The Monster of Shiversands Cove by Emma Fischel

at him. This was no time for a fairy to start bothering me. I had a sea monster to sort out. I scanned left and right. Where was it?
Where
?
    Now Harry was growling in my ear and sniffing at it. Sniffing and sniffing, worse than
ever
. I swiped him away with the back of my hand.
    And then, far out at sea, I saw something.
    â€˜There,’ I said, peering through the darkness. ‘Is that it? That big shape? Far away?’
    It was hard to tell. There wasn’t enough light to be sure. But just then, the moon began to rise. Slowly, slowly, up in the sky.
    A huge moon.
    A bright moon.
    A
full
moon.
    And
that
was when I heard howling. Coming from right behind me.
    Â 
    Chapter Eleven
    Monster Attack
    The howling, what was it?
    I turned and gaped.
    It was Harry, Harry the fairy. His small fairy head was thrown right back as he howled up at the huge bright moon.
    A chill went right through me, right from the top of my head to the ends of my toes. Something was happening to Harry. He was starting to grow, to grow taller, then taller still.
    And Harry was growing hairier: much, much hairier. Hairs were sprouting all over him. Thick hairs, dark hairs were growing all over his arms, his legs, his face, even all over his wings. Everywhere.
    And still he howled. Howled and howled up at the huge moon.
    That huge
full
moon.
    Â 

    Â 
    â€˜Run,’ I said to Pearl, grabbing her hand. ‘RUN!’
    We ran to the only place I could think of, the only building on Tide Island: Mildred Marchwold’s writing room. We wrenched the door open, hurled ourselves inside, slammed the door shut and bolted it. Then we both stared out of the window, shocked and terrified. What was happening? How could Harry the fairy have turned into
that
? That towering shadow, silhouetted against the huge white moon. How?
    He now had the snarling face of a . . . what . . . a
wolf
? He had huge hairy legs and huge hairy arms. His huge hairy wings were spread out and flapping.
    I cowered and so did Pearl, as Harry – or whatever it was that Harry had become – raised his huge hairy face to the sky and howled.
    Howl after howl after howl. Bloodcurdling howls. Spine-tingling howls. Howls that made my knees knock, my hair stand on end. Howls that sent shivers right through me.
    â€˜What is it? What is he?’ said Pearl, quivering. ‘A monster? But what sort? What sort of monster is
that
?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ I said. ‘A mix? Some horrible mix of werewolf and fairy? A . . . a
werefairy
? Is that what he is?’
    â€˜But . . . we had plans for a sea monster,’ said Pearl, panicking more. ‘We had no plans for a werefairy, no plans at all.’
    She was clutching my arm now and I clutched back.
    What could we do? Stay here and hide? Wait until the full moon was gone and he was Harry again?
    No.
    That monster, that werefairy, it was part wolf and wolves can smell things miles away. He’d smell us out.
    And he did, right then.
    His head went up and he sniffed the air. Then he turned and stared. He gave a snarl and up he came, leaping and bounding over the rocks, a huge dark shadow on huge hairy paws.
    Pearl shrieked and backed away across the room. So did I. Because now the werefairy was here, staring straight in through the window, vicious red eyes glowing bright as flames. He bared his huge sharp fangs, fangs made for ripping, made for tearing. He sniffed with his huge hairy nose,licked his lips with a slobbering tongue and then, he was gone.
    â€˜Where is he?’ said Pearl, her voice quivering. ‘Where?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I just don’t know.’
    But then we found out.
    Thud
 
. . . Thud
 
. . . Thud
 
. . .
    The werefairy was outside the door.
    * * *
    We stood there, listening to the noises, the loud grunting noises, the threatening noises, the hungry noises, coming from outside, as