Early Riser

It was dark when Rick Deacon slipped on his warm fleece hoodie, gloves and scarf and snuck out the third floor fire escape to the street that chilly November morning.

No one saw him do this except his half-imp roommate who lurched awake the moment Rick’s imps had hungrily shouted for him to sneak down to the cafeteria first to snitch some food before running off. Dully curious, Tom Brown rubbed his bleary orange eyes then rolled over in bed. But when he saw Rick leave the room, fully dressed, Tom blinked them more wide awake. After all, what could a thirteen-year-old werewolf be doing in a fresh new neighborhood just a few days after a brutal full moon?

Tom decided to follow him to find out.

On imp wings, on imp feet, bare and dirty from touching the asphalt after the fleet-footed boy who up until that moment Tom had always thought a bit of a goody-goody for a ghoulie, Tom tracked the little sneak through dark New York City streets to a major thoroughfare where, after much staring and rubbing his eyes, he saw a great number of people camping out behind police barricades. Slapping his forehead, Tom stepped backward towards their school again.

Of course. That morning was Thanksgiving.

The Parade

“Hey, where’s Rick?” Matthew Calamori asked, glancing to Tom as his pal strolled half-dressed into the cafeteria with a long-stretching yawn. “He’s your roommate still, isn’t he?”

 Nodding, Tom yawned again, rubbing his sticking-out platinum blonde hair. “Sure is.”

Looking towards the stairs that opened into the cafeteria, Matt asked again, “So where is he?”

Shrugging, Tom replied, “Oh, somewhere on Central Park West, I think. He snuck out last night to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade this morning. I don’t think he’ll be back until it is over.”

“He snuck out!” Matt popped up from his seat. Turning as his face flushed, Matt rushed to the open cafeteria doors. “Of all the idiotic…!”

Tom loped after him, peering curiously at the changing colors in Matt’s face. They added flavor to his average brown hair. “What’s so idiotic about that? It’s rather clever, sneaking off so cleanly. My dad would have applauded him.”

Matt scowled at his best friend. “Don’t be an idiot too, Tom! After all that trouble with the hunter, you’d think he’d be more careful!”

Blinking, Tom shrugged again, trailing after with nothing better to do.

Around this time Troy Meecham and Randon Spade saw Matt rushing to the main offices. The pair of dark-haired boys followed, watching Tom trail after him with a shrug of unconcern on his face. Matt opened the headmaster’s door then cringed.

“That’s right. We had her fired.” Matt turned from the empty door, looking to Troy. “Who is the interim headmaster?”

Randon raised a hand. “I think it is between Mr. Rodman and Ms. Petty. They’ve been bickering about it for the past three days. Though if you really want to speak with someone with real authority, you really could just talk to the night watchman, but I think he just went home.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” Troy asked, examining the worried frown on Matt’s face.

“Rick ran off,” Matt growled, folding his arms tightly.

Both Randon and Troy went white, sharing looks.

Tom rolled his eyes, hanging his shoulders exhaustedly. “I’m telling you, he just went to watch the parade.”

Matt shook his head vigorously. “No, Tom. He’s been talking in half-truths all week. He’s really depressed. I can tell.”

“And so can I,” Tom snapped back, now growing irate that Matt of all people was disregarding what he had to say. “His imps have been all over him with depressing things and tons of blame for that last incident—but he’s not suicidal, and he hasn’t run away. I’m telling you he went to the parade. Just follow me, and I will show you were he is camping out.”

Troy and Randon exchanged looks. “Us? Sneak out?”

It had barely been a week since they tried leaving the school grounds without permission, so eyes were still on them. Added to that, they were not familiar with this new neighborhood at all. They had only moved in two days previous.

“After what happened last week?” Matt replied with a glower. He looked to the outside wall. “But I really ought to smack Rick personally. I’m supposed to be watching his back…but the teachers are watching us really hard now.”

With a heavy, dry stare just for Matt, Tom said, resting his hand on his pal’s shoulder, “Yeah, but there is no headmaster to expel

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 18.09.2014
ISBN: 978-3-7368-4023-2

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