Read Online This Is Not a Werewolf Story by Sandra Evans - Free Book Online Page B

and thorns.
    â€œWhat?” I ask. “What did you see?” My heart pounds, keblam, keblam, keblam.
    My fingertips tingle. I can feel my ears stretching the way they do when the woods magic happens.
    Something tells me Vincent’s not going to say “coyote.”
    â€œI saw a white deer with huge black antlers,” Vincent whispers.
    â€œDid it talk to you?” I put my hand over my mouth too late. That was not a question I should have asked. Obviously.
    â€œDid it talk to me? No, it didn’t talk to me.” Vincent’s voice sounds strange.
    I clear my throat. “I said did it walk to you.” And that, kids, is called taking a play from Dean Swift’s book.
    â€œIt looked like it was going to walk across the lake toward me.”
    â€œAnd nobody else saw it?” I ask.
    â€œNo. I heard a noise like a jet engine. They ran over when I shouted.” Vincent points to Beth, Maggie, Peter, and Paul. “We were all looking at the same spot there, but I was the only one who saw it. It was huge.” He hops from foot to foot.
    The truth hits me.
    Two times now White Deer has come to the far edge of the lake.
    Three times and it’ll be science, right?
    Vincent is staring at me. Bobo is staring at me. The Cubs are staring at me. Am I changing? I lick my teeth, but they feel the same. I realize that they’re probably all just surprised at my talking so much.
    â€œMy grandma’s eyes play tricks on her when she’s tired,” Sparrow says all of a sudden.
    Everyone looks at him instead.
    We pack up to leave pretty quick after that. As we step from the path onto the paved road, Vincent grabs my arm.
    â€œI was lying,” he blurts. “When I said it didn’t talk.”
    I had a feeling. But why?
    He answers my question before I ask it. “I didn’t want everyone thinking I’m crazy. But it did. It talked to me. It kept saying the word ‘raven.’ Am I crazy?” he asks.
    We hear a blaring honk.
    It’s Sparrow’s grandma tearing up the road in her huge blue pickup, coming to get him for the weekend. All we can see of her as she rips by us is her curly white hair and the top rims of her enormous glasses. I’m not sure that lady should be driving.
    â€œTrickster,” I say after the dust settles. “The raven is a sweet-talkin’ trickster.”
    Vincent looks at me like I’m speaking gibberish. Maybe I am. But all of a sudden my mind fills with black feathers. Remember the murder of crows swarming over Vincent when he made his wild run for freedom? Woods magic. The crows flew to him the way the wolves once ran with me.
    I step closer to him. I want to ask him if he saw the will-o’-the-wisp too. If its light pulled at him so he had to follow. I want to tell him that it will take him to the lighthouse so deep in the woods only the light knows the way in and out. I’m about to tell himeverything about my mom and my dad and the wolves in the woods. Then I stop myself. Because I see him shaking his head. A little at first and then a lot.
    â€œNah,” he says, licking his lips. “That’s just crazy. Crazy like talking to your cereal crazy. Crazy like riding your bike on the freeway crazy. I’m just tired, like Sparrow’s granny says.”
    He looks confused. “But I didn’t want to lie to you. My mom says I have to stop lying before I can come back home.”
    We walk the last few yards to the circle driveway, scuffing our shoes in the dirt.
    I like him for telling me the truth, even if he did lie at first. I like him even more for keeping his promise to Pretty Lady. But I don’t think I’ll try to explain to him about the magic in the woods and the way it works for me. Because if White Deer couldn’t get through to him, how could I?

Chapter 7
HOW RAUL FIRST FOUND THE LIGHTHOUSE
    After fishing, we all wash up and eat lunch. Two hours of class. Snack. Doors slam,