There's a Werewolf In My Tent! Page 4

  We hurried to the fridge at the back of the shop and looked to see what MEAT we could buy with our spending money.

  Zach said that we should get loads of STEAK and BURY IT next to her tent and that that would drive her WILD. But we didn’t have enough money for loads of steak so we bought four packs of 99p ham slices.

  When we put all of our change on the counter to pay for the ham the shopkeeper shook his head and muttered “TEACHERS THESE DAYS” and “IT’S HEALTHY EATING GONE MAD” and “POOR SOULS” and then he put four bags of crisps and a packet of biscuits in the bag too and said “No charge.”

  I had no idea why we didn’t have to pay and Zach said that if he’d known he would have got the steak. But Maisie said that the ham was BETTER because there were FIFTY SLICES in each packet so that meant we had

  We sneaked back up to camp and hid in the trees beside Miss Moon’s tent.

  That’s when Zach said, “Right. Don’t panic, Maisie, OK?”

  And as SOON as Zach said that I just KNEW that he wanted us to put the ham SUPER CLOSE to Miss Moon’s tent. And that’s EXACTLY what he DID want us to do!

  Zach said that if we laid the slices of ham on the ROOF of her tent they would be DISGUISED because it was dark and Miss Jones wouldn’t understand why the roof was smelling of meat and that would make her confused and hungry and ANGRY!

  Maisie said, “NO WAY! It’s too DANGEROUS!”

  But then Zach said that Miss Moon would be fast asleep and that if we all helped we could do it really quickly and then run back into the trees and watch.

  I thought this was

  Because we all knew that werewolves had HEIGHTENED SENSES and that Miss Moon would probably wake up drooling within SECONDS!

  But then Zach said that we had to take a BIG RISK if we wanted to catch her on camera.

  So we told Maisie to wait in the trees but she said no and that she was too scared to be in the woods alone so we all went.

  We each opened a packet of ham really quietly before we reached Miss Moon’s tent and then we began laying out the ham slices and they sort of looked like pink roof tiles.

  We did it AS FAST and as GENTLY as we could until the roof of the tent was completely covered. And then JUST as we were sneaking away we heard a rustling from inside the tent so we RAN!

  Maisie was shaking like mad by the time we got back to our hiding spot and Zach must have been really scared too because he was trying to point Maisie’s phone at Miss Moon’s tent but it was shaking ALL OVER the place.

  That’s when Jodi said, “Give it to me.” And she held it steady and ZOOMED IN on Miss Moon’s tent.

  We all huddled round Jodi and STARED at the screen. But nothing was happening.

  That’s when Maisie said, “I don’t understand. We used two hundred slices!”

  And Zach said, “We should have got the steak.”

  And Jodi said,

  But then we heard a WEIRD WHIMPERING SOUND. And Miss Moon’s tent UNZIPPING.

  And then we saw Miss Moon crawl out of her tent on ALL FOURS!

  And there was hair EVERYWHERE.

  And that’s when we all gasped and Maisie fainted on top of Jodi and almost knocked her over and the phone fell into the mud.

  And we ran.

  It took AGES to get back to our tent because we each had to carry Maisie by an arm or a leg and she felt a LOT heavier than usual because she’d put loads of TORCHES and BATTERIES and other stuff inside her sleeping bag.

  As soon as we were back in our tent Jodi took out her mini-padlock and locked the door zips so we were safe.

  We all said that Zach should DEFINITELY stay in our tent and that he could use one of Maisie’s sleeping bags and sleep in the middle bit and he said OK and I knew that he would because he looked TERRIFIED.

  Jodi wiped the mud off Maisie’s phone and said that it wasn’t broken so the VIDEO should still be on there. Maisie was still out cold but I put her eye mask on her JUST IN CASE she woke up while we were watching the video.

  That’s when Jodi said, “Are you ready?”

  And then she pressed play before we could even answer.

  It was too dark to see anything but after a few seconds we heard the WHIMPERING and TENT UNZIPPING.

  And then we all

  And Zach said, “Uuuuuum. Do you see that?!”

