CAN'T FIGHT THE MOONLIGHT

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-KEELY'S TURNING POINT

Pim was still stable but critical.

She was heading for surgery when I arrived.

Mom and Dad looked upset and scared.

"We called Keely and left word on the answering machine," Mom said swallowing. "I hope my baby is okay."

Dad put an arm around her.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Dad said reassuringly, but he didn't sound convinced himself.

"I'll kill whoever that white wolf was," I said angrily folding my arms across my chest.

"Did you see what it was holding in its jaws? A human hand and what's more, I recognized the hand when I saw it…it was Mrs. Teslows!" Mom said looking pale.

Concern immediately filled my chest.

"I'm hoping Keely is okay," I said worriedly.

At that moment, Keely came trotting down the hospital corridor.

"I came as soon as I got the message on the machine," she said. "Is everything okay?"

"Is your mom alright?" Dad asked her.

"No," Keely said swallowing. "Some wolf attacked her and literally tore her to pieces."

"We saw it," I said narrowing my eyes. "It was a white female wolf. It had your mothers hand in its jaws."

"How do you know it was a female?" Keely asked tilting her head.

"Please," I said rolling my eyes. "I can tell remember?"

"Oh," Keely said nodding.

"The problem is, I don't know who she is in human form," I said pacing the waiting room. "That's the tricky part."

"So why don't you use your wolf senses and sniff her out?" Keely asked.

Her tone was odd and accusing.

"Because when she's a human, the wolf scent is different," I said in a defensive tone. "It would be very difficult to tell."

Suddenly, a thought entered my head.

"Where were you when you changed?" I asked Keely.

Just before Keely replied, Hilary entered the hospital.

"How is Pim?" she asked breathlessly.

"How'd you know about Pim?" I demanded accusingly.

"You forget…I'm a wolf too," Hilary said smiling. "I picked up your human scent right away."

I narrowed my eyes at Hilary and Keely.

"Answer the question…where were you when you changed?" I repeated to Keely.

"I was locked in the basement," Keely said raising an eyebrow at me.

"And you?" I turned to Hilary.

"Where I always am," she replied. "At my house."

"So one of you is a white wolf," I said narrowing my eyes at them. "One of you is responsible for Pim."

"Phil," Hilary began. "We don't know sometimes what we do when we change."

"I certainly do," I said. "I remember everything I did when I change. And whoever this wolf was, meant to hurt my family. There's no question about that."

"But why?" Hilary asked confused.

"I'm not sure," I said. "But I'm going to keep an eye out the next time I change."

Hilary nodded.

Keely turned.

"I really hope that Pim is alright," Keely said softly.

I smiled.

"I'm sure she will be,"

Hilary put a hand on Keely's arm before she headed toward the ladies room.

"Dad still hasn't fixed the Time Machine," I said to her.

Her expression changed.

"So, you do want to leave huh?" she asked stiffly.

"No…" I began but Keely cut me off.

"Sure," Keely snarled. "Just like you to leave me! Admit it…you don't belong here in this century! You never cared about me all you care about is going home to your normal time!"

Even Mom and Dad were shocked.

"That's not true!" I said shocked. "I don't want to leave either."

Keely snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Sure," she said coldly. "I bet once the machine is fixed you'll be glad to get away from here."

With that, she turned and abruptly left the hospital, walking briskly down the corridor.

I turned to Mom and Dad shocked and stunned.

Dad shook his head. Mom's face had gone pale.

"I've never seen her act like that before," Mom said slowly.

"Neither have I," I admitted. "I'm beginning to think that white wolf was her."

"But why hurt Pim?" Dad asked. "Pim never did anything to her."

"Well, she deliberately made Pim mad at me the day you made Pim and I change shoes for the Versa Day," I said recalling how smug Pim had been tricking Keely into being angry with me. "And instead of calling her 'Keely' she calls her 'Blondie'. Those might be good reasons no?"

"Yeah but not enough to want to deliberately hurt her," Mom said looking abashed.

