You Can't Come in Here! (5 page)

“Did they ask their parents about the party?”

“They're working on it, Mom,” Emily said, heading for the stairs. “I'm pretty beat. I'm gonna head up to bed. G'night.”

“Okay. Good night, honey. You sure everything's okay?”

“Peachy!”

Peachy?
Emily thought as she bounded up the stairs to her bedroom.
I never say “peachy.” Where'd that come from?

Stretched out on her bed, she wondered if she was losing her mind or if there might actually be a deadly creature roaming around her neighborhood. And what exactly was it? A wolf? Not that it ever would have happened, but what if she had followed Drew's advice and went out to pee in the woods?

Then she remembered that the first time she'd heard and saw the wolf at the Strigs' door, porch lights all along the block came on as if others had heard it too. She could check with some neighbors. Maybe they remembered that night. But that was just a dream . . . or was it?

These questions kept her tossing and turning until she finally drifted off to sleep. Once again her dreams were filled with anxiety, though when she woke up Tuesday morning she could not remember any of them.

That morning in school Emily felt distracted. She
had not told Ethan or Hannah about the wolf incident from Friday night, figuring it was just a dream, despite how real it seemed. Now, after last night, she really wanted to tell them, but she also knew just how strange it was going to sound.

She debated with herself all morning, barely hearing what her teachers were saying and thankful that none of them called on her during any of her classes. As she walked to the cafeteria, Emily knew what she had to do. These three best friends had never kept secrets from one another—which was one of the reasons they had remained best friends for so many years—and now was not the time to start.

“I have some great ideas for the sleepover,” Hannah said as Emily sat down at their usual lunch table.

“Me too!” Ethan added, flashing his partly jolly and partly demented grin.

“Seeing how far we can throw rolls of toilet paper from the upstairs windows hardly qualifies as a sleepover activity,” Hannah pointed out.

“My brother's friends did it,” Ethan grumbled, shrugging.

“That was for Halloween, Ethan,” Hannah pointed
out. “And as I remember, more than a few angry neighbors stopped by the next day.”

“No angry neighbors, please,” Emily said, glad for the momentary distraction, but still bursting to tell her friends what had happened.

“So, here's what I came up with,” Hannah continued.

“Hannah, before you tell me your ideas, I have something to tell you guys,” Emily said.

“No! The party's canceled. Your mom said no, your dad—”

“No, no, no, the party's on. This has nothing to do with the party.” Emily took a deep breath, then went on. “Last Friday I had this dream, or at least I think it was a dream. It's all so confusing now.”

“Dreams usually happen when you're asleep,” Ethan volunteered.

“Thanks for that valuable piece of information,” Hannah said. “Now let Emily talk.”

“So anyway,” Emily continued, “I had been hanging out with Drew and Vicky. I went home and was on my bed when I heard howling. It sounded like it was coming from outside. I went to my window and saw . . . well, I saw a wolf!”

“A wolf?” Hannah asked in disbelief.

“Like a real wolf? Not like a big dog or something?” Ethan added.

“Yes, a real wolf,” Emily said. “It was huge and horrible and had bloodstains on its mouth and teeth.”

“They sell a special toothpaste for that now, you know,” Ethan joked.

“Ethan!” Hannah shouted.

“I saw the wolf go into Drew and Vicky's house,” Emily continued. “I panicked and ran across the street to save them.”

“Wait, you went into the house?” Hannah asked, grabbing her head with her hands. “You thought you saw a bloodstained monster go in and you thought it was a good idea to just follow it and what? Fight it with your bare hands?”

“I know, I know. It's nuts,” Emily said, sighing. “I don't know what I was thinking. But just let me finish, because it gets weirder.”

Ethan leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands. “Weirder is good,” he said. “Go on.”

“Okay, so I followed the wolf into the house, but it
wasn't there. Drew and Vicky were there, just hanging out. They didn't hear or see any wolf. And I found no evidence that the wolf was ever there. When I told Vicky all about this, she convinced me that I had fallen asleep on my bed, dreamt all about the wolf, then woke up and ran over to her house. And that made sense.”

“Sounds about right,” Hannah said, shrugging. “So can I tell you about my party idea now?”

“Not yet,” Emily replied, holding up her hands. “It did make sense, and I had pretty much forgotten about it, until last night.”

Ethan leaned in even closer.

“I was playing some music with Drew and Vicky. When I left their house to go home, I heard the howling again. This time it was coming from the woods behind their house. So I went into the woods.”

“Wait! Time out!” Ethan said. “You heard this wolf a second time and followed it again?”

“That's right.”

“Okay, I have just one question, and it's a simple one. ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE?”

“Ethan, I had to find out. I had to know.”

“And what did you find, Em?” Hannah asked, starting
to take this whole thing seriously for the first time.

“Well, I didn't exactly see the wolf. But I did see something moving very fast through the woods.”

“Like a bunny?” Ethan asked.

“This was no bunny,” Emily continued. “It was big, but it flashed past me so quickly, I couldn't see what it was. I was starting to run home when I saw a bloody tuft of fur hanging from a tree. It looked like wolf fur.”

“Really?” Hannah asked skeptically. “Are you sure it had blood on it?”

“Pretty sure,” Emily replied.

“I think maybe you're starting to get spooked from hanging around with Drew and Vicky all the time,” Hannah said.

“I think Hannah's right,” Ethan added. “Maybe hanging around with those two has got you seeing stuff. I mean, a fox, yeah, but there aren't any wolves for, like, a hundred miles.”

