was nothing like the voice Lila knew. It was a shrill, broken monotone that hardly sounded human.

"Please don't let her, please don't let her-Lila, what are you doing? What's happening to you?" The voice rose to a scream. "No! No! Get it away from me!

"Those teeth," the voice babbled on. "Teeth. Sharp. Her face. Where's L,a'sface? Not claws! Oh, DARK DREAMS * 201.

G.o.d, I'm so sorry! Please don't let her, please no, please noI"

Now they could hear the soothing tones of an older woman, a nurse, perhaps. But Karin wouldn't quiet down. She gave a low, hoa.r.s.e, hacking cough. It sounded more like an old man's than a young girl's. Then she went on ranting.

"Get up, Lila! Why can't you stand up? Stand up and-oh, my G.o.d, I'm so sorry! You've got to believe me! I'll never do it. Not my throat, Lila! Please not my throat! She's going to rip it out!"

Lila covered her ears, but she couldn't shut out the dreadful sound of that voice.

"Blood," Karin whimpered. Again she coughed hoa.r.s.ely. "So much blood. All over me. She did it because I... I'm going to die. Out here. I know. No one to-She did it. She did it." The voice was rising rapidly, and speeding up. "She's coming back for me, I know it. Don't let her come back! Don't let her-"

And the words dissolved into a fit of hideous screaming.

Corey switched off the tape.

The silence was thick with accusation.

202 * Children of the Night Finally he cleared his throat. "Of course I know she's imagining things," he said. "But Lila, what did you do to her to make her imagine those things? For G.o.d's sake, you've got to tell me! I won't hurt you. I won't do anything to you. I only want to know the truth." His voice cracked. "Please," he said.

A thin beam of moonlight began to filter its way through one of the windows.

For a second Lila stared down at her hands. Then she lifted her head and stared into Corey's eyes.

"All right," she said quietly. "You wanted the truth, and I'll give it to you. I guess it doesn't matter who knows, really."

The moonlight was brighter now, and higher in the window, but Lila didn't see it. "Corey, something has happened to me," she started again. "I don't expect you to believe me. But a couple of months ago, I-"

At that moment the beam of moonlight, now even higher in the window, moved gently across her eyes.

So gently, to cause such a reaction. The transformation began to explode inside her.

DARK DREAMS * 203.

"No! I can't be here when it happens," Lila cried in a panic.

"When what happens? What do you mean?" Corey asked, bewildered.

Lila was on her feet now. She couldn't stay in this room. Not because she was afraid of having Corey see her, or not only that.

If I stay here, I won't be able to help killing him. And I can't let myself do that.

It was almost her last thought as a human. She knocked Corey down in her haste to get across the living room. Frantically she beat on the gla.s.s of the nearest window. It wouldn't break. The transformation already beginning, Lila gathered all her strength and dove through the window headfirst.

"Lila!" Corey called after her. "Lila, come back!"

But Lila was picking herself off the ground and racing away toward the forest. Shards of gla.s.s showered from her body as she ran.

And as she runs, she drops to all fours. She feels her bones beginning to lengthen, her hands turning to paws, her jaw stretching out. How welcome this 204 * Children of the Night change is, at last. There was no reason to fight it, was there? After all, it is what she has always been meant for.

"You can't deny yourself," the boy in her dream said. Now she knows he was right. To deny herself would be to shut out this essential part of her nature. And to do that would kill her.

She knows where to find him. They haven't had much time together yet, but she's certain he'll be there.

He is waiting for her at the edge of the forest. Motionless, as always, his black fur shining in the light of the full moon.

When she reaches him, there are tears in his eyes. But of course, being a wolf, she doesn't know what they are. And of course, being so new to emotion, he doesn't either.

CHAPTER 17.

Sun streamed into Lila's bedroom, rilling it with warmth and light. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning, ancl she was still in bed. She had decided not to go to school today after all.

Why bother? She was leaving home today.

There was no reason to stay any longer. She was in too much danger here. Besides, she had reached the point where nothing in the life she'd been living meant anything to her. This life wasn't reality anymore. Reality was out in the wild now.