CAN'T FIGHT THE MOONLIGHT

CHAPTER NINE-THE BATTLE

After the hug, we all released each other.

I was scared for my father. I didn't want anything to happen to him.

"Don't worry," Mrs. Diffy said reassuringly. "Your father will be just fine."

I smiled.

"Let's start dinner," Mr. Diffy said forcing a grin on his face.

"Yum!" Pim cried happily.

I knew they were just trying to keep my mind off what was happening. But I couldn't help but fear that the Tyrix's were going to force the Landrols to be exposed.

We ate dinner.

I silently pushed my food around the plate.

Phil looked over at me with a worried expression.

"You okay?" he mouthed to me.

I nodded and offered him a smile.

Later on, I bunked with Pim and Keely in Pim's room.

Mr. Diffy pulled out two sleeping bags for Keely and I. We set them up on the floor.

Keely slid into hers.

"I really can't believe this is happening," she said looking up at Phil. "I mean the whole werewolf war."

"I know," Phil said nodding. "It's really scary."

"I'm just terrified that something will happen to my father," I said quietly. "If anything happened to him I'd be lost."

"You could always stay with us," Phil said turning his brown eyes onto me.

I smiled.

"Thanks,"

"But I'm positive nothing will happen so lets stop talking about that," Keely said forcing a smile. "So, Gabrielle, what type of music do you like?"

"Oh," I said relieved that she changed the subject. "I like Play, Hillary Duff, and Celine Dion."

"Awesome," Phil said.

Keely told us what music she liked and so did Phil.

Pim joined in as well.

"Oh they're a really good band," Keely said turning to Pim. "I've heard of their music."

"I like to play it just to annoy Phil," Pim said grinning.

"You love to make my life miserable…don't you?" Phil asked frowning.

"Yep," Pim said joyfully.

"Seriously though," I said. "You do care about each other right?"

"Absolutely," Pim said looking at Phil. "After he saved me from that cliff when the Skyak crashed."

"She thought I would be mad," Phil added.

"I was sure he would explode," Pim continued. "But he hugged me and helped me down."

They smiled at each other.

"He's a good guy," Keely said with a serious expression on her face. "He's even helped me out a lot of times."

Phil moved his eyes onto hers.

"Like the time with the Virtu Date? When Bobby was after me?" Keely said.

"Oh yeah," Phil said slowly. "The robot."

There was silence then.

Pim made a raspberry sounding noise with her mouth and then glared at Phil.

"Phil that is disgusting," she said wrinkling her nose, but her blue eyes were twinkling.

Phil grabbed his pillow and playfully smacked Pim in the face with it. She retaliated.

Soon, Keely and I joined in on the pillow fight.

We were laughing and having a good time. I was able to forget the horrible thing that was going on right now.

We eventually fell asleep.

I dreamed:

I saw my Dad running from a pack of the Tyrix wolves and then the next thing I knew, the alpha wolf jumped on Dad's back, knocking him forward onto the ground on his face. The rest of the pack caught up and crowded around him. I heard him screaming for help…but then the scream was cut off. I screamed.

I woke up screaming.

Immediately, the light was switched on. Phil, Pim and Keely were wide awake. Pim was the closest to me. She scrambled out of her sleeping bag and kneeled down beside me.

"Gabrielle? Are you okay? What happened?" she demanded worriedly.

I stopped screaming and hugged myself, rocking back and forth.

Keely and Phil appeared on my left side now.

"Is she okay?" Keely asked concerned, looking from Phil to me.

"Gabrielle?" Phil prodded gently.

"I had a horrible nightmare," I choked out as tears formed and streamed down my cheeks. "I dreamed that the pack of Tyrix's attacked Dad."

"Oh," Phil said putting a hand on my shoulder. "It was just a nightmare. Don't worry about it."

"It's easy for you to say," I said as fresh tears slid down my cheeks. "You have a family that cares about you. All I have is my father. If anything happens to him, I'm lost. I'd have no one."

Pim put her arm around me and pressed her head against mine. Keely did too.

I wasn't able to go back to sleep after that. I was awake for the rest of the night. Phil stayed awake with me also.

In the morning, we sat around the table and ate breakfast. Since I didn't sleep much last night because of the dream, I started dozing off at the table. The next thing I knew, I had slumped against Phil with my head against his shoulder and I was out like a light.

PHIL.

Gabrielle slumped against me with her head on my shoulder and she was out like a light. Her hair brushed against my cheek.

"What on earth…" Mom asked looking alarmed.

She looked from me to Gabrielle.

"She had a nightmare last night," Keely explained. "She couldn't go back to sleep after that. She was up all night."

"Poor dear," Mom said sympathetically.

"She's really worried about her father," Pim said. "She's scared…well, terrified that something will happen to him with this war."

"I can understand that," Dad said helping himself to some pancakes. "I mean I know this isn't really a consolation, but she's certainly welcomed to stay with us."

"Right Dad," I said a bit angrily. "We're from the future. I don't think she'd want to come with us back home. This is her home now…her time."

Keely was silent through all of this.

"Your father is almost finished with the Time machine," Mom said. "We should be…"

Not wanting to hear the rest of that sentence, I abruptly got up, causing Gabrielle to fall off her chair.

She fell off the chair with a 'thud'.

"Phil…" Mom scolded looking shocked.

I quickly left the kitchen.

KEELY.

Phil got up and left the kitchen, causing Gabrielle to slide off her chair and onto the floor. I could see he was upset by what Mrs. Diffy was about to say about the Time Machine.

I would be completely upset and devastated if they left. See, I love Phil…like more than a best friend but I wasn't sure how he felt about me.

