Chapter 2
19 Hours until Dawn
Maddy opened the door to the den, her breathing shaky as she stepped inside and sat down. Around her, Dan and Emma rushed around getting everything ready. Emma was holding the ladder steady while Dan was at the top of it fixing a steel cover over the coal hatch.
"What are you doing?" Maddy asked.
"We can't take the chance that we'll escape and hurt someone." Dan replied as he fixed the final bolt and climbed back down.
"So, what's so special about this blood moon that it has this effect on us?" Maddy asked curiously.
"Mars only comes this close to the earth once every five hundred years." Emma explained. Maddy could hear the tension in her voice. "For some reason, it supercharges the blood moon and will render our wolves feral until morning. No one knows why it has that effect; only that it does."
"Well, that's not helpful!" Maddy rolled her eyes.
"Whether it's helpful or not, Maddy, it's all we've got right now!" Emma snapped before composing herself. "Sorry, pet. I'm just not myself right now."
"We're all feeling it." Maddy shrugged, shaking Emma's outburst off. Just then, Rhydian came down into the den with some ham sandwiches. He sat next to Maddy and passed her the plate. Emma and Dan froze where they were. "What?" Maddy asked.
"We really didn't think this out." Emma muttered. "Rhydian, I'm so sorry, love."
"What's wrong?" Now Rhydian looked just as confused as Maddy.
"There's no easy way to say this..." Dan began.
"Say it." Maddy said abruptly.
"Rhydian can't stay here tonight." Emma blurted out. A look of shock crossed Rhydian's face. Maddy's was a mixture of horror and anger.
"On a blood moon like this, wolves have been known to kill those outside of their own families." Dan explained quickly. "We just don't want to hurt him and we don't want him hurting us. It's no use saying it's not going to happen either. We won't be in control."
"And you think six hours before moonrise is a good time to tell me this?" Rhydian couldn't believe it. He would never normally get angry with Maddy's parents, but the blood moon combined with this sudden revelation was standing them on thin ice. "If you'd thought to tell me earlier, I could have tried to make plans! I could have dug a burrow on the Moors to seal myself up in it for the night or something! What the hell am I going to do now? I can't exactly go back to Mrs Vaughan and tell her what's going on, can I?"
"I don't believe this is happening." Maddy muttered.
"Maddy, I..." Emma tried to speak, but Maddy cut her off.
"I can't believe you've done this!" Maddy raged. "I'd expect him to get this kind of mushroom treatment from anyone he's had to put up with so far, but not from you two!"
"What the hell is mushroom treatment?" Dan asked, rubbing his temples like he had a headache.
"You're basically giving him a load of crap and expecting him to just put up with it!" Maddy snapped. "You're acting like he can't think for himself so he won't mind anything you throw at him. People's lives could be on the line tonight!"
"If I'm not going to be here tonight, I need a new plan and fast!" Rhydian added. "Jana said she was going back to the wild pack and she left two days ago, but she took the keys to her caravan with her. The wild Wolfbloods are probably up the other end of the country by now. If I get in, how am I going to lock myself in after that and get out again if I manage it? Will we really become so dangerous that this needs to happen?"
"Rhydian, you'll only be dangerous if you get near anything at all that's a living organism." Dan said, trying and failing to reassure him. "Just stay away from all those and you'll be absolutely fine."
"That's like telling me to follow a map around a grassy field and avoid the grass!" Rhydian couldn't believe he'd gone from having everything sorted and prepared for the night to being neck-deep in red water with no lifeboat. He had six hours to find a solution, or innocent people could die.
Meanwhile, Shannon was in the darkroom on Google. Kara had brought her bag and phone as she'd predicted and Shannon had sent Tom a text telling him to meet her there. This blood moon had the potential to cause deaths in Stoneybridge if the Smiths' countermeasures failed. She and Tom needed to sit down and come up with a logical answer together. Should they go out and try and keep people safe, or should they just stay at home and know that they'd be safe even if the rest of the village died?
"What did you want me for?" Shannon jumped at the voice behind her. She turned round in her seat to see Tom standing behind her. Worry was just as plain on his face as it was on hers.
"We need to talk urgently." Shannon said as Tom pulled up a seat and joined her at the computer. "Have you ever heard of a blood moon?"
"Yeah, they happen when the planets all line up right." Tom shrugged.
