CAN'T FIGHT THE MOONLIGHT

CHAPTER FOURTEEN-THE SECRET

"Phil's dead," I said as I began sobbing. "We killed him."

"No! Look," Pim said pointing.

Phil's body began changing…into a white wolf with haunting blue eyes.

"The dagger must've missed the heart," Pim said nervously. "But then why is he changing despite the silver blessed dagger?"

"I don't know," I wailed. "I think we'd best tell your parents!"

The wolf shook its body and stood on all four for a moment before it turned its blue eyes onto us.

"I think we made a really bad mistake," I said as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Wait," Pim said. "It could take a bit."

Just then, the wolf collapsed and Phil's form reappeared.

He was lying on his side with one arm stretched out and the other draped over his side.

"Phil?" I asked slowly.

Phil pulled himself into a sitting position.

"What on earth happened?" he asked.

The knife was lying several inches away from him blood stained.

"Do you remember anything?" Pim asked peering at him.

"No," Phil said shaking his head.

"Thank God," I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why? What happened?" Phil asked looking alarmed.

"Someone killed Candida," Pim said seriously. "Her throat was torn out."

Phil looked pale.

"Do they know what happened?"

"No," I said shaking my head. "But Pim and I think it was a wolf that did it."

"A wolf? Isn't Gabrielle gone?" Phil asked, his voice breaking when he said that.

"Yeah," Pim said gravely. "But someone was bitten before she went."

"Who?"

"You,"

"Me?" Phil asked startled.

We nodded.

"Did I hurt either of you?" he demanded.

"No," Pim said shaking her head.

Phi felt his chest and realized that there was blood there.

He fell to the side unconscious.

We ran and got Mrs. Diffy.

Phil was brought to the hospital.

"Lucky the knife missed his heart altogether," said Dr Anna Harris shaking her head. "That was a lucky accident if you will."

She left the room.

"I'm just glad that you're okay," Mrs. Diffy said giving Phil a hug and kiss.

"Yeah, lucky you two were there to save him," Mr. Diffy said as he put an arm around Pim and I.

Pim and I exchanged looks.

After more fussing over Phil, Mr. and Mrs. Diffy left the hospital room.

Pim and I remained behind.

"Did I change at all?" Phil asked curiously.

"For a bit yes," I said nodding. "But then you changed back."

"Must be pure," Pim said meaningfully as she grinned.

"Must be," I grinned back.

But then, Phil cried out in pain and was doubled over in bed.

"Phil? What's wrong?" Pim demanded worriedly as she put a hand on Phil's arm.

"Sharp pain," Phil cringed.

Then, to our horror, Phil began changing into the wolf again.

"What's going on? I thought it was supposed to work!" Pim cried horrified.

"Maybe we were supposed to kill him!" I cried as panic settled in and that horrible thought entered my mind.

"I'm not killing him! I'd rather live with him this way then lose him!" Pim argued back.

"I agree," I said keeping my eyes on the wolf.

After a few moments, Phil vanished and all that was left was the wolf.

It shook its body and jumped down off the bed.

Pim and I huddled close to each other as the wolf stepped toward us.

Those haunting blue eyes were locked on us the entire time.

It sat on its haunches in front of us and looked from Pim to me and then back to Pim.

Pim and I easily looked at each other.

The wolf's lower jaw dropped and a red tongue lolled out, resting between the bottom canines. It began panting loudly.

"Phil?" Pim asked tentatively.

The wolf barked at her in response.

Pim slowly extended her hand out.

"Be careful," I whispered nervously.

But the wolf stepped over to her and began furiously licking her hand.

"He's okay," Pim said relieved.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief and also kneeled down beside Pim. Immediately, the wolf came over to me and pressed his head against my chest.

"Seems someone likes you," Pim grinned broadly.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked quickly shifting my eyes.

"Well, duh," Pim said gesturing to the wolf. "I know Phil cares a great deal for you…I'm not blind."

I just nodded and gently began stroking the wolfs head.

The wolf continued to pant.

Just then, we heard a woman scream behind us.

Pim and I turned around and saw Mrs. Diffy and Mr. Diffy standing in the doorway. Mrs. Diffy had her hand raised to her mouth.

"Where did that animal come from?" she asked.

"Um, Mom? Dad?" Pim began slowly. "This is Phil."

"Phil? What are you talking about?" Mr. Diffy asked looking from me, to the wolf, to Pim.

"Gabrielle bit him on the shoulder before…well you know," I said quietly.

It still bothered me greatly to think about what happened.

"So he's a…werewolf now?" Mrs. Diffy asked.

Pim and I nodded.

"You see, we tried to end the curse by putting a silver bladed knife into him, but it didn't work," Pim said slowly.

"YOU STABBED YOUR OWN BROTHER?" Mrs. Diffy cried obviously enraged.

"Mom, we were trying to help him! That's all!" Pim cried.

"If you call stabbing him helping…" Mr. Diffy began.

"Mr. Diffy, that is one of the rules," I said quietly. "He's pure of heart."

I began explaining to him what happened and the rules.

"He's going to be fine," Pim said her lower lip trembling.

"I'm sorry," Mrs. Diffy said wrapping her arm around Pim. "I just never expected to her you stab your own brother…bit of a shock."

"I was shocked too," I admitted. "But it was the only way. He's pure, but he'll have this curse for a long time."

"Well, we'd rather put up with him getting all hairy on full moons than actually losing him," Mrs. Diffy said as she kneeled down beside me and extended her hand.

The wolf yipped and came over to her.

We all hugged the wolf.

Once the morning came, Phil changed back into a human.

"Pim and Keely explained everything to me," Mrs. Diffy said. "We're okay with it."

