The trooper sighed. Then, bending over, he lifted the boy into his arms. He was shocked at how little he weighed. Like carrying a crumpled paper bag. And Mrs. Ramsey was right. The boy's stick body was terribly hot.

'Til keep you posted, " the trooper said again.

' "Do that. Please.'' Mrs. Ramsey blew her nose. Then she patted the boy's head and looked into his startlingly green eyes. For a second he returned her gaze. Then his DARK DREAMS * 147.

eyes slid away. He looked, she thought, as though he were already dead.

"You take care of yourself now, " Mrs. Ramsey said steadily. "Til be thinking about you. "

She never saw him again.

CHAPTER 12.

"Are we slowing down a little in our old age, Lila?" Ravin Engals asked witchily. She was standing in the girls' locker room next to Lila, who was wearily changing out of her gym clothes. "What was it- three hours late to school? And now you can't even get dressed."

"Give it a rest, Karin," Lila said tiredly. She pulled off a sneaker and threw it into her locker. "We all have our off days."

"It's just that you've had so many of them lately," Karin cooed. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

Lila looked at her in amazement. "What did you say?"

"Well, you're sure acting it," Karin said with a shrug. "Feeling sick in the mornings?" she asked DARK DRKAMS.

149.

mock-solicitously. "Is that why we've been coming in late? Can't eat?-I watched you at lunch. Shadows under the new mother's eyes?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Lila snapped, and instantly regretted it.

"And look! She's extra-emotional, too," Karin continued. "Hormonal changes, I guess. I thought there had to be some reason you and Corey were acting so weird before you broke up."

Lila glanced at the two senior girls who were a few feet down the row of lockers. They were busily changing their clothes, but the fact that they'd fallen completely silent made her sure they were listening just as busily.

She forced a laugh. "Well, Karin, all I can tell you is that if I were pregnant, it would be a miracle. How are you making out with Corey?" she added sweetly.

Karin's answer was equally sweet. "Great! I don't think he even remembers your name anymore."

"You keep working on him, and I'm sure he'll forget everything he knows." I don't really know what I mean by that, Lila added silently, but on the other hand you don't, either. She closed her locker door 150 * Children of the Night carefully. She didn't want to give the slightest impression that she was slamming it. "See you next period."

Feeling mildly triumphant, she headed for the locker-room door. But when she stopped to check her hair in the mirror, the feeling evaporated.

Behind her reflection she could see the two seniors who'd overheard her conversation with Karin. They were eyeing her in the mirror, and one was whispering, half-smiling, to the other. When they caught Lila's gaze, they turned away immediately.

I don't care, Lila told herself, lifting her chin. They can all go right to h.e.l.l But it was hard not to care. It had taken the simplest thing, a full moon, to strip away most of the life she'd known. Could the moon offer her anything in return?

Please, Lila prayed silently. Please, if you have to wreck everything in my real life, then at least give me something to make up for it.

"I suppose we'll have to lock your door," Mrs. Crawford said that night after supper. She leaned into Lila's room and frowned down at her daugh- DARK DREAMS * 151.

ter, who was doing her homework. "We can't have you wandering around loose at night."

Lila smiled weakly. " 'Loose'? That's a funny way of putting it."

"Well, it applies in this case," her mother told her. "I'm going to lock the doors and windows both. If you're going to sleepwalk, you can confine it to your bedroom. You just let me know when you're ready."

"Are you planning to unlock the doors in the morning?" Lila asked. "Or are you just going to wall me up in here for the rest of my life, like Mrs. Rochester in Jane Eyre?"

"Don't be silly, Lila. Certainly we'll let you out. You've got school, don't forget."

Although considering the way Karin is gunning for me at school, I may be safer here.

Of course Mrs. Crawford can't know that once Lila has transformed, she doesn't need to have the windows unlocked-or even open. All she has to do is think about being outside, and she's there. Which is exactly what happens the instant the moon is high enough in the sky that night.

152 * Children of the Night Once out on the street, the wolf heads for the woods right away. Tonight she retains enough of her human memory to be wary about going too far. It will have to be the forest only, none of the fields beyond. She needs to know she can get back safely before the sun rises. If the other one is not in the woods, then she'll have to be on her own tonight.