"Well, that's a start at least." Shannon shrugged, trying not to laugh despite herself. "There's one happening tonight and it's a kind that only happens every five hundred years. Something about the proximity of Mars to the moon causes wolves to go insane and it apparently has the same effect on Wolfbloods. Maddy's family are preparing now, but I'm concerned."
"What are you concerned about?" Tom didn't get it. Shannon rolled her eyes before continuing again.
"Tom, if they go feral like regular wolves and the Smith's countermeasures fail, people could die. I honestly don't know if we should risk our necks and go out there to make sure no one gets hurt or if we should just stay indoors and know that we're both safe."
"Shan, why are we even talking about this?" Tom asked. "Of course we're going out there tonight. We're friends with every tame Wolfblood in Stoneybridge. If any of them were to kill someone, they'd never live it down. Don't even get me started on what the rest of the village would do to them. We can't let that happen. They've saved us a million times. We owe them everything. We can never repay that, but if we have to jump in front them while they're feral and hold them off to save someone from them then I'll gladly do that."
"You don't care about yourself?" Shannon asked.
"Of course I care about myself!" Tom protested. "That's why I'm about to make sure my health insurance is paid up so far. But I can't just stand by while my friends could hurt people."
"You're so right." Shannon muttered, feeling ashamed that she'd even doubted what they needed to do. "First things first though, we need to call Maddy and check how things are going. If everything's fine, all we need to do is keep watch over the coal hatch to make sure they don't get out." Tom nodded and Shannon picked up the phone. After a few rings, Maddy picked up.
"Shan, why are you calling back? If you want, we'll meet up when everything's back to normal, but we need to focus on tonight now." Maddy's voice sounded unusually frantic.
"Maddy, you don't sound right." Tom said as Shannon put the phone on speaker. "What's the problem?"
"Apparently, wolves are only safe with each other if they're blood related. My parents waited until now to tell us that Rhydian can't stay with us for the blood moon. He's in deep with no cover and he's got no place to go on tonight of all nights!"
"Okay, where is he now?" Shannon couldn't believe what she was hearing. Emma and Dan really hadn't thought things through.
"I have no idea." Maddy replied.
"Okay, we'll find him." Shannon hung up and turned to Tom. "Okay, problem number two: Do we sneak out of school to go and find Rhydian, or do we stay in school and find him afterwards?" Without even answering, Tom pulled his phone out and rang Rhydian.
"Maddy, if you even try to apologise..."
"Hey, mate." Tom said, obviously catching him off guard. "Shannon and I just heard about what happened. Where are you now?"
"I'm nearing the edge of the town." Rhydian replied. "My only hope is to make it out of here before moonrise."
"Okay, get to the 'Welcome to Stoneybridge' sign and stay there until school ends. We'll come to you after that and try to work out the best plan from there." Tom heard the phone go dead and took that to mean 'Okay, Tom. I'll see you soon. Goodbye.'
"Well, that's that sorted." Shannon shrugged.
"Okay, so we'll meet him at the edge of the town after school. Before then, we'll need to come up with some decent ideas for stuff to do with him."
"We could shove him in the school kitchens." Shannon suggested. "He could eat all of tomorrow's food so we don't have to."
"We're trying to stop him from killing people, Shan. We're not trying to kill him in the process." Tom reminded her.
"You have a point." Shannon muttered. "What about the sewers?"
"I'm sure Mrs Vaughan might ask questions when he comes back in the morning smelling like crap." Tom countered.
"I suppose so." Shannon thought for a moment. "My parents have a wine cellar." The answer came to her in a flash. "Do you still have that heavy-duty padlock that Jimi trapped Jana and I in the janitor's cupboard with?"
"Yeah, it's at home." Tom shrugged. "But what if he howls?"
"My parents are away for the rest of the week." Shannon told him. "I don't have neighbours that live close to me. No one will hear him. We'll just let him out at sun-up to get back to the Vaughans' place and get changed for school."
"You're a genius." Tom wanted to hug her right then. "Okay, so if you go and get Rhydian when school ends, I'll go and get the padlock."
"I'll head to my house with Rhydian and meet you there." Shannon nodded. At that moment, the bell rang. As Tom and Shannon left for their next lesson, their hearts were pounding. The quicker they could get out of school, the quicker they could put their plan into action, the quicker they could have absolute peace of mind that Rhydian was taken care of and wouldn't be killing anyone.
Author's Note: So, this is the second chapter. I'm currently working on Chapter 5 by this point. As always, please remember to review. I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible but it's difficult juggling this and University. I'm also working on my Wolfblood Christmas story for the year, so that's coming soon as well.