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My bed Curled into a ball on top of it Weeping Shaking Fingers overfor the demon master and his cohorts to come

Hours later Footsteps on the stairs My heart ale - Mu it&039;s quick I don&039;t want to suffer Maybe I should take the blade of the axe to- Dervish!

I moan with relief The footsteps stop, then start towards my room I scurry underneath the covers and draw them up around my chin

Dervish opens the door and sticks his head in "You OK, Grubbs?" he asks

"Yes," I anseakly "Just a bad dream"

"I can sit with you if you want"

"No I&039; then"

"&039;Night"

He only half-closes the door when he leaves I want to rush to it and slam it all the way shut, but I don&039;t dare step off the bed - afraid Vein or Arterye to come, but eventually the sun rises and burnsrays

As the sun clears the horizon and chases the shadows of night ard, I crawl out of bed, over to the , and throw it open The ulp it down like water,really talk to ine it?

I honestly don&039;t know I think it was real But I was extra tense Overreacting to everything It could have been a hallucination

What was definitely real - the olf photos I didn&039;t iine them They&039;re what I must focus on The Lord Loss mystery can wait I went down the cellar to find evidence of a olf And I believe I found it

Ti Bill-E Spleen"

I phone while Dervish sleeps Ma Spleen answers, even grumpier than usual "It&039;s seven twenty-three!" she snaps "He&039;s still asleep and so was I!"

"Please," I say caloes to school"

"If you tell e," she sniffs

"No," I insist "I have to speak to hioes to wake the snoozing master Spleen

"This had better be life-or-death," Bill-E yawns down the line a ot to co to school, then corunts "Have you lost yourSkipping school is out of - "

"There&039;s a full ht," I hiss "I don&039;t want to be trapped here alone with Dervish"

A cautious pause "What&039;s happened?" Bill-E asks

"Come over Find out"

I put the phone down before he can ask any further questions, confident that his curiosity will entice hi to tell Dervish to explain Bill-E&039;s being here

He arrives at 09:17, schoolbag slung across his back, left eye squinting suspiciously, black hair slick with sweat - he must have run

"Couldn&039;t come any earlier or Gran would have been suspicious," he says, entering by the huge front doors, which I hold open for him like a butler He looks around like a detective "Where&039;s Dervish?"

"In his study I told hi to work on a school project with me"

"He believed that?" Bill-E snorts

"He&039;d no reason not to He doesn&039;t knoe know about hily "So you think I&039;h to the kitchen before answering "Yes"

"Coolio! What changed your mind?"

I sit down So does Bill-E "I&039;ve seen his lair," Iabout the deer, my exploration of the wine cellar and the sub-cellar beyond (only leaving out the section relating to Lord Loss - that&039;s personal)

10:15 Bill-E arguing that Dervish doesn&039;t pose a threat

"Don&039;t you see?" he groans with exasperation "The cage is for hiht the deer and stuck it in there Tonight he&039;ll lock hies he&039;ll feed upon the deer and stay caged there until et out?" I ask

"Meera That must be why she&039;s here She knows about his sickness and probably coe hi Dervish every time there&039;s been a full moon Has Meera been here? Or anybody else?"

Bill-E shifts uncomfortably "Well, no, not every tiet out?" I interrupt

Bill-E thinks athe key nearby," he says "He lets hie has passed"

"Then what&039;s to stop hi it when he transforms?"

Bill-E rolls his eyes "Have you ever heard of a wolf that can use a key?"

"He used it the other night When he brought the deer back"

"But he hadn&039;t transformed then," Bill-E notes "You said he looked the same as always" He stands and paces around the kitchen as he outlines his thoughts

"This is the way itthe lead-up to the full hts after - Dervish&039;s hormones are all over the place I don&039;t think he physically changes, but he isn&039;t in full control of hi anih not to attack people He doesn&039;t kill

"On the night of the full moon, it&039;s different The beast co it on the world It would kill at random - animals, humans whatever it found

"So he chains hiers with excite there&039;s a live animal for the beast to rip to pieces and feed on He stays there all night, howling, transfor, when the phase passes, he lets himself out and carries on as normal"

Bill-E stops and smiles warmly "I&039;ve always adht now He&039;s dealing with his curse Living as nor the world fro hi the loneliness and hardship"

"Stop," I remark sarcastically "You&039;ll rily "What did you call me for?" he barks "If it was just to sneer, I can leave as quickly as I came!"

"It wasn&039;t to sneer," I mumble "I asked you here to help" I stare ht and comes after e is there to prevent that"

"Maybe," I nod "But I&039; I could ht or two?"

Bill-E blinks "I&039;ve never had a friend over to stay," he says "I don&039;t think Gran and Grandad would like it Especially not after you woke thehtens "Tell you what I&039;ve a better idea - I&039;ll come and stay here!"

"What will that achieve?" I frown

"I&039; his stoo for ive you a chance to run for freedom"

"You&039;re crazy," I huff

"Of course I a, tense day Bill-E, despite his good-hu to be afraid of, is just as nervous as me In some ways he&039;s worse - he looks very pale and has been sick a couple of ti he&039;s had for the last few days, but I&039;est as he returns from his latest vo up all the time"

"Don&039;t be too sure," he smiles thinly "Perhaps I can repel the ith puke"