Chapter 4 Sunday

I got a nifty watch for my birthday. I held it in front of Rom's nose. "Come on. Let's go. It's getting late."

I was sitting next to Rom in the front passenger's seat of the van. I get to sit there because I'm the Denner. It was already ten thirty.

"Okay, okay, we're going," said Rom.

Rom started the engine and we were about to go, when Chaba came up to the van. Chaba's my granddad and the Alpha Wolf of the pack. I don't mean the Cub Pack. I mean the pack of all the werewolves anywhere around Ithaca. Chaba looked in Rom's window.

"It's good you're going now," he said. "It's been confirmed. There are two FBI agents here and they've narrowed their search to the Vet School."

"I'm really sorry about all this," said Rom.

"What's done is done," said Chaba. "You haven't done it again, have you?"

"No sir."

"Good," said Chaba. "Now get out of here."

Rom drove us away.

"You haven't done what again?" I asked.

Rom ignored me.

"What haven't you done again?"

"Nothing," said Rom, "just a little computer hacking."

"Wow. Neat. But what about the FBI? Did they catch you?"

"No. But Chaba wants me to be out of Ithaca for a while. Just in case."

"Gee," I said. "You're running from the FBI."

Rom didn't say anything. He just sat behind the wheel looking mad. 

An hour and a half later (I timed it), we stopped at a Burger King to use the bathroom and have lunch. We tried to get the Burger King people to give us our hamburgers raw, but they wouldn't. 

As we took our lunches to the tables, Rom asked me, "By the way, Cat. Did you give the vial to your dad?"

"Vial? You mean that little package you gave me at scouts?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, gosh. I forgot. What was it? Was it important?"

"Your dad wanted it for his conference in Budapest. I guess he'll get along without it."

"What is it?"

"Lycanthrozine."

"Oh."

I'm glad Rom didn't ask where the vial was now. It was right where I put it--in my scout pants pocket. And those pants were packed in my knapsack. I thought about Lycanthrozine a lot during the drive. I really did forget but since I had the vial, I wouldn't want it to go to waste.

In the motel that night, while Rom was at the desk paying them money, I took the package out of my scout pants pocket. I unwrapped it and held the vial up to the light. So this is Lycanthrozine.  

I told the rest of the scouts about it, and just had time to pour the stuff into my canteen and get rid of the vial before Rom came back in.

"Drinking up your lemonade already?" said Rom.

"No," I said, "not yet."

I put the cap back on, and shook the canteen. I wondered if I could stay awake until Rom fell asleep. If I could, I'd really have fun that night. 

Fooey. It was like when I was a little kid waiting up for Santa Claus. I tried to stay awake, but the next thing I knew, it was Monday morning.