Star League 2 Page 2

  ‘In English, Bot-boy?’ I ask.

  ‘He means we’re going to have to go check out the park,’ says Jay. ‘We need to find this guy before he attacks anyone else.’

  ‘I hope we do find him,’ I say, cracking my knuckles. ‘Because I’ve got a few things to say to him.’

  The moon is just beginning to rise as we make our way through Quartz National Park. A dark forest covers most of the enormous park, which at this time of night is completely deserted. Seems like the perfect hideout for a fake werewolf up to no good.

  It takes us a while to find the spot where Howard Higgins was attacked, but there’s no mistaking it’s the right place. The ground is torn up in huge chunks, as though by enormous claws.

  I close my eyes and make the Change into a werewolf. Even though I’ve been making the Change all my life, sometimes it still feels a bit weird going from human to werewolf. But when I throw back my head and howl at the moon, nothing feels more right.

  ‘Quit your yowling, Furface,’ says Roger. ‘We’re here to find a werewolf, not listen to your singing.’

  I growl at him then drop down and sniff the ground. My nose is immediately filled with a thousand scents. I can smell the animals from the forest that have crossed through here and a river in the next valley. But I focus on two scents in particular. One is a strange chemical smell that burns the back of my throat. I’ve got no idea what it is, but it seems completely out of place in the forest. The other is …

  ‘Werewolves,’ I mutter.

  ‘As in more than one?’ asks Jay.

  I nod. ‘I can’t tell how many, but this guy definitely isn’t working alone.’

  I sniff the ground again, trying to figure out which direction the werewolves have gone. I follow the scent into a thick knot of trees with leaves so dense they completely block out the moon.

  ‘Anyone bring a light?’ asks Roger.

  ‘My eyes double as torches,’ says Sam. He blinks and suddenly the trees are lit up by torchlight. I always knew Sam was a bright guy.

  As Sam turns his head one way and another, I catch a glimpse of something shining in the light.

  ‘Wait! What was that?’

  The others shrug.

  ‘I didn’t see anything,’ says Leigh, then looks at the monkey on her shoulder. ‘Neither did Chu.’

  ‘Turn the lights off,’ I tell Sam. He looks like he’s about to argue, but then keeps quiet and turns his torch-eyes off. It’s pitch black again, but my wolf eyes can see better in the dark.

  A flash of white to my left makes me spin around. My ears prick up and I can hear paws padding through the leaves on the forest floor. Whoever it is is trying to be quiet, but they’re not quiet enough.

  I hear a twig snap to my right, and through the darkness I spot a huge wolf-like shape.

  ‘What do you see, Connor?’ whispers Jay.

  ‘They’re trying to surround us.’

  ‘Right, here’s the plan,’ says Jay, trying to keep his voice low. ‘Connor, you and I will launch a direct attack. Asuka, you head into the trees to ambush them. Roger, I want you at the ready with a Paralysis Potion. Leigh, you talk to the animals in this forest and see if they’ll help us out. And Sam, on the count of three I want you to switch your lights back on. Maybe that’ll stun them. Okay, one, two, THREE!’

  We spring into action as Sam’s torch-eyes flood the forest with light. To my right is an enormous grey werewolf. He’s twice my size, but I know I’ve got a chance at beating him. What I lack in strength I can make up for in speed.

  I see Jay veer off and close in on the white werewolf to our left. I get ready to attack the grey werewolf, my muscles tensed and my senses on alert, when I notice something I missed before. I grind to a halt.

  ‘Wait, don’t attack!’

  Jay comes skidding to a stop and looks at me, confused.

  ‘I mean it, nobody attack them!’ The others pause where they are.

  ‘Have you gone crazy, Connor?’ asks Roger.

  ‘Trust me.’

  I glance at the big, grey werewolf in front of me. His lips are pulled back in a snarl, revealing some very sharp teeth. He looks like he’s going to pounce, but something else tells me he’s not going to, and neither is the white werewolf.

  ‘It’s okay,’ I tell him calmly. ‘We’re not going to hurt your cubs.’

  He still looks like he’s going to pounce, but I see his eyes soften.

  ‘What are you talking about, Connor?’ asks Leigh, coming to join me.