I was scared to tell him because of this. I'd rather have him as a best friend then lose him all together.

Gabrielle clambered back onto her chair looking confused.

"What happened?" she asked looking from Mr. and Mrs. Diffy, to Pim, to me.

"I think we just gave Phil our first reason to hate us," Mr. Diffy said slowly.

At that moment, Curtis came into the kitchen.

"Mmm…pancake. Curtis love pancake," he said sitting down beside Gabrielle in Phil's seat and began helping himself.

I finished my breakfast and I went looking for Phil.

He was sitting outside on the porch staring at the sky.

I sat down next to him.

"What's wrong?" I asked gently.

"I really don't want to leave here," he said quietly. "I have you and Gabrielle now. I would miss you guys extremely."

I was silent.

"I'd miss you too," I said quietly. "A lot."

"It's not fair," Phil said angrily. "I should have a say in this."

"Maybe if you talked to your parents?" I offered. "Maybe explain to them how you really feel."

Phil sighed.

I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and pressed my head against his.

"Kids? I think you should come and see this," I heard Mrs. Diffy call from inside the house.

Phil and I got up and headed back inside.

Mr. Diffy, Mrs. Diffy, Curtis, Gabrielle and Pim were seated around the TV set.

We entered the living room and I sat down on the floor in front of the couch. Phil sat on the arm of the couch.

A news reporter was standing in front of a neighborhood. Several dogs were behind her…but as they got closer, I realized that they weren't dogs…they were wolves.

"This is Katie Banner for WKLO Channel 3 news," the reporter began nervously. "We've been getting so many reports of strange dogs roaming the neighborhood. I'm standing in front of Kellis and Vetroa Roads where the dogs have been seen recently. Police are urging residents to stay in their homes and not to leave."

We watched as gray wolves appeared next and charged immediately for the black wolves.

"It appears to be a pack of rogue dogs fighting for their territory." The reporter continued turning around. "Oh my God! Now they're coming toward me!"

The camera bounced around as the reporter and camera man safely slid into the news van and slid the door closed in time. We could hear the wolves snarling and clawing at the metal outside.

The screen went blank.

"It's begun," Gabrielle said quietly. "The battle."

We all looked at her.

GABRIELLE.

Everyone looked at me.

"How long do you think this will go on?" Keely asked nervously looking up at me from the floor.

"I'm not sure," I said. "It depends."

"Well Keely," Mr. Diffy said turning to her. "Looks like you won't be leaving here. I'll call your parents and let them know."

Keely nodded as Mr. Diffy got up and went into the kitchen where the phone was. It was a white cordless.

"Wolves fight?" Curtis asked turning his eyes onto Gabrielle. "Why?"

"Because my species is being threatened by the Tyrix's. The Tyrix's want to kill humans and my species don't…plus we're at risk for being exposed," Gabrielle explained.

Curtis exhaled.

"Wow," he said. "That be real bad. That would hurt Gabrielle yes?"

"Very badly," Gabrielle said. "My species would have to go into hiding…plus, the threat of ridicule, prosecution and people hunting us."

Curtis looked upset.

"I hope everything go okay for Gabrielle,"

Gabrielle smiled and then leaned forward and gave Curtis a kiss on the cheek.

Curtis fell off the couch.

We laughed.

Night time rolled around. It was a full moon out.

Gabrielle changed into the gray wolf but she was restricted to roaming the house. She wasn't allowed outside.

Outside, both sides were fighting. There were dozens of wolves from the Tyrix side and the Landrol side.

I knew somewhere out there was Gabrielle's father as well.

The gray wolf that was Gabrielle was curled up on the couch, with her hind legs tucked underneath her and her forelegs dangled over the edge of the couch. Pim and Phil were sitting on either side of her.

Pim was nervous around her after that last encounter at the library with the Tyrix.

The wolf yawned and stretched, flexing her paws. Her paws touched Pim's thigh and Pim nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Relax," Phil said.

The wolf finished stretching and yawning and then got up on all fours on the couch.

She nudged Pim with her nose.

Pim gave the wolf a quick pat on the head before returning her hands to her lap.

"She's really spooked around the wolf isn't she," Mrs. Diffy said thoughtfully.

"I think she's just nervous because of all this battling going on," I said.

The wolf jumped down off the couch and came over to me. She sat on her haunches on my feet and looked up at me, panting. Her red tongue lolled out and rested between the bottom canines.

I scratched an ear.

"Pim, that wolf that was in the library was a Tyrix," Phil said. "You know Gabrielle isn't going to hurt you."

Pim just nodded quickly and kept wringing her hands together on her lap.

Phil looked a bit concerned but said nothing more.

Outside we could hear snarling and whelping. Occasionally a garbage can would be knocked over with a clang.

We sat around watching TV.

"I'm going to get something to drink," Pim said as she got up and headed into the kitchen.

PIM.

The wolf was standing on all fours with her head lowered over the water bowl Dad put down for her. The wolf was thirstily lapping up water.

Keeping my eyes on the wolf, I went over to the fridge and pulled out a can of Sprite.

The wolf finished drinking and raised her head. Her amber eyes were locked on me.

"Just getting a drink," I said nervously to the wolf.

I clutched the can of Sprite. I was afraid that if I held it any tighter, it was going to explode.

I heard a noise behind me, but didn't pay attention to it. Suddenly, the gray wolfs ears flattened out sideways; her top lip retracted and exposed white canines and incisors. She snarled viciously.

I stood completely terrified.

"Gabby…" I whispered, not daring to move.

The next thing I knew, the wolf charged at me. I screamed and threw my arms up over my face protectively.