Free Full Moon Halloween by R. L. Stine Page B

from Angela and raised it to the control panel.
    “There,” he said finally. “I got the button back on.”
    He pushed it.
    Once. Twice. Another time.
    “It…it isn’t working,” he stammered. “The control seems to be broken.”
    “What does that mean?” Tristan asked, feeling a stab of panic tighten his chest. “How do we get out?”
    “We can’t,” Mr. Moon replied. “We’re trapped in here!”

29
    “No! We’ve got to get homel” Tristan cried.
    He grabbed the bolt handle with both hands and struggled to slide the bolt open.
    It wouldn’t budge.
    “You’ve got to let us out of here!” Bella shouted in a trembling voice. “It’s almost midnight and—”
    BONG…BONG…
    Tristan heard the big clock begin to chime again.
    “Can you raise the bars?” Rosa asked. “We can all climb out a window.”
    “I’m pushing that button,” Angela replied. “But it isn’t working, either. I’m really sorry. Something has broken, I’m afraid.”
    BONG…BONG…
    Tristan struggled with the front door. He tried twisting the knob and pulling the bolt at the same time.
    “It won’t work,” Mr. Moon said. “It’s all electronic, you see.”
    BONG…BONG…
    “We can phone for help,” Angela said. “I’m sure the phones are still working.”
    BONG…
    “Too late!” Tristan growled. “Too late for that now!”
    He could feel the change coming over him. The change he had felt on so many full-moon nights.
    He could feel the pull of his skin, tightening over his bones.
    His arms and legs began to itch as the stiff, dark fur poked up from his skin.
    A low growl started deep in his chest and worked its way up through his throat—and out of his snout.
    Changing…. Once again Tristan’s body was changing.
    The ears pointing up. The fur sprouting everywhere. The pointed teeth shooting out from his gums. Hot drool hitting the floor in front of him.
    His body stooped now…stretching…
    The skin stretching…the bones grinding as they changed his shape…
    The color seeping from his eyes…He staredat the black-and-white, world…. Stared as an animal…
    And felt the hunger.
    The gnawing hunger that rumbled his belly.
    The hunger that made him rage and roar.
    And raise his hands—wolf paws now!—with the long claws curling out of them.
    “OWOOOOOOOOO!”
    He turned and saw Rosa. Yes, Rosa, too.
    Rosa the wolf creature. Scraping the air with her claws.
    Thick gobs of white drool spilling over her fangs.
    Roaring with the hunger, the same hunger Tristan felt.
    Tristan turned and stared at Mr. Moon. The teacher had his arm around his wife. His eyes bulged, and he shook in terror and shock.
    If only he had listened to us, Tristan thought.
    Rosa and I confessed to him. We told him we were werewolves.
    But he didn’t believe us. Poor fool.
    BONG…BONG.
    The last two chimes of the clock.
    Tristan turned to the window. The full moon so high in the sky now. So high it couldn’t be seen from the window. From above the trees, its pale light washed in through the bars.
    He and Rosa pawed the carpet. Then movedtoward Mr. Moon, Angela, Bella, and Ray.
    “No—please!” Angela screamed. “Please—!”
    “You…ignored the curfew!” Rosa growled.
    “Our parents…they wanted us home by eleven,” Tristan whispered. “They wanted us home so no one would see this!”
    The four trembling victims backed up against the living room wall.
    Tristan and Rosa moved closer, snapping their jaws, their long tongues licking their pointed fangs.
    “But now you know the truth about us!” Rosa snarled.
    “And now,” Tristan growled, “we can’t let any of you out alive!”

30
    “Meat!” Rosa roared. “I’m soooo hungry!”
    Tristan staggered forward. He raised his clawed wolf paws and prepared to attack.
    His heart pounded so hard, he could hear the blood rushing through his veins. The excitement was always overwhelming on these nights.
    The hunger…the animal feelings…the gnawing need to attack, to