“I guess you're right,” Emily sighed. “But what's been making that howling sound?”

“It was probably just a neighbor's dog or something,” suggested Hannah.

“And the bloody fur—that could have come from
anywhere,” Ethan assured her. “Maybe two squirrels got in a fight.”

Emily let out a deep breath. “Thanks, guys. I'm probably just making too big a deal out of nothing.”

“Forget about it for now,” Hannah said. “Let's talk about something fun, like my idea for the party—make-your-own ice cream sundaes!”

“I love it,” Emily said.

“Excellent,” Hannah said. “Now, for games I—”

The bell sounded, ending lunch period.

“Games will have to wait,” Emily said. “Can't be late for history. We'll talk later.”

“See ya,” Hannah said, grabbing her tray and hustling from the table.

“Don't talk to any wolves on the way home, Em, okay?” Ethan added.

“Good-bye, Ethan,” Emily replied.

As she walked to class, Emily found her thoughts turning back once again to the wolf. Despite her friends' reassurances, something didn't seem right to her. She just couldn't let it go. And even though Hannah didn't like them, she wasn't ready to give up her friendship with Drew and Vicky. She wanted them all to come to
the sleepover. She was sure that once they all had some fun together, away from that creepy house, Drew, Vicky, Hannah, and Ethan would become friends.

But first she had to find out, once and for all, whether there really was a wolf or if she was simply losing her mind.

I'm going back into the woods tonight
, Emily decided.
And this time I'm taking Drew and Vicky with me!

“So the sleepover party is definitely happening?” Vicky asked that evening when Emily went over to hang out. Vicky had just finished beating Emily in a game of Ping-Pong. They were each stretched out across a different tattered, overstuffed chair with their legs dangling over one of the chair's thick arms and their heads resting against the other. Drew looked on from the corner of the room, where he was restringing his guitar.

“Yep, everything's on,” Emily replied. “My friends and I always do something special at the end of the school year. Last year we went to an amusement park. This year we thought a party would be fun and a sleepover party would be extra fun. What'd your parents say? You guys allowed to come?”

“I'm not sure,” Drew said, never taking his eyes off the neck of his guitar. He tightened a string, then pulled another one from the package.

“What do you mean?” Emily said. “I thought you guys wanted to come. You know, since you don't go to school, this is a way you can be part of a group of friends.”

Vicky looked at her brother, then at Emily. “We do want to come,” she said. “It's just that we haven't been able to nail our parents down about going over to your house.”

“Why not?” Emily asked. “You know my mom won't let me officially invite you to the sleepover until she's spent more than two minutes with you. And she'd really like to meet your parents, too. What's the problem?”

“You know, they're weird,” Vicky replied, slightly defensively. “Lots of people have weird parents. I mean, are
your
parents totally normal?”

Emily shook her head. She couldn't figure out what the big deal could be with Mr. and Mrs. Strig, but it wasn't worth pushing too hard and risking her friendship with Drew and Vicky. “No, of course not,” she said. “My parents are weird just like everyone else's. I mean, the other day my dad asked if he could come over with
me and play foosball with you guys. And when I told him about the idea for the sleepover, he suggested we go play miniature golf instead. He is
such
a weirdo!”

Vicky and Drew both laughed.

“Anyway,” Emily continued, “there's something else I wanted to talk to you both about.”

Vicky sat up. Drew continued working on the guitar's sixth and final string.

Emily went on, “Last night, when I left your house, almost as soon as I stepped out, I heard—I heard—oh, boy, I just realized how weird this is going to sound. Well, I heard the wolf again.”

Vicky's eyes opened wide. “The wolf from your dream?” she asked.

“It sure sounded like the same one,” Emily explained. “But I didn't actually see it.”

Drew put down his guitar and walked over to the girls. “Well, at least we know you weren't dreaming.”

“Unless, of course, you were sleepwalking when you were over here.”

“Vicky!” Emily cried.

“Just a joke. So what did you do when you heard the wolf?”

“Well, the sound was coming from the woods behind your house,” Emily began.

“Really?” Drew interrupted.

“Without a doubt,” Emily said.

“That's strange,” Drew said. “I didn't hear a thing.”

“Me neither,” Vicky added. “So what did you do?”

“I went into the woods to see what was going on,” Emily replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I know, you're going to say, ‘Are you crazy, going into the woods by yourself to find a wolf—a huge, man-eating monster?'”

“No,” Vicky said. “Actually, what I was going to say was that you're pretty brave for doing that and I wish I had been there with you. Sounds like a cool adventure.”

“Oh,” Emily said, pleasantly surprised.

“Did you see anything in the woods?” Drew asked.

“Nothing I could identify. I saw something big move very quickly past me. Then I heard the howling again. I got scared and ran from the woods. That's when I saw something hanging from a tree.”

“What?” Vicky asked.

“Fur from an animal. A wolf maybe. And it was covered in blood.”

“You're not making this up to get back at us for making fun of your dream, are you?” Drew asked.

“If it really was a dream,” Emily said with renewed conviction that maybe she
had
seen a wolf that first night. “And no, I'm not making it up. In fact, I think we should go back out into those woods right now and find out once and for all if there is anything creepy and dangerous lurking in there.”

Drew and Vicky looked at each other. They both shrugged.

“Let's do it,” Drew said, setting his guitar onto a stand and heading for the back door.

Outside, the night was quiet. The three friends hurried across the unkempt lawn and paused at the edge of the woods. Emily nodded to the others, then continued ahead into the darkness.