" Philomena!" he shouted, above the sounds of screaming and flames. " I must insist that you listen to me!"
What would he say? Would he feel the same way?
" My- my personal implements are all formed of solid silver," Mr. Longville informed me, aghast. " This beast is not a werewolf!"
No, it is no werewolf," Thunderboy said. " You see before you a skinwalker."
The Beast came closer. It roared with a hundred voices, and the pile of skulls collapsed behind us, preventing any escape! The monster leaped upon Thunderboy, who seemed loathe to fight back!
" How does a person defeat a skinwalker?" I asked Percy, who pulled out one of his pocket manuals on werewolves and began to flip through it. Perhaps it was the anxiety over the approaching monster, or perhaps he couldn ' t see quite so well in the dark, or perhaps there was no information in that tome, but he could not seem to provide an answer to my question in that moment, which was quite contrary to his nature!
Thunderboy had deflected the beast, and it looked towards Percy.
" It must be given a name," Thunderboy said. " I have been unable to do it for many moons. It weighs on my heart, as it weighed on my auntie. But she was ready to tell you."
Thunderboy looked at me with the most desperate pleading in his intense, and beautifully dark eyes.
Suddenly, the Beast seized upon Percy( knocking aside his physical defense as the feeble thing it was) and, howling in rage, the
Beast threw Mr. Longville violently into the pile of wretched skulls.
And here is how my mind thought: 1.) The beast must be named. 2.) The beast hated the railroad. 3.) The beast fled towards the old woman ' s house. 4.) I saw the old woman followed by a dog that seemed not quite like a dog. 5.) The old woman had a son named Aaron. 6.) Thunderboy was unable to name the creature, which weighed on his heart as it weighed on his aunt.
7.) The old woman was ready to tell us something secret. 8.) The old woman ' s second name was Frew.
It was my only option, for fate had led us here.
" Aaron Frew!" I called out as the beast turned towards me. " I name you!" And with that the skin of the beast flew off like a flickering shadow, and the boy underneath started flailing his hatchet at me and Thunderboy, like one possessed. The boy slashed at Thunderboy, giving him a nasty cut.
Percy had managed to grab ahold of the wolf skin as it darted through the sky, and he rushed towards the fire, throwing it in. And then... well... I suppose I felt bad, for my heart dropped as Thunderboy watched his cousin begin to crackle and flake like he was on fire. The skinwalker ran out through the darkness, tormented by pain, turning to ash.
I remembered my previous comments about wishing to have a werewolf skin to display in my parlor. It seems to me now to be a bit of a foolishly light-hearted desire.