Werewolf Stories to Tell in the Dark Read Free Page B

pool had been useless. Instead her predicament had been further complicated by the appearance of the other wolf and the fierce battle that had ensued.
    Miserably, apprehensively, Tina turned on the breakfast television news. The dreaded item was not long in coming.
    â€˜Last night the Mailsham Monster was seen again. Watching policemen saw it roaming the moors but they soon lost track of the wolf, so great was its pace. The hunt is being stepped up today.’
    Tina buried her face in her pillow while her mother repeatedly called her down to breakfast. She knew she would be late for school but she had to decide what she was going to do. There was no doubt that Jureg Kalinsky’s cure had failed and her dreams had returned, much worse than before.
    Tina knew that the only person she could possiblyturn to now was her cousin, Ben. They had always been able to talk so openly, and she
had
to confide in him.
    Tina had hoped to see Ben at school but she searched for him in the playground without success, finally being told by one of his friends that he was away from school.
    â€˜Ben’s ill,’ said his mother guardedly when Tina arrived on the doorstep. ‘He might be infectious.’
    â€˜That’s all right,’ Tina said reassuringly. ‘I’ve had most things.’
    â€˜This isn’t most things,’ Ben’s mother replied acidly. ‘He’s got some kind of fever – that’s what the doctor says.’
    â€˜Please let me go up and see him,’ pleaded Tina. ‘I won’t stay long.’
    Ben’s mother finally gave in. ‘Don’t get too near.’ She sighed.
    Relieved, Tina hurried up the stairs and paused. Then she opened the bedroom door.
    Ben was asleep, curled up on his side, looking hot and sweaty and emitting little whimpering sounds.
    Tina touched his shoulder and her cousin rolled over on his back, looking up at her, the duvet falling back to reveal his leg. Tina gave an involuntary cry of horror and despair. There was a deep bite mark on Ben’s left calf.
    Ben’s eyes stared into hers and she could read an anguish in them that matched her own. She looked down at her hands and she knew there was no possibility of a mistake: the backs were covered in a light down that was already beginning to resemble fur.
    â€˜
And were they hunted down?’ asked Terry
.
    â€˜
No,’ said Colin. ‘But the corpses of Tina and Ben were found in the pool at Charlbury Ring. They’d been shot
.’
    â€˜
Was anyone arrested
?’
    â€˜
No,’ said Colin quietly
.
    â€˜
And Jureg Kalinsky? Does he still live in that cottage by the moor
?’
    â€˜
As far as I know
.’
    â€˜
Wow!’ Terry was curious. ‘I’d love to go and see him. Find out if he
–’
    â€˜
The trouble with you,’ said Alice, ‘is that you’re too curious. Just like a couple of friends of mine, and I can tell you – they suffered
.’

3
The Institute
    Danny and Mary Simmons always passed the old building on their way home from school. A dark Victorian structure with some of its windows boarded up and much of its paintwork peeling, the Institute, as it was referred to locally, was four storeys tall and had stone columns that were chipped and covered in graffiti. Nevertheless, the building was still in use, and most evenings they saw people coming and going, walking hurriedly up and down the battered stone steps that led to the front door.
    Danny and Mary were often curious about the Institute, but the brass plaque that might have given them more information was at the top of the long flight of steps and they had never had the courage to climb up and see for themselves.
    No one at school knew anything about the Institute except for Mrs Stevens, the school secretary, who said the place was dedicated to ‘scientific research’. She spoke dismissively: to her the local landmark was clearly boring, because she,