"Really?" Phil asked looking from his mother to his father.

They nodded.

"And so am I," I grinned.

Phil caught my eyes and grinned as well.

H.G. WELLS JUNIOR/HIGH SCHOOL.

The next day, we headed back to school. Much to our shock, there was another new girl that transferred here. Her name was Hilary Dawes.

She had shoulder length dark brown hair, and honey brown eyes.

She was dressed in jeans and a pink tee shirt. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail.

Phil and I walked side-by-side to Phil's locker. She was standing talking to Owen.

"Another new student?" Phil asked as he opened his locker and a long table pulled forward. He poured me fruit punch.

"I know," I said hugging my binder against me. "It's really creepy. It's like no one really cares that Gabrielle is gone."

"I care," Phil said automatically. His brown eyes already began filling with tears.

"Oh I know Phil," I said softly putting a hand on his. "I meant other than us and your family."

Phil nodded and quickly wiped a tear away from his eye.

I had to admit, I had felt a bit jealous whenever Gabrielle was around. I knew Phil liked her. I loved Phil, but I wasn't sure how to tell him and I knew now wasn't the time to.

I just sighed.

"Is something wrong, Keely?" Phil asked quickly seeing my expression.

"No," I said forcing a smile. "I'm okay."

"Sure?"

"Sure,"

He nodded and still looked a bit skeptical, but didn't press me any further.

Just then the new girl came over to us.

"Hello," she said brightly. "My name is Hilary Dawes."

"Hi," I said.

"I'm new here," Hilary began. "Can you tell me where I can find Keely Teslow and a Phil Diffy?"

Phil and I looked at each other.

"We're them," Phil said. "I'm Phil Diffy and this is Keely Teslow. Do we know you?"

"I'm Gabrielle's sister,"

Phil leaned against the locker and clutched the table.

"Don't tease me," Phil said narrowing his eyes.

"I'm not," Hilary said looking serious. "My real name is Hilary Richards. But I had to change it because our mother hid me from my father…Mr. Richards. He was the head of the Tyrix pack."

Phil and I looked at each other again.

This couldn't be happening…here I thought it would be over with…boy was I wrong.

The dance was coming up in a few short weeks. I wanted to ask Phil to it.

"Please explain this to me," I said slowly. "We're sorry, but we're very confused."

"Sure," Hilary explained. "You see, before our mother died, she hid me from my father. He was the head of the Tyrix pack and wanted to kill all humans. Gabrielle was left with him and we feared that she would be brought up with the Tyrix ways…but instead, she followed the Landrol beliefs and left the Tyrix pack. That was really dangerous though. I grew up in New York. We heard that Gabrielle and my father killed each other and I knew I had to come here. The rest of the Tyrix pack is gone…they went into hiding. I came here because Gabrielle had told me something incase something had happened to her. It has to deal with you two."

Phil and I looked at each other for a third time nervously. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good.

"What did she say?" Phil asked clearing his throat.

"She asked me to come to Pickford to make sure that you two went to the dance together and that Phil, you protect your family and Keely from the Norix's,"

"The what?"

"The Norix's," Hilary explained. "They're a second group of rogue werewolves that love to torture humans. They've heard about the Tyrix's and want to try and fill in for them. They're going to be arriving here any day now. They also know that Phil is now a werewolf. They're going to try and get him to join their ways."

"That can't be!" I cried looking shocked.

Hilary nodded.

"I'm afraid it is," she said sadly. "You must make sure Phil stays true to himself and the others around him…if one, just one angry streak enters him when he changes, then the Norix's have already won. I will be around school if you need help. I will come to you tomorrow with plans."

She grinned and bounced off down the hall.

I turned to Phil.

"Can you believe this?" I asked him.

"No," Phil said shaking his head.

He leaned close so that our faces were inches apart.

"But one thing I know," he said quietly. "I would never, ever hurt you…or my family."

I smiled.

"I know,"

He smiled back.

I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He beamed.

"Let's head to class shall we?"

We linked arms and began heading down the corridor to English class.

I couldn't imagine Phil turning against me and his family. It wasn't like him. The blade test proved right…but could those Norix's have some kind of weird power that forces people to turn on those they love or care about?

With that horrible thought in my head, I couldn't concentrate on my English class lesson.

I was too worried and knew we'd have to make sure that Phil didn't get one angry or mean streak in him for the next few days or else we'd lose him to the Norix's.

I knew Phil for a long time and never knew him to have mean streak in him. He's always been ready to help me when I'm in trouble, or his family. He's always cheered me up when I'm upset or feeling down.

He's never hurt anyone and he hates to fight. He's stood up for Pim several times. I couldn't understand how someone so sweet like him could ever be mean or evil.

But then again, if these Norix's had that power, even the most sweetest person could be come as evil as ever.

And I had hoped there was a way to bring him back incase he did.

After English we headed to Science and the rest of our classes. Phil invited me over his house. I explained what happened to his parents.

"So a sister came up to you huh?" Mr. Diffy mused.

We nodded.

"So she thinks there's a second group of rogue werewolves coming? Why?" Mrs. Diffy asked.

"Dunno…but if Phil gets one mean streak in him, the Norix's would immediately want him to join them,"

"Phil has no mean streak in him," Curtis said.

"No, he doesn't," Mrs. Diffy said smiling.

"I know," I said biting my bottom lip. "But suppose these new werewolves have some kind of power that forces people to turn?"

"Werewolves have powers?" Mr. Diffy asked.

"I don't know," I said. "But we really should keep an eye on him anyway."

"I agree," Mrs. Diffy said.

Phil was curled up watching TV.

I continued to chew on my bottom lip. I felt a faint glistening of tears in my eyes as I looked at him.