Werewolf versus Dragon (10 page)

THE NEXT DAY ULF WOKE UP IN HIS DEN. HIS
wolf hair had disappeared back under his skin. The door to his den was open. Outside were a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He slipped them on.

Tiana flew toward him, humming to herself.

“Ulf!” she said. “You're back!”

Ulf looked at his hands. They were filthy. He had just a patch of hair on each palm, and his claws had gone.

He looked out at the sky. It was a bright sunny day. It would be a whole month until the next full moon.

“Dr. Fielding let you stay out all night,” Tiana told him.

“In the wild?” Ulf asked.

“Don't you remember?”

Ulf licked his teeth. His fangs were gone.

“Not really,” he told her.

“You're a hero,” Tiana said.

Ulf heard a trumpeting roar. He looked over and saw Orson leading the biganasty out of the Big Beast Barn.

“Orson!” he called.

The giant waved. “Thank you, Ulf!”

“You saved his life,” Tiana said, hovering outside Ulf's den. She smiled, then shot off in a burst of sparkles, following Orson across the paddock to the Dark Forest.

Ulf found Dr. Fielding in her office. She was writing.

“Is everything all right?” Ulf asked her.

“Everything's fine, Ulf. Thanks to you.”

Dr. Fielding put down her pen and slipped a piece of paper into a file labeled
BARON MARACKAI
. She stamped the file with a rubber stamp:
CASE SOLVED.

The Helping Hand crawled out from the storeroom.

“Will you file this, please?” Dr. Fielding said to it.

The Helping Hand picked the file up and scuttled off.

“Marackai would have tricked us all if it hadn't been for you, Ulf.”

“He locked me up,” Ulf told her. “He said he'd come back to take what was his.”

“Nothing is his,” Dr. Fielding said. She took a piece of paper from her desk and showed it to Ulf. It read:

 

The Last Will and Testament of

Lord John Everard Farraway

 

“This is Professor Farraway's will,” Dr. Fielding said. “Marackai was nineteen years old when the Professor died. The Professor left everything he had to the RSPCB. Marackai got nothing.”

Ulf looked at the will. It was old and dusty. He thought about the ghost in the library and how it had tried to warn him.

“Marackai was nasty,” Ulf told her. “Druce says he was cruel to beasts.”

“Marackai must have wanted Farraway Hall for himself,” Dr. Fielding said. “He seems to have been planning his return extremely carefully. He must have known all about the dragon migration, and realized that NICE wouldn't send an inspector straightaway.”

Dr. Fielding stood up and went to the window.

Outside, a shiny black car was pulling up at the entrance gates.

“About time,” Dr. Fielding said.

“Who's that?” Ulf asked, following her to the courtyard.

Ulf watched as a man stepped out of the car. He was short and fat, dressed in a black coat and a bowler hat.

“My name's Inspector Hector,” he said. “I'm from NICE. I'm very sorry I'm so late. I've come about the dragon.”

“Then you'd better come inside. You can park next to that truck,” Dr. Fielding said.

She pointed to the Baron's big black truck in the courtyard. “We have much to discuss.”

While Dr. Fielding led Inspector Hector to her office, Ulf headed to the tower. He ran up the spiral stairs to the observatory and grabbed
The Book of Beasts
from the table where he'd left it.

He looked out of the window at the beast park. He looked toward the aviary. The Roc would be back home by now, he thought.

Ulf heard a tapping sound and looked up. Druce
the gargoyle was dancing on the glass dome. He started singing: “He kills beasts just for fun. But not this time, cuz Fur Face won!”

The gargoyle blew a loud raspberry at Ulf, then scuttled back along the rooftop to his perch.

Ulf headed down the spiral staircase with
The Book of Beasts
.

Halfway down, in the wall of the tower, he opened a door that led into the main house. He stepped into a dusty room with a grand piano. A giant moth was hanging from the ceiling, and wood lice the size of cats scurried across the floor.

Ulf hurried through the room and out into the Gallery of Science. He ran the full length of the corridor, through the Room of Curiosities to the door of the library. The door creaked open, and Ulf stepped into the darkness.

He felt his way to the painting. “Professor Farraway? Are you here?”

A candle flickered on.

“It's over. Marackai's gone,” Ulf said.

Ulf placed
The Book of Beasts
on the table beside the candle. “Thank you for the book, Professor,” he said.

As he turned to leave, he heard a noise behind him. He looked back and saw the book floating toward him. It pushed itself into his hand.

Ulf turned it over. On the back, written in dust, were the words:

“But we're safe now, Professor,” he said. “Aren't we?”

Ulf felt an icy draft pass straight through him, and the candle blew out.