  ‘I caught the scent of their cubs just before we were about to attack,’ I explain. ‘They’re not here to hurt us, they’re just protecting their children.’

  The white werewolf pads over to the grey one and nudges him. He nods and straightens up, no longer looking like he’s going to rip our throats out.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he growls. ‘We thought you were after Henry and Josh.’ As he says their names, two very young werewolf pups appear out of the darkness of the trees. They tread towards us, cautiously at first, but they wag their tails when they realise I’m another werewolf.

  ‘I’m Abigail,’ says the white werewolf, ‘and this is Daniel. We’re sorry if we startled you.’

  ‘Good to meet you,’ says Jay. He introduces the rest of us. ‘We were looking for werewolves, but I’m guessing you aren’t the ones we’re after.’

  I watch as Daniel and Abigail fuss protectively over their pups, and something inside me twinges with sadness as I think of my own family. But I shake my head, telling myself that this is definitely not the time.

  ‘Have you guys seen anything strange lately?’ I ask.

  ‘What do you mean by strange?’ asks Abigail.

  ‘A human was attacked by a werewolf,’ explains Jay. ‘That is strange,’ mutters Daniel.

  ‘You looked ready to attack us two seconds ago,’ Asuka points out.

  ‘A werewolf will only attack a human in extreme circumstances,’ explains Abigail.

  ‘And somebody hurting one of our cubs is definitely an extreme circumstance,’ says Daniel with a grunt.

  ‘Plus, we’re a little bit jumpy after the other night,’ adds Abigail.

  ‘What happened the other night?’ asks Sam.

  Abigail and Daniel glance at each other, but keep silent as they watch their two cubs wander about, sniffing the rest of the Star League.

  The cubs are a bit wary, and I wonder if this is the first time they’ve ever seen humans. A lot of werewolves choose to live in the wild, completely apart from humans, staying in wolf form all the time. It’s hard for our kind to trust humans, and with crazy people like this fake werewolf on the loose, I can’t say I blame them.

  One of the cubs walks up to Leigh, fascinated by Chu on her shoulder.

  ‘My name is Henry!’ He holds out a tiny clawed hand towards Chu. ‘Is that a real monkey?’

  Chu screeches and Henry jumps, obviously startled. We all laugh, which relaxes us. I hadn’t realised how tense we still were after the fight.

  ‘Boys, please don’t interrupt,’ scolds Abigail, trying to hide a smile. ‘Go and play for a bit so we can finish talking.’

  The cubs whine but do as she says. When they’re gone, Abigail and Daniel look at each other.

  ‘It’s not often that you hear of a werewolf attacking humans,’ says Daniel. ‘But I think we might know exactly who you’re after.’

  ‘We didn’t want to say anything around the boys, but a strange thing happened to us the other night,’ says Abigail, careful to keep her voice low. ‘We were asleep when Daniel felt somebody tugging at his fur.’

  ‘That’s right,’ he says. ‘At first I thought it was just one of the cubs so I ignored it and went back to sleep, but when I woke up a whole chunk of my fur was missing.’ I notice his grey coat has a bare patch.

  ‘Why would someone want to steal your fur?’ asks Leigh.

  ‘I don’t know, but we could smell that a human had been close by,’ says Daniel.

  ‘And th
ere was something weird about the scent,’ adds Abigail, ‘like it was mixed with chemicals.’

  I snap to attention. ‘Chemicals?’ I remember the weird scent I picked up earlier.

  Abigail and Daniel nod. ‘Yes, the next morning we tracked the scent to an abandoned building,’ says Daniel. ‘We would’ve gone further, but we had the boys with us and we didn’t want them mixed up in anything dangerous. When we were younger nothing would’ve stopped us from exploring that place.’

  ‘But when you have a family that all changes.’ Abigail smiles. ‘You learn that there are more important things in life than just adventuring. We came to this park because we thought it was safe, but with all this excitement maybe it’s time to move on.’

  Daniel nods. ‘I think you’re right, Abbie. Besides, a werewolf can never stay too long in one place. Maybe we can find a nice pine forest to live in.’

  ‘But you’re werewolves,’ says Roger. ‘Why don’t you just change back into humans and go live somewhere with less mud and fewer bugs? Maybe even somewhere with a working toilet.’