But he is actually standing at the edge of the forest when she gets there.

Amazed, she stops short. She stares at him for a long moment, sniffing the air. Then, her eyes locked on his, she stalks straight-legged toward him.

He is a huge black wolf. She has never seen another wolf; she does not even know what she looks like; but all the same she recognizes him as a version of herself. A more impressive version, certainly. Older. Easily twice her size. Green eyes. Front paws the size of saucers. He is not moving at all, and hardly breathing. She recognizes his stance: This is how he waits for prey.

She whimpers a little in surprise. Doesn't he recognize her1?

DARK DRHAMS * 153.

Then the male lowers his head slightly, as if nodding at her. Approach, but beware.

Like all the canids, wolves use body language to send a vast range of signals to one another. Placement of the head, the shoulders, the tail are all crucial indicators of mood. Each member of a wolf pack moves in ways that instantly announce his rank to his companions. Here there is no pack to tell the female where this male stands in relation to her. So as she approaches him, her own posture must strike a balance between attack and flight. She wants to show respect, but not deference; wariness, but not fear.

The male stands perfectly still. He, at any rate, is not going to change his posture until she is closer. . . .

It's all up to her. She walks up to him, breathing hard, until they are almost nose to nose. Then she lowers her head almost to the ground.

The male considers this. He tilts his own head to one side. For a few seconds, the two of them stand there frozen in their poses. Then, very gently, the male slides his right front paw forward until it touches the female's.

154 * Children of the Night It's not a conventional wolf gesture. But then, these two are not purebreds. For werewolves, there might be a few variations in the rules.

Certainly the joy that courses through the female at the male's touch would seem to be more human than animal. At last, at last, she has found what she was looking for.

It is hours before the two finally begin to tire. They have raced through the woods together for miles, their muscles rippling in unison-a perfectly matched team, except for size. Once again the female might have forgotten the time, but as the night sky lightens to a dark gray, her companion slows down. When she too stops running, the female suddenly realizes how late it is-and how hungry she is.

She glances over and realizes the other wolf is as hungry as she.

Of course it is much easier for two wolves to hunt together than separately. That, too, is part of pack life. So the two of them hardly need to exchange more than a glance when they catch the scent of the first deer to wake in the woods on that early, early morning.

DARK DREAMS * 155.

He is a five-point buck, so used to walking unchallenged that it never occurs to him to go quietly. By the time he catches their scent, it is much too late.

The wolves are both b.l.o.o.d.y when they finally lift their heads from the kill. To the female's dismay, the gray sky has lightened to lavender. She hasn't thought about the sunrise at all, and now it is almost upon her.

She eyes her companion with dismay. Where can they go? Can he come with her?

No, he tells her. You have to go atone. He nudges her shoulder gently. The sky is pink now.

But I don't want to go, she answers.

The male nudges her again. We have no choice.

Tomorrow night, then?

Tomorrow night.

She looks at him for a second longer, and then begins to run toward the houses.

When Lila vaulted into her bedroom and turned back into herself, she realized three things. First, there were smears of blood all over her body.

156 * Children of the Night Second, her alarm clock was about to ring. She sprang forward to shut it off before it could waken her parents.

And finally, she remembered that her bedroom door was locked from the outside.

Next time I'll think myself back into the bathroom, just in case, she thought dreamily. Being bloodstained was only a technicality this morning. Let's see, I'll lie under the covers until Mom and Dad unlock the door, and then I'll wait until they're downstairs before I head to the shower. It'll be easy.

Lila smiled as she snuggled down into bed and pulled the covers over her head. Everything was going to be easy from now on. There wouldn't be any more obstacles, none that mattered, anyway. School wasn't important. Her friends were trivial. Her parents meant nothing at all. She had found what she was looking for, and the rest of life was just a matter of pa.s.sing the time until she could be with him again.

At least that was what she thought until the third night.

CHAPTER 13.

My love, does it not grieve you That I so wretched be? Then hold me in your arms, dear, Let winter fly from me . . .

