The Blood Moon by Amber Riel (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

and three chairs next to it. She had the dishes all washed and she was just wiping the oven.

Someone knocked on the door. She stopped what she was doing and walked through the dinning room and walked to the front door, which was in front of the stair case. She opened the door and a gush of ice cold wind hit her face. Champ, Lacy, Lee, Kyle, Shawn, Stina, and Wagner were standing in front of her. “Come in. Come in. It feels warmer in here,” she told them.

They all walked inside. Stina and Wagner opened a door on the left of the stair case, which revealed the living room. They walked in and walked over to a TV which was off.

Lacy, Lee, Champ, Shawn, and Kyle stayed in the hall with Jean.

Jean noticed that Millie was the only one missing. “Do you guys want something to eat?”

“No thanks. We stopped at a fast food place,” Champ told her. “But thanks for asking.”

“Jean, can they stay here?” Lee asked.

Jean could tell by Lee’s voice that something bad had happened. “Come into the dinning room.”

Champ, Lee, Lacy, Shawn, and Kyle followed Jean into the dinning room. Jean took a seat at the big, circular table. The four wolves and Lee all sat down.

“Now, tell me what happened?” Jean asked.

“The cottage burnt down....” Champ answered.

Jean gasped at the thought. She worried about Millie. She thought that something bad had happened to her. Millie was mean to her, but she didn’t believe that anyone, no matter how cruel they were, deserved something bad to happen to them. “Is Millie okay?”

“Millie’s fine.... She just walked into town.... She needs to cool off.”

Jean felt better knowing that none of them were hurt or dead. “Of course, you kids can stay here as long as you need to.”

“Thanks, Jean.” Champ smiled. They just needed to find Millie and find away to stop Christina.

Unwanted Costumer

Christina was sitting on a throne in a candle lit room. She had dogs walking all around the place. They were under her control. There was a high pitch sound that only dogs could hear in the room.  Christina could hear the sound as well, but unlike her victims, she was immune to the sound.  “On the thirty-first I’ll have those wolves under a trance,” she told herself. She enjoyed controlling werewolves. They were her puppets and she was the puppet master. She loved making them dance.

Millie was sleeping. She was curled up on the desk. She used some books as pillows. Her left arm was draped over the desk. She stayed in the bookstore. There wasn’t any other place were she would rather stay. She always went to the bookstore, when she didn’t know where else to go.

The bookstore kept her calm. She would lose her stress when she was there. It was her home away from home.

Millie wasn’t fully asleep so she heard someone walk in. Her eyes kind of opened but everything was blurry to her. She seen a figure walking toward her. She was too sleepy to tell if the figure was male or female. Her nose smelled an unfamiliar scent coming off of the figure.

“Wake up,” a woman’s voice told her.

The voice was different from anything else that Millie had ever heard. “What do you want?” she asked. Even though, she was still kind of asleep that didn’t stop her from being rude.

“A puppet.”

Millie woke up instantly and squatted on the desk. She was now face to face with Christina. She growled. She didn’t like it when people woke her up, especially if they weren’t her race. “Get out.”

“Awe.... Is that how you treat a costumer?”

“I want you to leave.... NOW!”

Christina smiled at Millie. She wasn’t about to take orders from this girl. “Do you really want me to tell you what to do?”

“No.... I already know what you are, Christina.”

Christina acted amazed. She didn’t really find it to be a shocker that the lycans would find out who she was.

“You know who I am?”

Millie didn’t answer. She was getting ready to attack.

Christina pulled out a dog whistle. “Go ahead.... Attack.... I dear you.”

Millie recoiled. She knew that Christina wanted to get attacked. She could tell by the way Christina talked. She stood up on the desk. She looked down at Christina. She needed to do something about that stupid dog whistle.
Christina looked up at the girl, who was standing up on the desk. Millie was eyeing her. She placed the whistle close to her lips. She was about to use it when someone walked into the bookstore.

“Millie, what are you doing standing on a desk?” Tom asked as he walked in. “Werewolf or not.... That’s dangerous.”

Christina turned her attention to Tom. To her disappointment, she could tell that the man was human.
Millie smiled because she had her chance. Christina was distracted. Christina turned her attention back to Millie, when Millie kicked her jaw.

Millie’s kick was so powerful that Christina flew back into a bookshelf, knocking some books on top of her.

“I wish that I hadn’t just seen that, Millie,” Tom told her.

Millie cracked her neck before saying anything. “Sorry about that, pastor.”

Christina stood up. She was ticked off. She walked over to Millie and Tom. “You better be glad that you were saved by a human, wolf.”