  Abigail and Daniel smile at each other. ‘We prefer it this way. It’s too easy to lose sight of the important things when you’re human and you’ve got a million distractions. When you’re part of a wolf pack, family is number one.’

  Daniel glances at me. ‘What about you, Connor? Where’s your pack?’

  Everyone looks at me and I feel my stomach sink. I don’t want them to know how my pack left me behind, or how I can’t stop dreaming about them every night. My face goes hot and I can’t speak.

  Thankfully, Jay notices and does the talking for me. ‘Connor’s surname is Lowe.’

  ‘Lowe, huh?’ Abigail nods. ‘We met a pack of Lowe werewolves about a month ago. They were on their way out of the city at the time. A big brown one, a medium black one and a small white one, right?’

  I nod. ‘That’s my family.’

  ‘You must’ve been the son they were talking about,’ says Daniel. ‘They wouldn’t stop talking about you and your new crime-fighting team.’

  ‘They told you about us?’ I growl. ‘The Star League is supposed to be top secret!’

  ‘Don’t be mad, Connor,’ says Abigail. ‘They were just so proud of you, and they knew they could trust us to keep a secret. We are werewolves, after all.’

  My anger quickly fades as I think of my family, and how much I miss them.

  ‘I could tell they were sad to leave you behind,’ says Daniel. ‘But in the end, they wanted you to be happy, Connor, and they knew how important being in the Star League was to you.’

  My mind drifts back to the day Ben Beaumont first approached me. When he told me I’d be able to use my powers with a team of kids like me, I practically jumped at the idea. I mean, I love my family, but it gets pretty boring just doing the dishes and taking out the rubbish every night.

  But joining the team had one big catch: it meant I’d have to leave my family.

  At first Mum and Dad said they’d stay in town, but I knew that wasn’t fair for them. Like most werewolves, Mum and Dad have always needed to move around almost as much as they need a kilo of raw meat every month. I told them that it was okay if they moved on. I knew they’d come back to visit me. But now I’m starting to wish they’d stayed.

  ‘You know, Connor, I believe that even if the members of a pack are separated, they’ll still feel as if they’re right next to each other,’ says Daniel.

  Suddenly Abigail stiffens. ‘It’s quiet … too quiet. Where are the boys?’

  Abigail and Daniel stare at each other in terror, then run off into the forest. ‘Josh! Henry!’ There’s no reply. The two werewolves are frantic with worry as they run back and forth looking for their children.

  ‘Wait!’ I say, pricking up my ears. ‘What was that?’

  Everyone freezes. It’s so quiet you could hear a mouse sneeze. I’m almost starting to think I imagined it when …

  ‘Yip yip!’ The sound of a frantic little werewolf cub gets closer and closer until Josh comes tumbling through the trees. His parents rush to meet him.

  ‘Thank goodness you’re safe!’ says Daniel with relief.

  ‘Don’t wander too far away like that again!’ scolds Abigail. ‘You scared us to death. Where’s your little brother?’

  Josh’s eyes are wide with fear and a bad feeling rises in my stomach.

  ‘H-he … he took Henry!’ says the little brown cub.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asks Daniel sharply. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Henry and I were playing hide and seek when a man with a bushy red beard appeared out of nowhere. Before we could do anything he put Henry in a big sack,’ whimpers Josh. ‘I’m sorry. I tried to fight him but he kicked me away. It’s all my fault!’

  ‘Oh, my poor baby!’ whispers Abigail. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, that awful man is the one to blame!’

  ‘Did you notice anything strange about the man’s scent?’ I ask.

  ‘Yeah,’ says the little cub, scrunching up his face. ‘It burned my nose, like chemicals.’

  That chemical scent again. I rack my brains trying to figure out why a man would smell like chemicals.

  ‘Which way did he go, Josh?’ asks Abigail.

  ‘Wait, you aren’t thinking of following him, are you?’ asks Jay.

  Daniel snorts. ‘He kidnapped our son! Of course we are.’

  ‘That seems logistically unwise,’ says Sam. ‘Given the data we have received, our suspect seems to be targeting werewolves. Therefore you would be at a greater risk.’

  ‘Well, who else is going to do it?’ asks Abigail with a snarl.

