Werewolf Skin by R. L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page A

to stay in tonight, I didn’t want them to hear
me sneak out.
    I clicked off the lights in my room. Then I reached for the doorknob and
tugged.
    “Hey—!”
    I turned the knob and tugged again. I turned it the other way and gave the
door a hard jerk. “I don’t believe it!” I gasped. I’d been locked in.

 
 
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    The door must be stuck, I decided.
    I tugged it hard. Tugged it a dozen times. I even tried pushing. But I
couldn’t budge it. It had definitely been locked, locked from the outside.
    I angrily spun away from the door.
    Why did my aunt and uncle lock me in? I wondered. Because of last night?
Because of my close calls in the woods?
    “They can’t do this to me!” I exclaimed.
    I ran to the window. I jerked the curtains apart and reached for the window
handles.
    The window slid up a few inches—and I let out a gasp.
    Metal bars had been installed outside.
    When did they put those on? This afternoon?
    I’m a prisoner! I told myself. I’m locked in this room like an animal in a
cage!
    “They can’t do this to me!” I repeated. “They can’t!”
    I slid the window up all the way. I grabbed the metal bars with both hands and struggled to pry them loose.
    But they wouldn’t budge.
    I was still tugging on the bars when I heard a low growl.
    My hands dropped away, and a sharp cry escaped my throat.
    I froze.
    And heard another growl. Louder this time.
    And close. So close.
    A shrill howl rose up. From the Marlings’ house?
    I moved my face up close to the bars and peered out. Their bedroom window
stood open again. But the house was completely dark. No lights anywhere.
    I squinted into the darkness. The moon had disappeared behind a cloud. I
could barely see across to their house.
    Pressed against the bars, I heard an animal grunt. And then a thud.
    A dark shape dropped down from the Marlings’ open window. Another thud.
Another shape dropped down on all fours.
    One of the creatures raised its head in a long, mournful howl.
    And then they took off, loping heavily toward the backyard, heading to the
woods.
    Dogs? Wolves? Humans?
    I couldn’t see clearly in the darkness.
    I stared out, and a silvery light washed over the house as the cloud drifted
away from the moon.
    But now it was too late. Too late.
    The creatures had vanished.
    I pounded the bars with my fists.
    Sean and Arjun were waiting for me by the creek. And there was no way I could
get there.
    What would they think? That I was a total chicken? A wimp?
    I’m missing my big chance to take a winning photograph! I realized.
    Angrily, I slammed the window shut.
    “Tomorrow night!” I declared out loud. “Tomorrow night I’m getting out of
here. My aunt and uncle won’t stop me.
    “Tomorrow night I’m going into the woods, and I’m going to find out the truth
about werewolves!”

 
 
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    “How could you do that to me?” I shrieked. I burst into the kitchen for
breakfast the next morning, and strode angrily up to my aunt and uncle.
    “How could you lock me in my room without telling me?” I cried.
    Aunt Marta set down her coffee mug. She gazed up at me with a troubled
expression. Then she turned to Uncle Colin. “Maybe we should have told Alex,”
she said.
    Uncle Colin narrowed his eyes at me. “Did you try to get out last night,
Alex?”
    “Well…” I hesitated. I didn’t want to tell them what I had planned to do.
“I don’t like being in a cage!” I protested. “I’m twelve years old, and I really
think—”
    “We’re sorry,” Aunt Marta interrupted. She glanced at the kitchen clock and
poured me out a bowl of cornflakes.
    “But we did it for your own good,” Uncle Colin added. He folded his napkin tensely between his hands. “We had no choice. We
can’t let you go running out to the woods the way you did your first night. It
just isn’t safe.”
    “We’re responsible for you,” Aunt Marta said, pushing the cereal bowl across
the table to me. “We promised your parents we’d