Chapter 12

3 Hours 30 Minutes until Dawn

Tom heaved a sigh of relief as he finally relaxed back after tying Kyle up. Where was an impressive welt forming on Kyle's temple where Shannon had struck him so many times in the exact same place. The weapon had turned out to be a crowbar which Tom had taken great delight in hurling out through the coal hatch. The Smiths were probably going to be furious when they woke up in the morning if the plan worked, but they'd hopefully understand and forgive them.

"Where are you getting all this rope?" Tom asked as Shannon dumped a load more by his feet.

"There's some I kept from when I used to go hunting the beast." Shannon told him. "There's also some from my parents' wardrobe with a surprisingly high tensile strength and Dan has loads of it in his workshop to hold the wood together while the Epoxy sets."

"Why would your parents have rope in the... Never mind, I don't want to know!" Tom regretted ever asking.

"I'm joking, Tom." Shannon rolled her eyes. "None if it came from my parents' wardrobe."

"Thank god for that." Tom replied as he got up and walked back to the hole in the wall with Shannon.

"It was in the bedside table bottom drawer." Shannon muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Tom really hoped he didn't hear what he thought he heard.

"It's nothing." Shannon gave a grin that wouldn't have fooled a toddler.

"We'll talk about this later!" Tom snapped as he picked up the ball of wool.

"I don't think we will, somehow." Shannon replied as he offered her the end of it and she took it before walking into the tunnel again.

Roughly thirty seconds later, she came running back out while pulling the pin on a gas canister and tossing it into the hole. There were three sounds of dead weight hitting the floor.

"That went better than I expected it to." Shannon muttered. "The two canisters we threw in before must have attracted them."

"How the hell would two gas grenades be able to attract wolves from basically half way across the Moors?" Tom wasn't good at maths, but those numbers didn't add up.

"Tom, the anaesthetic is short range but wolves have over two-million scent receptors in their noses." Shannon replied. "We don't know how far they can smell the bait from. I'd be surprised if Kyle did either, to be honest."

"I suppose that's a fair point." Tom muttered as he grabbed Dan and started dragging while Shannon started pulling Maddy.

"Okay, what technique did you use for tying Rhydian up?" Shannon asked.

"I wrapped one rope around all four limbs to restrict their movements." Tom replied. "I also loosely tied his jaws so he can sort himself out if he chokes."

"Okay, if you make a start on that, I'll start cutting up some thistle root." Shannon suggested. Tom pulled her penknife from his back pocket and passed it to her.

In half an hour, they had all four wolves tied up with pieces of thistle root in their mouths to keep them subdued.

"We've done it." Tom let out a breath he had no idea he was holding.

"What about Jana?" Shannon wasn't ready to settle down yet.

"Shan, we have to keep the majority of them locked down for the rest of the blood moon." Tom replied, moving round and hugging her from behind. "If we keep these four and Kyle trapped, the danger will be mostly over. Having Jana running around alone is better than having five Wolfbloods on the loose with no control over themselves."

"Tom, we can't leave people in danger." Shannon protested.

"We won't." Tom countered. "We'll go and find her once we're sure none of them are going anywhere. I don't want to untie them until they've turned human again. And we need to do something with Kyle as well."

"I have an idea about that." Shannon grinned.

"Let me guess: You're thinking about tossing him in the bike shed, aren't you?" Tom grinned.

"That sounds like it's unanimously carried." Shannon went round and grabbed Kyle's feet. Tom got his top half and together they carried him out through the main house and around to the bike shed. They opened the door and tossed him in before shutting him in total darkness. He barely even stirred in his sleep.

"So, do you have a plan for keeping all of them locked up until dawn?" Tom asked. "I can't think of a way to block up the hole properly that means they won't know they can get out if they manage to shake the ropes off."

"There's less expanding foam in Dan's workshop than I thought and I don't know anything else that might do the job." Shannon shrugged. I think our best option is to do the same again. I go into the hole and use Kyle's bait grenades to try and lure Jana in. We'll just have to hope she's close enough. If we can knock her out in the tunnel, that means we can keep her subdued along with the rest of them." They were about to walk back into the house as they talked. Suddenly, Tom's foot brushed against something.

"What's this?" he asked, grabbing it off the floor. Flicking through the pages, the teens began to read.

'Hunting Journal: Kyle Weathers

Blood Moon Start: There's no doubt in my mind. This is the blood moon that was reported five-hundred years ago. I've been digging through the archives of the news for years looking for an event like this. If I'm to catch the wolves of Stoneybridge, it's tonight when they have no control. Upon arrival, we immediately found signs of foul play. The senile old fool who owns the cafe Shannon Kelly loved so much was brutally killed by a wolf. That doctor at the hospital disclosed everything when I pretended to be a relative. I need to give credit where credit was due, she was very thorough. She was a black woman. She was real pain in the arse with her questions and very full of herself. She had a nice pair of legs though. Maybe I should have tried to get lucky.'

Tom bristled as he realised Kyle was on about his mum.

'Blood Moon Midnight: I had one of them! One of the wolves nearly took the bait I laid out for it. I even found two kids willing to help me set my trap. But then something else appeared. In my own mind, I believe it to have been an illusion. Research backs that theory. Wikipedia also tells me that nerds are especially susceptible to it as a result of the blood moon. It also mentions gingers, so I can only imagine what Shannon must be seeing. This belief is fuelled by the fact that I also glimpsed my mother at one point. I know this to be impossible though. Sylvia Weathers has been dead for some years.

It was over the grief of having to release that creature she rescued into the wild. She loved that monster more than her own son. Even today, that memory saddens me more than I care to admit. I warned her at the start it was a bad idea to take it in, but she thought I was jealous of it. I always maintain that was a slanderous lie, and especially so because it's true. I tried everything to please my mother, but nothing could ever compete with that aberration.

But part of me can't help but wonder: was that really you, Echo?'

"What the hell is he going on about?" Shannon muttered furiously. "Sylvia can't be dead! We saw her a few hours ago! And what the hell has Wikipedia got against gingers?"

"You can't deny though, your hair colour matches the moon right now."Tom grinned, earning a smack. "Seriously though, I can't believe how he's just sat there and lied about how he tried to use us as bait! Part of me actually feels violated at the memory of that!"

'Blood Moon Dawn: Tonight has been cruel. I've lost many supplies and everyone who set out with the intent to help me is dead. The sky now turns pale as the last hours of the blood moon roll over. I have one last chance. Too much has been lost to leave with nothing gained.'

"I actually pity him." Shannon put the little journal in her pocket and led Tom into the house. All the wolves were still sleeping and immobilised.

"What do we do now?" Tom asked.

"The plan hasn't changed." Shannon picked up the ball of wool and held it out to him.

"You've put your life on the line enough." Tom said, moving to take the end. "Let me do it."

"No, I don't want to lose you." Shannon also went to take the end.

"I'll Rock, Paper, Scissors you for it." Tom grinned. Instantly, Shannon's index and middle fingers split open into scissors. In response, Tom's fist clenched.

"And of course, I won... Wait... What?" Shannon couldn't believe it.

"Have you ever heard of lulling someone into a false sense of security?" Tom asked smugly.

"Do you want to go best of three?" Shannon asked.