  And we nodded that we did.

  Because we could see

  And Jodi said, “I don’t think that person needs to worry about bringing wolves back to the wild.

  They’re already HERE.”

  Maisie didn’t do OR say anything for AGES once we took off her eye mask and showed her the

  And then eventually she took a DEEP BREATH and said, “What next?”

  But then Zach said, “Sssssssshhh!” because he thought he heard a noise outside so we all FROZE and Jodi turned the torch off and Maisie grabbed my hand and squeezed it so tight it made my EYES WATER.

  We all sat in the dark, in silence, until Jodi eventually said, “Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”

  And all of a sudden Maisie’s phone BEEPED and we all SCREAMED!

  Maisie’s eyes went WIDE when she looked at the screen and then she said, “Are you ready?”

  Maisie read out the message and it said:

  We were all EXHAUSTED the next morning because NONE of us had managed to get ANY SLEEP because every time someone RUSTLED or COUGHED or SNORTED one of us would GASP and put the torch on to make sure a WEREWOLF hadn’t sneaked into our tent.

  It also didn’t help that Maisie was OBSESSED with Amy’s text about being able to PASS ON WEREWOLFISM and she kept touching her own arm hair and saying that it was getting LONGER and that it felt like WEREWOLF FUR.

  At breakfast, we all sat really close together on one of the little picnic benches as we ate our cereal and looked around to see if Miss Moon was up yet.

  But Miss Moon was NOWHERE to be seen. And Miss Jones was being grumpy about having to do all the TEACHER-Y stuff like COUNT US ALL and make sure that we were all wearing Real Clothes (which was a new rule because Gary Petrie had tried to wear only pyjama bottoms and flip-flops the day before).

  Then all of a sudden Maisie gasped and that’s when we saw Miss Moon walking RIGHT TOWARDS US. And she did NOT look pleased.

  That’s when Zach started PANICKING, saying that she might have spotted us SPYING on her last night with her SUPER-SENSITIVE WEREWOLF EYES.

  But Miss Moon walked past us and went over to Miss Jones instead.

  We all STARED at Miss Moon as she spoke to Miss Jones but the only word we managed to hear was BACON and then Miss Jones threw her arms in the air and said, “DO WHAT YOU WANT! I’m going to get changed!” and then she stormed off and I SWEAR Miss Moon did a low GROWLING SOUND.

  I could feel Maisie edging closer and closer to me on the bench as Miss Moon sat down on the other side of our picnic table. She didn’t even say hello, she just sat with her back to us so we couldn’t see her face and drank her coffee in complete SILENCE.

  Jodi pointed at Miss Moon’s hair with a bit of a SHAKY FINGER and we all nodded LOADS because her hair looked CRAZY and there was NO WAY there’d been THAT much of it yesterday.

  But then I felt Maisie begin to SLIP and before I could do anything she slid right off the bench and landed underneath the picnic table.

  Miss Moon SLAMMED her coffee cup down and whipped her head around to face us and said, “What EXACTLY is WRONG with that child?”

  But we couldn’t really answer because we were too busy staring at her FACE. Her eyebrows were so HAIRY that they were almost TOUCHING in the middle!

  And Zach gasped and said, “The so-called MONOBROW!”

  Miss Moon NARROWED her eyes at him and said, “What did you just say?”

  And that’s when Zach realised that he had said it OUT LOUD so he just said, “Um … um… Nothing!” and picked up his spoon and pretended to be eating his cereal even though there wasn’t any left in his bowl.

  Miss Moon GROWLED a t
iny bit and then she got off her seat and CRAWLED UNDER THE PICNIC TABLE.

  So we followed her and Jodi said, “She’ll be fine. Come on, Maisie. Out you come.”

  Jodi started to drag Maisie out from under the picnic table. But then Miss Moon started HELPING and Maisie WOKE UP and saw Miss Moon and she took the deepest breath a person has ever taken and I knew EXACTLY what was about to happen and so did Jodi and Zach so we dropped Maisie and covered our ears and Maisie SCREAMED THE WHOLE FOREST DOWN.

