Free The Five Masks of Dr. Screem by R. L. Stine

weightless blanket.
    I waited for the jolt of pain of the dog’s bite. But I didn’t feel it.
    I couldn’t feel anything. Just the coldness of the white light.
    Cold. So cold.
    I opened my eyes and gasped. I was standing in deep snow.
    A bright moon low overhead made the snow gleam like silver. I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust.
    I glanced around. The snowy ground dipped, then rose again. A tall, white mountain peak loomed in front of me. And to my side, a snowy cliff with nothing but purple sky behind it.
    I’m in the mountains
, I realized.
Snowy mountains
.
    Where had the mask taken me? I sniffed the air. I smelled something new. I couldn’t quite place the smell.
    I took a few unsteady steps forward in the snow. The snow was soft and flaky and fell away from me as I walked.
    I gazed down at a set of paw prints. Animal paws making a straight track along the side of the cliff.
    I stopped after another few steps. I felt awkward. Heavy. As if I’d put on a lot of weight.
    A picture flashed into my mind. I saw a rabbit. The rabbit was dead and torn to pieces. I could
smell
the dead, raw rabbit. I could see its meaty legs and its tender middle. The red meat clinging to its bones.
    I felt hungry.
    Wait. Stop
,
Monica
.
Why the crazy thoughts
?
    My stomach growled. I sniffed the air again. I recognized the smell. A human. I was picking up the scent of a nearby human.
    I turned slowly — and saw Peter standing on top of a low snowdrift. His mummy mask gleamed under the moonlight. He had his hands wrapped tightly around himself.
    “Peter?”
    I tried to call to him. But only a grunt escaped my throat.
    I tried again. And grunted again.
    What’s up with this
?
    I lowered my gaze to the snow. I stared at the animal paw prints. They stretched in a straight line from
behind
me.
    They were
mine
!
    My stomach growled again. I felt like growling, too. I suddenly felt an anger I’d never felt before. Pure animal anger.
    I’m an animal
.
    The words rang in my ears. And repeated.
I’m an animal
.
    So that’s what the wolf mask had done. It carried Peter and me here to this high, snowy mountain slope. And it turned
me
into a snow wolf.
    A grunting snow wolf staggering forward on four legs.
    Hungry. And angry.
    I pawed the snow. I looked around.
    I pictured the dead rabbit again. I could taste its cold, wet, pink-and-yellow insides. What tasty morsels did the stomach hold?
    I raised my head to the sky and let the wind tickle the fur on my ears. Then I sniffed again. Humans were too bony to eat. But Peter had such a sweet scent.
    I started to drool. My belly grumbled.
    Peter might steal my rabbit. I pictured him grabbing the rabbit in two hands. Ripping it apart. Tossing the fur into the snow and raising the fresh, tasty meat to his face.
    No way.
    Peter can’t have my food
.
A wolf doesn’t share
.
    I knew what I had to do. I had to get rid of Peter.
    He stood watching me.
    And I can smell his fear
.
    I staggered toward him on my strong animal legs.
    He let out a cry and stumbled backward, off the snowdrift.
    He landed on his back in the deep snow.
    I didn’t give him time to stand up.
    I pounced.
    I clamped my teeth onto his neck and scooped him up in both front paws. Then I raised myself onto my back legs. With my new animal strength, I lifted him above my head.
    I released his neck and opened my mouth in a howl of victory. My howl echoed off the high mountains above us.
    The long triumphant howl burst from my chest and out through my open snout. It felt good to show off my strength.
    Peter screamed and struggled, kicking and thrashing.
    But he was no match for my animal power.
    When the wolf is angry
,
the wolf will ACT
.
    Holding the shrieking boy in my claws, I staggered on my hind legs to the edge of the snowy cliff.
    And with a beastly roar, I tossed him over the side.

30
    Peter flew into the air.
    His scream of horror
snapped
something in my brain — and I lunged forward. Closed my jaw on to the edge of his