It was two-thirty in the afternoon, and Lila was singing along with the rest of the Pelham High School Senior Choir. Along with the rest of the choir, too, she was wondering exactly how Mr. Dun-kel, the music teacher, managed to look so much like a monkey when he conducted. Dunkel the Monkel, everyone called him. Really, it was incredible. A beautiful song like this, and Mr. Dunkel was leaping around the music room flapping his arms as if he were trying to ruin it on purpose.

She didn't mind Mr. Dunkel, of course. This was 158 * Children of the Night DARK DREAMS * 159.

a lot better than the times they sang semi-hip songs and Mr. Dunkel favored them with his own special version of dancing. Besides, Lila couldn't mind anything today. She was floating giddily above the whole world, waiting for night and the moon. At the thought of what the moon would bring her tonight, she flashed a smile of such radiant happiness that Karin Engals, who was singing across the room from her, stared at her in astonishment.

"Then hold me in your arms, dear, I Let winter fly from me," the choir finished on a note of muted triumph.

"Perfect! Perfect!" Mr. Dunkel ceased his leaps and leaned against the piano in the middle of the room. "That was great, guys. I don't think we need to do it again. You've really got it down. You're gonna knock 'em dead tonight."

"Knock who dead?" Lila whispered to the girl standing next to her.

"The audience, duh," the girl answered, furtively transferring a wad of gum from one side of her cheek to the other.

"What audience?"

"The concert audience. Where have you been for the past six weeks? We've been rehearsing for the All-School Concert tonight, remember? In the auditorium?"

"Oh, right," Lila answered sheepishly. "I guess I was thinking about . . . something else." She finished in horror: "Wait a minute! I can't come tonight!"

"Don't tell me about it," said the bored girl next to her. "Tell the Monkel. But I think you've pa.s.sed the deadline. Didn't he say all the excuses had to be in by last week?"

Yes. That was what he had said, as Lila found out when she approached him after rehearsal.

"Lila, I'm disappointed in you," Mr. Dunkel told her, shaking his head. "You've never tried to bag out on me before. You know what our rule is."

"Yes, but-"

"We depend on one another in Senior Choir. Choir is an elective course, but once you commit to it, you commit to it. That means you can't get out of concerts without giving me proper notice. And telling me on the day of the concert is certainly not proper notice."

"But Mr. Dunkel, it's really impor-"

160 * Children of the Night "The concert is more important. I'll see you there," her teacher interrupted.

"Okay," Lila answered weakly. "But do you know when it will be over? Because there's someplace I've really, really got to be afterward."

Mr. Dunkel regarded her impatiently. "Well, I haven't timed it. I should think it will take the same amount of time our concerts usually take, about two hours. As you should know very well, Lila. This is your third All-School Concert, isn't it?"

But it's the first where I might actually change into a wolf onstage, Lila thought in despair. Dejectedly she decided that the only thing she'd be able to do would be to skip the concert and plan on getting into trouble later.

Unfortunately, she didn't even get the chance to do that. At supper that night, her mother announced that she and Mr. Crawford had decided to go to the concert. "We missed last year's," she said, "and we both agree that it's important to support culture in the schools. We'll drive you there."

"And back, of course," said Lila's father with a dry little chuckle.

Of course. They weren't going to leave her any DARK DREAMS * 161.

escape route at all. From seven-thirty until at least nine-thirty, Lila was stuck inside the school building, where everyone could see her. All she could hope was that she wouldn't transform until after that.

The scar on Lila's leg started to pulse just after the ninth-graders began singing old Civil War ballads. It began actively throbbing when the soph.o.m.ores started in on their collection of Broadway medleys. "Stop fidgeting," Mrs. Crawford hissed irritably after Lila had leaned over to check her leg for the third time.

But it was impossible to sit still when her skin was crawling like this. The scar was literally getting hot, Lila noticed worriedly. She didn't think that had happened before. Was it a sign that she was going to transform earlier than usual this evening?

There was a sudden crash of applause, and Lila jerked back to the present. Were the soph.o.m.ores done already? They had to be, she guessed; they were filing back to their seats. A beaming, sweating Mr. Dunkel turned to the audience.

162 * Children of the Night "Weren't they great?" he shouted over the applause. "Let's give them a big hand!"