  Miss Moon looked FURIOUS and it was probably because Maisie had screamed RIGHT in her EAR!

  Miss Moon’s face went RED and THAT’S when I remembered about a werewolf TRANSFORMING when it’s ANGRY.

  Zach had already begun to back out slowly from under the table and he was pulling me with him. Then Miss Moon LEAPT out from under the table so fast I actually YELPED and she GRABBED her coffee mug and stormed away.

  We all lay down on the grass next to the table because we were in SHOCK.

  Jodi said that it was time to FACE FACTS and that Miss Moon was getting hairier by the day.

  I said that she was also getting more and more ANGRY and everyone agreed.

  Then Zach said, “You know what this means. It will soon be a FULL MOON.”

  Me and Jodi both gave Zach a LOOK when he said that last bit because Maisie was lying RIGHT THERE and Zach did his “OOPS” face that we do when we accidentally say stuff in front of Maisie that terrifies her to her very core.

  So Zach asked Maisie if she was OK but Maisie didn’t say anything and she had her head down so we couldn’t see her face.

  And when she looked up we saw that she was CRYING.

  We all gave Maisie a hug and said that we would protect her from Miss Moon.

  But then Maisie said, “But who will protect Miss Moon from HERSELF?”

  And that’s when we realised that Maisie was crying because she was WORRIED about Miss Moon.

  Then Maisie wiped her eyes and said, “We have to do something. We need to find a CURE!”

  And that’s when I got a

  That afternoon, we all went to visitors’ centre and when we got there I said, “I’ve got a plan. Follow me!”

  My plan was to see if there was a COMPUTER we could use so we could find a WEREWOLF CURE. Jodi said that was a

  and Maisie said we might even be able to find a charity for werewolves that could give us some advice on how to help them.

  But we weren’t allowed to use the computer in the visitors’ centre because it said STAFF ONLY on it and also because it was behind the counter in the gift shop.

  That’s when Jodi said that this was an

  and that sometimes you had to BREAK THE RULES when it was an emergency, like when it was about WEREWOLVES.

  So we pretended to be looking around the EXHIBITION that was all about the JACOBITE SOLDIERS and a BATTLE that had happened. The plan was that Zach was going to cause a DIVERSION at the stationery bit by ACCIDENTALLY-ON-PURPOSE knocking ALL of the rubbers and pencils on to the ground.

  Jodi said that would make the Gift Shop Man really annoyed and he would come over and moan at Zach a bit and start picking them all up while we sneaked behind the counter and used the computer.

  But Zach said that this was probably the RISKIEST plan that Jodi had EVER come up with. And we knew he was right because the Gift Shop Man could come back at ANY TIME and catch us behind the counter and that he would probably call the POLICE!

  But Maisie said that it HAD TO BE DONE and then she put her shaky little hand out in front of her.

  I knew Maisie wanted us to all put our hands together for COURAGE because we were a TEAM just like we’d done when we thought there were BABY ALIENS in our school!

  So we all put our hands on top of Maisie’s and Jodi smiled a bit and said, “Werewolf Hunters,” and Maisie said, “Werewolves in Need,” and we all nodded and sent Zach off to wreck the stationery bit.

  As soon as Zach knocked over the tray with all the rubbers in it, the Gift Shop Man RUSHED over to see what was going on and we slid behind the counter.

  Jodi opened a search page on the computer and wrote “WEREWOLF CURE”.

  I was the LOOKOUT and I could see that Zach was doing an EXCELLENT job of creating a diversion because every time he tried to help the Gift Shop Man put something back he would ACCIDENTALLY-ON-PURPOSE knock something ELSE over and then say sorry and start helping to pick it all up.

  But then the Gift Shop Man told Zach to “GO OVER THERE” and he pointed to the exhibition bit so Zach gave me the WARNING SIGN which was scratching his head with BOTH HANDS at the same time so I said, “It’s time to GO!”

  But then Jodi said that she’d “JUST PRESSED PRINT” and I started PANICKING because we hadn’t said ANYTHING about using the PRINTER as well and I was SURE that we were going to get caught.