"I'm not sure," I said biting my bottom lip. "But I'm going to keep an eye on her. Something is definitely wrong with her and its not the werewolf part."

"Maybe it is," Dad said gravely. "Didn't Hilary say that people change differently when undergoing transformations?"

I thought.

"Yeah but then it passes," I said slowly. "How long does it take to 'grow' into the changes?"

"We're not sure honey," Mom said softly. "But she is your best friend. I wouldn't give up on her altogether."

I sighed.

The doctors came shortly and said that Pim came through the surgery just fine and she will make an excellent recovery.

Relief spread through us like a wave.

Pim was moved to a room next. We all crowded around her. Hilary came back to us and we told her about Keely.

"Yeah I've noticed it too," Hilary said nodding. "Unfortunately, it might just be part of her changing. The only way we'd know for sure is by the end of tonight. Hers and your transformation changes should be finished. Now when you change, your true personality will come through. It will be who you are from now on."

I sighed.

Mom and Dad left. Hilary and I stayed in Pim's room incase the white wolf decided to try anything again.

I glanced out the window.

A full moon hung in a midnight sky.

I felt the familiar pain and dropped to my hands and knees. Before long, my human form was gone and the wolf appeared.

THE WOLF.

I shook my body and jumped up onto the bed beside Pim. I tucked my hind legs beneath me and rested my bottom jaw on Pim's stomach. Hilary was a gray/white wolf with four white paws. Her amber eyes reflected the moonlight. She was sitting on her haunches in a corner, half hidden in the shadows.

Just then, someone entered Pim's room dressed in a black cape with the hood pulled up over their head. I raised my head and perked my ears up.

"I see you've already got protecting, Pim," a girl's voice growled.

My ears flattened out sideways. I kept my eyes locked on the figure. When the figure dropped her hood, shock spread through me. It was Keely.

Keely's eyes were the same as the white wolfs haunting blue eyes.

She dropped to her hands and knees and changed into the white wolf.

Not believing it was my own best friend that was turning I forgot that Hilary was also in the room until she charged at the white wolf snapping me out of the stupor I had gone into.

The two wolves began fighting and snarling.

The white wolf tossed the gray/white wolf out the door and it crashed onto a cart filled with needles and IV bags.

The white wolf turned to me.

I stood protectively over Pim and lowered my head, retracting my upper lip and exposing white canines and incisors.

I snarled.

The white wolf snarled back and tried to get up on the bed but I snapped my jaws at her and she fell backward off the bed.

Pim's eyes fluttered open.

"Phil?" she asked looking at me.

I glanced at her then turned my eyes back onto the white wolf just as she leapt onto the bed and knocked me clean off the bed.

"Phil," Pim said nervously as the white wolf and I began fighting.

I clamped my jaws around the white wolf's leg and bit down.

PIM.

I watched nervously as Phil and the white wolf began fighting. Phil clamped his jaws around the white wolf's front leg and bit down. Oddly, the other wolf was just standing by and watching. It was really odd.

Blood began flowing from the leg. The white wolf threw its head back and howled in pain and then arched its head around, trying to nip at Phil's ear.

It managed to tear a piece of Phil's ear off. Phil let out a whelp.

"Leave my brother alone," I growled as I angrily picked up my pillow and leaned over the edge of the bed, taking a swipe at the white wolf.

It wasn't the best weapon, but it was all I had. I wasn't about to let the white wolf hurt Phil.

The white wolf snarled and clamped its jaws on the pillow, biting down hard.

Feathers exploded from the pillow and floated all around. Me and the white wolf began a tug of war.

The white wolf was inhumanly strong and I had a hard time keeping a grip on the pillow myself but I hung on.

The black wolf shook its head and turned his eyes onto the white wolf and I. The pillow was beginning to tear in half. I could hear the ripping sound already.

Sure enough, the pillow tore and from the force I was lightly thrown backward onto the bed still holding the half of pillow.

The feathers began settling all around us. One landed on the black wolf's nose and he sneezed, then turned his attention onto the white wolf who had jumped up on the bed and stood over my legs.