Millie looked up at the roof. She didn’t care. She could care less about what Christina was saying.

Christina walked out of the bookstore and she was extremely ticked off.

“Another enemy, Millie?” Tom asked.

“Yea....” Millie paused. “She’s a dog-witch. She uses a dog whistle to control us dogs and werewolves.”

Tom helped Millie set the books back in place. When they were done, Tom looked around the little store. “Well, this is a cute little bookstore.”

“Thank you.... I come here sometimes.... Usually to cool down.” Millie didn’t want to tell Tom about the cottage getting burnt down. She didn’t want him and his wife to put themselves in her problem. They were too kind to deal with that. She didn’t want to be a burden to them. She didn’t feel right.

“Well, this is a good place to help people calm down....”

Champ and Kyle walked into the bookstore.

“Champ and Kyle?” Tom asked. He smiled at them. He remembered when they were just little.

Champ smiled, when he seen Tom. “Hey, man.... I mean sir.” He walked over to Tom and offered to shake his hand. “How have you been?”

Tom shook Champ’s hand. “I’ve been good....”

“Good to see you again, Tom,” Kyle told him. “Millie, Jean said that we could stay with her until the cottage is rebuilt.”

“The cottage? What happened to the cottage?” Tom asked.

“Nothing,” Millie answered. She didn’t want Tom to feel like he had to do something about it.

“Well,” Champ explained, “the cottage....”

Millie did hand motions to get Champ to shut up, but he didn’t.

“Burnt down.”

“Well, Millie didn’t tell me that,” Tom said as he looked at Millie.

“It’s not true,” Millie lied. “Kyle and Champ watch too much movies.... Like one time, Kyle dressed up as Batman and Champ dressed up as Spider-man.... They thought that they were superheroes.”

Champ and Kyle looked at each other. They couldn’t believe how Millie would lie to a pastor.

“Millie don’t want you to feel bad for us,” Kyle told Tom.

“Yea,” Champ agreed.

They explained how the house had burnt down and how no one was hurt or dead. Tom was relieved at the fact that everyone was safe, but he felt like he needed to do something for them. He knew what he was going to do and he was going to tell Jane.

Painful

Kat sat on a bench by a store. She was glad that the buses were done with they’re shifts because she didn’t want to move. 

Ann walked over to her and sat down. She wanted something to do. Her brother had told her about how the wolves' cottage had burnt down.

“Hi, Ann.” Kat was bummed. She didn’t know what to do.

“What’s wrong?” Ann asked, concerned.

“Well, Champ broke up with me.... He didn’t tell me why. He just said that it was for the best.... Then he left....”

Ann heard the hurt and disappointment in Kat’s voice and felt bad. She just let Kat talk as she listened.

“It was after talking to that pale woman, Christina....” Kat started to sound like she was jealous of Christina. She thought that Champ dumped her for that pale woman. The thought just made her angry.

“Oh.... That dog-witch?” Ann asked.

Kat looked at Ann. She was confused. What the heck was a dog-witch? She wanted to find out. “A what?”

“A dog-witch.... Lee was telling me.... Him, Kyle, Millie, Stina, and this pale, fanged guy, ‘He looked like a vampire,’ Lee said.... Well, they were talking about dog-witches.... They use dog whistles to control dogs and werewolves.... And vampires and bats.”

Kat listened to what Ann said and thought about how Champ went to attack her that day at the movies. She remembered how Champ apologized, but he told her that he didn’t remember any of it. That was odd to her. She knew that there had to be a reason. Now, she wanted to confront Christina. She stood up and was about to leave. “I’m going to go.... I’ll talk to you later.” She walked away.

Kyle and Champ had dragged Millie to Jean's house. Millie would of rathered stayed at the bookstore. She tried to fight her way out of their arms, but they would just hold her tighter.

Once they were inside of the house, they dragged Millie into the dinning room and forced her to sit down. She fought with the both of them. Jean walked into the dinning and Millie growled.

“Oh.... Hi, Millie.” Jean was trying not to make the wolf mad. “It’s good to see you.” She smiled.

Millie didn’t say anything, she just sat there with an angry look on her face. She stopped growling, which calmed Jean down.

Silence took over the room. No one said anything. No one wanted to say anything. They didn’t know what to say.

Stina walked into the room. Millie started growling again. This time she was growling at Stina. She was still mad at Stina for burning down the cottage.

“Stina,” Kyle said, walking over to her, “it might be better if you weren’t in the same room as Millie right now.  She’s still ticked off about the cottage. Go back and watch TV.... Okay?”

“Okay.” Stina walked out of the room.

Millie looked at the door as it closed. Stina was the last person who she wanted