Red Rider's Hood

"So what? We didn't do it," said Marvin.

"Yeah, but they don't know that!"

And then I heard the worst sound I could possibly hear: The four of them were rustling through the bushes, coming into the park to hide, and headed straight for us.

14 Adviser to the godfather

I quickly yanked the arrows out of the bark and handed them to Marissa, along with the crossbow. I slipped the quiver off my shoulder and handed that to her as well.

"Get in the bushes!" I said softly. "Deep."

She nodded and ducked as far as she could under the shrubs, just as A/C, Warhead, Marvin, and Loogie came into view.

"Well, well, he's here after all!" said Marvin, almost snarling at me.

"I see him," said A/C. "Took long enough to track you down."

Track me down?

"What's the matter?" I said. "Can't a guy take a walk?"

We were all standing next to the tree I was using for target practice. A/C crossed his arms and leaned against it. "That's it?" he asked me. "Just taking a walk? Nothing else going on?"

A/C's shoulder was just a few inches from the bark that was riddled with holes from the arrows. He hadn't noticed them yet. How could he not notice them, they looked like giant black holes to me!

I moved away from the tree, but kept eye contact with him. "What else would be going on? It's getting closer to the full moon, and I'm kind of antsy, like I can't sit still, so I figured I'd take a walk."

"I hear you," A/C said, nodding. "Anyway, Cedric wants to see you. He thinks you're avoiding him."

"Avoiding him? No way."

Warhead was to my right, directly in front of the bush Marissa was hiding under. He sniffed the air suspiciously, and I suddenly had an awful thought.

"Uh . . . by the way, how'd you find me here?" I asked.

A/C pointed at his nose. "A werewolf's nose is his best friend―especially this close to the full moon."

Warhead was still sniffing. He knew someone else had been here. Marvin might not have been a werewolf yet, but if he got close enough, I'll bet he'd recognize his sister's perfume. If they found her with the crossbow and arrows, it would be all over for us. So thinking fast, I said, "Hey, Marvin―you just missed your sister."

Warhead stopped sniffing, and Marvin snapped his eyes to me, glaring. "What was she doing here?"

I matched his glare. "Like I said, we were taking a walk."

Then a corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. "Looks like she finally wised up and ditched you."

I wanted to match insult for insult, but I had to hold back that urge. Getting Marissa out of mind, if not out of scent, was more important. I looked down and shrugged, like maybe he was right. His smirk widened into a full-fledged gloat, so I burped in his face, figuring that would get his mind off it, and kill any other scent as well.

"Yuck!" He pushed me away from him, hard.

Warhead laughed, and A/C straightened up. Only Loogie didn't seem to react. He was busy covering his eyes from the weak glare of the sun, which was just peeking over the tops of the nearby buildings.

"Sun's getting high," Loogie said as he moved closer to a tree to get under the shadow. "It's gonna be another scorcher. We should get back to the Hollow."

"What's the matter?" I asked. "Can't take the heat?"

"No," Loogie said, slipping on his sunglasses. "I just don't got my sunscreen, that's all."

I laughed. Loogie was about as white as a corpse in Clorox―and seemed even paler than he used to be, now that he was set against the rich greens and browns of the park. "Ain't ever heard of a werewolf that needs sunscreen," I said. His skin was practically translucent―like you could see right through it to his veins.

"Now you have."

I wondered if that would affect his fur as a werewolf . . . then I realized that I would know the answer very soon.

"Come on," said A/C. "Cedric's waiting."

"Okay. Let me get my jacket."

"Whaddaya need a jacket for in this heat?"

"It was raining when I got here." And then I silently cursed myself. It hadn't been raining since dawn. That fact was lost on everyone except for Marvin. He glared at me.

"How early were you out 'walking' with my sister?"

"Early enough not to be bothered by you."

Marvin glared at me some more, but that was okay, because it kept his attention away from the target tree, riddled with arrow holes.

As we walked away from the tree, I figured I'd make a narrow escape . . . until I reached the spot where I'd left my jacket on the ground.

There was a bag of silver bullets sitting on top it, and it was wide open.

How could I have been so stupid? One glance down from any of them and they would see what was inside.

"Hang on," I said, bending over it. I quickly rolled up the top of the bag and tossed it gently aside, trying to make it look like I was just adding a new piece of litter to the litter-ridden park. Then I picked up my jacket and turned to go.

"What about the bag?" A/C asked.

"Is there food inside?" Warhead asked. "If you don't want it, I'll eat it. I'm starved." He tried to pick it up, but I got to it first.

"Nothing you'd like," I told him, holding it out of his reach.

"Hey―you were throwing it away," Warhead said. "Now you're keeping it, just so I can't have it?"

"C'mon," said A/C impatiently, "just take it and let's go."

And so without any other choice, I took the bag of bullets meant for Marissa and left the park.

We pushed our way through the hedge surrounding the park and headed in the direction of Troll Bridge Hollow. As we walked, I rolled the top of the paper bag down even tighter, to pack the bullets down so they wouldn't rattle. Marvin must have seen the way I was clutching it, because he snatched it away.

"Did Grandma pack her Little Red lunch?"

I grabbed it back from him before he could look inside. "No, your sister did, and sealed it with a kiss."

Marvin tried to slug me, but A/C held him back. "Touch him and you answer to Cedric," A/C said.

Marvin snorted at that. "This little snot's got you all wrapped around his finger, and you just let him do it."

At the next corner, I wanted to drop the bag casually into a trash can, figuring I could come back and get it later, but Warhead still had his eyes on it and wanted a bite of whatever it was he thought I had. I knew I'd have to keep the bullets with me.

A/C and Warhead turned a corner up ahead, and Loogie was somewhere far behind. Suddenly I felt a hand digging into my shoulder. It was Marvin. He stopped me before I turned the corner.

"You know Cedric doesn't control me like he controls the others." He spoke quietly, so only I would be able to hear him. "I don't play by his rules. Any agreements between you and him don't mean anything to me. You got that?"

I started to answer him, but he cut me off. "No, don't say anything. Just keep looking straight ahead." He prodded me forward, and I kept walking. When we turned the corner, A/C and Warhead were twenty feet ahead of us.

"So," Marvin continued, "Cedric promised you he'd leave your grandmother alone? Well, that's Cedric's business. But I make no such promises. I politely asked you to keep your paws away from my sister, but you didn't. So now your dear sweet grandma and the rest of your family move to the top of my dinner menu."

Then he chuckled. It was a low, unpleasant sound. And when he was through chuckling, he said, "That is, they would be on the menu . . . if I were a werewolf."

We arrived at the Hollow. Cedric was waiting, and I could tell that he was already feeling the effects of the growing moon. His jaw was set like stone, a vein pulsed on his neck, and he was pacing like a caged animal in the dreary depths of that dim chamber. The entire place was already starting to smell like animal musk and dog breath. Each night, as it got closer to the full moon, they were all changing just a little bit inside―and although I knew it was just my imagination, I felt like I was changing, too. Without even realizing it, I reached to my chest and felt the Saint Gabriel's coin that was still hanging from my neck, hiding beneath my shirt. Protection, I thought. I wondered if it could protect me from myself.