I drew my legs up to my chest in fear.

The white wolf's eyes were locked on me as it began steadily taking small steps toward my face.

The black wolf began snarling viciously and it too, jumped on my bed.

They picked up the fight. The full weight of the black wolf landed on my leg. I cried out in pain. It was very heavy and had to weigh at least 200 pounds or so.

They continued to fight until the white wolf took off out of the room and into the hospital corridor. We could hear the startled and terrified screams of nurses, doctors and patients.

The black wolf stood on my bed on all fours squarely and shook itself.

"You poor thing," I said gently reaching for the wolf's torn ear. "That has to hurt."

Instead, the black wolf began fiercely licking my hand.

I smiled.

Finally, the gray wolf came over and also licked my hand.

The black wolf tucked his hind legs beneath him and rested his jaw on my thigh right against my abdomen.

The gray wolf stayed sitting on her haunches on the floor.

The morning rolled around.

Phil changed back into his human form and so did Haley.

Both quickly pulled on a pair of spare clothes they had hid in the patients' closet.

Phil immediately turned to me. His ear had already mended.

"Are you okay?" he demanded worriedly putting his face close to mine.

"Fine," I said nodding.

He hugged me tightly and hung on for a bit before releasing me.

Then he sat on the edge of my bed near my thigh and turned to Hilary.

"Why didn't you join in?" Phil demanded angrily.

"Because it's your fight," Hilary said calmly. "I'm not allowed to get involved."

"What do you mean?"

"It's between two best friends," Hilary said softly. "I told you this would happen. Two best friends turned against each other."

"Yeah but the Norix's aren't here yet are they?" I asked nervously.

Hilary shook her head.

"By tomorrow they'll be here," she said gravely. "But normally this happens when they arrive…most odd it happened before hand."

"What does that mean?" Phil asked.

"It means that they are more powerful than I feared," Hilary said biting her bottom lip. "We're going to need help to defeat them like we defeated the Tyrix's."

"But aren't we the last werewolves around?" Phil asked.

Hilary looked pale.

"This means that we're going to have to have humans on our side," she said slowly.

She glanced at Pim.

Phil followed her gaze and it took him a minute to register what she meant.

"Ooooh no!" Phil said shaking his head furiously. "NO WAY! YOU ARE NOT ENDANGERING MY SISTER! SHE ALREADY HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"

"It's the only way, Phil," Hilary said sadly. "We need help…this means that humans are going to have to help us…your sister, your parents, and friends…anyone."

"Don't you have connections or something?" Phil demanded obviously not liking this one bit.

"Yes actually," Hilary said. "There's a scattering of Sanedell werewolves left in Arizona."

"More werewolves?" Phil asked completely shocked and stunned. "I THOUGHT THE TYRIX AND NORIX WOLVES WERE IT!"

Hilary shook her head.

"I wouldn't normally ask them, but this is an emergency. We cannot handle this on our own. There's the Sandedell, Bertroti, Annimid and Vulyton packs. The Sannedell's live in Arizona; the Bertroti live in New York; the Annimid live in Florida and the Vulyton live in Texas,"

Phil and I exchanged stunned and awed looks.

"Well get in contact with them! They've got to help us! We won't be able to stop the Norix's on our own if they are as powerful as you say!" I said eagerly. "If they aren't even here yet and Phil and that white wolf fight already, then they really must have great powers."

I saw Phi swallow.

"Um, Pim? I know who that white wolf is," he said carefully and slowly.

"Oh? Who?"

"Keely,"

"Keely? I don't believe it!" I said wide-eyed and tears began forming in my eyes. "You two are best friends! Now you're turning?"

Phil just shook his head.

"I must go. You stay here with her. I'm going to contact the other packs," Hilary said as she left the room giving me a quick hug before she left.

"When will this nightmare end?" I sighed lying back against the pillow.

Phil leaned close.

"Don't worry…I'm not going to let anything happen to you okay?"

I smiled.