  Me and Maisie RAN across to the printer while Jodi closed the search page and deleted the search history.

  I almost had a

  waiting for the page to finish printing. It felt like EVERYTHING was going in SLOW MOTION and I could actually SEE the Gift Shop Man walking back over.

  Then Maisie said, “DONE!” and snatched the bit of paper from the printer and we slipped around the side of the counter JUST before the Gift Shop Man came back.

  We all sat on the ground for AGES trying to calm down because that had been a CLOSE ONE.

  Then we spotted Zach WAVING at us. So we ran back over to the exhibition bit and that’s when we all looked at the piece of paper. And this is what it said:

  NO ONE wanted to do the WHISPERING ONE and that was fair enough.

  Maisie said that the METAL ONE didn’t say that the werewolf had to be in WOLF FORM when you did the tapping and that we could try it on Miss Moon at breakfast the next day when she was eating her cereal.

  Then Zach pointed to a poster about the BATTLE and said that if it happened here then it had probably been a WEREWOLF BATTLE. He said that some of the werewolves must have SURVIVED the battle and managed to get away.

  Zach said that everything made sense to him now especially about why Miss Moon had suggested we all go on a CAMPING TRIP.

  He said that this place was basically like an all-inclusive holiday camp for werewolves because there were woods to roam in, other werewolves to meet, trees to scratch, fresh running water to drink from the river and campers to FEAST ON!

  Then Zach said that we had to be EXTRA CAREFUL because we were on

  and that when the FULL MOON came Miss Moon would FULLY TRANSFORM and become a hungry, DANGEROUS BEAST.

  And Maisie gulped.

  That night, we all gathered around the campfire and toasted marshmallows.

  Miss Moon was EVEN HAIRIER than she’d been this morning and her eyebrows were actually TOUCHING.

  And then all of a sudden Jodi said, “I have to go to bed. I’m too tired.” And she left even though she had LOADS of marshmallows left.

  Zach said, “That’s weird.”

  And it WAS weird because Jodi

  Then when we all went back to our tent Jodi wasn’t THERE!

  I was just about to start

  when I heard snoring.

  It was coming from Zach’s SURVIVAL TENT and when we peeked inside we saw that Jodi was in there fast asleep.

  I had no idea why Jodi had gone to sleep in Zach’s tent but then Maisie said that maybe she was feeling sick from all the marshmallows so we just zipped the tent back up and went to bed.

  But later that night I woke up suddenly because I thought I heard

  outside our tent.

  I held my breath to see if I could hear it again but there was nothing.

  So I just lay there trying to decide what to do next and I must have fallen asleep because then it was morning and Zach was shaking me awake, shouting,

  I couldn’t BELIEVE that Jodi was gone and I just KNEW that we should NEVER have let her sleep in the SURVIVAL TENT by herself when we knew FINE WELL there was a WEREWOLF in the camp.

/>   We all ran outside and started asking everyone if they’d seen Jodi and Maisie was crying because she thought Miss Moon had eaten her and then all of a sudden a voice said, “What’s going on?!”

  And it was JODI!

  We all HUGGED Jodi SO TIGHT she said, “STOP … CAN’T … BREATHE.” So we stopped.

  Jodi said that she’d just gone to the shower block and that we all needed to

  and that she was a hundred per cent fine.

  But she didn’t LOOK a hundred per cent fine. She had big dark circles under her eyes and her face was all red and blotchy.

  That’s when I noticed that Jodi had a HUGE backpack with her and when I asked her why she’d taken so much stuff to the showers she just said, “Um… LISTEN! We have a new mission. We need to find out when the next full moon is! So we can be READY.”

  Then all of a sudden a DARK SHADOW covered Jodi and we turned around to see Miss Moon HOVERING over us.

  I gulped because Miss Moon looked HAIRIER than ever. Her hair was ALL OVER the place and she even had a bit of a MOUSTACHE now.

  Miss Moon STARED AT US for ages. She looked angry.