  I step forward. ‘Us. We’ll get your son back.’

  ‘You? You’re just a pup yourself! What can a bunch of kids do to get our son back?’

  ‘We’re not just any kids, we’re the Star League,’ I say. Abigail still doesn’t look too convinced.

  ‘Please,’ says Jay, his voice calm and even. ‘For all we know this could be a trap, and if you follow this guy you could get seriously hurt. Then what would Josh do?’ He motions to the shivering cub.

  I see Abigail and Daniel glance at each other and I know what Jay said has got through to them. The rest of us might have abilities close to super powers, but Jay’s way with words is amazing.

  Finally Daniel nods. ‘A werewolf has to trust his instincts, and mine are telling me you can help us.’

  I turn to the Star League. ‘Come on, guys, let’s go find ourselves a kidnapper!’

  We follow Henry’s scent mixed with the chemical smell through the trees, which leads us out of the forest and down towards a clearing. After ten minutes of following the trail, the chemical smell starts to grow stronger until it’s burning my nose.

  Up ahead I spot a building that looks like an abandoned factory, except the smell coming out of it tells me that it’s far from abandoned. Soon it’s so strong I can’t smell anything else.

  As we get closer my fur prickles – usually a sign that something’s not right. But my sense of smell is blocked because of the strong chemical stench, and it’s making me really uneasy.

  I glance to my left and right, but I can’t see anything.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ I start to say, ‘but I think this might be a tra–’

  Before I can finish speaking, something flies out of the darkness and knocks me to the ground. out of the darkness and knocks me to the ground.

  Some kind of half-human, half-tiger creature is crouched on my chest, crushing the air out of me. It snarls and I see sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight.

  My instincts take over. I throw the tiger-human off me and swipe at it. It ducks and backs up, eyeing me off.

  I glance around and see that two other half-human, half-animal creatures have bailed up the rest of the Star League. One looks half-gorilla and the other looks half-crocodile. These aren’t like any werecreatures I’ve ever seen before.

  Jay, Sam and Asuka are fighting the werecrocodile. They circle aro
und it, trying to confuse it so it doesn’t know which way to turn. It lashes out at them with crocodile claws at the end of human arms.

  Jay and Asuka are too quick for it, though, and they dart in and flip it over onto its back. It snarls at them, snapping its rows of jagged teeth, but they manage to stay clear of its deadly jaws.

  As they hold it there, Sam pulls a length of wire from the end of one of his fingertips and winds it around the arms and legs of the werecrocodile. It thrashes wildly but can’t get free.

  The weretiger aims another blow at my head, but I duck it easily and spin around to see the fight between the weregorilla and Leigh and Roger. At first, Leigh seems to be trying to control it with her psychic animal powers, but it’s not working, probably because this thing isn’t all animal.

  Chu jumps down from her shoulder and for a second I think he’s going to try to fight the weregorilla. He’ll get pulverised! Then I see Roger rummaging around in his pouch of potions. He pulls out a dark purple one and gives it to Chu, who drinks it down. The tiny monkey starts to grow until he’s about twenty times his normal size and the same height as the weregorilla.

  They wrestle and try to bite each other. The weregorilla stomps on Chu’s tail. Chu screeches in pain, but all it does is make him madder. Chu glares at the weregorilla and grabs him around the waist, tackling him to the ground.

  The weregorilla tries to hit Chu, but Chu bites it on the finger – hard! The weregorilla roars in pain, then runs off into the night.

  I’m so relieved that I almost forget about the weretiger trying to tear me to shreds. I feel a set of razor-sharp claws come whistling past my cheek and I just manage to avoid them slicing me open. I turn and knock the tiger flying. It lands on its back but wriggles onto its feet just as quickly. I run towards it and it crouches. We pounce at each other at the same time and it’s like hitting a brick wall. My head spins for a moment, but I shake it off. I can’t lose focus now.

  I grab the weretiger’s arms, trying to overpower it, and it does the same to me. We’re pretty evenly matched and for a few seconds I think that maybe the tiger is stronger, but then I feel it start to weaken. I lower my head and then slam its arms up into its chin. It yowls in pain and slumps to the ground. I’ve knocked it out cold!